Journey from Home to Nowhere

I found myself staring at the crashing breakers of a moonlit ocean, and thoughts of how I came to such a place crossed through my mind. At the same time, I pondered whether or not the ocean would suddenly decided to jump out and consume my entire body as if I were nothing more than a mere piece of food. I sat down in the cool sand and faced the dark waters. I felt the crashing sounds move through my body in a peaceful melody. I glanced behind me at the lights and sounds that were all part of a different world. I reclined onto the sand and gazed at the few stars that emerged from the grayish-black sky. A tunnel of light lead from the brightest star and shone upon me. I closed my eyes and the journey became clear in my mind, once again… It was a cool night on the beach. There were five of us who sat watching the water. We talked among each other while I ate a magical dinner. After our moment we all jumped up from the sand. I turned around and could see all the millions of lights and the people walking back and forth. The lights suddenly grew brighter. We walked along the dark waters. I removed my sandy shoes and the sand engulfed my bare feet. I looked down at the rippling sand and then back up along the beach. To my surprise, the beach was not of the proportions I had assumed. It seemed to stretch out into infinity in front of my eyes. The sand winds blew over my face and then we hiked across the great plane of nothingness, which stretched out to the horizons. After eons of hiking we reached the mysterious lights and sounds, which seemed, in some way, simultaneously connected. Feelings of panic crept upon me. I could not determine what foreign place we had stumbled upon or where all the people had come from. There were hundreds of people strolling back and forth down a wooden walkway. Some people would stop suddenly and laugh, some people would stop suddenly and yell crazy words of nothingness, but most of the people continued to stroll in a river like motion. The four of my companions and I melted into the river of bodies in search for the meaning and the end of the wooden walkway. I remained silent as I observed my surroundings. We had somehow found a place unlike anywhere else I have ever been. Unusual lights of all colors distracted my vision. The lights flickered and streaked across the sky in a slow sticky motion. I remained quiet and listened to the sounds of the crowd. High pitched bells and chimes were being rung at random intervals from no apparent location. I looked around to determine where the sounds were coming from, yet the sounds kept moving. The five of us looked at each other and then sat down on a bench that appeared from nowhere. We faced the river of people and watched intensely. I studied all of the people’s movements. A shock went through me as I heard an obscure old man speak out. His words were not English. I listened harder and the old man mumbled and stuttered on all of his words. I thought this was quite odd. The old man smeared into the river of people and I continued to listen. A greater shock went through my body. The old man’s language was not his own. Everyone was speaking it. A small group of people jumped out of the flowing river and began to speak in the same alien dialect. Fear sweat from my pours as I listened to the people speaking. The words were not of this world because they somehow echoed in my head. I glanced at my friend sitting next to me. He turned and glared me in the eyes. His pupils were wide with curiosity. I began to ramble my thoughts to him. He looked at me with confusion and his mouth began to move. The same alien language flowed from his lips and echoed for an eternity within my head, fading slowly in my consciousness. I jumped up onto my toes instinctively. My four friends snapped out of their gaze and stared at me. They began to speak simultaneously in alien words. The sounds of their voices echoed within my ears. “Is this a nightmare?” I began to wonder. I spoke out desperately for them to quit joking yet they could not understand my words for my own words were alien. I gasped for breath when I stared at their faces. Their faces slowly distorted and they all began to glare at me with demon eyes as their faces continued to morph into inhuman-like creatures. Thoughts flew through my brain at the speed of light. "I must save myself from these people." I ran off the wooden walkway and towards the vast desert sands. The desert seemed to have doubled in size. The thought of returning home had now turned into a desperate pursuit. "Home?" I thought to myself. "I do not have a home. What is home? Where am I? Who am I!!!!!!!" The world spun in circles and I found myself lost in the great desert. I could not figure out how I had fallen into such a horrible world. I wandered around aimlessly for hours. The bells and chimes somehow continued to travel across the desert into my ears torturing me. I closed my eyes and opened them a few moments later. I could feel the ocean breeze calling my name. I collapsed on the sand and closed my eyes… That’s how it happened…
I opened my eyes from my nightmare and made my way back home. I crawled into my bed and closed my eyes. Consciousness would not leave me and I rolled over for an eternity. I turned on the TV to watch the news and to forget my nightmare. I could not hear anything on the TV so I turned the volume up slowly. The reporter began to speak and I froze. His words echoed and mumbled in my head in a timeless fashion. He was speaking in alien… It wasn’t a dream….or perhaps it wasn’t over.
- taken from a trip on the Board Walk at Ocean City, MD July 2002