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"Ge-Get ready for a surprise!"
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“Sam is afraid of just about anything and everything that's unhealthy ever since his father died.” |
Somniphobia is the first story in Tales from the Pizzaplex 3: Somniphobia and chronologically the Tales from the Pizzaplex series' 7th story. It was written by Kelly Parra.
Characters[]
Humans[]
- Barker Family
- Dawson Family
- Raad Dawson
- Mr. Dawson
- Mrs. Dawson
- Raad's siblings
- Raad's cousin
- Jules
- Larry
- Bogart
- Lydia Gomes
- Bill
- Mildred
- Josh
- Misty Salazar
- Mr. Taylor
- Davis
- Mrs. Hooligan
Animatronics[]
Locations[]
- Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex
- Marina High School
Plot[]
Bill and Mildred look around a yard sale being hosted by their neighbors whose son, Josh, has suddenly fallen into a coma. The family has to move out of state in order to provide him full-time care. Looking at the household items makes Mildred sad, and she proposes they donate to the family in order to help out instead. Bill examines a broken sphere with an odd-looking jester character inside and agrees with his wife's plan.
Meanwhile, high school senior Sam Barker is enjoying his Friday lunch with his friends Raad, Jules, Larry, and Bogart at the bleachers. When Sam was in third grade he lost his father in a fatal motorcycle accident and got very bad anxiety, rarely trying new things and keeping a strict diet. He tends to get teased by his friends, but Raad is understanding. The group discuss their fears, with Bogart bringing up Josh. The conversation gets awkward when they learn Sam’s dad didn’t teach him to swim, and Jules brings up Misty’s party. Sam’s more excited for Raad’s party at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex on Sunday but still goes to Misty’s. A girl named Lydia compliments his glasses and offers him Misty’s Birthday Poolside Punch, but he notices others acting funny and concludes alcohol’s in it. Lydia changes the subject to cliff diving in Santa Cruz, but Sam tells a gruesome story and she quickly leaves. Jules gets upset and argues with Sam. Raad steps in but Jules shoves the drink in Sam’s face, triggering an anxiety attack. Sam runs to the kitchen for water before leaving. Bogart informs the group and Jules complains about Sam, but Raad disagrees and convinces them to bail.
On Raad’s birthday, the group visits Monty’s Gator Golf, Roxy’s Raceway, and Fazer Blast. Raad takes his friends to the Fazcade prize shop to show off one of Moondrop’s Dream Spheres, a sphere with Moondrop the jester in it. Raad explains that it slips people into a hypnotic state to focus better, taking information from their subconscious and bringing it more clearly into view. They get the dream sphere and go to Raad’s house to study. Sam tells a story about his dad’s friend who got very drunk at a party and fell asleep only to wake up to the dog having eaten his face, so Raad puts his dog Brutus outside. The dream sphere can only be used ten minutes a day, so Sam sets a timer. Their notes turn into visual scenes showing the Pyramids of Giza, a math equation on an airplane’s distance before taking off, and a kitchen in a pizzeria. There’s also a scene from Romeo and Juliet, and they conclude it was pulled from their subconscious. Raad decides they’ll take turns with the sphere each week and Sam volunteers first. As Raad hands it over, Sam notices it slightly vibrate in his hands.
After school the next day, Sam sets up the dream sphere in his room. He uses the dream sphere to study his notes on English literature and ocean science, finding himself in the middle of Hamlet and swimming in the ocean. Sam is ecstatic and decides to cook his mother her favorite meal. The next day, he decides to extend the timer to 15 minutes. Sam watches the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the historical timeline of voting rights, George Washington becoming the first president and those who followed, the passing of treaties and laws, and wars being fought. Suddenly, he finds himself in a small park and notices his dad. Sam, who is now younger, loses him. He notices a flash of blue and gray in the corner of his eye, and his dad jumps out from behind a tree and swings him around. Sam laughs with his dad as he turns off the dream sphere, but quickly begins crying. Later, Sam’s mom helps him look through his dad’s stuff and he takes interest in an old portable CD player with headphones and a few old CDs.
