Lost!

I'm in Afghanistan, but it's a different sort of Afghanistan than the one I fell asleep in.

The dust is gone, replaced with hard packed dirt and even spots of green grass here and there. I can hear the voices of the men in my platoon who in reality sit twenty feet away from my cot, talking and playing cards. I'm alone with these voices, looking around and over my shoulders to see where they are. I'm confused. They sound so close but I cannot find them.

Trees close in around me and I'm lost, still desperately searching for the source of these all-too familiar voices. I stumble onto the entrance to a dark tunnel, overgrown with vines and green things. I step through into the shadow, following the voices which now echo around me. After only a few steps over the rough ground of the tunnel, I find myself in a long hallway. Brown stone faces me on either side and though I see no sconces along the length of the walls, candlelight scares my shadow into dancing fits as I walk onward.

I turn a corner, knowing now that I am hopelessly lost. I turn back around, wanting back out of the hallway but nothing meets my gaze but unending masonry. I turn again and the scene has changed again. I'm in a low ceiling'd room with display cases faced with dirty glass. Along the walls, tour guides in crisp blue uniforms point out directions to groups of people wandering through the building. A window, etched with iron, catches my attention. Outside, the sun is bright and green grass grows in a courtyard. A girl with long brown hair sits on a stone bench, book in hand.

I feel that I cannot ask anyone where I am or how to get back to my men but I feel that I'll get closer if I can just get outside. I run out of the room and down a steep staircase. I burst our into the courtyard breathless.

There is no courtyard. A dirt path beaten into the grass slithers along in front of me and trees fan out to each side. In front of me, across the path, is a sloping grassy hill and in the distance, I see rocky mountains and vast sandy plains. A colorful mosque sits by itself, shimmering prettily in the afternoon heat.

I turn back to the building, panic rising further as I realize just how far lost I've gotten myself in my wanderings. The voices rise around me again and I open the door, shuffling back into the building. The room has changed again. The ceiling is low and dozens of arches are spaced throughout. I cannot see the far walls facing the door.

I sink to my knees, despair filling my mind. Lost!

Suddenly, I realize that this could all be a dream. Yes, just a dream.

I try to wake myself up, squeezing my eyes together. The voices grow louder. So close.


I tear at my arm, pinching and ripping at the skin, yelling at myself to wake up. Wake up!

My fingers go to my eyes, ripping at the scarf around my neck and pulling it from over my eyes, allowing the sun to burst through my eyelids, doing what pain could not.

I wake up.

Deflect

I was narrating a television episode, the first in a series that seemed to be some sort of kids show. The plot had something to do with a little girl who lived in a mansion, only the mansion wasn't like any other. From the outside, the house was very small, no bigger than a townhouse. On the inside, the mansion was constantly changing with new rooms, long hallways, hidden doors, etc. The mansion was a physical puzzle of sorts and the girl could only escape if she could outwit a series of increasingly dangerous villians who shared the mansion with her. Each villain would provide some sort of clue as to how the next could be beaten.

The first villain came in the form of Alan Tudyk... don't ask me why. I can't remember how he was finally beaten by our female protagonist, but I do remember that he was able to transform any door in the mansion into an impassable barrier, trapping the girl in certain rooms of the house. The barrier took the form of a shimmering mirror which moved as if made of liquid, but stayed upright. Alan was also a jokester, and didn't seem very dangerous.

The second vilain was somewhat more sinister. He wore a great overcoat that flew along behind him as he walked. He had black leather riding boots with spurs on his feet and a dark top hat on his head. He walked quickly, head bent forward, as if walking into a strong wind. He seemed to have a definite purpose and never faltered or hesitated. As he walked through the long hallways of the mansion, peering into each room he passed, his body flashed and shimmered, appearing to vanish and reappear ten times a second. In his hands, he carried a large metal lantern. His face was hidden in shadow.

The girl was visibly terrified of this man when she first saw him. When he would see her, he would raise his lantern to her. A bolt of light would fly from the lantern and hit the girl, causing her body to shimmer and flash just as his did. Each time she was hit, her energy would be sapped, making her flight through the mansion harder and harder. After many failed attempts at killing the man, the girl desperately grabbed one of the doors that Alan had transformed into a mirror barrier earlier. She pulled until it came loose from the wall and turned towards her pursuer just as he leveled his lantern at her. The bolt of light shot into the mirror and was reflected back at the man. He threw his hands up and his entire body lit up violently, as if struck by lightning. He disappeared in a puff of smoke, top hat and all.