Chapter  15

Sadness stared out the window and came up with an idea. "How about we wake her up?"

"Sadness, that's ridiculous," Joy said. "How could we possibly…" She followed Sadness's gaze and saw what she was staring at: Dream Productions. "How about we wake her up!" Joy said.

Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong hopped off the train and quickly made their way over to Dream Productions. The busy studio was full of action and excitement. Actors in all kinds of costumes walked around sipping coffee and carrying scripts, grips pushed rolling sets, and golf carts zipped from stage to stage.

"Whoa!" said Joy, taking in the scene. "This place is huge."

"Yeah, it looks so much bigger than I expected," Sadness said.

Joy almost fainted when they walked by the star of a majority of Riley's dreams: Rainbow Unicorn. "She's right there!" Joy whispered in awe, pointing at the unicorn casually sitting in a director's chair.

Sadness walked right up to her. "My friend says you're famous," she said. "She wants your autograph."

"No, no, Sadness, don't bother Miss Unicorn, okay?" Joy said, grabbing Sadness. "Sorry," she said to the unicorn. "She's from out of town. That was so embarrassing, right?" Joy awkwardly pulled Sadness away. Then she popped her head back toward Rainbow Unicorn and quickly squealed, "I loved you in Fairy Dream Adventure Part 7! Okay, bye! I love you!"

Dashing away, Joy caught up with Sadness and Bing Bong. They had reached one of the stages and were just walking right in. The Dream Director was addressing the cast and crew. "Today's memories are in," the director declared. "We've got a lot to work with here. Riley dumped her best friend, had a miserable day at school, and quit hockey."

Joy, Bing Bong, and Sadness hid behind some production equipment and watched the director pass out scripts. Then they sneaked over to the costume area. "Okay, how are we gonna wake her up?" Joy asked.

"Well, she wakes up sometimes when she has a scary dream. We could scare her," Sadness offered.

Joy didn't like that idea at all. She thought Riley had been through enough and didn't want her to dream of anything that would make her uncomfortable. "Sadness, I know Riley. We're gonna make her so happy that she'll wake up with exhilaration. We'll excite her awake!" said Joy.

"That's never happened before," Sadness said as she watched Joy rummage through the costume racks.

"Ooh, Riley loves dogs," Joy said. "Put this on!" She threw half of a dog costume to Sadness.

"I don't think that'll work," Sadness said, but Joy ignored her and turned to Bing Bong.

"Don't let anything happen to these," she said, handing him the bag of core memories. Bing Bong promised to keep them safe.

The Dream Director checked the monitor and asked the cameraman to put on the reality distortion filter. The filter made the phony-looking set and actors look completely real! "Love it," she said, then reminded everyone to play to the camera. "Riley is the camera!" she barked. "Makeup, get out of there, we are on in five, four, three…"

The makeup artists finished powdering an actress playing Riley's teacher and the Sleep Lights flashed on. Magical-sounding harp music played, signaling the start of the dream.

Inside Headquarters, Fear was drinking a cup of tea as he sat at the console, watching the dream unfold. He was not happy to be stuck with Dream Duty, but with Joy gone, he had no choice.

"Man, she is one bad actress," Fear said to himself, watching the teacher unenthusiastically talk about a pop quiz. Then the teacher called on Riley to introduce herself. As the camera rose to look like Riley was standing at her desk, one of the students said, "Ew, look! Her teeth are falling out!" Teeth rained down in front of the camera.

"Teeth falling out," Fear said, scoffing. "Let me guess, we have no pants on."

Another student spoke. "Hey, look! She came to school with no pants on!" The camera tilted down, revealing Riley's bare legs.

"Called it!" Fear said.

Joy and Sadness waited off camera at the stage in Dream Productions, wearing the dog costume. "Ready?" Joy whispered.

"I don't think this happy thing is going to work. But if we scare her—" Sadness tried to explain, but Joy didn't let her finish.

"Just… follow my lead. Here we go!" Joy yanked Sadness onto the set, dancing and barking like a dog.

The Dream Director flipped through her script, confused, as she tried to find the current scene. "Who is that?" she whispered to herself.

Joy and Sadness continued to run around in the dog costume, barking, licking students, and acting cute.

Joy looked at the sleep indicator—the needle was still on the Sleep side. She signaled Bing Bong and he released bunches of colorful balloons that poured down onto the classroom set. "Woo!" Joy yelled. "Let's party! Let's dance! Woo!" Then Bing Bong fired a confetti canon and a storm of confetti covered everything!

