There & Back

 It seems like only yesterday, although it was a long time ago. It happened in the middle of the day, but it could have just as well been midnight. This might seem crazy to you, but after you have read this it will seem sane. I’ll try not to repeat myself, but every once in a while I might tell you something I’ve already mentioned before. No, no I’m not crazy, although right now you probably think I am.
 I was born into a normal family, that is if you don’t count the fact I had twelve brothers and nine sisters.  We lived in a small house that would have actually been big for a much smaller family.  When I popped out I didn’t even cry, but I made a lot of noise. All this has nothing to do with my story, but it may help you understand it in the long run.
 I was walking home from school because I was tired from running earlier. I was taking a shortcut through the woods although I normally took the long way around. It was a bright sunny day when this flash of darkness shot through the woods across my path. I just had to see what it was even though I knew I shouldn’t.  As I walked to where the flash had gone it got darker even though the sun was still high in the sky.  This is where my story really begins and where it really ends.
 These woods I knew so well had become different. Even though I knew where I was, I was lost. That black flash was taking me somewhere I had never been before., yet I knew this path. A very large zebra came up to me and asked if I wanted a ride even though I seemed perfectly happy walking. I said thank you very much but no thank you, I’d rather walk. Just as he had appeared, he disappeared. At first this didn’t  affect me as being strange, but then what was a zebra doing in these woods. Beside that, how would I have gotten up on such a large zebra with me being so short. So on I walked and ran to see what it was I was following. What was it I was following?
 I stopped short of walking into a pond that was really a river. It looked like a pond but the water was moving. A fish that looked like a turtle came up to the surface and asked if I wanted a ride to the other side. I asked if I would stay dry and it replied only if I stayed out of the water. That made sense to me and then again it didn’t. I was about to turn around and go home when a tree I wasn’t standing next to a minute ago told me not. I asked the tree why not. The tree said nothing. A curious situation I thought. The tree said it wasn’t. The fish that looked like a turtle asked me again if I wanted a ride. I shouldn’t do this I thought to myself as I stepped on to this turtle looking fish’s back.
 The fish that looked like a turtle moved slowly as we sped across the pond that was really a river.  It seemed like forever, but we were on the other side before I knew it. Why had I come here? The tree that wasn’t next to me a minute ago said, “to find out what is here silly.” I asked the tree why I would want to do that. The tree said nothing. I thought I should turn around and go home before it got to late. The tree said I shouldn’t. Slowly I started running to where I saw the bright flash of darkness go. Since I was on this side of the pond that was really a river I might as well go on. In a short time  I found I had really gone a long way. Looking up I saw I had gone down the right path. That’s funny, I thought. “No it isn’t” said the tree next to me that wasn’t there a second ago. You don’t think it’s funny that I turned left to go the right way? The tree said nothing.
 I hurried as I walked slowly down the path leading up the hill ahead of me. It was getting late and I didn’t want to miss dinner. Soon I would have to turn around and go home or at least back to where I started this journey. I stopped for a minute and pulled my lunch out of my backpack.  I sat down on a tree stump and ate my sandwich. When I got up off the rock I was sitting on it rolled away down the hill leaving a tree stump again. This is getting strange I thought. “No it isn’t,” said the tree that wasn’t there a minute ago. “How would you know,” I asked. The tree said nothing. I better get moving I thought. the tree said ,”yes you’d better..”
 When I looked up I was heading down the path that led to my house. Wait a minute I thought how did I get here, but there wasn’t a tree next to me this time. So where had I been? How did I get here. Next thing I knew I heard my mom shouting for me to wake up and get moving or I would be late for school.
 

Written and copyrighted by Christopher Tobar 2007