They had been walking for - judging by how his legs felt - a couple of hours. But, judging by the scenery, it looked like it had only been 10 minutes at most.
His stomach had went from growling to outright barking. Whenever he put his hand to it, he could almost swear that it would try to bite him. Yup, he was about ready to call it quits.
His mother, on the other hand, looked like she was having a ball. And not "enjoying-a-casual-walk-in-fresh-air-after-a-stressful- day" type of ball, but a "I've-been-locked-in-the-house-for-12-years-and-had-finally-escaped" type of ball.
This place must be something special, Anon wondered.
They walked for another 5 or 10 of those minutes that felt like hours, when Anon decided to call it in. Well, if you call his legs buckling themselves underneath him, and rooting him to that one spot, calling it in. In either case, he was done.
His mother was instantly by his side. "What is wrong?" she asked.
"My legs are tired, my stomach is in hunger, and I suspect that you are lost. Am I correct?" He retorted rather sassily, sitting up.
At this, his mother chuckled. "My dear child, we reached the Island hours ago. You are just unconscious."
"I am not. I am talking to you, aren't I?"
She smiled. "You are unconscious of the reality of the Island that you've been detached from for so long. You are only conscious of this reality of this place with that woman, and that is what is preventing you from gaining consciousness."
He shook his head, bewildered. "So, we are already here at the Island? But I cannot see it, because I am unconscious of it? So I have to become conscious by...becoming unconscious?" He groaned. "I am confused!"
"Just open your eyes," she said.
He tried to protest. "But my eyes are-"
"No. Really open your eyes and look."
He frowned and began looking around. "I don't see anything," he muttered.
"You are either looking too hard, or not looking hard enough. You must look just right."
This time he looked around, but without trying to see anything. But also without trying to see nothing. And in the corner of his eye, something flashed past. An animal. But not an animal you would ordinarily see in a forest. It looked like a fish.
He swung his head to face it, and then something else flashed by in the corner of his other eye. It was a fish! But where were they coming from? And then he heard...the sound of splashing.
His hand suddenly began to sink into the ground, but when he looked down - instead of seeing his hand sinking into the forest floor- he saw that his hand was surrounding by a pool of clear water. And no longer was he sitting on the forest floor, he was on a beach. And the pool was really the edge of a vast ocean.
Ocean?
The trees that had once been there, had disappeared. Now it was nothing but an expanse of seas with fish flipping out into the air and back down into the water.
The change had been so sudden and natural that he did not even feel like he had been witness to part of the transformation. In fact, it felt like he had been asleep, and had woken up into this world that now seemed like a dream.
He turned toward his mother. She sat beside him, smiling. Her gaze was patient and affectionate.
Her voice cracked as she spoke:
"Welcome home, Enamore."