I was walking down the street feeling’ a little hungry when I felt like eating a hamburger. I entered Jack n’ Jill’s and glanced at the menu. (Jack n’ Jill’s is a small hometown restaurant in Charlottesville that is famous for their foot-long hot dogs.) Instead of hamburgers, hotdogs and fries presented at the counter however, there was bowls and bowls of every flavor ice cream, sprinkles, hot fudge, chocolate chips, m and m’s and just about everything else that contributes to a delicious ice cream sundae presented right there within reach on the counter. Flattered, but not looking for ice cream, I excited the building.
My “school” I guess you can call it was going on a field trip and everyone was piled up inside an old fashion wagon type vehicle except me. I was strapped down to a bench with wheels that was basically being dragged along behind by a thick rope so that I had no form of escape. The trip to the unknown was not a jolly trip down the highway. Instead we were zipping and zooming up and down rocky hills and worn down pathways through the forests. The bench I was sitting on seemed especially unstable as it began to rock back and forth and finally tilting enough to the side that my arms were holding onto the handles as my feet ran along the ground separately. I let go of the bench and it flew away into the distance and the air around me rushed into my lungs. I had a new challenge and that was to stay alive…and in the air. My body rose up in the air almost like a kite using the force of the vehicle to keep me afloat.
I don’t remember landing at our destination but I know that we did because the next thing I knew I was inside a large stone building centered around a giant water fountain that appeared to be overflowing because the entire building was flooded and the only way to get around was swimming. I was trapped on the side by a vampire. Turns out I was not an enemy…just their way of venting. I was the priest in a confession almost for these vampires. I swam away towards the fountain in the center. Managing to escape the madness.
Only to be found standing on the sidelines of a large sports arena right in the center of the action. I noticed that every single person around me was a vampire. Mhmm well that’s cool. At least they don’t glitter like in the Twilight series. I heard a distant grumble and turned around to see a pillar of black smoke such as the one from the TV show LOST pacing back and forth at the top of the mountain. Someone whispered that the black smoke was going to take out it’s anger on someone and needed a target. Without thinking I took a step off of the grate that I was standing on, and onto the hard pavement and then yelled out at the beast: “I better still be alive when you’re done!” My brother then ran up to me and started beating me, pushing me over onto the ground, almost like preparing my body for the real beating yet to come. The black smoke covered my body and pushed it back and forth like a rag doll. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling the pain. The smoke retreated to his home in the hills above all others. I stood up and walked back over to the chaperone. “Can I fly again?” Referring to the rope behind the wagon lying stagnant on the ground. Unfortunately I woke up before I could strap myself back in.
I traveled back in time to middle school. Running around on the play ground at recess when I tripped, only at the exact same time that a bullet whizzed past the spot where I was just standing. I screamed, not because of the near death experience but instead because I scraped my knee on the pavement when I fell and it was painful. My scream though, triggering off thousands of little kid screams as they noticed the sniper and scrambled to the safety of the building. Me, being semi-straight up dumb ran towards the tree in which the man was perched. I hugged the base of the tree thinking that he wouldn’t even think to aim straight down.
Next thing I know I’m older, sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper with a front page article about a new sniper. Only this time I know that the man causing the damage is my husband. The same man whose bullet missed me as a child. He had kidnapped me and taken me to his house forcing me to marry him and that was the only life that I had ever known. I remember trying to place acorns inside of the gun instead of the bullets but my plan failed and he still managed to kill more innocent people. I cried. And woke up.
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