
| Welcome to Chapter Eight - writing in blue is Hannah's, and writing in red is Jess's |
The gang were walking along
when as quickly as the night before, darkness came. It was just
like someone had flicked the switch off and they were plunged
into darkness. Hannah, who had been walking beside Otto,
purposefully fell into his arms, sideways.
"What the-?" Spike started, then the lights came on (or
more accurately the moon came up) and they stood on the ever
continuing purple slate road, wondering what the hell to do next.
"What the hell shall we do next?" Ben voiced everyone's
concerns."
"I have no idea - but we do appear to be in an opiu- I mean,
poppy field," Otto said.
Jess didn't say anything because she thought that she was either
going a) insane, or b) hearing a far off cackling.
"I want to go home," Hannah muttered, being stood up
once more by Otto.
"Oh, God, I've seen this bit of the film..." said Jess.
"The Wicked Witch of the West makes the poppies send
everyone to sleep...but the tin man and the scarecrow stayed
awake because they're not human." She looked at Otto.
"So if we fall asleep, you'll have to wake us up -
because you're not human."
"Oh, p*ss o-" Otto was cut short as he convulsed with a
giant yawn.
"I'm so tired..." commented Ben, sitting down
and killing three rare breeds of poppy in the process.
Jess yawned.
Hannah yawned.
Xander yawned with an air of refinement.
Peter
yawned.
Otto yawned.
Spike yawned.
Lion yawned.
Graham yawned.
Jess yawned again.
"Have you all finished?" Lee exclaimed. Being a gremlin
and therefore non-human, the poppies had no effect on him.
"No, hang on." Hannah yawned. "Ok."
Jess suddenly fell to the floor, closely followed by Lion and
Hannah. Otto and Graham were next.
"Oh, Christ!" Lee kicked Jess. "Get up!" He looked around nervously.
"GET UP!" he shouted, but everybody was on the floor
either snoring or singing in their sleep (we won't mention who,
they'd be too embarrassed). "Oh s*d it." He bedded down
on the floor since he knew that he'd get a better night sleep if
they were all asleep properly (cushion fights and knock and run
games on the doors of bedrooms not included).
Lee woke up happy and
refreshed. The silent nights sleep did him well and today was a
lovely blue sky day (as per usual in SofaLand).
"Oi! Get your leg off me you arse!!" Hannah's voice
sounded from a pile of bodies.
Lee looked up in shock. "You shouldn't be awake!" he cried.
"Why the hell not?" Hannah slapped Otto round the face.
"Entertain me monkey!"
"Excuse me?" Otto said opening his eyes.
"Oh, never mind. You're awake now. I'll just watch
you."
"Bu...but you shouldn't be awake!!" Lee cried further,
getting up and running over to them. Sure enough, everyone was
getting up, including Lion, who had shortly after
waking, found that he had wet himself during the night and was
now behind a nearby bush.
"What can I say? That evil witch isn't that bad - I slept
soundly!" Jess commented.
Lee ran around the field next to the road and soon found the
witches body. "SHE'S ASLEEP!!" he shouted over.
"And? Everyone needs to sometime..." Hannah said.
Jess trotted over. "Cherie Blair?! I knew it!"
Everyone rose to their feet.
"Shall we keep going?" Lee indicated to the purple
slate road winding out of the poppy field and into the distance.
"Guess so." Hannah stretched.
"Ding dong, the b*tch is dead, ding dong, the b*tch is
dead..."
"Ooh, hang on...could you all wait a second?"
"Why do you want a
brain?" Otto asked Hannah as they walked.
"I dunno...looks fun."
"But...you don't want to end up like her." Otto
indicated to Jess.
"Well, I don't know...being able to read Middle English and
use long words like 'ABERRANT' would be nice."
"Why?"
"Dunno."
Meanwhile, a similar conversation was taking place...
"Why do you want a heart, Jess?" asked Ben.
"I DON'T."
"But you must already have one, surely," said Peter.
"Yes. I do."
"So why do you want one?" asked Graham.
"I DON'T!"
The Lion ran out from a
nearby bush. "I said WAIT!" he roared.
"Oh shut up," snapped Hannah.
Lion roared loudly, whined, grimaced and ran back behind the bush
with a screwed up face.
"So why have a brain?" Otto persisted.
"Maybe if you had one, you wouldn't be asking me this
stupid question!" Hannah retorted.
Otto paused and thought
for a while, shook his head and started up a conversation about
Cradle Of Filth.
Lee skipped along freely up front until he spotted two slates
missing in the road. "Oh my God!" he let slip.
Suddenly
a wisp of cloud appeared in front of him with a faint Bertrude
floating inside it.
"Oh sorry Bertrude...I didn't need
you."
"This has happened one too many times Lee. Watch your
mouth." Bertrude vanished along with the cloud.
"What was that all about?" Peter asked.
"LOOK!" Lee pointed at the gap where the two slates
should have been.
"Oh...right." Hannah was unimpressed.
"Don't you realise what this MEANS?" Lee exclaimed.
"It...means...that..." Hannah thought hard. Dammit! She
needed that brain and she needed it now!
"Needle Nardle Noo," said Spike.
"Exactly!" Lee exclaimed. "You've got it spot on,
there, Spike!"
"What?" Hannah frowned.
"The purple slate road is the very essence...the very
building blocks of SofaLand!"
"Oh," said Hannah. "So...two slates missing is
quite a big deal?"
"YES!" said Lee, incensed.
"Oh, Christ," said Jess. "Here we go
again..."
� Jess and Hannah 2002