//------------------------------// // Chapter One - Me and My Bow // Story: Me and My bow // by Windsocks //------------------------------// ”Music is the universal language of mankind.”~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I watched patiently as a lonely bolt of lightning cracked across the dark sky. It’s mesmerizing white light flooded my room as it stretched across the overcast skies. In its wake followed a storm, heavy rain and gusting winds could be easily seen from my apartment window. I would have never of known that something so beautiful could come from such a nasty storm. Letting a sigh escape my lips I continued to look out of the window. A cup of freshly made green tea held tightly within my grasp. “Another rainy day…” I stated in a groggy tone. The day was young and with the storm, on the horizon, it seemed that I would be sitting here for quite a bit longer. “Why does it always have to rain like this when I actually feel like playing?” I mumbled into the steaming mug. The comforting sounds of the rain tapping rhythmically against the thin window pane were the only replies I got. A sound that I mimicked with one of my figures as it tapped against the counter. I guess there will always be other days to perform, I stated to myself as I placed my mug on the counter and rested my head on my left palm. Once again like clockwork, another bolt of lightning danced across the sky, and just like before the thunder followed in its path. Yet as I looked on towards the storm, I couldn’t help but smile. There was something about these rainy days that I always seemed to enjoy. Was it the harmony of complete opposites that birthed this feeling? As I looked on towards the city mulling over those thoughts, a slow knocking came to my attention. Swiveling my little barstool around I left my mug of green tea behind to answer the door. “Hello?” I asked opening said door. I wasn’t really expecting any visitors today, and it wasn’t like one of my friends to just visit me out of the blue. “Erik, apartment number 302.” Spoke the female from the other side of the door. The fact that she stated my apartment number was enough to sour my mood. “Yes, that’s me,” I replied. My tone clearly stating my enthusiasm. Of course, my landlord would visit me today of all days, I stated to myself as I leaned against the door frame. “This is the fourth week after our warning to pay the rent and we still have yet to receive any payment. As of 12 o'clock today we’ll be required to force you out. That is if you don’t pay the fee of 742 dollars and 82 cents.” The woman claimed in a monotone voice. She made it very clear that there was no le-way room here. Christ, has it really been a full month already? I stated to myself as I continued the conversation. “Can you at least give me till tomorrow to come up with the money?” I pleaded, knowing full well that it would be an absolute miracle for me to come up with that amount in one day. “I can’t go out and perform with that storm out there.” As expected the woman didn’t really seem to care about my situation. “You’ve had four weeks to come up with the money. If you couldn’t come up with it then, how do you expect to come up with it now?” Her question was more of a statement by the way she said it. “I know, I know it looks bad, but I’m a street performer. I promise I can get you the money tomorrow. All I have to do is go down to Bec…” Was all I could say before the woman cut me off. “There are no negotiations here Erik. We’ve given you ample time to come up with the money already. If you can’t give it to us by 12 o’clock tonight, we’ll be forced to kick you out. It’s as simple as that.” The lady stated. Yeah, simple for you to say. I retorted in my mind. “Alright, I’ll see if I can get you the money tonight,” I said to the landlord. Her expression, however, was stoic. I could see that she couldn’t really care less about my situation and I was pretty sure that she had done this to a lot of other people in the past. How else could you stay so serious when telling someone you’re going to give them the boot. “For your sake, I hope so.” The woman commented before turning her back towards me and departing. Taking a deep breath, I closed my door and leaned my back against it. When I’m sure she’s out of hearing range I finally speak my mind. “Man what a bitch,” I stated as I let go of all the air I had let in. In all honesty, however, she was no doubt just following protocol, but still, a little leeway never hurt anyone. Especially one that was offering to work all day to get the required payment. In the end. Yet what could one do? No matter how you looked at it, her word was the law around here. Like ‘yin and yang’ the lightning flashed before the thunder, and just like that, I knew what had to be done. With a weary smile on my face, I got off the door and headed towards my room. The periodic flashes of the storm lighting the way through my dark apartment. It’s really starting to pick up out there, I stated to myself as I arrived at the foot of my bed. It’s dark brown sheets accented the mahogany wood perfectly. The whole scene screamed at me to sleep, but I knew I had work to do if I wanted to stay off the streets. So, with that in mind, my gaze glided over to the corner of my room where my violin lay on its stand. Now, mind you this was no ordinary violin that one would see in concert or play in an orchestra. No, this violin was an electric violin, an instrument so miraculous that it seemed to catch the attention of all the passerby’s. A true street performers instrument if you will.            