Mr. Sandman (9 page)

Page 16 panel 1

 

Tally (half-laughing, half-crying--delirious): You were so handsome, so smart, and I thought I was so lucky that you liked me...but you were a liar.

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 2

 

Tally (looking at the Dream Lord, tears running down her face): You don't care about anything...you bastard...

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 3

 

Dream Lord (desperately, crying himself): No, no, I'm sorry! Please, I
did
care...help me...

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 4

 

Tally (viciously): Go to hell, Emmett! You
bastard
!

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 5

 

Suddenly, the Dream Lord slides through a portal which has opened in the floor beneath him.

 

Dream Lord (as he is sucked away into the portal): Noooo!! Help me, Tally! I'm sorry!

 

Girl: You didn't have to do it this way.

 

 

Page 16 panel 6

 

Tally (sitting at the table, crying): But don't worry, Emmett. I don't need anybody.

 

Wide shot of the kitchen scene, emphasizing the girl's loneliness, the seeming hugeness of the empty room. A small curl of smoke rises from the spot where the Dream Lord and the portal disappeared.

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 7

 

Again, the portal pitches the Dream Lord in a new place. His body is still bloody and bruised, with the sword in his chest and scars and bullet holes everywhere. Obviously, he is in horrible agony, with no release.

 

He is deposited in a laboratory. It is the main lab from the UCLA sleep research project, full of monitors and computer banks and elaborate devices. A tall, dark-haired man in a white lab coat is hunched over a counter, working on a helmet-like device.

 

Man: Emmett? I think this is IT, buddy!

 

 

 

 

Page 17 (7
panels)

 

Page 17 panel 1

 

Man (holding up the shiny helmet, his back still turned to the Dream Lord): We've
done
it, damnit! Do you believe it? I think this crazy thing is gonna
work
!

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 2

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord's horrified face. He suddenly remembers this scene, though he has blocked it from his mind for a long, long time. What comes next is not a pleasant reverie for him, to say the least.

 

Dream Lord: No...not again.

 

Man (off-panel): The only way we'll know for
sure
, though, is to try 'er out. Time for a test drive, whiz kid.

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 3

 

The Man turns around to face Dream Lord, smiling. The Man is placing the helmet on his own head; he is revealed to be the spitting image of the BOGEYMAN, only a few years younger than he was when he attacked and hounded the Dream Lord.

 

Man (joking): How does it look, Emmett? They're all the rage in Paris, you know.

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 4

 

Dream Lord (waving weakly at the man, trying to stop him from going further): Don't...don't do it, Tom. Take it off. Take it off!

 

Man: Thanks for your concern, buddy, but we can't turn back now! We're on the frontier, about to make a discovery that will change the
world
!

 

The Man makes some final adjustments to the helmet and its control panels.

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 5

 

Man: When this works, and it will, we will be able to
shape
people's
dreams
! We'll be the
first
, Emmett, the
pioneers
! I'm initiating the process
now
!

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 6

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord's face as he screams at the Man.

 

Dream Lord: Tom!
N
o
!

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 7

 

A blue halo flares around the helmet and the Man's head. The device has been activated.

 

Man: Emmett? Emmett, I feel a little dizzy now.

 

 

 

 

Page 18 (6
panels)

 

Page 18 panel 1

 

Man (beginning to panic as the blue flares get brighter and bigger): Something's
wrong
! Emmett, it's feeding back into my brain! Turn it off, now!

 

 

 

Page 18 panel 2

 

The Dream Lord struggles to drag himself over to the control panel and hit the cut-off switch, but he can't make it. His body is too brutalized, the pain too great.

 

Dream Lord: I...I can't...
make
it!

 

Man: Emmett? Oh, it
hurts
! What are you doing? Don't just
stand
there!

 

 

 

Page 18 panel 3

 

The blue light surges from the helmet, the consoles explode and burst into flame, and the Man screams from the pain.

 

Man (trying to tear the helmet from his head): Why won't you
help
me? Help me! Emmett,
come back
!! You're
killing
me!!

 

 

 

Page 18 panel 4

 

Man:
H
elp meeeee
!!!

 

The device finally explodes in a shower of blue bolts, burning into the man's skull. The lab around him is now filled with raging flames.

 

 

 

Page 18 panel 5

 

Dream Lord (screaming at the top of his lungs):
Tom
!!!

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord screaming, surrounded by fire.

