|introduction|
"Not even the sunlit clouds can compare to the poppies' petals, nor can the woman in the ambulance, whose red heart bleeds through her coat so vibrantly.
The flowers are a gift, a gift of love that nobody asked for, not even the sky as it mixes its pale color with a fiery explosion of carbon monoxide; nor was this gift asked for by men whose eyes have become incurious and motionless beneath their bowler hats.
Oh my God, what does it mean that I exist in a world where the poppies bloom so late in the year, in frost-covered forests and on a morning that is full of cornflowers?"
Ɛ!3
It had been raining heavily, the small translucent drops of water scattered across the wide window in front of me like small bugs. My radio was broken, so instead of listening to raging music, the sound of the rain -which reminded me of nails tapping- lulled me into a serene sense of security. That safety was shattered when a kid, so small and so ignorant, ran into the road, right in front of my incoming car. I remember seeing her happy smile as her feet stomped in the puddles of rain, each small water droplet disconnecting from the bigger clump.
I turned my wheel, and my body as if that would help move my car faster. Then suddenly, my hair was falling off my shoulders and was touching the ceiling of my car and the only thing stopping me from falling through my windshield was the constricting, woven seat belt. Windows broke and shards flew into my hands, chest, everything. Rain leaked in and soaked me along with my blood and tears.
The light sounds of the rain were drowned out by the burning screeches of tires. Something big and puffy was shoved into my face like it was trying to suffocate me and suddenly I couldn't breathe or blink or move. My eyes stared uselessly open at the outside, surrounding hullabaloo. I watched the world spin.
Suddenly, sounds were replaced and the lifeless scene of my cracked windshield changed into one of colorful motion. It no longer rained. My body wasn't constricted and in pain, instead it touched only the wind. My (short) hair whipped against my neck as I spun. My body pulled inwards towards the wide pole of the merry-go-round.
I tried to catch my breath and my mind. I was no longer in my car.
(She hadn't been for years).
Where was I? WherewasI?
WherewasI?
I was in the Land of Fire. Hi no Kuni.
My eyes throbbed behind my thin eyelids.
The village hidden in the leaves. Konohagakure no Sato. Konohagakure. Konoha.
Air entered and exited my lungs.
I was in the world where Naruto took place.
Ɛ!3