While most people when they hear the word 'electric' think that it'll go under the category of rock or metal, this violin could do it all. From emotional pieces that had smooth and flowing melodies with rich harmonies to down and dirty beats inflicting epileptic muscle movements the viewer never knew they had. It was a nice feeling, knowing that the instrument I’d spent years mastering could do so much. The thought of having so many pieces to play, along with their many varieties suited my particular personality well. After all, why settle for one genre of music when you could have all of them? Another flash and bang presented themselves jostling me out of my current stupor. Today was going to be a fun day for sure, emphasis on the ‘fun’ part. Those thoughts lingered through my mind as I walked up to the stand and grabbed the violin. It was lighter than a regular violin, which to me meant that I could play for longer amounts of time. A commodity that was very precious to a lowly street performer such as myself. As I looked down upon my violin I couldn’t help but smile. So many dollars spent on lessons, and even more hours used to figure it out. Sadness, happiness, confusion and frustration, this violin held all of those emotions and many more. Yet, to me, the most important emotion I wished to embark into my viewers was hope. For I knew that every single person out there has their own story. That’s all music was essentially, getting your own story across to the people around you. To make them see and feel what you do. Even today, when I’m on the clock for money, I’ll still embed my personality and soul into the music. I let another smile breach my lips as I placed the violin into its case. There was a lot to get packed up for my performance today. Thankfully, having done it a million times before, it took not but a couple of minutes before I was standing before my apartment door again. “Might as well get this all over with,” I stated to myself as I fiddled with the strap of the satchel. The equipment I had on was not light, in fact, it was quite the opposite. In my right hand, I held my violins hard shell case. While my left hand held my music stand. The satchel bag, however, slung over my body. Everything from sheet music to surge protectors was all stuffed into that small bag. Making it weigh in at almost 30 pounds. The last item was my amp, one of which I had strapped to my back like a backpack. Fidgeting some more with the satchel strap I reached my left hand out and grabbed a large rain poncho from the nearby rack. With all my equipment, ready to go I opened my apartment door and started my walk down to the garage. The walk to the apartments underground garage was quite uneventful. While the elevator did have a nice relaxing song playing in the background, everything else was the same-old, same-old. Now I’m not saying having a normal walk was a bad thing, it was just that I wished something would have popped up to keep me entertained. A satisfying ding rang out from the small metal box, successfully bringing me out of my thoughts. Shuffling the equipment around some more, I positioned myself in front of the elevator doors. As elevators tend to do it took its time opening the doors. Stepping into the dimly lit garage, I started to feel a chill run down the back of my neck. Something about this garage always seemed to give me the heebie-jeebies. Maybe it was the fact that the lights swayed around in the light breeze. Or the fact that every now and then the pressure in the pipes would build up, inflicting them to release a disturbing moan in protest. Either way, this place didn’t really bring the most optimistic moods to the surface. Keeping my cool, I half-jogged to my car. It wasn’t really much to look at, but for what I use it for it was perfect. After all, it is a long walk to Beckie’s, not to mention on a day like today.  In a storm like this, I would be sure to ruin some of my equipment. Not one to stand and ponder my thoughts. I quickly fetched my keys from my pocket and opened up the trunk of my car. Within seconds I had placed all of my belongings neatly into the back.  Organization was something I prided myself on. Checking things over one last time a large creak echoed throughout the garage. Almost jumping out of my skin I turned around to see nothing out of the ordinary. The garage still looked the exact same as when I last saw it. Turning back towards the trunk of my car I heard a tin-can being kicked. Turning towards the source my whole body started to shake. