5

The day started in a cruel, cold forest. The trees seemed to have evil sneers on their faces, their sharp branch arms scratched me as I tried to escape this place. Cold sweat dripped down my forehead and ran into my eyes. I couldn't see where I was going. Brushing the sweat out of my eyes, I blindly tripped through the messy forest floor.

Sweat continued seeping into my eyes –– I couldn't stop it. Soon I was drenched. It felt as though I was swimming through the forest, still torn apart by the trees even through the water. I couldn't breathe, I was so tired. I stopped running to catch my breath and the trees attacked me...

A pool of sweat surrounded me when I woke up, like the kind of sweat in my dream. This strange place (I deduced it was a forest) had been my home for goodness knows how many weeks. My ride with Captain Gloonkk and the Maballms had left completely dazed and utterly unaware of where I was. I didn't even know if I was still near the Castle Apartments or my dancing partner.

I hadn't moved since the pickup/drop off. I was afraid to run into something (or worse, OFF of something) so I generally stayed where the Captain dropped me.

Today though, I decided I needed to move. I had to try to find my way back or find help. I couldn't very well die sitting here in this god forsaken forest.

I spent most of the morning rolling over, trying to stand up. By the time I finally lifted my behind from the soggy floor, I guessed it was about midday. After walking for several minutes, I concluded that the ground was covered in snow. It must be wintertime. I must have been here in this forest for longer than I thought.

The rest of the day I spent walking around, feeling my way through this strange forest –– trying to feel anything familiar. With no luck. What I estimated to be several hours later, a huge rumble escaped my stomach and I decided to find something to eat. Unless I was going to kill something, the only things that I knew for sure to be edible here were leaves and moss. Nothing fancy, but I'd been living off of stale cereal and bruised apples for the last 43 years. I think I could choke down a few leaves.

After my meal, I settled down to rest again, thinking of Felix who was probably more starving than I was right now. Poor Felix.

Just as I was closing my eyes for sleep and inevitable dreaming, I heard a faint neighing. Like a horse or a bull. I froze. Horses would leave me alone, but a bull might charge. And there's no way I could defend myself against 2000 pounds and horns.

The first neigh was soon followed by a second. And a third, fourth, and fifth. I counted nine total. Although one sounded much higher than the others. The baby bull perhaps?

Before I could decide whether I should run and hide or move closer, I heard sleigh bells ringing and tinging –– like the bulls were lining up to do something or go somewhere. A grunt came from somewhere behind the bulls and what sounded like two big boots beat down on hard wood.

The neighing became more frequent. The bulls' hooves pawed at the ground and the bells jittered with every stomp. I could tell they were about to move. And fast. I had to get out of the way or they would hit me.

I tried to stand up so I could move, but couldn't find anything to grab onto for support. The tree I was leaning on was too think. I heard the bulls move. They were trotting. I was rolling around on the ground like a fish. The clomping of the bulls' feet picked up speed. They were running. The bells became louder and louder. These beasts were getting closer! And I was still on the wet ground!

At the last possible second, I managed to swing my body weight forward and stand up. The bells and the neighing and the clomping were screaming in my ears –– they were so close now! I limped forward, trying to get out of the way when the sounds of the bulls and their owner shifted from beside me to above me. My ears were surely playing tricks on me, bulls cannot fly. In my confusion, I forgot to keep moving and something metal, hard, and cold hit my square in the face. I fell to the ground and tasted blood in my mouth.

"Woah there! Touch back down, Rudolph, I think we hit something," a deep, concerned voice said. "To the right, everybody, head for the right and down!"

The man steered his flying bulls to the ground and his two heavy boots swung out of whatever he was riding in and hit the ground.

"Oh my goodness, we've hit a woman!" he shouted to his cattle. "Donner, grab an empty bag from the back. Vixen! Comet! Help me put her on the sleigh."

I must have fainted while all of this happened though because the next I know, I'm sitting up in a cold, metal vehicle next to a man and his nine bulls.

"How are you feeling, little lady?" the man asked.

"Fine, thank you," I said. "What exactly happened?"

"I'm ashamed to say my reindeer and I hit you straight in the noggin. I just feel terrible, ma'am. Would you believe that in the millions of years I've been driving that sleigh, this is the third accident I've had?" He sounded pained.

"Millions of years? What do you mean?"

"Well you see ma'am, my reindeer and I drive the sleigh so long as people believe in us," he said. "They started believing millions of years ago and haven't stopped since."

"Believe in you? So you're some magic elf or something?"

"Oh, no I'm not an elf!" He chuckled. "But I know a couple hundred of them back home," he said.

"I must be losing my mind."

He laughed out loud at that. I still couldn't tell if he was joking or if I was going crazy.

"How about this. To prove it to you, I'll grant you the one wish you've always wanted. Look deep inside your heart. Now tell me, what's the one thing you desire above all else?"

I didn't say anything.

"No matter," he said. "I know what you want anyway. I've always known. You've been a good girl, Sile. You'll get your wish."

And with that, he smiled and snapped his fingers. I sat up in my bed, in my apartment, with Felix curled up at my feet, for once not knowing what was real and what was fantasy.

