Back to Reality

"And now, presenting the one and only Wendy, as she kicks butt in Sumo Smash on Club Penguin Game Day!" boomed my best friend, Sophie, as I leaned forward, intently waiting for the start of the round. "Five...four...three...two...one!" I muttered, and on one, I took a deep breath, holding the tiny white Wii remote as tightly as possible. After a few seconds, I was covered in tubes, blasting and smashing fellow penguins off the Iceberg, and being blasted and smashed myself. Outside, thunder rumbled and wind howled; the trees swished in the breeze, and rain slammed on windows. The sky was the color of tar.

Suddenly, our game of Sumo Smash was interrupted as, on the screen, a red announcement appeared that I hoped never to see in my life: A tornado warning. Apparently, a gigantic tornado was forming, (the funnel cloud had been spotted) and it was forming right above our house! My eyes flew as I reread the announcement, paralyzed with fear. My face became as pale as glittery winter snow, and my hands started to shake. I dropped the Wii remote, and Sophie did the same. We shared one terrified look, grabbed our phones, and bolted toward the basement, where safety lay. Once we had reached the basement, however, I realized I had forgotten something: my mother's ruby necklace, which she always told me to keep safe at all costs. Even my own life. Upon realizing this, I turned the doorknob and raced upstairs, Sophie hard on my heels. We were running for our lives, literally; the tornado had almost touched the ground.

But we were too late. We were only feet away from the necklace, which was an exquisite heirloom of the family, when the tornado bore down on our tiny home with all of its terror. The tornado was a swirling mess of clouds and dirt; a voluminous, colossal, and psychopathic murderer that sought to destroy us all. Holes as big as Russia, reaching toward the center of the Earth, appeared in the ground in front of us. Catching a glimpse of the monster, I wailed in distress, much too terror-stricken to attempt moving to safety. Sophie's eyes, too, were bigger than a plate and her skin looked as it had been drained of color. Suddenly, the tornado's winds grew stronger, and the force was so strong that it knocked me and my best friend into the hole in front of us. I saw nothing more.

We were tumbling through a tunnel that had all the colors of the rainbow. We were being stretched, compressed, and all sorts of other things. It felt like some sort of force was trying to put me into a box of cereal, and it hurt like nothing you never have known. It was horrible. Was I dying?

Suddenly, it was all over, and the rainbowy tube disappeared. I was lying on my back in a pile of fresh, powdery snow, which was as soft as a pillow. Shouldn't I be dead by now, I thought, confused. Was this just a dream? looking over my shoulder, I spotted Sophie lying on the ground a few feet away, all safe and sound, but she looked different somehow. It looked like she was a poorly drawn penguin, and looking down at myself, I realized that I was a poorly drawn penguin too! We giggled and waddled over to each other after getting our bearings back. Sophie grinned her new penguin grin and waved a flipper, pointing at the-wait, is that the sun?- that was drawn on the corner of the paper. She started laughing, and blurted, "Does this picture make my butt look big?" guffawing, I replied "Yup," and waddled over toward her until I was directly on the cute little sun in the corner of the paper.

"OUCH! MY FEET!" I fake-squeal, and grabbed my foot in pretend pain. "Lol. Joking." I say to Sophie in an undertone, who crowed in amusement. We were still so amused that we were still rolling on the floor laughing when we heard the tornado siren again. "Well, here we go again," I say, shaking my head, for this -was it a dream?- was really starting to push my buttons. "Wish we could just wake up already."

At long last, the dark clouds of the tornado disappeared from sight, and we were able to breathe again. This time, I had landed on my feet, however, Sophie had landed on her butt. I strolled over to where she was sitting, and I offered my hand. As she took it, I managed to get a good look around.

