I asked to write a story about a summer camp where children were forced to sing Little Bunny Foo Foo. This was the result.

Once upon a time, in a beautiful forest, there was a summer camp for children. The camp was a magical place, where children could run and play and have the time of their lives.

But little did they know, there was a dark secret hidden within the camp. Every year, the camp’s directors would force the children to sing Little Bunny Foo Foo’s song, in order to drain their life force and feed it to the rabbit.

At first, the children thought that singing the song was just a fun and silly game, but they soon realized the truth. As they sang, they could feel their energy and vitality being drained away, leaving them weak and exhausted.

Despite their fear and exhaustion, the children continued to sing, knowing that they had no choice but to comply. And as they sang, they could see that Little Bunny Foo Foo was growing stronger and more powerful, as if the song was feeding him.

But one day, a brave and clever camper named Sarah discovered a way to break free from the rabbit’s spell. She realized that if the children sang the song with their mouths full of food, it would restore some of their life force instead of draining it.

So, Sarah gathered the other campers and together, they stuffed their mouths full of food and sang the song. To their amazement, they could see that the rabbit was growing weaker and more sluggish, while they were feeling stronger and healthier.

However, Little Bunny Foo Foo’s minions quickly responded to this new threat, and they began to only feed certain campers at certain times, in order to keep them weak and powerless.

But Sarah and the other campers were not easily defeated. They continued to sing with their mouths full of food, determined to outlast Little Bunny Foo Foo and his minions. And eventually, their plan worked, and they were

In Paige and Genie’s quarters with them plus Alex. Genie has just explained the situation and its meaning.

Paige is calm. She jumped into a ball pit when she was ten and woke up on a starship with a talking cat, among other things. She has no sense of normal. And yet, she realizes she has something to lose here.

Alex is confused. He lived on a planet until he was given away. He remembers normal, and he wants to return there one day. What he really wants is to return there one day and bring back his people’s lost dragon, then they’ll never give him away again. If this isn’t handled just right, he won’t get to do any of those things. He says to Genie, “Tell me one more time.”

Genie does. “Changeling is dreaming us. Us and the starship. That’s why Paige got here the way she did. Also, how many starships do you know that have ball pits? Or rooms that open on TV universes?”

Paige adds, “And kitty’s don’t talk.”

Alex nods. “And Paige can feel Changeling dreaming?”

“Yes. Awake dreaming.”

“Isn’t that just daydreaming?”

“Daydreaming is just a fancy ass way of saying you’re not paying attention.”

“And Paige,” Alex says, “tell me what you saw in the room with all the doors.”

“The last door opened and I saw Changeling. In bed.”

“So… normal sleep. Could wake up at any time. Is that what we’re saying?”

Genie shrugs. “Maybe. Definitely possible.”

“And if he wakes up…?”

“Same thing that happens to the people in our dreams when we wake up. At the very least, we stop existing and growing. worse, though, we could just end up forgotten. I’ve had lots of people in my dreams I don’t remember when I wake up.”

Paige and Alex ask, “What do we do?”

“Simple. The players in our dreams—the people, the animals, etc.—all serve the purpose of advancing the dream to a point where we wake up. A monster chases us until we wake up. Someone gives us that toy we’ve always wanted, and we wake up just as we feel that ultimate happiness. So all we need to do is make Changeling not wake up.”

Alex says, “Isn’t this wrong? Real people can die any time. How’s are situation that different.”

“Real people also stop smoking when they learn it makes their life shorter. We’re doing that, but on a slightly different level.

“Also, Changeling believes this is real. He doesn’t even know he’s missing anything.”

“What if Changeling dies?”

“Real people die. No matter what. Even when they stop smoking. How is our situation that different?

“The difference is we’ll be taking control of the situation. But it only works if we all agree.”

They took their time with it.

They agreed to do it.

Genie said, “Okay. We need to get reality farther away from us.”

“How do we do that?”

Paige smiles, “I have an idea.”

………………

This is the end of Act One.

The music is good, so we forget that Willy Wonka was an old white dude who rescued the Oompa Loompa from the vermicious knids, then used that as justification to make them work and live in his factory. He also used them for product testing. Finally, he used candy to lure children into his factory and take them on a magic boatride, all for the purpose of conducting a social experiment on the children without their consent of any kind.
He rounds the whole thing off by destroying the house of the poorest child by giving said child the wrong driving directions and crashing through the roof. His response is to kidnap the entire family in his alien spaceship not so cleverly disguised as a magic elevator, and this is what happy endings are made of.
What’s my point? The position of creepy old dude doing things in the name of artistic genius is already taken, Mr. Musk, go home.

In Paige and Genie’s quarters with just them.

“Why is Changeling always dreaming?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, when you sleep, you dream. I can feel you dream.”

“I see.”

“Okay. Well, I only ever saw Changeling awake… But dreaming. I feel it.”

“Even now?”

“It’s just us now. But probably.” Genie stands. “I think I know what’s going on. We need to talk to Alex.

“One other thing. When we were in the room with all the doors. What did you see in the last one?”

She tells them.

They repeat the need to talk to Alex.

Paige asks, “What about Changeling?”

“Changeling can’t know. Ever.”

It was the only hatchling that managed to be born that year, and so every dragon in the village gathered to watch. They watched a pink dragon find its way out into its new world. They watched it stretch its tiny wings. They muttered to themselves.

Elder, a great gold dragon, leaned down to the hatchling and said,”You are different. There are no pink dragons. I can make you a silver or blue or red dragon. Do this, and your life is an easy one.”

