A Strange Adventure.
It was a dark and stormy night when little Jeremiah decided to run away from home. He had had enough of his life with his grandfather, enough of the fights they always had, enough of his senile delinquency. He wanted to discover a new country like Colombus, be the first eight year old explorer, and he didn't feel like he could accomplish that pent-up in that godforsaken house. He had woken up in the middle of the night, gotten his bag ready and snuck out thinking that his grandfather did not see him. His grandfather did see him, he saw his little tiny body sprint across the garden into the neighboring forest but he did not do a thing because he was sure that Jeremiah would come back. He always came back, and if he didn't then he wasn't even his to start off with.
Jeremiah had packed with him only the basic things he needed to live, his comic books and a loaf of bread. When he finally saved himself from the rain and was deep inside the forest neighboring their house he sat down and took out his comic books. They were wet, moist from the pouring rain. The ink from his soggy books had leaked onto the bread , giving it an almost tie-dyed look. Only 20 minutes into running away and Jeremiah already felt homesick. His clothes were wet and his comics were wet, the bread was wet, the ground was wet and on top of it all, he was sleepy. Having just had his first taste of reality, all Jeremiah wanted to do was to go to sleep and wake up in his bed. Hoping that this was all a dream he layed down on the moist muddy ground and closed his eyes.
* * * * *
When Jeremiah woke up, he found that his eyes were covered with tiny little flowers. Baby blue Forget-me-not's were littered all around his body and he had no idea how he or they had gotten there. Jeremiah had no recollection of ever running away from home, his grandfather or any of the comics he had read. He was like a newborn baby.
Shuffle! Shuffle !
The flowers had found a life of their own, they were slowly inching off of his body and clumping up in front of him. They inched on the grass like little blue caterpillars, joining and becoming one. What was going on? Jeremiah watched on with fear, his little body shivering from the cold of the morning. He was finally living an adventure, but he no longer had any memory of ever wanting to live one, so it didn't really matter.He looked on with wonder as the flowers rose to form one giant Forget-me-not.
"Hello," it whispered gently, "do you remember me?"
He could not believe it, the flower was talking! But this was all so strange, was he supposed to remember anything?
"No, I don't remember anything, why?"
" Well you've been here for at least three years my darling. We've been together everyday and yet you don't recognize me? I taught you everything you know, I made you who you are today, I'm the reason you can walk and talk right now. What a strange little man you are Jeremiah, so forgetful. Do not look so confused, it is nap time now."
And he promptly fell asleep.
* * * *
When Jeremiah woke up again the sun had just risen and he was still on the same muddy piece of earth, shivering from the cold. The only difference was that this time he was not covered in little forget-me-not's, only in dew. He stood up, ran his hands through his hair and squinted in the morning sun to see whether the giant flower was anywhere to be found. He searched all around the forest, his bare feet digging into the moist earth, causing him to feel even colder than he actually was. After almost a half an hour of searching, Jeremiah finally gave up.
He laid himself back onto the ground, spread his arms and legs as far as he could in order to absorb as much sun as possible. While he was stretching out, he felt something soft on the tip of his toe, something soft yet crusty. He lifted his head and found that it was a little brown bag. It must have sat there for an awful long time because it was completely covered in mud and was soggy. Curious, Jeremiah stood up and put his hands inside, only to find a loaf of soggy moldy bread completely covered with some sort of colored paper whose ink ran onto his little hands, leaving strange marks. What was this doing here? Or better yet, what was this? He had no idea what the meaning of all this was, but no matter what he did, he could not shake off the deja-vous he had felt the minute he took the bread out of the bag. It was as though he had seen it before, lived this moment before, but could not remember when. As he was looking through the bag, a little forget me not fell onto his hands, and then another, and another, until they covered the whole bag. Jeremiah looked and saw the giant forget-me-not just standing there, watching him without any eyes, slowly shedding its little flowers into the wind.
"Good-bye" it whispered, "this is where I must leave you. Look after yourself well child, for I shall never return. Things will never be the same, but do not fear, your destiny is in your hands from now on.Never forget that."
Jeremiah was again confused, what was going on this time? Why did this flower always have to talk in such a mysterious way? Before he could ask anything, the great flower began to fall apart. The little tiny forget-me-not's that made it up were blowing away, creating a storm of flowers that circled around him for a moment before each of them began going their separate ways. This was the last time Jeremiah would ever see the giant flower, but every time he saw a forget-me-not, he would remember this moment when all of the flowers formed a blue blur in front of him, spinning, twisting and almost playing in the wind. In the midst of all this chaos, Jeremiah closed his eyes and slipped back into sleep.
