'Peck wandered about, following a path that didn't exist. He knew he was dreaming. This was how all dreams start.
But, if he knew he was dreaming, why didn't he wake up?
He felt his boots clacking against a hard, smooth road that he couldn't see. Everything around him was nothing but darkness, and when he stretched out his hand, he could clearly feel objects around him. Some objects were easy to identify: a tree, a shrub, a rock. Others took some getting used to" mushrooms and fuzzy birds. He shivered upon contacting the bird under his wing, especially when it moved. it felt somewhat slippery.
He turned back ahead, and saw something white. Not light, but, just smooth white. He expected it to grow and envelope him, but instead, he found it staying still as stone statues.
He continued walking toward it. it did not grow with his perspective. it simply stayed, and he wondered if he was getting anywhere at all.
Finally, he reached it...and walked right through.
A black smile carved through the white as he passed through it, as if it were nothing but air. Peck saw it appear right in front of his eyes, and felt a sense of familiarity: like an old friend he'd always known, but couldn't quite place.
The smile was still there when he walked out of the white wall, but this time, it was white against a black world.
And Peck blinked.
When he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by color, coming in and out like yoyo's, like color switching with the scenes in a movie.
Every flash brought something different.
'Was that there before?' Peck asked himself. 'Of course it was not. It moved.' A voice in him replied, clear as day. It were suddenly as if a giant shrub moving from one place to another on it's own was an ordinary thing.
Peck turned around to find that smile on the face of a rabbit. It had a waistcoat and pocket watch. 'I'm late. I've been training you.' It cooed creepily. Peck felt no fear though. he just watched and listened, as if all this were normal.
Suddenly, he was surrounded by rabbits, morphing into other creatures. One was a mouse. A set of twins. A Swallow. 'We've been waiting for you.' They chorused. 'Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?'
Their voices seemed to get deeper as they approached Peck. And yet, Peck did not move. He felt no pain, no fear. It was all normal, somehow.
He was suddenly sitting on a mushroom, in front of another, larger mushroom, which opened up to reveal a large, blue caterpillar. He was fiddling with a pocket watch and a smoking pipe.
Peck opened his beak to say something, but nothing came out.
'Hello. Not hardly. Hello. Not hardly.' The caterpillar repeated this phrase over and over. His voice began to fade away...
Peck found himself suddenly falling down a black abyss, still hearing the voices, as they faded into white noise.
Like the remains of a nightmare, fading away...'
"Peck!" The woodpecker shot up in bed, panting, even though he felt for sure he wasn't having a nightmare. Toby and Sheriff Callie stood by his bed. "Peck." Callie put one paw on her hip. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Peck assured them, despite feeling oddly tired. He was certain he got plenty of sleep...
"You didn't show up to breakfast." Toby explained. "You coming?"
"Yeah." Peck suddenly gathered himself together. "Yeah, I'm coming. Just give me ten minutes." He shot around the room, his muscle memory working for him. He threw on his vest, checking to make sure his star was still pinned to it, and grabbed his hat, hopping into his boots at the same time.
"it only took you two minutes to get ready." Callie chuckled, smiling at him. "Seeing as you're fine, we'd better get a move on."
"Say, Peck?" Toby piped up. "Why were you sleeping with a pocket watch?"
Peck glanced at his bed, and sighed. There it was, a yellow pocket watch, ticking away, and clearly late. Somehow, he could tell it was a late watch.
"I dunno. Hold on." Peck picked it up, and placed it in a box. Toby looked over his shoulder. "Gosh, Peck. That sure is a shiny collection." Callie glanced at what they were looking at. There was a branch with silver bells on it, and a small batch of cockleshells next to it. There was a mushroom and a blue plastic caterpillar, as well as a tiny smoking pipe attached to it. The strangest thing of all, though, was that there were cards everywhere. Cards galore, most of them featuring hearts.
"What's this, Peck?" She asked, watching him place the watch in there with it all.
"It's nothing." Peck answered, shoving the box under the bed, and moving past them. "Come on. We best be going."
During breakfast, Peck was in his head. That was the eighteenth time...the eighteenth time he'd woken up to some unpleasentry. It had to mean something...
"Peck?" He glanced up at Sheriff Callie.
"You've got something on your cheek." Peck wiped the oatmeal off his face without a second thought. Callie's brows furrowed. "peck, I know you wouldn't usually make such a mess while eating. Something wrong?" Peck continued to eat, hoping to ignore her.
The sound of a shout pulled them out of their silence. Callie whirled around. "Bank robbery!"
The next thing Peck knew, he was riding on Clementine, gaining speed, and catching up to a stolen wagon full of money bags, and a gang of criminals.
Clementine had been working hard and getting faster. Mostly because rising her helped Peck take his mind off things. Or helped him sort them out. And they'd been going for rides a LOT lately.
"Clementine's put in work!" Callie called to them. Peck didn't hear. He kept his sights and focus on the criminals, thankful for a distraction from his current predicament.
"Hey, look who it is!" The leader spoke up, smirking, and putting his paws on his hips. Peck ignored that, coming up next to their wagon. "I'm gonna hafta insist you four gentlemen stop this wagon at once!"
