6. Beastly Adventure

I was a beast. And I mean that in an extremely literal way. Long brown hair covered my body. My teeth were sharp, with two sabers cutting through my lips. I stood three feet higher than normal, not including the height subtracted by my canine legs. The only clothing I wore was deep purple pants.
I stood outside an old Gothic castle somewhere in France... More specifically, Prince Adam's castle, otherwise known as Beast *1. I wanted into his castle at any cost.
Hearing something outside, Beast looked through the keyhole, expecting another visitor he could run off his property. Instead, he saw a pathetic and even uglier monster than himself, and he took pity on me. He went back to whatever he was doing, allowing me to sneak my way in.
Inside, I transformed into a young brunette woman with 19th century wear on. I tiptoed around the castle, making my way to a modern living room. Beast laid stretched across a pea green couch, cans of this and that spread around him. His television blared a white screen. He obviously wasn't paying as much attention to it as he was his phone.
I squished myself against his couch as much as I could, trying to hear his wordless conversation. Every now and then, he'd look back. He obviously saw me a couple times, but decided to keep toying with me.
Suddenly, the scene switched and we were in my grandmother's El Paso house, with a few changes. The inside balcony upstairs instead of shelves was lined with cabinets. In the very corner, I hid in a cabinet filled with ironing boards of all colors. I wasn't hiding very well: my legs showed through barring, my head peeked over the top, etc. But Beast still ignored the fact I was there. He retrieved an ironing board, subtly smiled at the sight of me, but didn't point me out. A friend, Chloe, even spotted and told him I was there, but he refused to say anything about me.

I began to wake up, then drifted back to sleep.
Dinosaur, dragon, monster. Whatever the heck it was, I was fighting it. It was the size of 5 elephants and had green and blue scales. Its tail wrapped around the cave we were stuck in; its head barely allowed me into the mouth.
Suddenly, I was gone... And back again.
This time, the creature was surrounded by other fighters who were doing a lot better job at subduing it. I was being led away by a group of adventurers, all geared up in backpacks, water bottles, and goggles, like we were going on a long hike.
Turns out, we were going on a long, epic adventure through mountains, jungles, seas, valleys... All flashed before my eyes before we came across a thin, white bridge. I didn't know what the material was, but it supported itself in thin air, hovering above a wide waterfall.
My other companions disappeared, and I was left alone to crawl across the bridge with a jabbering old lady. I don't know how she survived our treks, but she obviously had enough energy to rant and ramble on and on about an old, bright blue hat she lost to her sister years ago.
At the end of the bridge, we suddenly teleported back in time, to the day when she got the hat in an old cellar. She grabbed her hat from its place, dropping it to the ground. She looked at me, expecting me to retrieve it for her. For some reason, the ground seemed dangerous... But I jumped anyway.


And I woke up.


