Rain pours down on my muzzle. I sit on a trapeze as if it's a swing. I hear the crowd screaming my name. I breathe in the smell of the rain. I feel like I can fly, as if all my troubles have floated away. Suddenly, the trapeze dissolves under me, and I fall onto the net. The crowd begins to say hurtful things that go into my head as a continuous chant. The rain disappears and I begin to fall into blackness. I can see Alex falling above me. "Gia!" He shouts. I try to grab his paw but I can't reach. "Alex! Help!" I scream. I am going to fall into the dark. Alex disappears. "No!" I scream. I fall and cry as the darkness swallows me up. I'm alone in the black. I sit up. "Alex!" I scream. Alex shoots up too. "Gia! What's wrong?" I look at him. "Gia?" He asks me. I hug him. "I had a dream that I wasn't wanted. That I was alone in the dark." Alex sighs. "Gia, never think that. That is not and never will be true." I nod and we both go back to sleep.
I open my eyes. I'm in New York. But no one sees me. I can see myself. So young and alone. Frightened, and sad. But my spirit lightens. A young zebra comes up to little me and says, "What's your name?" I know this. This is when Marty and I first met. I hear my past self mumble, "alakay" at least I think that's what I said. I still couldn't talk then. I remember struggling to remember what I was called before I came to New York. Marty must have heard me wrong because he thought I said "Alex" and that's what he called me from then on out. This memory saddens me because I remember the loneliness and fear I had back then. But I'm happy now. I have family and freinds who I love. I see little me look over at me, his giant blue eyes shining in the sun light. Were my eyes really that big? I think. He smiles and waves at me. I wave back and then walk up to him. "Be prepared for the future." I say. "It's gonna be great." Then I walk away. No matter what my brain forces me to think or see, I will never change.
Wings. Didn't think I'd ever have wings. I mean, have you ever heard of a zebra with wings? I sure haven't. Yet here I am. Flying across the clouds. I see an orange bird fly past me. Ok, now I get it. I'm dreaming. Every time I see an orange bird fly by I know I'm dreaming. I trained myself to do it. I think of a beach, and I instantly see a beach in the horizon. I fly over there and see all my friends. They all have wings too. I almost crack up but I know that will make me wake up, and I don't want to wake up just yet. Why am I about to crack up, you may ask? They all have little, baby butterfly wings and they can't even get a centimeter off the ground. I have giant wings the drag across the ground. So, in summary, this is probably the best beach day ever. Well, beach dream, to be exact. But whatever. It's still Craka-Lakin!
Gia is talking to him again. I know that she's not a cub anymore and that I'm technically not her father, but that's not the problem. The problem is the lion. I still don't trust him. I know, eventually, he'll hurt her. Either physically or mentally. Or both. I can't hear them, but I can tell somthings wrong. The lion is standing up. He looks like he's angry with her. Wait, he's laughing. But gia looks troubled. I move over to get a closer look. I can hear them now. "But I thought we had somthing!" Gia says. She's crying. The lion laughs some more. An evil laugh. "What makes you think that I, or anyone in the world would love you? You're worthless" Gia gasps. The lion shoves her to the ground. Anger surges through me. At this point she's bawling. I walk up to Gia to hug her. "What are you doing here?" Lion scoffs. I walk away with Gia. "He's a monster, Vitaly." She tells me. "It's alright now Gia." I say. I will never, ever trust lion.
I haven't got the slightest idea what's happening. First it was just Melman and I, now we're trapped in a cage! "Well, at least we're together." I say. "But Gloria, we've been kidnapped! What should we do?" Melman says. I look around. The only light is a lamp that is about to burn out. "We concentrate, and wait, and eventually, we escape." Melman doesn't seem to get the point, but we join hands anyway. I imagine a waterfall, with birds singing, and a rainbow in the distance. I don't know what Melmans thinking, but it's probably doctor related. I open my eyes. Sure enough, we are in a beautiful area, with waterfalls, birds, a rainbow, and a hospital. I smirk at Melman. He gives me a shrug, and we sit and look at the view. What a beautiful experience.
Every one wakes up in the morning. "Man! I had a crazy dream!" Marty says. "Mine was more of a memory" Alex shrugs. " I don't want to talk about it" Gia says, staying close to Alex. Vitaly glares at Alex. "You don't want to know" Gloria sighs. "Mine was wonderful" and everyone goes to their everyday life. That's what animals dream about. What do you dream about?