"Or what?" Another outlaw laughed. "You gonna trip if we don't?" There was a roar of laughter.
"Stop in the name of the law!" Peck tried again, flashing his badge. "Oh, sure." The leader's smirk grew. "And then we can all watch as you bumble away he money." Peck felt heat rise in his cheeks. "That does it!" He steered Clementine to the front of the wagon, and stopped her there. The outlaws stopped too...but only for a second.
Peck let out a cry, ducking as the jumped right over him and Clementine. They circled him, bringing up dust and creating a fog. Peck could just barely hear Sheriff Callie calling to him on the other side.
He tried to keep his eyes on the wagon, but it was making him dizzy. He heard the jeering laughter of the outlaws.
"When's the last time you did something right?" One of them asked, laughing cruelly. Peck continued to follow them with his eyes, despite their speed. "What do you think is gonna happen here?" Another one asked, malice clear in his tone.
"I'm gonna bring you to jail." Peck answered. The boss scoffed. "oh, is that so? Catch us then. We're right in front of you." Peck made a grab, but he caught nothing but rope. The bandits laughed again.
Peck found himself being bound by the rope, and the criminals continued to circle him. he jumped off, and landed on their wagon. "i may be tied, but you can't hide!" He declared...only to be treated to more laughter.
"Ha!" The boss laughed. "Shrimpy here thinks he's gonna jail us!" There was another roar of laughter. Peck burned. "What are you gonna do now, deputy?" The boss asked. "You gonna dance for us?" Peck ignored that, and made to tackled him...only to land smack on his face.
The boss smiled, and scooped him up. "too easy." Peck was soon airborne.
When the dust cleared, Peck was sitting there, leaning against Clementine, who was munching on some grass. He was dizzy and tied up. The outlaws were laughing in the distance. "What a bumbling buffoon!" One of them roared.
"I wonder why the sheriff asked the kid she babysat for to be her deputy?" Another laughed, smirking at Peck. The leader did the same. "Face it, bird. You're no good deputy! But you're a might good joke!" The outlaws rode away, laughing like crazy.
Callie rode up to his side, and quickly untied him. "Come on, Peck. We got robbers to catch...oh." She took in his features. "Peck, you look like a zombie." Peck had rings under his eyes, and was slumped over. it was as if he would fall over in a second.
"I can help." Peck mumbled weakly, trying to stay balanced. Callie ignored him, hoisting him onto Clementine with her strong arms. "Clementine, take him back to the jailhouse, and give this to Doc." She gave Clementine a note, before hopping on Sparky, and taking off.
Peck leaned against her back, feeling exhausted. Yet another foiled attempt to thwart crime. All because of him.
Clementine waited with Peck at Doc's office, munching on some flowers outside as he leaned on the front steps. "I messed up again, Clementine." He told her. He felt like she really listened. "Another bunch of robbers got away because I was stupid." Clementine, as if sensing her owners downheartedness, licked his cheek and brayed.
"It is true!" Peck felt like he could understand her. "I let myself get fooled by that rooster. I let them gold hustlers get away, taking me with them. I can't even stop yarn from getting away! Every time Sheriff Callie brings me along, I make things worse!" He propped his head in his hands, and his elbows on his knees. "Sometimes I wonder: why in the world would she make ME a deputy?" Clementine placed her head on her owners lap, hoping to offer solace. she whined, and he petted her. "Clementine, you're the only one who understands."
He felt awful. he was only trying to help, but all he ever did was make things worse. When Sheriff Callie brought him along to any of her business, he made it harder for her. He tripped, and talked, and made a fool of himself, trying to seem tough and authoritative in front of criminals...only to be laughed at, and taken for a fool.
Doc opened the door, and stuck his head out. "Peck, you can come in now." Peck sighed, and trudged up the steps.
"Don't say you're fine." Doc cut him off before he could open his mouth, quite used to peck's protests. "Whenever Sheriff Callie sends you here, it usually means something's wrong."
'And I keep ending up at the doctor's for my mistakes, too.' Peck thought miserably, watching the Doc as he searched through his drawers.
It was just a basic checkup. The result didn't make Peck feel any better, though.
"Go home, and get lots of rest." Doc instructed him. Peck's eyes widened. "But-! Doc! I need to be out there he;ping the sheriff!"
"Doctor's orders." Doc stated simply, giving him a prescription paper. "Sheriff Callie would want you to follow them." Peck sighed, and walked out, mumbling to himself. Clementine simply knelt down a little, let Peck mount her, and began a brisk, comforting walk home.
Peck rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake, thinking about every mission gone wrong: the gold bandits, the lizard, the rooster...all of them had either tricked him, or used him in some way. All the while making things harder for the sheriff.
Peck carefully hooked Clementine up in her mule house, before entering his room, and flopping onto his bed. He WAS tired, but he would never admit it.
Once he was in bed, he was reminded again: the dreams.
The dreams of darkness and color, of animals and objects, all these strange things...one after another, all the same but...different.
And he always woke up with something beside him. Some object from his dream.
'At least I'll have something other to think about.' he thought, before slumber overtook him.