*1 Disney's Beauty and the Beast

5. Mission: McDonalds and Zutara

Back to school. Long days of mindless absorption after a weekend. Nothing interesting, right?
Wrong. School is always interesting when it takes place at your best friend's new and improved house.
Yes, Sydney's house suddenly became a private school. Each room became ten times larger, and an upstairs was built on for a mysterious new addition. Her mom and dad's room became the dorm room for girls, each inhabitant having a fluffy, queen-sized bed of their own.
Lunchtime. My sister and I made our way through their house, coming to a line of people leading upstairs. We decided to skip the line to see what the commotion was about. We did not expect to find a brand new, luxurious kitchen to be built on. Everything seemed to be made of marble and gold. The tables were made of glass, spaced out over the whole room.
The line stretched all around the room; there was only one lunch line, a mistake on the builder's part. Over in the corner, though, Kelly and I saw a large window revealing school buses and students getting on. We knew they were leaving the "campus" for lunch, to McDonald's specifically. We rushed over to the doors but were stopped by teachers. They pointed out purple slips that we needed to leave the campus. The McDonalds's was right across the street, but we didn't asked questions.We were in the middle of signing them when we noticed a friend, Melissa, taking Sydney and her twin, Jennifer, out to eat in her truck. We questioned whether or not they had the purple slips and realized it wasn't worth the effort: the line for food was gone now and lunch was almost over. We hurried to the carts.
Then I woke up, and I fell asleep.
I was a secret agent, and I had a mission: to secure Zuko and sneak him to Katara (Nickelodeon's characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender) so they could live happily ever after. The problem? The mission was on the night Zuko was expected to be at an extravagant ball hosted by his father.
My mission guide, an unseen man, sent me the coordinates to his family's house: two blue houses north, one red house east. He kept repeating this to me as I rode down the streets, but he really didn't need to. The family's house was an oriental palace, standing 5 or 6 stories higher than all the surrounding houses.
My guide expected me to have to sneak in, but upon ringing the doorbell, I was warmly welcomed in as a guest. The entrance hall itself was huge, leading into a ginormous ballroom, filled with dancing figures and conversing party-goers. Slowly, but surly, I uncharacteristically was able to flirt my way to the upstairs, much to the surprise of my mission guide.
Maids littered the hallways, gossiping about and trash-talking the guests downstairs, complaining about messes in different rooms and this and that. I remained invisible to them, learning that the bedrooms were all in the same hall on the third floor. I hastily made my way up, dodging the frequent couples protruding from guest rooms.
The parents' bedroom laid at the end of the hall, elegant with no decorations. Beside it, another door stood, with drawings of dinosaurs and rocketships: Zuko's little brother (a character my mind created outside the show). Across from the boy's room was another door without decorations, but on the floor lied various weapons: Obviously Azula's room.
Away from the other rooms nearest the stairs was my objective: Zuko's room. He should be in there, getting ready to flee.
Without hesitation, I barged in, readying myself for whatever might happen.
I was met with an empty room. On the large bed in the corner, a stuffed luggage bag laid open. The dresser's drawers were pulled out and empty. Randomly placed, all kinds of rocking horses sat around the room, some with bright pink Mohawks, others oriental or traditional.
I knew he was ready to run away.
I went back downstairs to search for my target. Instead, I ended up in the presence of his father, the Firelord, and chatted with him until he dismissed me.
As soon as I could, I ran back upstairs to retrieve Zuko. But he still wasn't there. This time, neither was his luggage bag. Turns out, I had distracted his father and officials long enough for him to make his getaway.
I retreated to the roof of the palace, producing a long rope to escape with. I hurried down, ending up in a classroom.
This had been a test all along; a test that I had aced and received a giant certificate for being a spy with a big red 100 on it.
I gloated about the classroom with it and then woke up.

4. 1/15/11

We tumbled into the garage, awaiting for instruction. It was a miniature gymnastic contest between Draco Malfoy, Sydney, and I judged by James' father, Jim. He is a stout man, so it surprised me when he went through the tunnels and ramps with the flexibility and quickness of a professional.
We took our positions.
And I woke up. Then fell back asleep.
I distinctly remember it being a dark brown buffalo or yak... Heck, his name was even Buffalo Bill. And, yet, James and his family insisted on calling it a cow, which was the only reason I was so keen on making it love me. Of course, James wouldn't have this, and kept moving the "cow" away from me, uncharacteristically making cooing noises at it. I think he was jealous that his buffalo might love someone else.
He led the buffalo through their apparently new house. The hallways were larger and longer, with Arabic decor. We ended up in room with an in/outdoor swimming pools. The buffalo walked along the side to the outside, while we swam through.
I had been to the outdoor swimming pool before, but had acquired access a different way. I knew there was a secret world in there, but I woke up.
And fell asleep.
I wasn't myself. I had bright orange hair, and became taller and leaner, almost cartoon-like. I lived somewhere up North during the fall season. I had been looking into new apartments, riding my bike or walking to new facilities in the same part of town. The square was filled with picnic tables, people, laughter, noise, happiness. Everything seemed right.
And it was.
Every now and then, a tall gentleman with a green beanie caught my attention. Every time I saw him, a friend of mine, Jackie, would never fail to show up to hug him or pull him to a shop. And every time, I would smile. This had been going on for months.
While checking out another apartment, I was wondering about toothbrushes and whether or not I should get a new one. I left the apartment, and headed down a strand, trying to avoid lechers, especially a really old man with a long, white beard. His facial features were that of Alan Rickman. He always had a gun.
I ran into Jackie, who I knew had been going out of town a lot over the time frame. I told her that every time I saw the green beanie'd guy, I knew she was home.
And I woke up. And fell asleep for one last time.
I was still embodied by the orange headed girl, except now I lived in the country, on an old farm. I was still looking for a new place, somewhere bigger and more modern. I had heard about a ranch upstate for trade,  and went to check it out with a guy friend. He didn't have a face or really a body, but I knew he was there and was very knowledgeable.
The ranch was perfect. It was large and had indoor plumbing and pet bats. The only problem was the evil society that lived down the driveway underneath the basketball pole... The Red Cloaks.
They indeed had very long, flowing red cloaks with hoods that covered their faces. I went to confront them about getting off the property. They attacked, using mystic powers to force me away. I tried a second time, this time with an unseen weapon. Our battle warped into that you see in a MMORPG. My vision suddenly had aiming squares and life points of the cloaked figures. I was winning.
Turned out, the Alan Rickman lecher was a trained sniper, part of the Red Cloak society and the boss of my new game. I used most of my energy just trying to get rid of him.
But I woke up.

