The Dreaming (manga)

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The Dreaming

Genre	Drama, Horror, Suspense
Manga
Authored by	Queenie Chan
Publisher	TokyoPop
Serialized in	N/A
Original run	12/13/2005(first volume) – ongoing
No. of volumes	3

This article is about the manga series. For other uses of the term "dreaming," see Dream (disambiguation)

The Dreaming is an original manga series created by Artist/Author Queenie Chan and published by TOKYOPOP. It is one of the first American made mangas put out by the company.

Jeanie and Amber Malkin - identical twin sisters - are new students at the 100-year-old Greenwich Private College, a boarding school in North Sydney, Australia that lies on the edge of vast, virgin bushlands. After settling in and meeting new friends, the girls learn an unsettling secret: time and time again over the past century, students have wandered off into the wilderness surrounding the school and vanished without a trace, never to return. Jeanie and Amber begin to discover the mystery behind the disappearances and also the reason why the College's creepy vice-principal carries such a prejudice against identical twins.

1 Characters
- 1.1 Students
- 1.2 Staff
2 Manga
- 2.1 Trivia
- 2.2 External links

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Students

Amber Malkin 15

She is the serious minded twin, and is the first of the twins to feel the supernatural prescense at Greenwich. Amber is shy, and as such feels a little left out when next to her more exhuberant twin. She is close to her sister, but will not always tell her what is on her mind. Amber has frequent dreams of a mysterious and menacing gathering in a forest.

Jeanie Malkin 15

Jeanie is the more outgoing of the two, and makes friends easily. She sometimes will accidentally leave her quieter sister out in her drive to be accepted. Jeanie is very loyal to Amber, however. Jeanie can be a rebel at times, and as such will not always make the right choices.

Millie

Millie is a student at the Greenwich Private College. She is one of the more knowledgeable people about the mysteries that surround the bushland area, since her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother have all gone to Greenwich when they were younger. Peppy and popular, she is quick to invite the two sisters into her social group.

Schala

She is one of the fellow students at the school. Schala is daring, and thinks nothing of sneaking out of her room late at night to go to a party in one of the other dorm rooms. She can loose her patience somewhat easily, as she was quick to scold Amber when she refused to cooperate in a group seance. Schala has some knowledge of the stories surrounding the college, but it is very limited. She is very good at leading, and was able to get herself and her friends on a search team when one of the fellow students goes missing.

Trevor

A friend of Millie's, he is very interested in the artwork throughout the campus. He seems to be interested in Jeanie, although she doesn't seem to be as interested in him.

[edit] Staff

Mrs. Skeener

She is the vice-principal of Greenwich Private College, and refuses to let twins into the school under any circumstances. Her reasons for this are as yet unknown, as she is very secretive about them. She is very strict, and is quick to scold any students that she thinks is acting improperly. Mrs. Skeener has a mysterious back room in her office, which contains an antique dress and a picture of two twins. Speculation exists between some of the students that these twins are related somehow to Mrs. Skeener.

Catherine Anu

She is one of the younger teachers at the college, and is very strict. She comes across the girls sneaking out of their dorm room one night. She is the one that sends the twins to the office, causing them to discover Mrs. Skeener's back room.

Jessie Malkin

Jessie is the aunt of Amber and Jeanie, as well as the head-mistress of the college. She was very insistent on the twins attending the school, even going as far as to fake the twins' birthdates. As soon as the twins arrive, she goes on a trip for three months for an educational summit as well as to bury her father-in-law. She is aware of the stories circulating through the college, but it is so far unknown if she brought the twins to the school purposely because of the stories.

[edit] Manga

Volume 1

Summary is as follows: (some spoilers)

Identical twins Amber and Jeanie arrive at an ultra-exclusive boarding school in Australia at the request of their aunt, Jessie. One sibling is eager to attend the college, while one is apprehensive about it. Upon their arrival to the college, they immediately begin to hear stories about missing students and rooms that are unexplicably sealed up. Amber begins to have dark and disturbing dreams about a murderous group in the middle of a forest. The mystery deepens at a late night seance in a classmate's room, when a group (against Amber's better judgement) summons the spirit of Mary Spector, a mysterious presence in the college. When the twins get in trouble for sneaking out to attend said seance, they are sent to the office of the creepy and secretive vice-principal. Once there they discover a mysterious room filled with antiques and a picture of twin girls in antique dresses. Soon after their discovery, they are chased out of the office by the vice-prinicipal, who denies summoning the girls. A few days after the seance one of the students goes missing, leading the girls to wonder- what is the link between the stories and twin sisters, and is the chain of disappearances starting up again?

