The Dolenz Circus: Season One: It's Great, It's Terrific!

Episode 18 : Welcome to my Nightmare

  When Jimmy breathed in, it was like a first inhale after a long pause of no air.

  The subconscious was always a strange place to navigate. The way things usually went, for Jimmy at least, he slowly began to understand that he was in darkness. It took some time for him to gain thoughts after going into sleep, but ever so slowly, he started to assess that he was a bundle of thoughts with vision. Once he realized he was asleep, he was able to gain a sort of control, and pull himself out of this malaise and focus on before, or what he wanted.

  The spell. That's right, he was focusing on Robert. Entering his memory.

  When he did recall this properly, things began to fall into place. Jimmy had a body once more, a face and hair and hands. His feet were on the ground- a soft thing. With a kick of his shoe, he realized that he was standing on a mix of powder sawdust, sand, and dirt. He could smell it, too, and the salty popcorn, the straw. It was fairly warm where he was, and somehow, Page knew that beyond the worn white tarp of the big top tent, it was chill and damp.

  "!ƚi b|oʜ -ɘɿom -ɿɘʜǫiʜ qu..."

  Words, Jimmy could tell. He began to fight harder to make them out.

  „¿lǝʌǝl ǝɹɐ sdıɥ ɹnoʎ ǝɹns noʎ ǝɹ∀„

  The words sounded more english now but... Still jumbled. Page tried again, trying to clear his mind.

  "ₜᵣy ₙₒₜ ₜₒ ₕₒₗd ₘₑ ₜₕₑᵣₑ₋ ᵢ'ₘ ₛₜᵢₗₗ ₛₒᵣₑ fᵣₒₘ ₜₕₐₜ fₐₗₗ."

  "Ｗｈｅｎ　ｙｏｕ　ｌｅａｎ　ｂａｃｋ　ｄｏｗｎ，　ｍａｋｅ　ｓｕｒｅ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｆｏｏｔ　ｆａｌｌｓ　ｔｏ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｌｅｆｔ．"

  Then, finally, the ringing in his ears cleared. Spoken vowels and consonants came together, and he could hear what was a voice the past, spoken the last time years ago.

  "Don't let me slip!"

  Jimmy was watching a group, huddled together in a small hoard of about six or seven. He only knew that these people were practicing for something or another but what exactly it was, he couldn't fathom. They seemed to be using each other like a jungle gym- climbing, leaping, somersaulting over one another. Some began to hold each other up just by the hands as others began to perform handstands on their partners.

  There was something odd about them, though. And about this tent, really. Jimmy found the setting somewhat familiar, but then again, it felt entirely foreign. The tarp was the wrong color- not its striped red glory. And Page knew none of these performers. The wetsuit-like uniforms they wore, all in a sage sort of green, were all alien. And all seemed soulless, in a way. Because even though Jimmy was standing here, and seeing these people, he knew for a fact that their eyes would never see him.

  But there was one presence that was warm in the room. Jimmy felt it come beside him, and stand tall and still, looking out at the scene. For a moment, the two stood together as spectators.

  "That's our old acrobatic group I was in." Robert broke the silence, and pointed out. "My mum 'n dad are right there."

  Jimmy wasn't frazzled by Plant's voice or appearance this time. Both seemed to be in a relaxed trance of some kind or other. Robert was even talking in a soft, still murmur. Like they were still waking up.

  Robert continued his little talk as the acrobats remained in motion. "Mum's the one with the dark hair. Everybody says it's just like mine, all thick and curly. But she'd have to pin it up tight for this."