3. Decorating

Last night, my dream was quite simple. I had finally decided to decorate our upstairs game room and make it look like an actual hangout, not a boring room taken over by our cat, Luna. I had just pinned up a red poster when I began talking to someone nonexistent. I told them that I was dedicating my friend's Justin Beiber poster to them after I had colored on it, giving him buck teeth.

I do not remember the rest, but I got a kick outta this.

2. Crime Fighting

Last night, I became a professional crime fighter. I spent every hour in a ridiculous, yet oddly necessary, outfit. My weapon of choice? A vacuum. Of course, this wasn't your average household vacuum. With just a flick of the switch, my vacuum could suck up anything and everything, from socks to humans.
However, I wasn't the only crime fighter. In this world, criminals, monsters, and ghosts ruled the streets. This called for fellow fighters to come out and put an end to this injustice. [On a side note, the outfits, monsters, and weapons reminded me much of Cartoon Network's MMORPG Fusion Fall.]
It seemed I spent most of my time in Oklahoma, near my cousin's house. Monsters loved to hang around there, raiding the garages and barns.
Suddenly, a mission came up that led me directly into their house. My random apprentice and I barged through, an act my relatives seemed quite oblivious to. We searched for the boss monster for hours, double checking everywhere.
Time seemed to stop. I knew where the monster was, and who it was.
Out of bathroom, a woman made of ice barged into the dining room. She looked eerily like my mother, except with stiff hair and, well, made of ice.
I tried to suck her into the vacuum, a defense that never failed me before, but my weapon was running out of juice. No, the ice woman had unplugged my weapon, disabling me until I could plug it in again. I continuously hit her with the sucker... Before I woke up.

1. Camp Stops

We were on our way to youth camp, an automatic knowledge. However, our church stopped in an ominous camping ground around midnight, longing for a place to rest. A central building was surrounded by dwarf sized cabins, if they could even be called that. The cabins could fit, at most, four small, flexible people. They had doorways, but no doors; holes for windows, but no glass. Even in the light of the building, the ground was black.
The youth group spread out, different  cliques claiming their own cabins. Syd, Randy, and I chose a cabin close to the building, spreading out our sleeping bags and snuggling to get warm. Barely a second went by when Syd and Randy decided they wanted to change into some pajamas. Thinking I was asleep, they went back to the vans to change.
While they were away, Josh showed up outside our cabin, looking for a place to rest. No one else would share their cabin with him, so I let him in. Outside looking in, I felt sad seeing Josh: he had been with Jesus for almost a year. Nonetheless, his pale image curled up next to me. I felt the presence of James, looking sadly through the doorway at his little brother.
When Sydney and Randy returned both James and Josh disappeared. The girls got back into their spots, but I felt sick. I returned to the vans, to get my pajamas, and explored the central building for a bathroom to change in. I found it, changed, and curled up in a little ball on the bathroom floor and fell asleep, unable to move.

I woke up in the back of my mother's Odyssey with the interior of my father's old Mountaineer. Apparently, church vans were unavailable for the trip, so the youth group used all the cars we could find. In the front seat, my mother drove with Cory as her passenger. The back seats were folded down, creating a long bed for Randy, Sydney and I to rest in.
We pulled up to a long chain of fancy restaurants, all having a tropical exterior. Mother parked on the side of the building, so our group could rest. I became aware I was the only one still in their pajamas, so I climbed out the back window to use the bathroom of one of the restaurants. When I exited the vehicle, Mom started to move again.
I didn't like the feeling of being left behind. I ran after the van, dramatically falling and yelling for her to stop. Randy and Sydney were banging on the back window, screaming for me to run faster. The whole time I was running, I noted the people on the patios of the restaurants. The customers varied; people from my past, people from my school, and people whom I did not know. They watched me as I pathetically ran.
Mom stopped at the end of the chain, and Syd and Randy quickly escaped the vehicle. Randy veered left and disappeared, but Syd kept coming for me, never stopping until we met.
I excused myself to the bathroom, walking among the customers to the Chinese restaurant at the end.
The inside was very strange. Skinny pools filled the inside, taking place of tables. The pool sides were used like a bar. I found my mom and, oddly, my dad in one corner, and they directed me to the bathroom. I had to swim through different pools until I found it.

Then, I woke up.