I am in my own apartment and there is a new garden in the backyard. I sit in the garden and I am warned by a family member that there is a Bengal tiger who dwells nearby. I pay no attention and figure that he is tamed and sit there anyway. I am sitting in a lawn chair in this garden and I see a small underground tunnel where the garden door should be, which is now completely smashed in. I look down the dark tunnel and I see a set of large eyes and hear a low growling. I realize that it's the tiger, and he could attack at any minute. I quickly leap up and run through the door, slamming it shut. I tell my family but nobody pays any mind to it. Then, I go back outside to investigate. My mother is already sitting out on the lawn chair and suddenly I see the tiger jump up through the whole in one great leap. He is incredibly large with a fierce growl and I begin to run away. The tiger eyes me and sets forth for me. He jumps on my back and attacks me, severing my arms and hands. Trainers suddenly appear and take him back, chaining him against the walls of our garden. I have severe injuries but as I walk inside, they suddenly disappear into scars. I look outside the back window and see everyone cuddling with the chained tiger that had just attacked me. Once inside, I get a phone call from a man who tells me that I am to go on a journey with seven other people who have had miracles happen to them. Since I survived a tiger attack and healed so quickly, they wanted to do an experimental journey and take us to a different reality. Suddenly, I am in a different world: the people are futuristic and come from nationalities that I have never seen before: green and blue skin, metallic head wear. We begin in a field on top of a cliff, with the largest city I have ever seen below, surrounded by miles and miles of ocean. We are wearing stilts and have to walk through the fields without falling. I am the second to go. The first person wanders through the wrong path, being bit by various plants along the way. The instructor yells at him and tells him that he will not be seen again. A pack of demon-looking creatures carry him away in broad daylight as he kicks and screams. We walk down the path that leads to an underground cave. Inside the underground cave, there are thousands of people at work and sweating, also there is a convention center attached with various movies playing. We all walk down, and he tells us to walk through a long hallway in which there will be dozens of elevators and we must pick the right one. As we walk down the hallway, we enter door # 2 containing elevator # 2. I explore down the hallway a bit and see people disappear in different elevators. Some are group members that we were with. We have a group meeting inside the second door and everyone agrees that this is some sort of sick game in a sick world. I still believe, and tell them, that it is for good reason and it means opportunity. We enter the elevator and rise up and up to the outside world we had previously been in. Now, we are much higher up and on top of a cliff with the ocean an incredibly far way down. Now, the instructor tells us that we all have to jump and fly across to the connecting piece of land that seems miles away. Some brave souls jump and sure enough, they begin to fly. I jump along with them and fly also. We are flying across, although unsteadily, and I realize that I am flying on top of someone. I feel as if I might be hurting them, so I move to the side and break free from them, and suddenly start falling at a rapid rate. Everyone who was also parallel to me begins falling at a rapid rate and we all hit the water. The instructor is yelling, "fly! fly!" and we are swimming as fast as we can in the water with everyone above us. As we get closer to the edge of the land, our wings work again and we fly up and up, landing on the edge of the other cliff. Now, we walk through beautiful fields and mountain peaks to enter our final challenge, so our instructor says. We are on another cliff, with a wooden structure in front of us. There is a small bar near our knees and then further more, a square wooden hole, just big enough to fit our bodies, containing a chemical substance which floats through the shape and connects to each side of the wood. We are told that we are to jump through the hole, simply that. We figure that this is another flying exercise. The first person runs and jumps, making it perfectly through the shape. He takes some of the chemical with him. As he jumps through, he disintegrates into thin air. The instructor tells us, "that's because he didn't believe in himself enough. That is what will happen." Now, frightened as we all are, the second person runs and jumps, starting out as a butterfly but then disintegrating once he is above the ocean. "He never had enough faith in himself" the instructor says, grinning eerily. Now, it is just myself and as I now realize, my childhood friend left. Apparently, everyone else had done something wrong and died or disintegrated on our journey. My friend breathes in and out and then jumps through, taking most of the chemical with her. She turns into a beautiful blue butterfly, the color of the sea and as large as a prehistoric bird, and flys away, happily fluttering in the air. Now, I am the last to go. This is it. There is suddenly a countdown visible in the chemical. It counts down from 30 and then restarts itself. I can't seem to jump yet. Then, I look to the last remaining chemical bit that I must jump through, at the bottom of the wood, and it reads "undisclosed". Then, I realize, I must jump through it. I breathe, look at my healed scars from the Bengal tiger, get a running start, jump, and then it's over.
I am in Australia at the olympic volleyball championships. I am in the sand and surrounded by miles of beautiful ocean. My friend and I are told that we are to sub in for two injured players. We know nothing about volleyball. We walk in to play with the rest of the team, and as soon as we know it, the game is started. Every time the ball is hit to me, my hand won't move correctly and the ball moves only an inch and lands on the ground. This happens three or four times. The team looks frustrated every time that we have a break. We are in a tiebreaker now and my friend and I must hold our own to help the team win. Suddenly, I realize that I have the ball. In my own hands. I know that catching the ball is completely incorrect but the team stands in this tribal-like circle and tells me "the ball is hot! you have to pass it to someone using an overhead pass!" I am confused but I do it anyway and then that person spikes it over the net. We win that point. I don't know what I just did but apparently it worked. Now, it's the last point and the ball is coming towards me. On a loudspeaker, a person yells, "that person is going to have to slide to get that one" and I slide on the sand on my knees, trying to make it to the ball. I finally get to it but bump it far away, into the ocean. It's over. The team walks to a large mountain of sand where other spectators are, and plops down. I walk with my friend and we go up to this hill. She is snapping photos at the top of the incredible open space with miles and miles of blue ocean ahead of us. I simply stand there and let the warm breeze hit my face, amazed that this place even exists. As she snaps photos, the team members talk to one another, and the spectators relax, I stand there, shoulders straight, looking at the ocean, and repeat five times "I want this to be my home".
|
|
Bookmarks