and we were in paris,
and the sky-
the sky-
was crystal blue, lined with perfectly poised, pearly, porcelain, fat wooly sheep with no faces,
and it was stuck-
like a freeze frame,
no wind blowing east or west,
or upside down.

but yet it whizzed by, 
flung away by the big train-bus like contraption pulling us,
pulling us on metal tracks that looked like tar.
frowning, menacing tar.
sweaty excited teenagers all around me.

but i was stuck-
like the ocean blue sky with the faceless sheep.
and the air was humid, sticky, heavy.
sweat plastered to our skin.

but i was sweating for another reason.

the cobbled streets had lamp posts of men-

tall, tall men,
as tall as the train-bus thingy,
with thick, long fingers like carrots
and top hats like skyscrapers, 
and i looked through those windows,
with a foggy mind.

the lamp posts stared and stared at us with their googly eyes covered with monocles,
not uttering words.
and i heard the laughter of the teens-
and felt it smothering me,
felt the yellow walls of the death machine beginning to close in.

and-

the frowning, menacing tar tripped us on the sharp turn to the subway station-
and suddenly we were horizontal on top of it,
with it laughing beneath us.

and i knew it-
i knew it.
nothing good ever comes after a freeze frame.

and our hearts were pierced with terror-
our ears pierced with each others screams.

i knew it-

i knew it

i-

suddenly people in the topsy turvy front seats were gone.
i thought they were sucked into the mouth of the laughing tar,
but then it was my turn.

and i had to slide among the bodies of the others-
down onto the evil tar-
which i discovered was also slippery, 
with drops on either side.

deadly.

and i felt the scream of the girl who slipped off up ahead.
i didn't know who she was.
and i would never know.

and our limbs were tangled,
we feverishly tried to grip onto nothing.
the tar was gleaming-
now donned with tears and sweat.

i was losing it-
trying to reason with death-

and then a drop-
a drop into the inevitable oblivion.

and then i opened my scrunched eyes and unfurled my body from hugging itself.
a hotel lobby, serving us croissants and jam.

and i sat up in bed, bathed in the sweat that clothed the tar.

© ilifluous