"Whoah. This place is a knockout." I gasped, absolutely quivering with joy, for this dimension was not like any other I had seen before. The land was literally made out of candy. There were rainbow lollipop trees over to the west, gumdrop bushes, and, of course, licorice grass! Yep, that's right, blood red Twizzler grass and Skittle rocks. I quickly threw off my jacket, tied it up, and gathered all the skittles I could carry, my flippers flying. Looking around, I spotted Sophie preparing a drink out of the melted chocolate waterfall. I watched her as she raised the cup to her beak, about to take a sip. Before the cup even touched her lips -erm, beak, that is-, I heard a tiny deep voice call out, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you!"

I glanced around, and called out in return "Why?"
The penguin answered "Because all those who stay here slowly turn into boys," and pulled on his curly brown hair sadly. I looked, appalled, at Sophie, who just stared back, and indeed, she was already going through the process of metamorphosis! Her blonde penguin hair was slowly shortening, and her eyes grew smaller. Luckily, however, we heard our good old friend the tornado again. I high-fived Sophie, and off we went yet again for what I hoped was the final time into the mist.

For the last time, the smoky mist cleared; this time me and Sophie the Penguin were bathed in sunlight. After getting a good look around, I beheld the wonder of the land. Flowers were everywhere; dotting the trees and surface, blooming in the full summer sun. I remember it like it was yesterday. But, that wasn't all that dotted this land: There was pie! Pie was everywhere! Hallelujah! A dream come true! As I stood there, shell-shocked, Sophie started to sneak over to a slice of pie, playing with her blonde hair. Suddenly, a female penguin voice chortled tauntingly, "Welcome to the land of poop that looks like pie! Where all the so-called pie you see is a lie!"

"NO!" me and Sophie screeched at the same time. I slammed my fist on the ground in anger. Oh, what a cruel joke! I swore under my breath, and Sophie muttered, almost to herself, but loud enough that I could hear it, "What are we going to do now?"

I shook my head, my shoulders slouching, and my flippers crossed. ""No idea. We're probably just going to sit here and starve to death." I moaned, sobbing. Suddenly, everything went dark.

And that was when I woke up in my safe, comfortable bed, all safe and sound. Oh, what a pleasure it was to feel the lovely caress of the coarsely knitted sunflower yellow, bone thin blanket again! What a pleasure it was to be bathed in sunlight, which was streaming in from the window, to hear the stereo humming its soft classical tunes! I was alive, and noticing every detail of life! Alive, and as happy as an angel, I leapt out of bed, my heart soaring as it was letting go of all of the anger and fear, and crowded with glee. Oh, what a pleasure it was to hear the Blue Jays and Cardinals conversing in the shelter of their nests, to hear my horses neighing in their stalls! I was free from my wicked dream's evil clutches!

I sat upright, gasping. It was just a dream. I Inhale. I Exhale. I Inhale. I Exhale. Over and over again, until I finally calmed down. Oh God, I thought, That was one strange dream. Looking around the room, hysteria overcame me for a moment when I couldn't find Sophie; but looking again, I found her. There she was! She was sitting upright in her bed too, sweating like a pig; her blue and almond-shaped eyes wide. Sophie's chocolate brown hair was all disheveled, little strands of it flying everywhere.

"What. Was. That?" mouthed Sophie, so shocked at the weirdness of our shared dream that she had lost the ability to converse.

"I don't know," I murmured back, not as shocked as she was, for I have had stranger dreams before. Seeing a glint of something blue, I looked over. It was a plate, spotted with tasty cupcake crumbs; the rainbow sprinkles scattered here and there. No wonder we had had such a crazy dream.

Sophie glanced in the direction I was glancing in, and cachinnated heavily. "No giant cupcakes before bed, now, I suppose?"

Doubling up with laughter, I replied, "I guess not." We started poking and tickling each other, giggling. The memory of the dream, unlike others, stayed in me for a long time.

So you can imagine what happens next. Wendy and Sophie remain friends, though they hardly ever talk about the dream. The whole experience of the shared dream was, for Wendy, her inspiration for a novel that would one day become a bestseller, and make hundreds of dollars. Later, they all found good husbands who loved them dearly; they now live peacefully in a tiny American suburb with two kids each and three pets. But they have never forgotten what they had learnt: No giant cupcakes before bed.