I woke up in a strange place. I steadily got up from the place I’d been lying in and found myself in a heavily eroded driveway that led off into an abyss with no end in sight. That’s when I stepped forward and yet I did not fall, realizing that the imposing-looking pit was nothing more than a very realistic artwork.

The moon was high up in the sky, a single orb of purple light streaking across the front of it. A loud whistle broke the eerie silence, and I jumped out of the way just in time to see a rusty train rush across the fake pit, with fiery steam streaming out of the smokestack on the antique-looking train.

The ground I was standing on broke underneath me, with a sound like china dishes shattering into thousands of tiny pieces of ceramic. “AAAAAAAH!” I screamed as I fell through the shattered glass, landing after what felt like hours onto a patch of grass. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants, looking around at my surroundings.

A creaking noise started up behind me and I whirled around at the source of the cringe-inducing sound. A woman with long hair was sitting on a swing set that looked like it once was very shiny and pristine, and she stopped rocking when she noticed me looking at her.

“What brings you here, young one? What do you want?” the woman said with a slow voice that sounded too as though it had once been very smooth and delicate. I said nothing, the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up, making me feel highly suspicious and alert.

Without warning, the woman threw back her head and screamed, her curtain of black hair parting to reveal neon purple eyes, then she darted at me, and I reacted instantly by jumping away. Just as I was about to run, the woman calmly lowered her head and the curtain of black hair fell back down over her vividly colored eyes.

With a small smile, the woman held a finger over her dry cracked lips and levitated up into the very sky, and a loud wail almost deafened me, making me clamp my hands over my ears. After the wailing had ended, the air was eerily silent, with absolutely no sound whatsoever. A bell rang in the distance, the only sound for miles.

Something shattered behind me, and I ducked instinctively, a bullet whizzing where my head had been just seconds before. “Hey, mister! What’s your name?” a cheery voice asked. I lifted my head and saw a mischievous grinning boy perched on a petrified oak tree, who was peering down at me.

“A-are you talking to me?” I said with a quavering voice, feeling uncertain. “I sure am! Who are you? Are you new to the city?” the kid asked me, sliding off his tree branch and landing in front of me. City? What’s he talking about? I thought to myself, wondering if the kid was only playing with me.

Just as I was about to voice my unasked question, pillars of metal rose from the ground, the stone oak tree shattering like a broken jar as another metal column pierced the base of the petrified tree. “Who’s up? Me? Or you? How about…you?” the mischievous-looking kid said, just as yet another metal pillar rose beneath where I was standing.

The boy grabbed onto the edge of a rising column as it materialized. I looked up at the sky as it got closer and closer to my face. The kid swung from a sideways flagpole, flying into the air with a slight sproooiiing, and landed right next to me. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I tore my gaze from the rapidly approaching sky, taking notice of the small kid.

The rising platform on which we were both standing clunked to a halt and a comet slowly rumbled across the front of me, stardust trailing behind the cosmic body. “Cannonball, dude!” the kid said, leaping up into the air and changing into a daring-looking teenager as he dove down below into a newly materialized body of water.

My head was aching at what I’d seen so rapidly changing. The environment…the people…everything! “What next?” I muttered to myself and immediately regretted saying so. The platform I was standing on broke off from beneath me, and I plunged through the air towards the body of water down below, which became an ocean.

I screamed, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth. Just as I thought I would hit the water, everything went black and when I opened my eyes, I was safely back in bed. It was just a dream! But it all seemed so real! That was just too much for me, I thought to myself, the adrenaline melting away as I let out a deep sigh of relief. The alarm clock bleeped on my bedside table, marking the beginning of a newly arrived school day. “Charlie! Time for breakfast!” my mom called from downstairs. “Coming!” I shouted, hitting the snooze button.