...As Visions of Birds, Worms and Tadpoles Dance in her Head...

We've arrived at the reception. The sky is a unique shade of purple and grey. It's a bright day and there's not a cloud in the sky. I'm standing on the veranda of our casita overlooking the beach. There's talk of going to the pool and I think, "why? There's a BEACH out there!" Without concerning myself with the resolution of the group decision, I hop over the fence and float two stories down to the edge of the shore. My dress dances around me like the movement of the sea itself. I take off running full speed for the water and then jog along the beach, the water lapping at my feet and making them sink every so slightly with each step.

The wind moves past me, cooling my skin, wet with the spray of the sea. The sun's rays blind me for a few steps, and when my vision returns I appear to be at a happy hour in the outdoor bar.

Why do ALL my dreams involve cocktails?

I take a seat next to an old woman who's carrying on about the heat and the affect it's having on the condensation of her cocktail glass. I'm enjoying her tales of woe, when I realize this woman is my grandma!

My grandma becomes ever more intoxicated and jovial. Everyone at the table is roaring with laughter, which is interesting because my grandmother was not a very comical woman. She had a good sense of humor, but no one would ever describe her as "funny." Suddenly a random stranger walks up to me and informs me that I'm hilarious, and a liar. (what???) All my follow-up questions are ignored and, as the stranger walks away, I'm left feeling empty, disturbed and troubled. What a bastard. My grandma looks at me disapprovingly, tips the waiter $1,000 and takes her leave. Ugh.

The boys finally arrive (were we waiting for them?) donning suits and driving sports cars. Nice. Us fine-ass ladies hop into the cars and we drive away, presumably in the direction of home.

In one of the cars we find a mysterious remote control. There's much discussion around what it is and where it came from as we speed down the highway. As the discussions wear on, I impulsively just start pressing buttons (pfft. I would.) A door opens up out of no where. No, really. It literally opens up in the empty expanse of atmosphere just in front of us on the highway. The cars all come to a screeching halt and, one by one, we get out of our cars and make our way towards the door.

Beyond this mysterious door lies in wait......

A video game world! (but why though?) There's a narrator barking orders at us over a loud speaker while birds are being flung at us from all directions. As we stand there ducking birds, attempting to assess this new situation, a bird makes contact with the face of one of my companions. He collapses to the ground. That seems to snap everyone out of their confusion and we all rush to his side.

"Are you okay, man? It doesn't look like it left a mark."
No response
"Hey! Look at me! Can you see me? Do you know your name?"
Again, no response

We all seem to understand at once that these birds are not just annoying, they're deadly. We've all been in serious mortal danger since we arrived. We realize we don't have the luxury of waiting to understand where we are. We just need to get out.

RUN!

We all take off, each of us following the other, not knowing where we're going or what awaits us when we arrive. We just RUN.

We soon realize that the bird threat appears to have passed. GOOD. So where are we? A woman appears with her baby, whom she's holding in a baby bjorn. I notice something strange about the woman and her child...the baby appears to have no diapers on. It's just kind of...peeing on her. She's talking to us like there's nothing weird about this and it's creeping me out. We turn to take our leave of this weird contact and I realize I have no idea what she may have said to us. No one else seems to know either. Dammit!

We next come upon a bald man and approach him for some answers. He quickly realizes that we are not "of this world" and calls to the narrator to have us chased! We flee and, as we run, seem to collect a motley crew of weird video game world people looking to get out. We make it to the exit door, which (no joke) looks like the emergency exit of any building you or I have ever been in. We all leave the video game world and take some refugees with us.

Should we have done that?

SURPRISE! There's a huge party underway and it seems to be in our favor. My brother is there, dancing like fool and I take the opportunity to take video to use against him later. Everyone parties down and has a good time. There's food and drink everywhere and a good time is had by all.

The next morning we wake to a mess. Food had been left out all night, but I ate some of it anyway. Everything looked dead. Even the landscape was suddenly desert-like, with hawks circling the scene. I walk into the bathroom to pee and notice there are snails and worms ALL OVER the toilet. There's a worm with HUGE eyes slithering all along the perimeter. Suddenly, two small frogs jump onto the toilet seat and begin to eat the worm, starting with the eyes. The poor worm squeals in pain and the frogs drag it with them into the toilet bowl.

(WTF!!!!)

Just then water rushes out from beneath the sink like a stream and a million tadpoles swim around like creepy little sperm. I'm trying to leave and with each step it becomes more difficult to avoid the tadpoles. The water level is rising, the snails and frogs and worms and getting bigger and growing angrier. I can feel the tadpoles slithering around my legs and up the length of my back. I scream for help, but to no avail. I don't know how to get out. How did this happen? I begin to cry in despair....

fin.

- Teresa Taylor