* * * * *
This time, when Jeremiah woke up again, he was no longer on the same piece of muddy ground. Somehow, while he was asleep he had been transported to pink wonderland. He was surrounded by blooming cherry blossoms, wild roses, and chirping birds. Everything was glittering in the sunlight, and Jeremiah had no idea where he was. Jeremiah closed his eyes again, hoping that it was all a dream and that he would wake up with the forget-me-not's all over him again in the forest that he was familiar with, but when he opened them again he was still in the same place. After a short while of just looking at everything in disbelief, he stood up and began to discover this brand new world he had been dropped into. He smelled the flowers, whistled to the birds and pet the little rabbits that were littered all around the forest until he saw him. He was another person, the first person Jeremiah had seen since his escape into the forest, and because he didn't remember anything before that, it was as though he was seeing a human for the first time. He found him while he was trying to catch a particularly large rabbit, nestled in between a rose bush and a running river of rainbow water. As Jeremiah got close, he realized that is was a crying fairy.
"What's wrong?' he asked, "why are so sad?"
The fairy stood up, and looked at him with its little tear stained sky blue eyes and sniffled. His wings rocked back and forth and his hands kept on fluttering around as he tried to think of a suitable answer to give a stranger.
"I don't know," he told Jeremiah, "I'm just very lonely. I've been the only person living in this pink paradise for I don't know how long, have you just come?"
Talking fairies, talking flowers, everything now seemed completely normal for him and he felt bad for the little man.
"Yeah, I think I just came here. I mean I woke up here, but I fell asleep somewhere else. Do you think you can show me around?"
The minute Jeremiah said this, the fairies head shot up, his eyes shinning with delight.
"Of course I can!" he cried, jumping up and grabbing Jeremiah's hand, "Just follow me!"
And so their adventure began in the powder pink paradise. The fairy taught Jeremiah how to skip rope, catch rabbits and frogs, smell flowers, build castles and draw pictures. They climbed trees together, rode horses through the prairies and sang songs about everything. Jeremiah learned that the fairy's name was Karl and that he hadn't always been a fairy. He used to be an elf, but then one day he got lost in the realm of the fairies and they captured him to make him one of their own. Karl said that although he misses his life as an elf, being a fairy is much more fun because he can fly around and his only job is to irritate people. He told him that there used to be many other fairies that lived here, but one day they all just started disappearing and that he was the last one left. Where they went he did not know, but he said that he had a feeling it had to do with the Mystical Waterfall. But Karl told him that this was of none of his concern, since he wasn't a fairy nothing would happen to him. "Those fairies were all fruitcakes anyways," he would always say.
For four days Jeremiah did not sleep. Because Karl did not need any sleep, being a fairy, there was always something to do and he just never had the time. After four days, Jeremiah could barely keep his head up, he fell back on the moist grass and nodded off.
* * * *
Jeremiah awoke to the sound of sniffling close to his ear. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Karl, he was crying. The sun was shining brightly on everything, but they had lost their glittery edge, the wild roses had all dried up, and the birds had stopped singing. Everything was a tone darker than it used to be. Jeremiah, for probably the umpteenth time during this whole adventure, was again confused.
"Karl, what's going on?"
Karl looked up, his eyes were red from crying and his wings were rumpled. He did not look like the happy fairy Jeremiah had fallen asleep seeing.
"Remember the first time we met? Sniff Sniff , and I had told you that all of the rest of the fairies had been taken away by the Mystical Waterfall? Well sob he's coming for me to!"
"What's the Mystical Waterfall?"
"The Mystical Waterfall is this giant buttface waterfall down the hill. It thinks that it owns this place but really everyone hates it. I'm actually not sure how it takes people, but for that last few months it's been taking everything that is cool out of here. First the fairies, then the birds, and now the flowers, and then ME! The waterfall just sort of has this huge magnetic power that attracts everyone into it, and then they just go behind it and never come back. But sniffle I don't want to go! Please Jeremiah, do something!"
He had no idea what he could do, but he knew he couldn't just leave Karl like this. He had to do something, he was his only friend, without him life would be no fun.
"Karl, where is this waterfall exactly?"
"Just sob down this little hill, you just follow the path made by the blueberry bushes. Watcha gonna do?"
