“The thing is,” continued Weztix, “bringing new people to this side is a bit of a problem. Sometimes I actually run short on help. After all, the way the world is these days there are often more nightmares than I can deliver! Anyway, we’ve known for some time that there was a weakness under your bed—which meant that you were a candidate for a job here.”

More old nightmare images came surging to the surface. I felt hot tears running down my face.

“Why?” I asked. “Is this punishment for something bad I did?”

Weztix threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t give yourself airs, David! It is completely and utterly random. There’s not a thing you could have done to make it happen, not a thing you could have done to avoid it. It has nothing to do with you as a person. You just happened to have the wrong bedroom.”

He smiled again. “I think it’s scarier that way, don’t you?”

I nodded solemnly.

“Anyway, weak as the boundary was beneath your bed, we still couldn’t bring you through until some other living thing from your side had made the final break. When your cat came through the floor today, Timothy knew that his long wait had been rewarded.”

“Timothy?”

Weztix nodded toward the evil-looking creature who had pulled me into the nightmare world. With a sick feeling, I realized that my captor was—or at least had been—a kid.

“Timothy is one of my delivery boys,” said Weztix. “Same as you will be. After all, someone has to pass out the nightmares.”

“I don’t want to!” I cried.

Weztix shook his head. “Look at it this way, David. Most people your age don’t have any idea what they want to be when they grow up. They muddle their way through school then thrash around, trying this, trying that, wondering what to do with themselves. You don’t have to worry about any of that. Your life’s work has been chosen for you!”

He began to laugh again. This time the sound was not so beautiful. Pushing my hands against my ears, I threw myself to the ground and began to sob.

It did no good. Nothing did any good. I was a prisoner in the land of nightmares.