I trekked my way home from school, staring at the gray, solid pavement under my feet. Emotions of emptiness came in waves as I thought of the endless routine of homework and school ahead of me. Disassociated with my surroundings, I did not feel much time pass during my walk when I arrived home. The walls of my house were a dull white, but the lamps all around shone an even dimmer yellow, creating an ambiance of sadness. Without greeting my family members, I marched into my room and plopped straight onto bed. 

  When will this relentless cycle end, I thought.

Procrastinating on my homework and studying, I dozed off to sleep. I don’t typically dream, so it was a rare occurrence for me to even remember the full narrative. When my conscience left my body, I entered a large, white box. This box appeared to have no way out, and I was lost. Frantically searching the room, I spotted a camouflaged, white camera.

Am I being detained?

Feeling defeated, I laid on the cold floor and zoned out, hoping for anything to happen. 

Eventually, a speaker echoed across the empty room, booming, ¨Release Experiment KP-104.¨

As a normal person would, I panicked. I immediately believed that this could not be anything good, as the experiment does not even have a proper name. For all I knew, a defrosted Tyrannosaurus Rex could come dashing into the room, god knows how, waiting to eat a meal after all of those centuries. I scratched and pushed the walls, hoping there would be some way out. Throughout all of my pushing, I felt an invisible pull rush through my body. At the palm of my hand, a square began to disappear from the wall. However, down the corridor that had just opened, I saw a peculiar-looking action figure. It was much larger than a typical action figure, and was definitely not shaped like a regular one. This entity had tentacles like an octopus and stood 9 feet tall. The periwinkle body diverged into two necks, and eventually two heads. However, the heads were not identical. One head had two antennae, while the other had dog ears and a paper boat hat. Similar to a giraffe, the action figure had purple spots. It was almost overwhelming because I have never seen so much color in one setting before.  It was definitely strange, as I believed that the terrifying figure would never be sold.

What a strange toy.

It was at this moment where I wish I could have silenced my thoughts. Straight after coming to the conclusion that this was some ominous toy at the end of a long hallway, the ¨toy¨ began to crawl towards me, shrieking its battle cry before eating me. I screamed once I saw this creature charge at me and plastered myself against the furthest wall. Feeling helpless, I sat down, covered my ears, and decided that I would just allow this creature to feed on me. At least between the two of us, one of us would have a satiated stomach.

The monster gripped onto me with three tentacles. I felt the suctions grappling onto my skin, and felt the life drain out of me. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that I would leave this world with no pain . . . A few moments have passed, and there was absolutely no more movement. I slowly fluttered my eyes open, afraid of what I would witness. To my surprise, the creature was not continuing his feasting process. The tentacles stayed around me, and I tried to look at both heads. One head was grinning, while the other looked absolutely cheesed. Was this creature embracing me? To my understanding, a colorful, terrifying creature was hugging me after charging after me. For the first time in my life, I felt no worries within the world– if you don’t count the fear of this creature suddenly turning on me. Trying to observe KP-104 more closely, I noticed a collar around both necks. The head with the two antennae´s collar said,”Kelsie¨, and the head with the silly hat´s collar said, ¨Papaya.¨ Staring at the two names, I felt an overwhelming pit inside of my stomach. I burst into tears and hugged a singular tentacle. Both heads kneeled down, and brushed their cheeks on my head. As this scene went on, my dream began to fade away. I was losing this reality, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I felt helpless. I latched onto Kelsie and Papaya as hard as I could. Ultimately, I drifted away from this creature, unable to see them once again.

The time read 6:43 PM and I suddenly remembered that I have homework to complete. I sat for some time, reflecting on the dream I just had and longed for Kelsie and Papaya. I had never felt such large amounts of love, and I never would have if I had never dreamt about these two lovely friends. I put my homework aside and decided that my break time was more important than receiving full marks on one assignment. A few points off would not have made a difference. Once again, I drifted off into a deep sleep. Not a single thought about the next school day came to me and I felt relieved.

Ring! The bell announcing the end of school had just rung. I trekked my way home from school, staring at the gray pavement under my feet. Emotions of excitement came in waves as I thought of meeting Kelsie and Papaya once more. I lifted my head from the floor and took in the warm sun, beaming into my skin. I had never realized that there were rows of blue and purple flowers next to the sidewalk, on the way to my house.. The walls of my house were a vibrant white, and the lamps all around shone a bright yellow, creating an ambiance of cheeriness and delight. I greeted my family members, marched into my room and plopped straight onto bed. I thought of Kelsie and Papaya, and left to meet them once more.