Washed Ashore

When I awoke I was sitting next to a giant tea cup. The tea cup was orange and decorated with white lace patterned trim at the top. It towered over me by a good 6 feet and that wasn’t even the strangest part of this moment. The strangest part was that this tea cup was in a forest. And thus far from what I could see the forest was relatively normal. It had fairly tall trees with thick and textured auburn trunks. There were soft green ferns everywhere. They looked soft enough to lay on even bounce on. The dirt was dark and damp. And I sat dry as a bone in the matching saucer that held the tea cup. As I stood up to walk around I could hear water in the distance. But it didn’t sound like that of a river or a lake it sounded like a fan. Loud and roaring. There must be an ocean nearby. How peculiar this place was. I continued walking forward when I suddenly felt a bump at my foot and tripped tumbling forward face first into the dirt. “Watch where you’re walking!” A grumpy voice shouted at me. It sounded like an old man but his voice seemed so small, so tiny, as if he was very far away. “Oh I’m sorry. Excuse me.” I said as I looked towards the sound. Then Immediately screeched and scooted backwards. “What’s your problem?” The toad asked me. He was dark green in color with black spots on his back. He cocked what appeared to be an eyebrow at me before shaking his head and hopping away muttering something under his breath. “Wait!” I shouted after it apologetically “Please! Come back! I’m sorry!” He stopped and turned back to me, waiting, “I’m not from here and I’m just trying to figure out where I am and how to get out of here.” I explained shaking my head in confusion. Something in my expression must’ve softened his heart a little bit because he hopped back towards me. “You’re a tourist huh?” He asked and I shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose so though I have no idea how I got here.” He pondered my response for a moment. “Do you see that mountain over there?” Pointing his head towards a small break in the trees. And I could see it. A tall pointed mountain in the distance that almost looked like the silhouette of a nose. Next to it were a couple of hills on either side. If you tilted your head at the right angle it almost looked like a person. “Yes! I do see it!” I shouted excitedly. He nodded. “Well, it’s not a mountain. You see a little ways down that large hill? See how it moves up and down?” He asked and I followed his eyes. The gasp that left my mouth even startled me. He was right. The large hill a couple hundred feet away from the mountain was moving. Like large deep breaths coming in and out of it. And then I realized my eyes were not playing tricks on me at all. “That’s a giant isn’t it?!” I exclaimed and he nodded. “Yes it is. That area over there is the lane of the giants and this place....DUCK!” He cut his sentence short and hopped quickly inside a nearby log. I simply crouched down covering my head from whatever the road must’ve seen. Suddenly there was a large boom not 10 feet behind me and the earth beneath my feet began to shudder and crack. For a moment I was afraid the ground was going to split open but the trembling began to quiet after a little bit. I turned to look at whatever caused the ruckus and was surprised to find a giant busted hairbrush sticking straight out of the ground. It looks like a flag someone planted as if they were claiming the land. Standing pink, tall, and stoic with multiple bristles busted off of it. “...this is the land of giant trash.” The old toad continued as he hobbled back over to me. His breathing was labored with fear and surprise. “Everything they no longer want... they toss like bombs over here.” He gasped. I could picture him as a human bending down with his hands on his knees right now trying to catch his breath. “Wow. It seems so wasteful.” I said my mouth agape. “To them, yes. But to us it is treasure.” He said and pointed with his chin towards a rustling in the bushes near the brush. Suddenly a centaur popped out of the greenery and went to inspect the pink tower. I stepped backwards in surprise. Just what kind of place was this? A branch cracked under my foot and the centaur jumped to look back at me. His eyes full of shock at first softened into recognition the moment he saw me. “Oh I know you.” He said. And I looked behind me as if he could possibly be talking to someone else. He pointed directly at me then and continued “Yeah, you’re the sheila that washed up on shore a little bit ago. I hope you like the bed I made for you.” He was walking towards me at this point and nodded his head in the direction of the teacup. I turned around staring at the orange planet once again. “You made this for me?” I asked and he smiled. “And what do you mean I washed up on sh...” like a flash of lightning a series of memories were triggered in my head and all of the sudden I remembered. My fishing boat out in the middle of the ocean. A giant wave capsizing it. My vision going black. And this is where I washed up?! I stared open mouthed in shock. “Yeah you remember now.” The centaur chuckled. I collapsed onto the ground behind me almost crushing Mr. Toad before he quickly hopped out of the way. “My apologies..” I gasped trying to make sense of all of this nonsense. The old man frowned at me but changed his expression when he saw my face in a state of distress. He hopped up on my leg catching my attention. “Not to worry miss there’s a humans ship that comes around here nearly everyday. They seek the treasure of the giants like we do.” He smiled at me. And I breathed a sigh of relief. “Really?! Can you take me to it’s landing place?” I asked and Mr. Toad nodded happily. “Matter of fact..” the centaur started “it should be coming around here any minute. Hop on my back.” He instructed me and I obliged eagerly. I’d never rode a centaur before and am ever likely to ride one again. I struggled to crawl on top of him but finally found a comfortable position with Mr. Toad squatting on my shoulder. Once we were both adjusted the centaur took of with blazing speed. I had to squeeze my eyes shut so as not to pass out from the panic of how fast we were moving. When we finally stopped we were at the edge of the forest and the ocean stood before us roaring loudly as if it were part lion. I hopped off the horse man’s back and walked forward onto the beach. There in the distance, I could see it. A ship on the horizon. A human ship. I squealed and jumped up and down excitedly waving my arms at it. Though I was very grateful for my 2 new friends and their help I was ready to go home. “Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I exclaimed who’ll hugging the centaur and picking up Mr. Toad to give him a kiss on the head. It almost looked like he blushed when he smiled up at me. The ship was nearing the coastline now and I was ready to be rescued but it had occurred to me that there was something I still didn’t know. I turned around with curiosity on my face. “What are your names?” I asked. Mr. Toad spoke first. “Yure.” I nodded and looked towards the centaur “Dremin.” He stated. Yure Dremmin. Huh I thought. What odd names. It almost sounds like they’re saying I’m Dre...

When I awoke I was on my pillow in my bed which was exactly where I’d laid down the night before. I sat up looking around in confusion. What a strange dream I thought shaking the fog from my brain. I hopped off the bed passing my night table on the way which still held the copy of Alice in Wonderland that I’d read last night.