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I turned back around and closed the trunk of the car. My attempt to calm myself down, however, was shattered as the same tin-can rattling made itself known. Looking down I can see the tin-can tap against my foot. “Who’s there!?” I yelled out towards the direction of the sound. “I have you know I have a violin and I’m not afraid to use it!” I continued as I moved around towards the driver side door. My only response was my own voice echoing off the concrete walls. Doing a couple more takes of the empty garage, I turned back to the door, opened it and quickly got inside before shutting it closed. Even though I wasn’t out of the garage I still felt a little safer that I was in a locked car rather than out in the open. I must be hearing things, I stated to myself as I fumbled to get the car keys into the ignition. Hearing things or not I’m still getting the fuck out of here, I stated mentally turning the key in the switch. The car's engine came to life as the multiple dials started to spin up. Taking my gaze away from the dash and back to the windshield I come to see a black cat on the hood of my car. “HOLY FUC… oh, it’s just a cat.” I half yelled at the cat as it continued its way across the hood and jumped down. Not waiting for my statement to be proven false I shifted the car into first then second. It took no time at all for me to exit the garage and drive through the busy streets of New York. The end of which resulted in me slowly backing into a parking spot in front of the local twenty-four-hour coffee shop. The people here knew me well and on the rare occasion would actually give me free food for my performances. A kindness that I repaid them in marketing. While I got the free food, the coffee shop got more customers. Many times had I played songs bringing in people that would normally not have come to the shop. It was a give and take kind of exchange and it seemed to benefit us both well. Yet, through this all, I still held true to my music; never giving anything but my best. What seemed to make this day a bit more bearable was that the coffee shop seemed to have installed an awning out front. That being said I still didn’t want to play during this storm, call it a superstition, but I always thought of it as a bad omen. That at one point, Zeus himself would get annoyed at my constant performing and strike me down. The image of me playing thunderstruck while getting hit by multiple bolts of lightning passed through my mind. “Heh, that would be pretty ironic.” I pictured to myself as I parked the car and opened the door. I had immediately regretted that decision as I was instantly slapped in the face by a wall of rain. Its torrent of icy cold pellets seemed to sting like sand in a sandstorm. Sadly, my constant whining didn’t help out the situation, in fact, it looked like it just made it worse. Should I really be performing in this weather? I asked myself as I quickly got out of the car and shut the door. I mean I do have a good chance getting the required amount if I played all day. I countered walking to the back of the car and opened up the trunk. “Bah! The show must go on!” I finally started in a determined tone. Well, that and I kind of want their raspberry and cream cheese tart, I confessed as I re-strapped all of the equipment to myself again. Once all of the equipment was in place I closed the trunk and headed over to the coffee shop. From this distance alone I could already see that not many people were around. Every once-in-awhile a stray person would occasionally walk past and even then, not many of them paid any attention to the store. An event that I was here to change. It took a bit of time but I managed to get everything up and running. The surge protector was plugged into an outlet outside. Which in turn powered my amp. Which was connected to my violin. I didn’t even bother to take out my sheet music in this weather. It would only end horribly, and anyways a street performer that needs sheet music was not worth your time and money. Well at least to me, it shows true dedication to the art for one to memorize each peace. That being said there was no way I was expecting anyone to remember full-on symphonies and millions of songs. Hence the reason why I always carried sheet music and a stand with me. Taking out my violin from its case I shouldered it and brought the bow to the strings. The warm-up I had in mind was pretty basic. A couple of scales at varying speeds. Once I was done ripping through them I moved onto some simple pieces of music. The melodies I played mixed in with the harmony of the storm. I wanted to reach out to the people working at a time like this. Of course, by this, I picked a well-suited song, one by the famous and world known Beethoven. Symphony No 5 – Allegro con brio, it seemed to fit the scene perfectly. Men and woman running around in their daily hustle and bustle as the storm raged on. Hearing my notes, people seemed to gather around me all untied under this awning. As I looked around to my audience I came to see many of them bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. As the middle of the song came in the storm picked up. The loud notes mixing with the raging