In Headquarters, Fear perked up. "Hey, a party!" he said, watching the dog happily running around in the balloons and confetti.

"Joy, this isn't working," said Sadness.

Bing Bong danced around offstage and knocked into a light, causing the backdrop to come down. Then the dog costume ripped in half! Joy chased after Sadness on the set. "Sadness, what are you doing? Come back here!"

Fear spit out his tea as he watched the startling sight on-screen: through the reality distortion filter, it looked just like a real dog split right down the middle!

On the screen, it looked as if half a dog were chasing its other half. "It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream," Fear chanted, trying to soothe himself. He turned a knob on the console which caused Riley to stir in her sleep.

The Dream Director watched in horror. "They're trying to wake her up! Call security!" she yelled. Joy grabbed Sadness's arm and scolded her. "You are ruining this dream! You're scaring her!"

"But look, it's working!" said Sadness, pointing at the sleep indicator. The needle was starting to move toward Awake.

"Whoa!" Joy said.

But before they could do anything else, security entered. The Dream Director pointed to Bing Bong, Sadness, and Joy. "They are not part of this dream! Get them!" she yelled.

Sadness saw the guards and grabbed Joy, pulling her backstage. "Stop right there," a security guard called after them. A second guard got Bing Bong and tackled him to the ground.

"Ow! Hey!" cried Bing Bong.

"Pan away! Pan away!" shouted the director. The camera operator moved the camera away from the disaster happening on set, revealing Rainbow Unicorn eating at the snack table in a mystical unicorn forest set.

Fear shouted at the screen. "Boo! Pick a plot line."

Joy and Sadness watched as the guards dragged Bing Bong, holding the bag of core memories, down toward a massive, scary-looking door.

第 15 章

忧忧盯着窗外，想到了一个方法：“我们把莱莉唤醒怎么样？”

“忧忧，那不可能。”乐乐说道，“我们怎么可能……”她顺着忧忧望去的方向，才发现她正盯着造梦场看。“我们把她唤醒吧！”乐乐说道。

乐乐、忧忧和兵兵跳下火车，朝造梦场赶去。播梦室里正忙得不可开交，充满了表演和刺激。穿着各式服装的演员走来走去，喝着咖啡，拿着剧本；手柄推动着舞台旋转；高尔夫球车在各个场景间来回穿梭。

“哇！”乐乐看着眼前的场景，“这地方可真够大的。”

“是啊，比我想象的大太多了。”忧忧跟着说道。

他们从莱莉大多数梦境中的主角身边走过的时候，乐乐差点晕了过去，因为那是：彩虹独角兽。乐乐指着正闲适地坐在导演椅上的独角兽，敬畏地小声说：“她就在那儿！”

忧忧直接走到她跟前，说：“我朋友说你很出名， 她想要你的签名。”

“不，不，忧忧，别打扰独角兽小姐，好吗？”乐乐一把抓住忧忧。“对不起。”她朝独角兽说道，“她刚从乡下来，真是尴尬，对吧？”乐乐笨手笨脚地将忧忧拉开。接着她突然回头，朝彩虹独角兽快速喊道：“我从《仙女梦游记》第七章开始就爱上你了！好了，再见！我爱你！”

跑开后的乐乐追上了忧忧和兵兵，他们到达一处场景，正准备走进去。梦境导演正在对演员和剧组工作人员讲话。“今天的记忆球已经送到了。”导演向他们宣布，“我们有很多工作要做。莱莉甩了她最好的朋友，在学校里过了糟糕的一天，还退出了冰球比赛。”

乐乐、兵兵和忧忧躲在造梦仪器后面，看着导演分发剧本。然后他们悄悄溜进服装区，乐乐问道：“好了，我们怎样才能唤醒莱莉？”

“这个嘛，有时她做了噩梦就会醒过来，我们可以把她吓醒。”忧忧提议。

乐乐一点也不喜欢这个方法，她觉得莱莉已经够遭罪的了，不想再让她梦到不愉快的事情。她说：“忧忧，我了解莱莉。我们只要让她尽可能地快乐，她就能兴奋得醒来。我们用开心唤醒她！”