The hatchling said, “no.”

The people gasped.

“I’m gonna be the first pink dragon. I shall eat with you and sleep with you and live with you. One day, there will be more pink dragons. An entire family!”

The hatchling grew into an adult. It ate with the people and it slept with them, and eventually had a family of pink dragons. Dragons from other villages came to see. The pink dragons believed they belonged.

When the bad times came, as they eventually come to all peoples everywhere, and the villagers needed an outlet for their fear, they had no trouble finding their target.

We found another impossible room on the ship. This one is a long hall of doors that seems to go on forever. Genie said they read about a room like that once, and they seemed reluctant to enter.

We did go in, and we realized the doors opened on a different TV universe. I opened one onto the original “Star Trek”, and then we all spent time trying to assign the main roles to ourselves. Alex said if anything, we were more qualified for the cast of “Spaceballs,” and all of us but Paige had a good laugh at that.

Another door opened on Springfield and the Simpsons, another the set of “Big bang Theory”. We were having fun until Paige opened one on the original “Twilight Zone”. She looked in for a minute, then gasped and closed the door. She backed into Genie who put an arm around her, and she won’t talk about what she saw in there. She just keeps throwing me these little sideways glances.

Anyway, that room is now also off limits. At this rate, we’ll all just have to stay in the common room all the time. I wish I knew what she saw…

I would have gotten my ass kicked if the new girl had meant to do it. She caught me totally unaware. One minute, I was in Genie’s quarters, fiddling with the wifi box and completely alone. The next, a voice behind me said,

“I remember that song. My mom used to sing it.”

I spun the way one will when they are caught humming and they didn’t know they were doing it, and there was a girl holding a stuffed unicorn.

Not just any girl.

Last time I’d seen her face, it had been on a plastic ball.

Didn’t see the ball, but there was the girl. Only one thing to make of that.

“I can’t call you Ball Pit Girl. That just sounds wrong.”

“My name is Paige. I know Genie, and you’re not a cat. You must be Changeling.”

“What’s your unicorn’s name?”

“I never gave him one. I found him and I picked him up, and the next thing I remember is being here.”

I turned to Genie as they stepped in. “Genie,” I said, “this is Paige. She’s the newest passenger on my starship.”

“I was going to tell you, but I didn’t know how. She’s not just from the ball pit. She’s from before I met you.”

“How is it even possible?”

“I don’t know. The ship is, after all, the product of your wish.”

“You’re saying I’m doing it?”

“I’m saying the ship exists through nonconventional means. Therefore, nonconventional things will be possible on it.”

I left then.We’ll have to sort this out, but I can’t do that if I’m not in the loop.

£Changeling Chronicles Ep. 6: Genie and Paige in That Order

“Good! You’re awake.”

“Where am I?”

“Aboard the Starship Changeling.”

“What is that?”

“Someone’s third wish. Changeling’s to be exact.”

“How did I get here?”

“… Well …”

“I remember you! You’re GeniYou were my imaginary friend.”

“I was your very real friend. Like this ship and everyone and everything aboard, I operate on a different plane of existence. Children see me. Adults don’t. I know how this sounds because of where we are, but it ain’t rocket science.”

“Okay. But how did I get here?”

“You were ten, and you decided that as a new ten-year-old, you should conquer your fear of the ball pit.”

“I went by myself.”

“All by yourself. You chased me away.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Anyway, you went in. You went all the way to the bottom … You never came out.

“Something else came out of that pit, and it looked like you so no news stories, search parties, etc. I stopped befriending children after that. I should have come with you.”

“I didn’t want you there. I chose to jump into the ball pit. …

“I can’t turn it off. I keep thinking about it.”

“Didn’t I used to sing you to sleep? You know… Before I disappeared and was replaced.”

“You did. Every night. I never actualy slept. Can’t. It just really relaxed me.”

“Okay. Let’s try that.

… … …

“Good. You’re relaxed. I’ll be right here when you wake up. We’ll figure this out.”

… … …

“One more question.””

“Sure.”

Is Changeling a child?”

“No.”

“But it was Changeling’s wish that got us here.”

“I don’t understand why. Changeling is different, I think. I’m here to figure out just how different is different.”

“I’ll help.”

She stands on the side of the road, and a car drives toward her, and she is innocent. Lots of cars drive this way. Lots of cars drive passed her. There have been lots of cars and no problems.

The car swerves at the last minute and runs her over, the driver yelling an insult that would make sailors blush as it does. She explodes into a million dancing lights that hover, but do not reassemble.

She can reassemble herself, but she doesn’t have the heart. A car ran her down, and it hurt. A lot.

If she respawns, she understands, the best she can hope for is a life where she is only seen when someone needs something to be angry at. She believed herself invisible. She believed herself safe. She was so tragicly wrong.

She will not reassemble, nor can she cease to exist. She is old. She is forever.

So she disperses. The dancing little lights find people who can receive them. These people spread the idea of her. She is no longer half-living, nor is she invisible. This time, she knows, she is less vulnerable. There’s safety in numbers after all.

The two space traveling cows haled us, and our first look at their video feed showed them standing at the controls of their craft with a dragon in the background. Once Alex started translating the the cows recognized him as having lived on the dragon-worshiping planet, they were insistent that we give them the coordinates so they could return the dragon.

When we explained that we wiped the location of that planet from our travel log and explained why, the cows said, “Sounds fake, but okay.” Before blasting off again.

One thing is for sure, this experience is one I will remember for a long time. The adventure’s clearly just getting started.