 

 

 

Page 18 panel 6

 

Similar closeup of the Dream Lord screaming, this time suddenly surrounded by cool, blue sky.

 

Dream Lord:
Tom
!!!
Noooo
!!!!

 

Voice (off-panel): Dream Lord, take it easy.

 

 

 

 

Page 19 (7
panels)

 

Page 19 panel 1

 

Same closeup, Dream Lord still screaming.

 

Dream Lord:
N
o no no no nooooo
!!!

 

A brown-skinned arm enters from off-panel, and a hand grips his shoulder. It is a small hand, that of a young black girl.

 

Voice: Come on, it's okay now.

 

 

 

Page 19 panel 2

 

Flashback of the Man being electrocuted in the fiery lab.

 

Man:
Help m
eeeeee
!!

 

 

Page 19 panel 3

 

Voice (off-panel): I'm gonna help you now.

 

Similar closeup of the Dream Lord's face, only this time, he has quickly turned in the direction of the voice, to see who's speaking to him.

 

Dream Lord: What? Oh God, no more!

 

 

 

Page 19 panel 4

 

Medium shot of the person talking to the Dream Lord: a 15-year-old black girl who is missing her right arm; she wears a green, Peter-Pan-style outfit, with gold braided trim and a green cap with a feather in it. She has short, curly, hair and a pixy-ish attitude, and is smiling comfortingly at the Dream Lord. She is the girl from the car accident in Chapter One.

 

Girl: Hey, relax! I toldja', there isn't gonna
be
any more! You're
safe
now, Dream Lord, I took you to a safe place. They can't get you here. This is
my
place.

 

 

 

Page 19 panel 5

 

Wide shot of black girl and the Dream Lord, floating in a blue sky full of fluffy clouds.

 

Girl: You like it? I call it "sky."

 

 

 

Page 19 panel 6

 

Medium shot of the Dream Lord talking to the girl. She is kind, smiling, wanting only to help him. He, in turn, is in physical and mental agony, afraid, completely broken down and torn apart as a human being. He desperately wants to believe that someone has rescued him, but is suspicious that she is a threat in disguise.

 

Dream Lord: Who...who
are
you?

 

Girl: Well, my
real
name's Stacy, but here, I call myself Lullaby.

 

 

 

Page 19 panel 7

 

Lullaby: I saw you were in trouble out there, so I took you away. I tried for a long time to bring you here, but
he
wouldn't let me.

 

Dream Lord: He?

 

 

 

 

Page 20 (7
panels)

 

Page 20 panel 1

 

Lullaby:
You
know...that creep who was pushing you around. Old big mouth; the Bogeyman. He's pretty nasty.

 

Dream Lord: This is...another one...probably...another attack. He's...conning me...setting me up...make me think I'm safe...and then...

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 2

 

Lullaby (insulted): Well, excuse me, buster! I pull your buns out of the fire, and all
you
can do is tell me I'm a bad guy! Look, I'm giving you the truth, Dream Lord! I got nothing to do with that big dork, I just wanna' help you out.

 

Dream Lord moans and grabs his chest; reeling from the excruciating pain.

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 3

 

Lullaby: And from what I can see, you definitely need some big-time help! You're in some kind'a shape right now!

 

Dream Lord (rolling onto his side and gasping-- away from the Bogeyman's influence, he is finally dying from his wounds): It
hurts
...I can't
stand
it!

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 4

 

Lullaby walks over to where the Dream Lord has rolled onto his side. She kneels beside him and puts her left (and only) arm around him.

 

Lullaby: Okay, okay, I know it's bad. Like I said, I'm
gonna help you. It's gonna hurt, but you've got to
hang on
, okay?

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 5

 

Lullaby: See, you're hacked up real bad, and if you were on Earth right now, you'd be dead. That jerk kept you alive so he could beat you up more, give you more pain...so much pain you'd want to die, but he wouldn't let you.

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 6

 

Lullaby (passing her hand over the bullet holes on his body): You're still the
Dream Lord
, though. You've still got the
power
in this place. You can make it go away, you can help yourself.

 

Dream Lord: Ngh...I...can't...breathe...

 

 

 

Page 20 panel 7

 

Lullaby: I've got a little magic, too, but you have to do most of it. Now come on,
think
for a minute! Fight the pain,
make
it leave.

 

Dream Lord: ARRGGH!!

 

 

 

 

Page 21 (7
panels)