The next day in government class, Sam gets handed back his latest test with a score of 115 percent. Jules asks for the dream sphere, but Sam sticks to the one week rule. During lunch, Sam agrees to help Raad work on his backyard the next day. After school, Sam rushes home and sets the timer to 20 minutes. After learning more about ocean history and the health benefits of an apple, he experiences a family road trip to an amusement park and the zoo, along with a picnic on the beach and family movie night. Later that evening, Sam snaps at his mom when he sees her with the dream sphere. He feels a strange vibration coming from the sphere but decides not to use it. That night, Sam has trouble sleeping and has to fight the urge to turn on the dream sphere.
Sam feels disconnected and has a hard time focusing. Jules snaps him back at the end of their government class, and Sam snaps at Jules when he accidentally bumps into him. Jules intentionally does it and Sam storms off to his locker. Lydia checks on him, but Sam quickly runs to the bleachers. Jules informs the group of what happened and argues with Sam over the dream sphere. Raad steps in, but Sam storms off. After school, Sam goes to a mini-mart and purchases coffee. He spots an advertisement for the Mega Pizzaplex and also sees snow globes and hanging bells for sale. With everything reminding him of Moondrop’s Dream Sphere, Sam jogs home and uses it again. Once finished he feels strangely exhausted and remembers the promise he made with Raad. Sam apologizes and looks at his bedroom mirror, noticing he’s pale and has dark circles under his eyes. That night, both Sam and his mom are tired and Sam tries to argue his way out of his turn to do the dishes. His mom questions his behavior and demands he return the dream sphere. Sam slams his door and turns it on again.
Sam has strange and uncomfortable dreams. He decides to stay home and apologizes to his mom for fighting with her. She apologizes too and leaves for work, and Sam uses the dream sphere once more. He receives a memory of when he was eight riding with his dad on a road trip. They pull off to a rest stop to eat snacks and his dad advises him to step outside of his comfort zone and find new experiences as he gets older. Sam realizes that his paranoia and fear of danger would have disappointed his dad. He tries to turn the dream sphere off, but it thrusts him into the memory of the day of his dad’s death. Sam panics and turns the dream sphere off, but he’s still stuck inside the memory and forced to finish it. He tries again and manages to turn it off for real, and realizing his sense of reality is blurring and his eyes beginning to bleed, he decides to finally return it to Raad.
Sam goes to Raad’s house and finds it unlocked with no one except Brutus home. Sam calls Raad and Raad says they’ll be there in 25 minutes for a study session. Sam notices that the dream sphere is vibrating and feels warm. His obsession with the sphere overtakes him and, not wanting his last memory with it to be of his dad’s death, asks for one last good experience. In this final experience, Raad encourages Sam to ask Lydia out to prom. Sam then gets a phone call from his dad, telling him to come straight home after school to celebrate his mom selling her first big art piece. Sam realizes that the dream sphere has heard him, and he rushes over to ask Lydia to prom. She says yes, and Raad congratulates him.
In the real world, Raad informs the others that Sam’s returning the dream sphere, but Jules reveals his friend at the Mega Pizzaplex can let them play a new arcade game before others. Raad doesn’t want to leave Sam behind, so he texts Sam before joining the others. Sam ignores it and uses the dream sphere to pass his SAT. He finds the dream sphere in his locker and makes his friends forget it exists. Sam meets up with them and beats Jules in an arm wrestle, making peace with him. He then hears the house phone ringing and questions where his friends are. Sam tries turning off the dream sphere, but can’t move and comes to a troubling realization: he never plugged it in. He hears Brutus barking and feels a sharp pain at his ear. Sam runs to the school bathroom as he feels Brutus tearing at his cheek. His face is fine in the reflection, but he can feel Brutus eating his face in the real world. Moondrop appears behind him, and when he waves his hand Sam is suddenly at peace. Sam follows Moondrop out the door, excited for more adventures. Meanwhile, the Moondrop in the dream sphere slowly stops spinning.
Trivia[]
- Moondrop was originally a fan-made name for the evil personality of the Daycare Attendant, Moon. The name actually belongs to a candy, which Moon is a mascot of.
- This means, that Moondrop belongs to a small group of characters, whose fan-given names were later canonized, such as Golden Freddy and Scraptrap.