Detailed summary of Chapters 1-2*(Warning!) Detailed Spoilers *

During the first volume of the manga, the girls arrive at the school and are surprised when their aunt, the headmaster tells them not to tell anyone that they are twins, but they are sisters a year apart. Before they meet the other students, Amber ventures into the bathroom, but later runs out scared. A classmate, Millie takes them to their room, which is much nicer than they expected. Millie leaves the twins, promising to bring them dinner later. The twins are left alone in the room, with Jeanie being very excited, but Amber seems depressed about something. When Millie doesn't bring their dinner, Jeanie says she is going to go find her. Amber tags along reluctantly, since she still seems scared about earlier. While searching for Millie, Amber reveals her reason for running out of the bathroom, saying, "You know how I ran out of the restroom earlier, Jeanie? I was sure I was the only one in there, yet I could hear someone singing softly from behind me." Upon their exploration down one of the hallways they suddenly see a sealed room and wonder what it is. There's a strange picture in front of it of a young woman leaning towards the viewer, one finger raised in a whisper. Jeanie is about to touch the sealed door when an old lady from behind her stops her. She seems to think they are twins and starts to get angry, asking them why they are there. Amber replies that they are new students, and are sisters who merely look alike. Satisfied with the explanation, the lady starts to let them go. Outraged, Jeanie starts to tell her off, saying that it is rude to sneak up on people. Before leaving, the old lady responds that she is the vice principal, Mrs. Skeener. After Mrs. Skeener leaves, Millie appears. She is stunned that Jeanie shouted at the vice-principal, and recommends that they never yell at Mrs. Skeener again. She's expelled students before and isn't afraid to. Millie accompanies the twins back to their room, leaving their dinner by the window. Before she leaves, she stops to say, "I almost forgot to tell you something very important. A warning to be exact, about the bushlands surrounding the school. Going into the bushlands for whatever reason, is strictly forbidden. It's because over the years, for whatever inexplicable reasons, there have been instances of students wandering out into the bush and vanishing without a trace. I don't mean to scare you. Well, goodnight." When the girls are asleep, the window shuts and they start to dream. In Jeanie's dream, we see her being pulled by a mysterious figure. She opens her eyes and is wearing a victorian dress. She is surrounded by trees and other girls wearing dresses like hers. The trees start to drip blood and Jeanie wonders what is going on. She starts to scream, "Nooo! Make it stop!" and wakes up. The next day at a break between classes, Jeanie tells Amber about her dream and Amber says she had the exact same dream, right down to the details on the dress. They start to discuss why when they see a painting behind them that has dresses that look identical to the ones in the dream. A boy comes up behind them and introduces himself as Trevor, a friend of Millie's who was asked to show them to their classes. Upon seeing Jeanie's interest in the paintings, he lends her a book published by the college that contains all of the paintings in the college. Trevor tells them that the painting they were viewing earlier is the first in a series by an unknown author. A few weeks pass, and Jeanie has yet to read the book, but refuses to return it. The twins fight over their dreams one night before bed, when they reveal that they are still having the same reoccuring dreams. We witness Amber taking some sleeping pills, which she says stops the dreams from occurring. Jeanie believes that the dreams are a result of stress because of the upcoming exams, which Amber believes she may do poorly in. Amber falls asleep, uneasy about her sister's disbelief in the supernatural elements that have begun to reveal themselves.

Volume 2

After the discovery of the missing student's body, many students either leave the college or are taken from the college by their parents. Lonely, Jeanie strikes up a friendship with Miss Anu, one of the teachers. However, as she develops her new friendship, she starts to delve further and further into the dark mysteries of the college's past. Meanwhile, Amber withdraws more and more from those around her, preferring to spend her days sleeping. When the missing girls suddenly appear one rainy night, and dead girls begin to speak to the living, it is clear that everyone's lives are in danger, and the only way to stay alive is to unravel the mysteries surrounding the college. Will Amber and Jeanie ever be able to escape the horror of Greenwich Private College?

Volume 3

The reappearance of the missing schoolgirls throughout the ages has struck true terror into the hearts of the remaining students. Jeanie realizes that the only way to find out the truth is to finally enter the room that has been sealed off for years! Can the girls discover what the true mystery is behind the school?

The release date would be at the end of 2007, as said by the author, Queenie Chan.

[edit] Trivia

The inital plotline of this series (students going missing in the Australian wilderness) is very similar to 'A Picnic At Hanging Rock', yet the author states that her inspiration comes from a friend who disappeared in the Tasmanian wilderness. Her friend's gear was discovered, but there was no trace of what happened to her.
The characters of the twins Jeanie and Amber actually come from Queenie-Chan's first pitch to TokyoPop, a romantic comedy called 'Twins'. While the inital pitch was rejected, the first chapter can be read on her website.
In the first printing of volume 1, there was a bonus insert of the twins as paperdolls with period clothing. It is not available in later printings, but is still available for download on the author's website.
As of Fall 2006 the first volume is in its 3rd printing, making it one of the best selling titles of TokyoPop's American made mangas.