“这可从未发生过。”忧忧一边说一边看着乐乐在服装架上翻来翻去。

“嗬，莱莉喜欢狗，”乐乐说，“穿上这件！”她扔给忧忧一件扮作狗的戏服。

“我不认为这样有用。”忧忧说道。但是乐乐并不理会，她转向兵兵。

她将装有核心记忆球的包递给兵兵，说：“这些记忆球可不能有任何闪失。”兵兵答应保障它们的安全。

梦境导演检查了显示屏，并让摄影师装上现实失真过滤镜，过滤镜可以让假的场景和演员看上去和真的一模一样！她赞道：“太棒了。”接着，她提醒每个人要对着摄像机表演。“摄像机就是莱莉！”她厉声说道，“化妆师，离开那儿，要开始了，五，四，三……”

化妆师刚给扮演莱莉老师的演员化好妆，梦境灯光就打开了。魔幻的竖琴音乐响起，标志着梦境的开始。

情绪总部里，怕怕正坐在控制台上喝着茶，看着梦境展开。他不喜欢执行梦境监控任务，但是乐乐失踪了，他没得选择。

“老兄，她的演技可真烂。”看着老师无精打采地讲着随堂测验的事，怕怕自言自语。接着，老师叫莱莉进行自我介绍。摄像机拍到莱莉从课桌边站了起来，其中一个学生说道：“真恶心，看！她的牙全掉出来了！”牙齿一颗颗落在了摄像机前面。

“牙齿掉光了，”怕怕嘲笑道，“我猜，莫非裤子也没穿？”

另外一个学生叫道：“嘿，看！她没穿裤子就来上学了！”摄像机镜头摇下，拍出莱莉光着的腿。

“我猜中了！”怕怕说道。

乐乐和忧忧穿着戏服，等着造梦场舞台上的摄像机。乐乐小声问：“准备好了吗？”

“我不认为这种开心的事能把她唤醒，但是如果我们可以吓吓她——”忧忧试着解释，但是被乐乐制止了。

“只要……按照我说的做，我们上台！”乐乐将忧忧拽到舞台上，像狗一样跳着、叫着。

梦境导演满脸疑惑，迅速翻了翻剧本，试着找到相应的场景。她小声地嘀咕着：“那是谁？”

乐乐和忧忧穿着戏服继续在舞台上跑动，汪汪叫，舔学生，装可爱。

乐乐看着睡眠指示器——指针仍然停在“睡眠”那一边。她向兵兵示意，兵兵放出一束束五颜六色的气球，气球涌进教室。“唔！”乐乐喊道，“让我们狂欢！让我们跳舞！唔！”接着，兵兵放了一个礼花炮，彩色纸花飘洒在整个舞台上！

情绪总部里，怕怕来了兴致。他看着那只狗在气球和彩纸之间欢快地跑来跑去，说道： “嘿，派对啊！”

“乐乐，这样做没用。” 忧忧说道。

兵兵在舞台后面跳舞，突然撞到灯上，背景幕布掉了下来。然后，狗戏服竟然撕裂成两半！乐乐在台上追着忧忧：“忧忧，你在干什么？回这儿来！”

怕怕看着屏幕上惊悚的场景，刚喝到嘴里的茶又吐了出来：通过现实失真过滤镜，看起来就像一只真的狗从中间裂成了两半！

屏幕上看起来就像一只狗裂开后的一半追着另一半跑。怕怕试着安慰自己，重复地说着一句话：“这只是个梦，这只是个梦，这只是个梦。”他转动控制台上的一个旋钮，睡梦中的莱莉动了动。

梦境导演惊恐地看着，叫了起来：“他们想要唤醒她！快叫保安！”乐乐抓住忧忧的胳膊，责备她：“你把整个梦境都毁了！你吓着她了！”

“但是你看，有效果了！”忧忧指着睡眠指示器说道，指针开始朝“苏醒”那边移动。

“哇！”乐乐感叹道。

但是他们还未来得及进一步行动，保安就进来了。梦境导演指着兵兵、忧忧和乐乐叫道：“他们不是这个梦境的成员！抓住他们！”

忧忧看见保安之后赶紧抓住乐乐，把她拉到舞台后面。一位保安在他们后面喊：“站在那儿别动!”另外一位保安抓住兵兵，把他按倒在地上。

“嗷！嘿!”兵兵哭叫起来。

“镜头移走！镜头移走！”导演叫道。摄影师将摄像机从舞台上正在发生的灾难上移开，转而拍摄正在一座神秘森林场景中的彩虹独角兽，她坐在桌边吃着点心。

怕怕对着屏幕大叫：“噗！剧情变得也太快了。”

乐乐和忧忧看着保安拖走兵兵，他还拿着那个装有核心记忆球的包。兵兵被拖向一扇巨大的门，那扇门看起来阴森恐怖。