thunder as I moved the bow across the strings. My fingers dancing across the board as the song finally crescendo to a halt. If that wasn’t enough I moved on to bigger and better songs. I hit all the popular names, Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. People around we’re starting to enter the coffee shop only to exit with some snacks as they continued to watch my performance. Now keep in mind, I was no Antonio Vivaldi, but the fact that people were enjoying my music was enough for me. It even surprised me that this many people would stop and watch a performance during a storm like this. In fact, I was actually making good money if my quick glances to the donations were anything to go by. I think I found my new favorite weather, I chuckled to myself as my bow grazed over the strings. I was completely engulfed in my music. The sound of the passing cars and blear storm were being drowned out by my performance. It was then that I started to miss the old days. The days when I was fairly new to the street performing ways. Often I had to switch places as others outshined me, but as time progressed so did my skill. Soon enough all those break dancers and magicians had to avoid me. Which thankfully for them was not much of a hassle as I kept to this one coffee shop. Still determined to make up the money for the rent I soldiered on. The strong sounds of the amplified notes cut through the dense rain and rolling thunder to untapped ears. Soon more and more people started to huddle around me. I was drawing quite the crowd with the number standing at about fifteen. As they listened to the stimulating melody of my songs, they tossed in paper bills and coins. My music getting more difficult the more money piled up in the violin case. After all, I didn’t want to just leave them high and dry. I was going to make these songs sing out my story. With my third song slowly ending I placed a nice fading vibrato at the end to seal the deal. The people around started to smile at the pleasing notes the vibrating strings gave off. When the notes finally stopped coming from the amp, the gathered crowd cheered me on. “Play us a sad song!” A voice called out from the crowd. “It would make my day seeing as I have to go through all this damned rain.” He continued. “Yeah! That would be amazing!” Added a female. “Alright, alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I claimed, inflicting the crowd to give a little chuckle. Placing the bow on the strings again I was about to play a well-known sad song, but something inside me clicked and new notes started to come out of the violin. A melody that belonged to no song I had ever heard. The notes were popping into my head in rapid succession as I followed their path. The tempo that I played was spot on, creating a sad emotion that seemed to pull at the people’s hearts. Going deeper and deeper into the song I got more invested into the music that I let my hands play the song all on their own. It was so easy coming up with these new notes that it almost felt like plagiarising. I could no longer hear the sound of the rain. The only sound I processed was the soothing melody of this new song. I could start to see the people around me change emotions to the song. Every one of them thinking of something else. However, one thing stayed constant throughout all of their thoughts, and that was their emotions. Why they wanted to hear a sad song baffled me, but then again who was I to argue with a request from a fan. Letting the music take me, I closed my eyes and pulled all my efforts into the song as I started to pick up the pace. The normal Adagio tempo turned into Presto as the emotions in the song started to peak. If I had to guess, I would say that at least one person in the crowd was tearing up. All I had to do now was wait for the first sob and my job would be done. That sob however never came as one of the females in the crowd screamed as a screeching sound pierced my music. “Oh my god! Everybody run!” A male voice yelled out over the loud screeching sound. Wait this isn’t how I wanted them to react! I frantically commented to myself as I opened up my eyes. What I saw was mass panic as everyone ran away from me. Did I make that sound? I pondered as I turned around to see if it was indeed me that caused the widespread panic. Completing a one-eighty I came to see two bright lights speeding towards me. At this point, I was so shocked I couldn’t move my feet. Without anything I could do in my current state I watch the car skid off the wet road. My hands seemed to work fine as I covered my face in preparation for the impact. However, the impact never came. Having peaked my interest, I risked a glance and dropped my hands away from my face and slowly opened my eyelids. With all the might I had left within my body, I held my jaw from hitting the floor. Right in front of me were hundreds if not thousands of colorful equines, all traversing small cobblestone paths. One of which had small shops littering each side of it. What… the… fuck…? I half asked myself as I rubbed my eyes, however, when I finished rubbing I came to see the exact same sight. Colorful equines were everywhere and they for some reason did not care that I had just appeared out of thin air. As if this all wasn’t a cluster fuck in on itself, out in the distance I could see the spires and walls of an enormous castle. Oh, and did I forget to mention that all the equines had different variants as well? Because here they were, some were flying around in the sky like Pegasus while others had horns. I’m not kidding some were really unicorns. In all honesty, I really wouldn’t be surprised if I saw one with both a horn and wings. This entire sight looked so surreal to be reality, well that’s what surreal means, but you catch my drift. