Chapter  16

"There go the core memories," Joy whispered to Sadness.

The guards opened the heavy door and a spooky light spilled out along with the frightening sounds of thunder, howling, screaming, roars, and circus music.

"I can't go in there. I'm scared of the dark. Please!" Bing Bong said as they threw him inside. The door slammed shut.

"C'mon," said Joy, grabbing Sadness. They quietly sneaked to the door down a long staircase. "What is this place?" Joy asked.

"The Subconscious," answered Sadness. "I read about it in the manual. It's where they take all the troublemakers."

Joy and Sadness paused as they watched the guards. They were so busy bickering that Joy and Sadness tiptoed past without them even noticing. Once in front of the door, Sadness shook it, causing the guards to finally see them.

"Hey! You!" said one of the guards.

"Oh! You caught us!" Sadness said sheepishly, acting like she had just come out of the Subconscious.

"Get back in there! No escaping!" said the other guard, as they shoved Joy and Sadness through the doorway.

"Hohhh… I don't like it here," Sadness whispered as they walked in cautiously. "It's where they keep Riley's darkest fears."

Joy gasped. "It's broccoli!"

A door eerily creaked open, revealing a dark set of stairs leading down below. Sadness and Joy screamed. "The stairs to the basement!" Sadness exclaimed as they scampered away.

They screamed again as a giant vacuum cleaner started to chase them! "Grandma's vacuum cleaner!" Joy said as they ran and hid behind a rock.

When they decided to walk on, a loud crinkling noise seemed to come from beneath their feet. Crunch! Crunch!

"Would you walk quieter?" Joy said, blaming Sadness.

"I'm trying!" Sadness whispered.

Then they noticed a trail of candy wrappers on the floor. They followed the trail into a dark cave. There, on top of a giant mound, was Bing Bong. He was crying inside a cage made out of long, colorful balloons.

"Joy?" Bing Bong said, peering at them in the darkness. He pointed below him and said, "Shhhhhh!"

Joy looked down to see where Bing Bong was pointing—the balloon cage was sitting right on top of a gigantic sleeping clown! "It's Jangles," Joy said, terrified.

Jangles was snoring and talking in his sleep. "Who's the birthday girl?" he muttered.

It gave Joy and Sadness the creeps. They stepped gingerly around the giant clown, and Joy carefully climbed up to get to Bing Bong. "Do you have the core memories?" she whispered when she got close enough.

"Yeah," he said, handing her the bag. "All he cared about was the candy!"

Joy grabbed hold of the cage and tried to pry open the balloon bars. SQUEEEEEE! The balloons made a horrible squeaky noise and Jangles stirred. Joy held her breath as the clown fell back asleep. Then she stretched the bars even farther apart and Bing Bong slipped through. They hurried off the creepy clown mountain and rushed toward the exit.

"We're out of here!" said Bing Bong. "Let's get to that train and wait for morning."

Joy slowed down, thinking about what Bing Bong had just said. She couldn't wait until morning to get the core memories back. Joy looked at Jangles and had an idea.

"Oh no," said Bing Bong, watching as Joy and Sadness walked back to the sleeping clown.

They both honked the clown's nose, which caused his wild eyes to pop wide open! Then the massive, creepy Jangles stood up, towering over them.

"H-h-hey, Sadness," Joy said. "Di—did you hear about the p-pahh-party that we're having?

"Ohh yeah, yes, Joy! Isn't it a ba-bahhh-birthday party?"

"Did you say… birthday?" the giant clown asked.

"Yes." Joy struggled to get the words out. "And there's going to be cake, and presents and—"

"—and games and balloons," Sadness added.

"A BIRTHDAY?" screamed Jangles, pulling out his giant mallet and holding it up, ready for birthday action.

"Follow us!" shouted Joy, leading the way.

Jangles laughed a maniacal laugh as he chased Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong through the door.

"Nothing like a good scare to wake you up, right?" Joy said, looking at Sadness.

Outside the Subconscious, the guards were still arguing when suddenly… BASH! Jangles' giant mallet smashed through the front gate. The guards jumped in terror, screaming, "AHHHHHHHHH!"

Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong were free. They ran up the stairs, leading Jangles toward Dream Productions.

Inside Headquarters, Fear had nearly fallen asleep watching the boring unicorn dream when… BLAM! The creepy clown came crashing through the set! "WHO'S THE BIRTHDAY GIRL?" Jangles' voice boomed across the stage.

Fear screamed. He smacked his hand down on the button to wake Riley up, and then he passed out!

Riley bolted up in bed, waking from the nightmare. The sign in Dream Productions read awake.

