Disney After Dark ReWritten

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

    He found himself standing next to the flagpole in Town Square, in the heart of the Magic Kingdom. In his pajamas. How he'd gotten here, he had no idea. His last memory was climbing into bed——it felt like only minutes earlier.

    Gripped by a sense of panic, awed by the sight of the Cinderella Castle at night, Finn Whitman briefly recalled that he'd had other, similar dreams growing up——always in the Magic Kingdom, always at night. But in his thirteen years, none so real, so vivid as this: he felt a breeze on his face; he smelled the wet earth of a flower bed not far away; he heard the distant whine of traffic and the buzz of a motorboat on the lake behind him.

    "It looks so different," he thought, only to realize he'd spoken out loud. He glanced around quickly to find there wasn't a person in sight to have heard him. Main Street, for once in his eyes, stood empty.

    "Not so different as all that," came a man's voice. Though faint, it startled Finn. He looked again, this time shaking like an earthquake, this time trying to find the voice.

    There! An old man with white hair, in front of the Exhibition Hall. He sat so close to a seated sculpture of Goofy that Finn hadn't noticed him.

    Finn hesitated to move toward the man but crossed the empty street nonetheless. And while his stomach had a deadweight lodged inside, he felt unusually light, almost buoyant.

    The old man wore khakis, a red collared shirt, and a name tag: WAYNE. Finn was starting to think maybe he was some random Target employee infiltrating his dream.

    "Where is everybody?" Finn asked, struck by the electric sound of his own voice.

    "Is it empty?" the man asked, looking up anxiously. "Tell me what you see."

    Finn wondered if the old guy was blind. He seemed to be looking right at Finn; his hazel eyes looked perfectly normal. Still, maybe he couldn't see.

    "Well," Finn said politely, and with a slight tremor, "it's like... empty. And it's dark out. And it's just the two of us."

    Wayne's expression changed to disappointment as he took another look around.

    "What am I supposed to see, exactly?" Finn asked.

    "You're only supposed to see what you can see."

    "Whatever that means," Finn mumbled under his breath.

    "It means exactly what it says."

    Finn wasn't sure if he were just paranoid, but Wayne sounded to have a slight edge to his voice now. Finn knew better than to say anything remotely rude at this point. He offered a small apology and looked down at his feet.

    Wayne, seeing this tense reaction, softened his gaze and said, "Listen, young man, I've been here since long before any of them were even created. I live in the apartment above the fire station." He pointed right at the firehouse and then looked back at Finn, a small grin tugging at his lips. "That takes some seniority, believe me."
    Seniority or senility? Finn dared to wonder. Living above the firehouse? Finn doubted it.

    "Nice pajamas," the old guy said.

    Finn looked down at himself. His pajamas seemed to be... glowing? What was with that? He said, "Sir, I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but if you can see then why did you ask me about the park being empty?"

    Wayne's whiskey eyes turned quizzical. "Young man, how do you think you got here?"

    "That depends on where I am," Finn answered honestly. This felt like no dream he'd ever experienced. He'd never been so aware like this before.