A Purple Nightmare

"A Purple Nightmare" is a mini-story that is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series.

The Story
It was the night after the Smurfs were completely cured of the Purple Smurf disease, and Duncan McSmurf was asleep in his bed when he heard a knocking on his door late in the night. He got up to see who would be disturbing his sleep when he saw that it was his friend Tapper.

"I need to talk to you about a nightmare that I've been smurfing, and I don't know who else to turn to," Tapper said.

"Michty me, laddie, you don't smurf so good," Duncan said. "Why don't we smurf somewhere that the two of us can talk?"

"Right here in your house is fine, my friend," Tapper said. And so the two of them sat together on the training mat in Duncan's living room.

"Usually you're the one that most Smurfs would come to when they have a problem that Empath isn't here to smurf care of," Duncan said. "So what is it about your nightmare that's making you so upset?"

"I...I feel like I can't stop being a Purple Smurf, even though I am cured of the disease, Duncan," Tapper said. "I don't know why, but somehow I seem to be smurfing the urge to smurf after another Smurf's tail for no reason."

"Now that's something I wouldn't expect to hear from you, Tapper," Duncan said. "Is there anything else about this nightmare that's frightening you?"

"I just keep smurfing the same thing in my head over and over...'gnap gnap gnap'...and it's making me feel like I'm going crazy," Tapper said, holding his hands over his ears as if he didn't want to keep hearing it.

"You've got to remember that you're safe now, laddie," Duncan said. "The Purple Smurf disease has been taken care of, and what you did as a Purple Smurf was not your fault. What you're feeling right now will pass in time."

"I feel afraid that I'm going to lose my sanity, Duncan," Tapper said, sounding more and more agitated. "I just can't stop being what I was...and I feel this intense hatred inside of me...a hatred that I don't have any control over, and that I feel totally ashamed of."

"Tapper, my boy, don't be afraid of what you're feeling," Duncan said. "I know how much you want to be just like this Almighty of yours, but you shouldn't deny that you're still a Smurf underneath it all, and if you feel hate, that's also part of who you really are."

"Oh, Duncan, I feel like such a failure to myself and to my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said as he burst out into tears. "I just can't stop feeling like I'm still a Purple Smurf."

"There, there, laddie, everything will be all right," Duncan said as he held his friend in his arms to comfort him. "We'll smurf through this together, you and I. Whatever's haunting you, I'm not going to let it smurf the best of you, and I will make sure you won't let it either."

"This is one battle I'm afraid neither of us will be able to fight by ourselves, Duncan," Tapper said. "I must pray that the Almighty will help us smurf it together."

"Whatever you need to smurf to fight this feeling, I will be right there with you, Tapper," Duncan said.

Tapper stifled up the tears long enough to let himself speak out the words. "O Lord Almighty, the Father of all creation, I pray for the strength to overcome these nightmares that I'm having, and I pray that You would smurf my friend Duncan the strength that he will need to help me fight these feelings that I'm smurfing."

"Aye, we are indeed brothers in the same battle," Duncan said.

"I know that nothing is impossible for the one who believes, so right now I'm believing that these feelings, these desires, these nightmares will smurf away, and that I shall smurf a good night's sleep under the shadow of Your wings," Tapper said. "That's all that I'm asking for, and I know that You are able to deliver, for Your promises are always yes and amen."

"Yes and amen," Duncan repeated.

"So I clothe myself in Your armor to smurf myself against the wiles of the devil, O Lord," Tapper said. "I smurf on the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, and the helmet of salvation. I smurf up the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the evil one, and I smurf up the sword of the Spirit to say, 'Devil, you shall not smurf me, for I am a child of God, and I belong solely to Him, and there's nothing that you can smurf to me.' In the name of Your only begotten Son, I pray. Amen."

Both Tapper and Duncan were panting together after the heavy prayer session they have endured through. "So how do you feel now, my Smurf brother?" Duncan asked.

"I feel...a bit more calm than I was when I first smurfed in here, Duncan," Tapper answered.

"That's the fighting spirit of the Ailill that's still in you, laddie," Duncan said. "Don't you be forgetting it the next time you ever smurf one of these nightmares."

"Duncan, the Almighty has smurfed me that I should smurf in your house for the night to make sure that I can smurf back home tomorrow morning without anymore nightmares to worry about," Tapper said.

"Well, if you think that will help you, then by all means...my house is your house," Duncan said. "The training mat is all I have for a spare bed, but I'm sure that you can smurf yourself comfortable."

"I'm sorry that I had to wake you up for something like this, my friend," Tapper said as he made himself comfortable lying down on the training mat while Duncan gave him a pillow to rest his head on.

"We're brothers, you and I, of two different clans, but we're still Smurfs," Duncan said. "Don't ever be ashamed of smurfing my way if you ever need help with something that you cannot fight by yourself."