第 16 章

“核心记忆球也被他们带走了。”乐乐对忧忧小声说。

保安打开厚重的大门，里面射出诡异的光线，传来可怕的雷鸣声、哀号声、尖叫声、咆哮声和马戏团表演的声音。

“我不能进去，我怕黑，求求你们了！”兵兵哀求着，可他们还是把他扔了进去。大门“砰”的一声关上了。

“来吧。”乐乐抓着忧忧走下一段长长的楼梯，悄悄溜到门边。乐乐问：“这是什么地方？”

“潜意识世界。”忧忧回答，“我在指南中读到过所有惹麻烦的家伙都被关在里面。”

乐乐和忧忧停下来看着保安，他们正忙着吵架，因此根本没注意到蹑手蹑脚走过去的乐乐和忧忧。一到门前，忧忧便摇摇大门，保安终于看到了她们。

“嘿！你们俩！”其中一个保安说道。

“噢！被你发现了！”忧忧故意装作为难的样子，让保安以为她是刚从潜意识世界里逃出来的。

“回里面去！不准逃跑！”另一个保安说道，他们将乐乐和忧忧朝门里推去。

她俩小心地走了进去。“噢——我可不喜欢这里，”忧忧小声地说，“这里面都是莱莉最害怕的黑暗事物。”

乐乐倒吸一口气：“莱莉最怕西兰花！”

一扇门吱呀一声开了，很是诡异，门后是一段黑漆漆的阶梯向下延伸着。忧忧和乐乐尖叫起来，忧忧叫道：“通往地下室的阶梯！”她们惊惶地跑开。

她们再一次尖叫起来，一台巨大的吸尘器开始追赶她们！乐乐喊道：“老奶奶的吸尘器！”她们跑到一块石头后面躲了起来。

当她们决定继续前行时，脚底下传来巨响，好像有什么东西被踩皱了，嘎吱！嘎吱！

“你就不能轻点走？”乐乐责怪忧忧。

“我在努力！”忧忧小声回答。

接着，她们发现地上有一条糖果纸的痕迹，她们沿着痕迹走进一个黑暗的洞穴。那儿堆着一个巨型的物体，而顶上正是兵兵，他被关在彩色长气球做成的笼子里，正在哭泣。

“乐乐？”兵兵仔细瞅着黑暗中的她们，他指了指脚底下，“嘘——！”

乐乐看向兵兵指的地方——气球笼子正好放在一个睡着了的巨型小丑身上！乐乐吓了一跳，说：“那是叮叮。”

叮叮打着呼噜，还说着梦话，咕哝道：“是哪个小女孩过生日啊？”

这话把乐乐和忧忧吓坏了。她们蹑手蹑脚地绕到巨型小丑身后，乐乐小心翼翼地向上朝兵兵爬去。足够靠近的时候，她小声问：“核心记忆球在你这里吗？”

“在，”他一边回答一边把包递给她，“小丑关心的只有糖果！”

乐乐抓住笼子，试着拉开气球栏杆，气球发出可怕的哧哧声，叮叮动了动。乐乐屏住呼吸，直到小丑再次入睡。接着，她用力将栏杆拉得更开，兵兵钻了出来。他们赶紧爬下令人害怕的巨型小丑，朝出口跑去。

“我们离开这儿吧！”兵兵说，“我们回火车上等天亮吧。”

乐乐慢了下来，思量着兵兵刚说过的话。她不能等到天亮再把核心记忆球送回去。乐乐看着叮叮，有了主意。

“噢，不。”兵兵看着乐乐和忧忧往回走到睡着的小丑身边。

她俩一起按住小丑的鼻子，他那疯狂的眼睛猛地睁开！接着，体形硕大，令人毛骨悚然的叮叮站了起来，高耸着俯视她们。

“嘿——嘿，忧忧，”乐乐说道，“你——你听说了吗？我们要举行一场派——派——派对？”

“噢，当然听说了，乐乐！好像还是个生——生日——生日派对？”

“你刚刚说……生日？”巨型小丑问道。

“是的。”乐乐努力地说道，“到时还会有蛋糕、礼物以及——”

“——以及游戏和气球。”忧忧补充道。

“生日？”叮叮大叫，拿出他巨大的木槌举起来，准备开展庆生活动。

“跟我们来！”乐乐大叫着在前面带路。

叮叮发出疯狂的笑声，追着乐乐、忧忧和兵兵出了大门。

“只有巨大的惊吓才能把她唤醒，对吧？”乐乐看着忧忧说。

潜意识世界外，保安们还在争吵着，突然……“砰的一声!”叮叮手里那把大木槌砸穿了前门。保安们吓得跳了起来，尖叫着，“啊——啊——啊——！”

乐乐、忧忧和兵兵自由了。他们跑上台阶，带着叮叮朝造梦场走去。

情绪总部里，怕看着无聊的独角兽梦境快要睡着了，突然……嘣！可怕的小丑在舞台上横冲直撞：“是哪个小女孩过生日啊？”叮叮的声音在舞台上轰响。

怕怕尖叫起来，他猛地拍下按钮以唤醒莱莉，接着便晕了过去。

莱莉在床上惊起，从噩梦中醒来，造梦场里的指示器指向了“苏醒”。