It didn’t take Malcolm’s parent’s long to figure out that whatever he dreamed came true. It took them even less time to formulate a plan to make money from this power. They line their pockets with the money of desperate family members looking for miracle cures, and formerly childless couples.
Diane and Carl kept a strict handle on everything Malcolm consumed, be it nourishment, media, or human companionship. They did everything in their power to make sure Malcolm would only dream what they wanted him to dream. When the money of the lonely and the destitute wasn’t enough to satiate their greed, they began feeding the child only gold coin and dollar shaped chocolates. They forced him to breathe the scent of one-hundred dollar bills for hours before going to bed.
Malcolm had often longed for the lives of the other children he had seen in brief glimpses from his bedroom window. It wasn’t until the ninth time his parents had moved (always keeping one step ahead of local social services) that Diane and Carl finally became complacent enough to slip-up. Malcolm, now a world weary eight years, had convinced his parents to let him have a sleepover with a group of local boys. It was only one night. What was the worst that could happen?
In the horrible years to come Malcolm would look back on that night with a bittersweet nostalgia as the best night of his young life. It was the first and last night of true freedom he ever had. He would never see his parents alive again.
The sleepover was amazing! Kevin’s parents left him eat whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted! The adults were quietly bemused to see a child so enthusiastic to eat steamed carrots. Malcolm may have been enamored by the carrots, but it was the pizza that threw him into the delirious joys of first true love.
The boys played video games for hours while they grilled the new kid on: “When he would start school with them? Where did he move from? What did his parents do for a living? What his favorite color was? and ‘What do you mean you’ve never played Mariokart?!’” Malcolm gave the same well practiced answers to the questions that his parents had drilled into him in case any ‘nosey-Parker do gooders’ tried to check on the child.
Everything had gone so well up-until the point they all settled in their sleeping bags in Kevin’s living room floor as his mom put on the boys favorite sleepover pastime movie. Malcolm would have his first nightmare that night. Through all the years and all the terror he would endure, there was one iconic line that would haunt him forever:
“They’re coming to get you Barbara.”
With thanks to Insomnia Cured Here for this picture.
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