4

The day started on a cloud. Above me deep blue sky stretched for miles, over the entire world it seemed. I had seen plenty of skies before, but never one as vivid or expansive as this. Still not quite relieved of my shock and awe, I looked below my dangling feet and saw a green patchwork quilt blanketing the entire earth.

I nearly fell off the cloud, I was so amazed. But the more I stared at the green land below me, the darker it became. Light greens turned into darker hues and eventually faded to black. In what felt like a second, the entire ground below me was pure black.

Before I realized what was happening, I leaned over my cloud too far and started to slip off. A hand from above grabbed mine before I plummeted to the ground. I looked up and saw a familiar, handsome man with brown hair and grey eyes clasping my five fingers in his own. He grinned and I knew I was safe. But my hands suddenly slipped out of his and his smile faltered as I was swallowed up by the black nothingness below. He shouted my name, but I couldn't hear him...

My own name was ringing in my ears when I woke up. I heard the rain pounding against my window and felt Felix jump up on the bed. He meowed.

I rocked out of bed and ungracefully slipped into clothes and a rain jacket. I ran my fingers down Felix's back once and then walked out the door. 168 stairs and 24 steps later, I was buying a newspaper and cat food for Felix from the newspaper stand outside Castle Apartments. I was surprised but thankful that it was open on such a dreadful day.

Before I paid for my goods, the paper man, whose name (I found out today) is Jean and who used to work as a farmer in the south of France, warned me of a recent outbreak of the flu. He recommended a flu shot at the clinic, but my disapproval of modern medicine caused me to politely reject his suggestion.

"Well you know, there's an Occupy site behind the Castle Apartments," he said. "You've heard of the Occupy protests, yeah?"

"I have, but what would those protesters have with a little old lady like me?" I asked. Jean laughed and patted my shoulder. His skin was tough and thick. Probably from all that farming.

A little while later I said goodbye to Jean and took a route I've taken before, towards the clinic, to meet a musical, homeless friend.

The last time I visited, I remembered to count the steps to the clinic so I wouldn't accidentally get lost. I followed my mental directions and finally heard my friend humming along with the radio. I was almost surprised he was here –– the weather was so terrible I figured I'd be the only one out and about. But based on the different sounds I heard on my walk to the clinic, I'd chance a guess that it was a pretty busy day.

"Good morning, friend," I said.

"Ah, if it isn't my usual company. How're you doin', Sile?"

"Very well, thank you. How are you?"

"Want to sing?" I felt the smile in his words. "No. Let's mix it up this time. Let's dance."

I haven't dance since after my accident. I wasn't sure I still knew how.

"You'll have to stand before we can do that," I said.

He grunted and I felt him closer. He stroked my arm down to my fingers and clasped my hand. I remembered this grip before. It wasn't as forceful or demanding as I recalled, but I knew I'd held this hand before.

"Everybody Hurts" started playing through his radio and he gently pulled me into his chest. While we danced, the rain seemed to stop. The thunder subsided and everything was calm. We were just dancing –– and the whole world seemed to know it.

Only after we stopped did we realize that the music had stopped a while ago and that the rain had not. We were both soaked to the bone and he sneezed. Realizing I forgot to take my pills in the morning, I smiled. This moment was a more effective cure than those pills ever were.

"And thou salt not be frustrate of thy wish. Now my imaginings have gone so far," he said. I put my wet head on his wet shoulder. I don't know how long we stood that way.

Suddenly the wind changed. A loud swooshing noise came behind me and a wall of hot air hit my back. I fell forward, into my friend, and he fell on the ground. A loud beeping noise rang out in the sound of rain and made me sit up.

"What is it?" he yelled.

I stood up and tried to move away from the beeping. Maybe the thing causing this confusion was a broken car or some other dangerous machine.

"Sile? Sile!" my friend shouted. I tried to get away, but I couldn't tell where the beeping was coming from. Then the ground transformed from cracked pavement to a smooth upward slant. The slant started to lift me up. I toppled forward, sliding down the smooth new surface.

My friend's shouts were getting softer and softer now. It sounded as though there were a wall or some sort of barrier between us.

"Hello? Where am I?!"

"We are on the o6713 Odar ship. I am Captain Gloonkk. What are you?"

"Where are you taking me?!" I heard the terror crack through my weak words.

"We are headed for the Galactic Alliance of Maballm."

I heard Captain Gloonkk mumble something to someone else in the ship, though I had no idea who. Sticky suction cup fingers grabbed my face and forced my head upward.

"This is damaged goods. We have no use for this," something said. It was a difference voice than Gloonkk.

"Ppfft. Release," Gloonkk said. I heard a loud crash, like huge gears fighting against each other. The wind changed again, got louder and I could hear the rain again. Frightened, I tried to stay on whatever surface I was on, but something under me shifted and I fell. I slipped off of the smooth surface into the cold, hard rain.

Whatever had just opened to spit me out, closed a second later and, with a whirring sound, left the scene.

"Hello?! Help!" I shouted. Silence. Clearly whatever had just picked me up had moved me too. Where was I?

I figured it was safe to chance a guess that I was lost.