I did a weird pose and was ready to attack it with this rock, but then…….

The horse lowered its head and seemed to be getting closer and closer to my face. I stared deeply into its eyes, seemed to be looking straight into its soul, or maybe I was just hallucinating that there was a soul inside.

My hand froze, and held tight to the rock, but never actually managed to budge even one millimeter. Maybe being magnetized by whatever was in its eyes?

This creature was so different from any animals I knew. There seemed to be something deeper inside that made me hesitate to hurt it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it really understood what I was saying.

The gigantic horse breathed onto my face. There was white smoke coming out from its nostrils, and its long whiskers flew around its mouth corners. Inside its mouth, those sharp and long canines were as long as one of my arms. If it was about to take a bite on my body, I would be dead in one second. Hopefully it only ate grass, but not humans.

It breathed out a few times, and stared hard at me for a moment.

I almost thought it would bite down, when suddenly with a flap of wings, it flew back into the blue sky.

The pounding of my heart finally slowed down, and all of a sudden my vision blurred up, not because I was about to faint, but my tears were coming up.

I just escaped death.

It was so close.

I had no idea why that creature abruptly changed its mind and did not continue to attack me, since it just wanted to kill me earlier. Now I was safe, the tears finally came.

Yep…I cried like a baby….

I missed Mom, Dad, Lan, and everyone else, family and friends. Thinking that there might be a chance that I would never see them again just made everything hopeless.

Despair filled up in my heart, and quickly overwhelmed every inch of me.

If it wasn’t such a dangerous place, like a cotton candy house, that wouldn’t be so desperate, but this wasn’t the case. Within two hours of arriving on this land, I already encountered such a powerful and savage creature, there must be way more danger ahead of me.

I let myself drown in tears for quite some time, until suddenly realizing that on such a hot day, losing fluids can be detrimental. My survival instinct kicked in again. Using the back of my right hand, I hesitantly wiped the tears away.

The road was long. I still needed to figure out what was all this about, and what was this place. That flying horse was out of sight long ago.

Knowing that this was an unknown land and there might be other creatures around, I took my steps more carefully. I did not know where I was going. All I could do was keep on marching, and hopefully come across other civilizations.

I didn’t know how long I have been walking like this, day and night, endlessly in this savanna-like wilderness. There was no sign of a river or stream anywhere, not even a tiny mud puddle. I would drink mud if there was one. Without water, I soon became dehydrated under the hot sun. My body stopped sweating, and that was when I realized a sign of big trouble. My tongue felt as if it wasn't there anymore, so dry and coarse.

Who would guess that someone escaped from the gigantic flying horse would end up dying of dehydration? What a satire！

Wait……

There was the shadow of familiar figures in the skyline.

Mom and Dad! Oh even my best friend Lan was there!

I ran as fast as I could, and finally into Mom’s arms!

“Oh, Mom, I miss you so much! Did you know I almost died! I promised not to be troublesome anymore. I will never leave you and Dad and everyone ever again! Mom, I want to go home, I would never complain about the food you made, or that you did not buy me the newest iphone. I miss those dumplings, and everything at home. Mom, I want to go home…..please…...take me home……”

Her arms felt so warm and so real.

Then everything turned black as when that damn flower pot fell.

******************

“Poor child, I wonder where she is from, looks like she has not eaten for days. Her clothes seem a bit strange, probably from far away places. I have not seen anything like it before.”

“Dear, don’t worry too much. Her complexion looks better after a day of rest, hopefully she will wake up soon.”

My consciousness seemed to faint in and out, endlessly. I heard some of the conversations in the room, but couldn’t grasp all the details. I felt as if floating on a little boat in the vast ocean. The waves were high, going up and down, and there was no sight of land in all directions. All I could do was sit alone in that one little boat, and stared hopelessly at the waves, as if in any second one of the huge waves would knock the boat out.

The water was dark and black.

It started to rain, and my body was all wet.

As the little boat reached the wave trough, suddenly there was this huge wave as tall as a cliff rise in front of my eyes. It kept getting higher and higher, like a gigantic dark octopus spreading its long legs, and ready to open its mouth and swallow me and the boat all at once.

I was shocked, and couldn’t speak a word.

That huge wave finally collapsed! The whole world seemed to be getting darker and darker, and finally…….!

I woke up from the nightmare and breathed heavily.

There was no water, no boat, and no huge wave that looked like an octopus. That was just a nightmare, so I calmed down a bit. Maybe the flying horse was also a dream? I am back home now!

But then I was disappointed, because everything in front of my eyes was unrecognizable, or might as well come from one of those ancient times in old movies.

There was a low wooden table with a teapot and some bowls. Those bowls were very old and cracky. There weren't many decorations on the walls, just a few buffalo's horns and some iron pieces that looked as if they were from thousands of years ago.

This was definitely not home.

The candle on the table was burning silently, and its dim light seemed to help me calm down a bit. My head was still kind of dizzy, but at least my tongue was not as dry as sandpaper anymore. I remembered there was someone feeding some liquids when I was unconscious. That definitely aided my dehydration, but I was still super thirsty and hungry.

I swore that I could eat a hundred bitter melons - my most hated food ever.

I was that desperate.

My clothes were changed to some brown coarse garment. It looked like what the commoners would wear in the olden days, except I couldn't relate to any specific time periods, or whether it was western or eastern cultures. It was more like a mix of everything. Got to admit that I was not good with history either.

The antique pocket watch was still in front of my chest. I held it with one hand, and saw that it was still running. Surprisingly the watch gave me some comfort, even though I had a strange feeling that everything happened was all due to this damn watch and the flower pot.

The candle flickered slightly.

“Oh, child, you finally woke up. I was so worried about you!” A crippled old woman in her seventies walked as quickly as possible toward me, holding a bowl in her hands.

I struggled to sit up, not quite understanding what the lady was saying. It sounded like a very familiar language with a strange accent.

“Dear, don't move around, just lie down!”

She helped me lay down again, and held the bowl toward my mouth, “Drink this herb, you will soon feel better.”

My eyes watered, and weakly uttered, “Thank you…..”

She smiled a little. I was not sure whether she understood what I was saying, but hopefully she could feel how grateful I was, and the fact that she had actually saved my life.

My goodness! The herb was so bitter that I almost threw up, but I trusted that the old lady wouldn’t hurt me (otherwise she wouldn’t have saved me in the first place) so I held my breath and gobbled it all down.

Surprisingly my stomach felt a lot better after drinking this herbal soup, at least it eased my hunger and thirst.

“I already washed your clothes, and they are drying near the bonfire right now. Dear, you must be coming a long way. My husband found you fainted on the ground when he went out hunting, if not, it would be bad, but don’t worry anymore. You are now safe, do you have family and relatives here? Is that why you made it this far?”

I thought for a couple of seconds, more due to the fact I didn't quite understand her. One thing I did get was that she was wondering why I came here.

Hell knows!