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to go anywhere if I just stood there gawking at this fiasco. Taking the initiative, I took my first step towards a nearby horse. I had no idea what I was even going to say when I had its attention, but at least I would make some sort of progress. Sadly, my journey was stopped short when I realized that I still had my violin plugged into the amplifier. One of which was so heavy that when I went to go talk to the equine I got pulled back by it. Having my amp with me only served to confuse me further. Not only am I in a city that seemed to be run entirely by pastel-colored equines, but everything that was touching me got transported here as well. Is this heaven? I was about to be hit by a speeding car if I do remember correctly, I asked myself only to shake the thought out of my mind. No way this can be heaven. Too many damned horses. No matter how hard I tried to pin something logical to this event it just seemed to get turned down. By the looks of things, it still seemed like I was on earth. I could breathe, gravity was normal and buildings resembled something from medieval times. Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was no longer in New York anymore. The castle and multiple horses kinda gave that away. Now more determined than ever to get some answers about this strange new place -along with how I had arrived here- I unplugged my electrical violin and walked up to the nearest equine again. “Hello?” I asked with a skeptical tone, look you would be skeptical too if you were attempting to talk to a horse. Even if this was just one giant elaborate scheme, I had to admit that it’s pretty impressive. The amount of time the people would have to put into this is unfathomable. Everything just looked so real. Hearing my greeting the brown stallion turned around with a none-too-pleased looked plastered across his face. ”Yes? What is it?” For a second there it almost sounded like the horse was replying to me. However, what came out of its muzzle was nothing but complete gibberish. “Sorry, what was that?” I asked the horse to repeat. There was just no way that this thing can be sentient. ”If you’re just going to waste my time with your croaks and moans then I’m just going to leave. So what is it, boy.” This time I was almost one-hundred percent sure that this stallion just replied to me. Sadly, it looked like if he did, he spoke a different language. Which in all honesty was kinda obvious, I was no longer in New York or the U.S.A for that matter. So expecting them to speak the same language was a bit farfetched. Then again I couldn’t really put a figure on the map where they had talking horses. Trying once again to communicate with the stallion I added gestures to my speech. “Where…” I started pointing all around me, “Can I…” I continued pointing to myself, “Find…” I said putting a hand over my eyes looking around, “A translator?” I finished bringing my hand to my mouth. ”Silver, what is this minotaur going on about?” A mare now joins in on the conversation. Sadly, I was once again left in the dark, not understanding a word they were saying. ”I think he wants to find a place to eat.” The stallion replies to the mare. They were actually communicating with one and another. This just cemented the idea that these horses were indeed sentient. ”One way or another he’s just wasting our time.” The stallion claims once more before they both turn away and trot off. Did… did he just leave me hanging… Wow, equines are dicks, I commented to myself as I turned back around to find that my amp had mysteriously vanished, along with it my case for my violin. “OH COME ON!” I shouted out earning me the attention of a few horses walking past. “you gotta be kidding me…” I claimed under my breath as I walked over to where my amp once stood. Doing a one-eighty I came to see that my suspicions were correct. Someone or some horse had stolen my amp. An amp that had cost me two hundred bucks! I yelled out mentally as I moved my bow to my left. With a loud sigh and a now free right hand, I rubbed my forehead. What am I going to do? I guess first impressions are out the window, I stated to myself as I did the only thing I knew how to do, I started to play the violin. The song I had in mind would surely change the emotions of every equine here. It’ll be a song that portrayed my current predicament and hopefully reach out to some kind hearts out there. The song, of