"I'm going to save you."
He said this while standing up defiantly and pulling Karl up with him. They both started towards the great Mystical Waterfall, Jeremiah walking swiftly with Karl flying ahead of him to show him the way. The bushes that the fairy had been talking about had all dried up, just like everything else. It was like walking through a dead forest, everything all dusty and dark, with nothing left from the pink paradise. After about ten minutes Karl told him that he could not continue on from here, from fear that he would be pulled in or kidnapped by someone. He told Jeremiah not to be afraid, that they wouldn't do anything to a human.
"Good luck," he cried while flying away, "I'll be waiting for you by the meadow where we first met!"
And with that he was completely alone. After a while he could see the waterfall in the distance, Karl really wasn't exaggerating, it was huge! Its brink was at least half a mile long with its base at least 3! How had such a huge body of water come here? And how had it gained all of those powers? As he got closer and closer he could feel the power that Karl had been telling him about. It did not matter whether he was human or fairy, it seemed as though the waterfall took anyone. When he was nearly two meters from it, he realized that he could no longer go back, he could no longer move in any other direction except straight. Because of this inconvenience Jeremiah never did get to talk to the Mystical Waterfall, instead he was pulled into its murky depths.
* * * *
When Jeremiah opened his eyes underwater, he felt as though he was in some sort end of the world disaster. Everything was everywhere, there were buttercups randomly floating around next to old microwaves and fairy wings, and little rabbits swimming. He had totally forgotten why he had come here, what his mission was,and that he needed to talk to the Mystical River. So instead, he just floated around aimlessly, watching everything move while he tried to understand what was going on. Only yesterday he had been prancing around the meadows and the forest having the time of his life, and now here he was all alone drifting with the currents and watching everything float by. He no longer cared about anything, all he did was float from place to place everyday. Occasionally he would fall asleep and wake up in a different part of the basin. These parts were generally exactly the same, the only difference being what types of things floated by him. Sometimes he woke up in the home appliance part, here he could see microwaves, refrigerators, and silverware drift by, while other times he woke up in the lizard side or plant side. The only thing that was in great abundance were buttercups. He did not understand why but everywhere was littered with them, giving the water a yellowy tint. He had no idea how many days had passed before this happened, but one day, after what felt like years of floating around, he did not wake up in the Mystical Waterfall.
He woke up in a room, laying down on a bed. The room was barely furnished, with only a map on the wall, a little round window and a very uncomfortable wooden bed. The walls were completely clear, and through them he saw fields of blue ocean stretching out onto the horizon. He was on a ship, and from the look of the walls, it was made of glass. When he walked out to see what the rest of the boat was like, his suspicions were confirmed, he was currently riding on his first crystal ship. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was made of clear crystal and shimmered like diamonds in the morning sun. He could barely look at the bow of the ship before his eyes began to hurt. When he looked down he could see the ocean frothing against hull, the seaweed dancing underneath his feet. While he was watching this graceful performance, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up and saw that it was a man dressed all in red with very scruffy long hair and a bushy mustache. His eyes were a cold icy blue that sent shivers down Jeremiah's spine.
"And who might you be, little man?" he asked while chewing the tip of his mustache.
"I- I -I'm Jeremiah sir, I came here from the Mystical Waterfall," he mumbled.
The man slapped him on the back of his head and let out a hearty laugh.
"Well why didn't ya say so little man! Hey! Hey! Everyone, he's from the Mystical Waterfall!"
Suddenly the deck was filled with people, each of them stranger than the next. Where they came from Jeremiah could not understand because he had never seen them through the clear crystal walls. There was one man who had a giant sloth sitting on his head, a woman with three eyes, another man who had a gargantuan nose, it was like a circus.
"Look around you Jeremiah," the mustached man cried, "ain't anybody familiar? We're all from the Mystical Waterfall! This is where that kraken sends those she doesn't think are worth a lions nickel. Let me introduce ya, I'm Barbado, this is Nusha, Gordo, Tortipo, Jumala, ..." He introduced everyone on the boat to Jeremiah, but it was of no use, the only name he could remember was Barbado's.
"Now, there's expected to be a storm tonight, so come and help us get the boat ready. Ain't she a beaut, shinin' around like a big ol' diamond?"
Someone took his hand and began to take him back inside of the boat, but Jeremiah still had one question.
"Where are we going?"
Barbado stopped and smiled.
"Nobody knows."
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END. `
