The World Behind The Flower Wall.

My parents separated when I was seven, my mom left my dad, my sister and I, it wasn't a surprise as they had been sleeping in different bedrooms for a while by the time she decided to move out. She bought a house not far from my dad's, a fifteen minute walk away, the house was big, it had a long driveway and a huge garden that surrounded it in a U shape. At the back of the house was the southern fence, which was made of a flower and plant wall, not like the northern fence which was concrete and menacing. That flower wall was shared with the neighbors to the south and we had cut a hole in it that went from our backyard to theirs; we were really good friends with them and it was way easier to use the hole in the fence than walk all the way around on the street.

My sister and I were playing in the backyard with some friends one afternoon and decided to go see if our neighbours wanted to play too. I went through the hole in the flower wall first and to my absolutely shocked and mesmerized surprise, their backyard was not their backyard anymore! I found myself in the middle of a clearing in a forest, with trees as tall as the Empire State building, they had greyish trunks, which I thought were too skinny for their height. I turned around to look at the hole in the flower wall, my sister and the other kids were coming through, I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing as my house behind the flower wall was disappearing, transforming into a dense forest full of skinny trees, a forest that kept getting deeper and darker.

I stood there, staring at the house give way to this grandiose forest, immobilized by the overwhelming energy of this newly formed landscape and the heavy air. It kept getting harder to breathe, it reminded me of being in the mountains, in the country, where some of my family lived. There was a light fog beyond the clearing but it was bright where I stood even though I couldn't feel the sun on my skin; I lifted my head up, I could see the shape of some leaves at the very top of the trees, they looked green but I couldn't be sure, the sun was nowhere to be found. I tilted my head fully back, closed my eyes, and lifted my arms up to take in all that energy, the ground felt soft, and smelled fresh. I spun around on myself welcoming the overwhelming sensation that I was meant to be in this place. I started to get dizzy so I stopped spinning and opened my eyes, my head still facing the sky. My arms dropped to my side, my jaw dropped and my heart sank as I came nose to nose with the remnants of the cockpit of a gigantic spaceship suspended in the air, stuck in the trees on the other side of the clearing, opposite my house, or rather where it used to be. I looked behind me as if to confirm with the others that I wasn't hallucinating, the house was completely gone at that point, and all of them were frozen, staring at it - 'OK! I'm not crazy!' I thought.

Everyone started to scatter and look around, I looked back at the spaceship, it was big, grey and red, with some kind of pattern drawn on it in very thin blue and green lines, with silver dots, they actually looked like a circuit board. I started to walk over to it and as I looked down to check my footing, I realized I was grown up! I was wearing brown pants, black military boots and a cream color loose shirt with a crossbody satchel hanging on my right side and a katana sheathed on my back. And I had tattoos on my right arm - 'Cooooollll'.

I looked around trying to find my sister but she wasn't there, she had probably gone exploring with some of the others. I started to gather the few that were left, who were all grown up as well by the way!

- 'What happened to us?' - 'Wow I'm so tall'...

I could hear all of them freaking out, but I wasn't paying attention! I kind of liked this place, it was unknown, felt dangerous, and I was ready for an adventure. That's one thing that hasn't changed since I was a kid… Like two minutes ago.

As I was gathering everyone, I couldn't take my eyes off this amazing scenery, the trees, the spaceship, I wondered what it was like inside. I was going to make expedition groups and I was taking mine inside it!! I was so scared, but so excited. I think I hadn't blinked for a while since my eyeballs were dry as heck, I blinked and in the millisecond it took to do so, I opened my eyes to find myself in my bed, waking up...

Damn…

Drahko, my mastiff/boxer rescue, is awake, lying at the end of the bed, his head resting on my feet, and staring at me with concern. My anchor to the real world. I lift my head and look at him -

'This one wasn't so bad kiddo. Not bad at all'.

I let my head fall heavy on the pillow, turn to look at a painting of La Santa Maria on the horizon, one of Christopher Columbus' ships, hoping the imaginary movements of the waves take me back to my new world. To The World Behind The Flower Wall at my mom's old house.

 ...

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