They say the hardest thing for someone to do is to begin something. That's exactly what I felt when I tried to begin my day today. It took me twenty minutes to just get out of bed, aw, I'm late. I took approximately fifteen minutes to brush my teeth and get changed, and.
Now I'm on my way to work. I navigate my way through the misty rainforest of the tropical city I dwell in. It's so humid. I'm starting to sweat. I'm going to stink today. Good, that'll keep people away from me. As I turn the corner towards the store that I'm doomed to stand all day, I se-
"What are you doing?! Do you know what time it is?!" an angry ogre appeared! She drags me into the store and has my way with me.
Nobody is going to marry me now!! I should wail, but instead, I display my prowess in Squealish, summoning a larger ogre, the final boss.
"Now now, be nice to her, it's only her second time here," I have always wondered how such a monstrously huge ogre is able to sound so motherly. I guess
something had to appear in the dictionary's definition of
ironic.
So begins my second day of work at a noodle shop run by ogres. I have never seen the father ogre, nor do I have the interest to ask about him. For all I know, he might have ran off with an
elf, or perhaps he died in a valiant battle against a knight. Maybe ogres are asexual. How would you ask someone
that? "Hey, how did your mom make you?" doesn't sound quite polite. Hmm.
"Customerrrr!" bellowed the angry ogre. Yes, yes, I hop over and see this monstrously tall ent looming over me, looking for a good place to sit. I suggested the seat next to the window, plants need their sunlight, right? He raised an eyebrow, then happily agreed. I was mildly surprised when he ordered the broccoli soup, but hey. My mind's too preoccupied with
far more important things to be bothered by a cannibalistic plant.
The dream I had this morning was horrible. I was in this... city, with loads of stone buildings that obscured the sky, there was almost no sunlight, but there was light emitting everywhere. It was as if the people of the town managed to use their fishing nets to catch the fireflies stuck in the sky and trap them into vials. They must've had really strong arm strength. I bet their hands would be long and muscular, much like the gorilla shamans up in the hills. Awesome.
I didn't meet anyone in the stone city, I was all alone. I wonder where everyone went? Perhaps there was a party nearby, that would've been nice. Too bad I wasn't invited. Of course not, silly, it was a dream! But then again, perhaps I was invited to the dream but I forgot why I was there? Maybe the dream fairies were trying to pull a prank on me.
What was strange about the dream was that I
knew it was a dream. I tried to fly, but I was my boring self, so I couldn't. I tried waking up because it was such a scary place, being in such a huge space all alone, but I couldn't. And the worst part was everything felt so
real. It was as if I had been transported to another world, and there was no way I could have returned home.
I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if I could go to a world where people can use magic, or fly. I'd really love to be able to fly, yes. But here I was, stuck in the middle of a few thousand stone pillars with nobody to talk to, which is why I started running around, I felt like crying. Then I fell down.
The strangest thing was it hurt, dreams aren't supposed to hurt, are they? I don't know. I've never had a dream that hurt before. Am I going crazy? Perhaps I should look up the dictionary when I get home, maybe there'll be a word for sleep-paining and a picture of me lying admist stone towers.
I fainted soon after, I suppose, since I have no memory of what happened afterwards. All I knew was I woke up under my bed, and I guess a more logical explanation would be that I fell off the bed at the exact same time that I fell down in that strange, harsh world. It took me twenty minutes to decide that I was actually awake and get to work, but I still think that dream was a little too real to be just a dre
"Stop pouring!!" screamed an
elf, not looking as pretty as she did a moment before she started screaming. It seemed like her coup wasn't able to hold the tea that I was pouring for her, so her skirt offered to help. How nice, but I don't think that's what their owner wants them to do. "Sorry," I should say, but really, it's their fault for being incompetent in their jobs. Can't they see I have a pressing matter at hand? At mind? Oooh this is getting on my nerves.
Mommy ogre has a nice smile that doesn't really suit her harsh features, but I guess I should feel comforted, so I smile back. "Why don't you take the day off and get some rest, you seem a bit tired." Sure, I could use some time to figure this out.
I leave the shop and wave goodbye to the ent, telling him to remember not to eat too many of his kind, and head towards the park to do some serious figuring out.
* * *
"Peculiar child," said the tall old man sitting by the window. "Didn't understand a word she said, about eating my own kind."
The store owner brushed the comment aside with a soft laugh. "Oh don't mind her, she's always in her own world. Doesn't see the world as we see it."
"Interesting," shifting his reading glasses, his gaze following the girl as she jumped across the field and made a quick dash towards the park. "Don't remember being so creative back when I was that age," he let out a hearty laugh.
The other girl scoffed at the light banter, "I don't think anyone is as mad as her," huffing and puffing as she soaked up the spilled tea. "I'm her age and I'm perfectly sane."