course, was ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ the famous song of the Titanic. Sadly, due to my current frame of mind, the music that I produced wasn’t of the highest quality it could have been. I let some notes slide, while some parts of the song lost their rhythm completely. Nonetheless, I still thought that I was getting the message across. Music was truly the universal language of this world. As the songs melody faded into the light breeze I realized that no horses had even stopped to listen. They all just kept moving around doing their own things. I did, however, see one or two mares take questioning glances at me. Wow talk about a tough crowd, I started deciding that not even my beautiful violin could save me now. With utter defeat settling in, I walked up to a nearby stone wall and sat up against it. I thought that at a time like this I really just needed to calm myself down. Everything around looked so bizarre that it even affect my playing, and that was really saying something. Okay Erik, let's assess this situation. I Erik, was about to be hit by a car. I covered my eyes out of instincts. After which I opened them back up only to find myself here. A city… filled to the brim with hundreds if not thousands of multicolored horses. Not only that, but they seem to be sentient in their own way. The gears in my mind were turning alright, but nothing useful was being outputted. Have I finally lost it? Is this what going mad feels like? I questioned myself as I glanced around the area. The colors of the horses started to blur together into a chaotic mess that modern artist would applaud. As the colors mixed into each other my head started to feel really light, almost like it was not there at all. I tried to keep my eyes open, I tried to continue to assess the situation further, but in the end, I couldn’t take it anymore. My body was shutting down its processes one at a time till I finally slid off the wall and contacted the ground out cold. My violin and bow still held tightly within my grasp. I sat inside the coffee shop drinking my delicious green tea as I watched the storm continue outside. The owner of the shop didn’t even both to extend the awning outside seeing as the weather was way too violent. I couldn’t blame her, I myself wouldn’t even do it. “Looks like you’re locked up with me until the weather clears up huh?” The coffee shop lady comments as she took the seat next to me. Together we both watched the storm take place outside. “Yeah, I don’t think even with the awning I could have played outside,” I replied taking another sip of my green tea. “You do realize you could just perform inside the coffee shop.” She claimed gesturing to the deserted little stage they had for when people wanted to do announcements. “Not like it would do any good now…” I retorted looking around the shop. “…no one’s even here.” “I’m here?” The lady stated, avoiding any eye contact. I was just about to reply to the kind lady when a bolt of lightning hit the power cable just outside the shop. This, in turn, caused all the lights to go out simultaneously. “Great, perfect timing…” I claimed sarcastically to myself. ”He was just lying there in the middle of the square.” A male voice spoke out causing me to exit my dream-state. Either way, his tone was one of worry and fear. Sadly, the language he spoke was the on of horses. ”It’s clear that he’s insane, I say we should throw him out into the Everfree where he belon-” ”Enough!” A royal sounding voice boomed out echoing across what I could only assume was a very large room. I didn’t want to get up and check, I was too tired. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. There everything was normal, maybe this was the dream and the other part was real life? All I wanted was to see that coffee girl again, she was nice. ”So what do you plan on doing with him then?” The stallion snapped back. I, however, could hear the fear in his voice crystal clear. The royal sounding mare sighed. ”Nothing he’s just like anyone else in Canterlot.” The mare spoke out once again, this time however it was calm. I was both thankful for this and worried at the same time. ”You just want me to toss him back out there?” The male voice stated in questioning tone. There was no response to his question -at least I thought it was a question-. What caught me by surprise was that seconds later I was experiencing the same feeling one would get if they were falling. With adrenaline kicking in my eyes snapped open to reveal a wall of cobblestone. Bracing myself for the impact I turned my back to the stone and grasped my violin and bow tightly. With a loud thud, my body bounced off the cobblestone path a couple of times before settling down. Grunting in pain I sat up and slowly but surely regained my bearings. Right in front of me stood a large marble like wall that surrounded the castle I saw when I first got here. Wow looks so much more amazing up close. I relayed in my mind. My gaze faltered however when I remember that I still didn’t know where I was. Completing another one-eighty I noticed that I had been moved to a completely different