Dreams...

Like any dream there was no beginning, there was only the aquarium. There was an expanse of black asphalt underneath my shoes which shimmered and steamed in the heat. Various cages and enclosures grew out of the surface, giving depth to the unfocused surroundings. Shouts, squeaks and honks drifted lazily through the air as if weighed down by the excessive summer heat.
This was my hell. Conveniently, it was also the location my family chose for a formal portrait. That would explain why a six year old was fidgeting in his black suit in the middle of this aquarium, complaining loudly of the heat and the fact that he did not get to see the dolphins yet...
When was this stupid picture going to happen? How much longer did I have to stay in this black cotton straight jacket?! The camera man was not even paying attention to me right now, being far too occupied with the settings on his camera. My parents were desperately trying to wage a wrestling match with my little sister while simultaneously trying to keep her quiet. A difficult feat even on a good day when we were not dying of sunstroke and boredom. However, that meant no one was paying any attention to me at all...my moment of freedom was at hand!
I ran. I could not stand the heat any longer, nor this monkey suit! Plus, there were dolphins somewhere around here that I had to find. My shoes flashes with the sun while they pumped underneath me and slapped on the asphalt. My dad started shouting at me to stop but there was no turning around now. Other shouts joined my dad's as the camera man and various staff members joined in on the chase. The game was a foot! Around corners, over bridges and through puddles I ran and they chased. Another shout rang out from the pursuers making me glance back in curiosity, a possible fatal mistake. The next thing I know my world was turned upside down as I fell into an open enclosure and landed hard at the bottom.
My mom's scream was ringing in my ears as I sat up very dizzily. Nothing seemed to be broken or bruised which was a win in my book. At least it was until I looked up and realized I was not the only one in this drained pool. A mammoth sized walrus was right in front of me, its tusks gleaming lethally in the sunlight. Its eyes were the color of blood in angry, cold water. This was not some lovable stuffed animal looking for a hug but a really pissed off blob of fat equipped with two spears... Naturally I was a little afraid and began scrambling backwards with my hands and feet. The slime on the bottom of the pool had other plans for me and my hands slipped with every touch. Meanwhile, the walrus from hell began its charge. It was almost like watching the start of an avalanche, the creatures brown body gave a small lurch forward which was repeated down the it's midriff and tail. Then the lurch became a roll as gravity began its work on the tons of fat and muscles, hastening what I was convinced would be my slow death by walrus!
I chanced a glance behind me and spotted a ladder just a few feet away but of course it could not be a normal, reassuring ladder but instead a rope one like those you see at playgrounds with the children trapped in them like tuna in a net. Still, it was my only chance so I jumped onto it. Immediately, my feet fell through holes, my hands slipped on the slimy rope and parents were too far out of reach to lend a hand. The huffing of the brown train behind became louder and louder as I desperately scrambled up this net. Every time I made any progress my limbs would betray me and miss a rung, causing me to slide down again. The bottom of the ladder gave a wobble as if something else had hit it...I glanced behind me in a wild panic only to be eye to blood-red eye with the beast. Its pupil became wider, deeper, darker.
 I would have screamed at this point but fortunately I realized that the enveloping blackness of those pupils was really the back of my own eyelid...that did not stop me from checking every dark corner of my house for a walrus though.