The book of mars

i'm in a foreign place that is currently in a lengthy cultural war with the people who live here.
there are two sides. but i don't care about that right now.
i'm in the forest, walking along trails with my cousins. it's hot and we wanna swim!
there is a perfect path towards a perfect lake. it's beautiful, the water is clear and blue like the oceans.
i run into the water. i know it wont be cold, it will be perfect: it is. the bottom is soft sand.
i close my eyes and experience the lake, feeling everything about it.
by the time i open my eyes, my cousins are running back out of it.
we are surrounded by trees, but thru them we can see in the distance, past some marsh lands, that we are being watched by one side of the war, the dangerous side.
i run out, thru the woods, the woods turn to sand, the main beach.
something is happening. everyone is doing something with the waves.
they are animated, and dance like fire before they crash. i want to ride them...
everyone is in the shallow water watching this happen.
then, they remember the game they're playing, they remember the war...
i am taken along in a "room" (a surreal mix between the feelings of "inside" and "outside, there are walls, but i am outside too...dreamy)
there is a guy watching me. he wants me to play with the game he made.
it is a carnival game, a giant shell game, rigged to his favor i bet. it is three cabinets.
he puts a crystal in one, closes it, and they swap/rotate/move places very fast.
then they open, and there is a button fashioned out of a domino inside.
"press one" he says. i'm scared. he knows that, and calms me down. he is not a fighter. he doens't care about the game, just his job.
i press the first one. the bottom of it dissolves and there is nothing inside.
we play again, and again. my cousin comes to see me.
somehow, we leave. we escape or are let free.

we go to the supermarket.
for a long time, we walk around and have a bit of fun.
then, everyone starts leaving immediately. the cultural war has spread here. people are taking sides.
one section is completely run by one side. the other side left. we decide to leave too.
i find my parents and my other cousin. we steal some bread and leave.
we begin walking home.
we find out the bread is actually hot chocolate and we can't eat it. we're hungry though.
my dad needs to use the bathroom. he goes thru a tunnel to a convenience store and comes back.
we keep walking....