spot. In fact, I couldn’t even get my bearings completely straight as the buildings blocked out the view of the sun. Once again I had found myself amazed, I had managed to the impossible. I had lost myself while being lost. As I got up and off the stone paved road the gears in my mind turned again. Hay! Wait one minute here! If that voice, in fact, came from royalty then that means they just booted me out onto the streets to fend for myself! Wherever I was it seemed that they didn’t really care much about me. Which was surprising, because from what I could see I was the only human around! I would have thought that they would at least question my presence. This just led to the conclusion that I was not alone, that they must have seen other humans like me before. Well, it was either that or they know of a species that looks fairly similar to my own. Either way, I’m still getting sick and tired of these horses tossing me around! I yelled to myself. The anger inside started to boil up. Thankfully I didn’t blow my top, I just kept my violin in my grasp and looked on towards the equines that passed by. Each one looking like the stereotypical high-class smut. It was more of my anger talking now more than anything, but that didn’t mean it was any less right. It was then at that moment when I saw the horn of a nearby unicorn light up in the crowd. What the fuck? I questioned the strange sight only to see that the unicorn was controlling a bag of goods with the same glow around it. Is that what I think it is? It can’t be! I trailed off as the colors of the horses started to blend in together again. No, not again! I refuse to let this get the best of me! It’s just a trick! Maybe there’s some mirrors around or a fog machine nearby? I reassured myself. The clatter of the horses started to get louder, so loud that it was the only thing I could hear. Laughter, coughing and yelling was all I could process, the colors once again blending together into one giant cluster-fuck. Finally for the second time in who knows how long my body went limp and I fell towards the cobblestone road. Sadly, this time there was no dream about earth. My sleep -if you could call it that- was dreamless. At least this time I was not awoken by more gibberish talking or tossing. No, this time I had awoken completely of my own volition. Looking down at my hands I could see I still had my violin and bow. At least no one had stolen anything from me this time. I stated to myself as I got back up and off the street. The time of day was unmistakably night seeing as it was dark out. The only light was the flickering of the streetlamps that littered the side of the road. The number of horses walking around had severely decreased, there were only two or three late-night walkers that walked up and down the stone paths. The faint glow that the streetlamps gave accented the city very well, giving it an almost comfortable and relaxing feeling. Despite the amount of light being produced in the city, I could still see the stars dotting the night sky. Alright, I’ll have to admit this is pretty cool, I commented to myself as I started to walk down the cobblestone street. No particular destination in my mind. I could see this place being amazing for my musician's mind, so much inspiration leaked from every crevice this city had. If I wasn’t currently trying to find a way out of this place, I would have probably enjoyed just sitting down and taking in the view. I wonder if I’ll ever find a way out? I stated to myself as I gazed at the brightly burning stars above. A smile started to make its way across my face, the first real smile. Not a crazed one nor a sympathetic one, this was the first real smile I had in a very long time. The feeling of this night just amplified my emotions. Heh, I was always a night person, I stated as I tore my stare away from the stars above. Looks like I’ll just have to find a place to for the night. Can’t be lying in the streets all day now can I, I said to myself. Yet, no matter how much I wanted to find a nice hotel, I didn’t have the strength. I may have been asleep for the better part of it, but with the current events, I could feel my eyelids get heavier again. At this point, I took notice of a particularly narrow alleyway in-between two houses. The narrow passage looked to be perfect with a little roof to shield me from the elements. Today was one giant mess and even more so on my brain. I just hoped that this third rest would be the last one in this world. Sadly, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself. Deep down inside I knew that was never going to happen. Whatever had happened today was an anomaly, I didn’t know how it happened, whether I was dead or not. I just knew that this was real. The cold touch of the stone I now laid upon. The feeling of pain that shot through my back when I was tossed out onto the street. The amount of detail each equine had. There was no dream nor simulation that could amount to such realism. In that short moment, before I succumbed to slumber, I realized that whatever was happening now was real, and that’s what scared me the most.