The Future and Beyond – A Poem

Last night, I

found myself in

my old basement

apartment again. There

were a few

differences, however. It

was bright and

filled with sunlight.

I looked at

the ceiling to

see if new

lights had been

installed, but there

were none. Then

I noticed that

the glow came

from me. The

phone in my

hand rang. I

answered it swiftly.

“Hello?”

The voice spoke

softly into my

ear, its words

filled with smoke.

“You don’t belong here.”

I looked at

the phone, wondering

at it and

the glow that

came from me.

“You left this place behind to find yourself. You can’t find yourself in the past, you can only look forward to what is coming.”

“Who is this?”

“Who are you? Who do you want to be?”

I looked out

a window that

hadn’t been there

before. I realized

at that point

that I was

dreaming. I

put the phone

to my ear

again, listening to

the man breathing

on the other end.

“I want to be free.”

I said softly.

There was a

soft click in

my ear. The

window whipped open

and I watched

as a storm

gathered in the

field beyond. Soon,

that storm transformed

itself into a

tornado of epic

proportions. The glass

in the windows

broke and shattered

like diamonds and

they floated in

the air around

I was

still clutching the

phone to my

ear. I heard

the man’s voice:

“Sometimes, transformation can come from the unlikeliest of occurrences.”

The line went

quiet again and

I let the

phone fall from

my hand. I

watched the tornado

coming ever closer

and knew that

it would never

hurt me, that

this was a

dream. But what

would it do

to my thoughts,

my dreams, the

things I held

dear to me?

Would I be

the same? I

looked down at

my feet and

saw I was

wearing a pair

of ruby coloured

high top sneakers.

This was my

dream, I thought.

Right before the

storm and wind

took me, I

clicked my heels

together three times.

“There’s no place like home.”

I said.

“There’s no place like home.”

Then the wind

took me toward

the future and

beyond.