I WANT TO BELIEVE...

"I want to believe..."

And yet, I could not, for the vision that is standing in front of me was nothing short of impossible. I want to believe, but wouldn't you be surprised if Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III appears right in front of your eyes... with his reptilian companion Toothless behind him on his right and his girlfriend Astrid Hofferson on his left?

I'm sure, as would all of you, that either some near-impossible-time-warp freak-show-magic-trick is happening, or maybe you shouldn't have been drinking that coke that had the chance of been spiked while you had your back turned.

But what if, what if, by just a single tiny microscopic chance, by some unknown force that we may ponder 'till the end of time, what if, those illusions that we see, they were real?

Let me tell you a story.

I was walking through the huge neighbourhood park to clear my head of those unbearable end-of-the-year exams. It was night-time, with the huge white moon casting down its patient light down to the night side of the world. Sometimes, when I feel sad or angry or depressed, a quick walk down the park was all I need to calm down, to release my emotions, and to remind myself that if things go bad today, than at least I am still alive, to correct those bad things tomorrow.

Anyway, I was walking through a dense clump of trees and bushes when I felt the air temperature drop suddenly and inexplicably. I froze, tensed, as the warm summer air turned into the crisp and chill of an early spring.

I began to walk, to remind with myself that I am still in the normal world, where common sense still ruled over silly weather changes. Then, I began to realise that the texture of the plants around me begin to change. Instead of the usual, detailed, and normal leaves and twigs that I normally see, the plants around me had the appearance of being in a 3-D animated movie.

After the realisation sets in, I quickly looked at my hands, at my feet, and at every part of my body; and felt somewhat becalmed that, at least, my whole self was still in normal, 3-D, real-human mode with complete detail.

After checking for a few minutes that I'm still me, I began to walk, following the small path as I looked around at my surroundings, which are becoming stranger and stranger by the minute. Instead of the normal trees and gardens and playgrounds that I was so familiar with, I was in an ancient forest that looked as if it was untouched by the passing of time. Everything around me was in 3-D animated mode, even the moon and its light; though, thankfully, I did not.

And it's not only the scenery that's beguiling me, it was the feeling that somewhere, somehow, I've been here before. It was the strangest case of déjà vu for me, the feeling that I have, at least, seen this, but where?

As I walked down through the trees and bushes, I suddenly realised that the playground path had disappeared under the thick undergrowth and that, in a word, I am lost. But somehow, I did not felt a sense of being afraid, it was the opposite; with every step I took, I felt even more alive, my eyes getting wider and wider, my breaths getting deeper and deeper, and with these emotions came the feeling that I was watched. But, as again, I was not afraid.

As I trudged on, I came across a strange sight as suddenly, the ground dropped from under my feet. Luckily, I quickly held on to the nearest support I could grab my hands on to, in my case, the rocks that surrounded the fallen place; which, by the way, was a massive sinkhole, with a small lake and lots of dry ground.

As I climbed up again, I noticed that inside the sinkhole, there were some strange marks on the ground, like as if some giant artist has brushed the ground, forming a curving and looping line that crossed each other to form a meaningless giant doodle.

After spotting those random lines, I instantly felt compelled to walk upon the soil of the sinkhole. So, with a great sense of wonder, I slowly scaled down the rock walls that had almost made me fall to my death.

Upon placing my feet on solid ground again, I started to walk towards the giant lines, the spirit of wonder and adventure rising within me. In my mind, the sound of Indonesian gamelans mixed with orchestra music echoed through my brain, or was it the rock walls that surrounded this place? The sound of it seemed to come from the depths of my memory as well as from an external source. As again, I felt déjà vu.

Everything around me was bathed in moonlight as I placed my right foot on a curving line. Instantly, I heard a low growl, coming from all around me. Instantly, I raised my right foot, and the growling stopped. I placed my right foot on the line again, and the same thing happened. However, when I placed my foot on the ground inside the line, there was no growl. After that, I placed my left foot on another part of soil and dirt, and the same thing happened: no growl.

Before long, I was placing both of my feet on the soil in-between the lines, making a sort of dance, my legs bringing my body to one part of the doodle, then to another part. The gamelan music became louder, the orchestra symphony within it rising and rising; a series of repetitive sounds that echoed off the sinkhole's stone walls, hovering above the pond, churning my (already) wild blood and making it even wilder.

As I danced, it happened.

I do not know where they came from, or who – or what – are they. All I know was that a few seconds ago, there was no living soul in this giant sinkhole. But suddenly, just as I turned and twirled, there were three figures right outside the giant lines, looking right at me; watching, waiting.

Instantly, I stopped, and suddenly, it all came back.

No wonder this place seemed so familiar!

How could I have missed this? How can I be so stupid? Of course, this place was inside one of the animated movies I watched with my family last week: a gripping tale of a young boy who befriends a dangerous dragon, right inside this very sinkhole.

Instantly, my mind rebelled, my common sense immediately trying to find a solution to this impossible conundrum. Impossible! I thought. This could not be real! And yet, there they are, looking right at me, watching me with their green and blue eyes.

Instantly, my mind turned back to those childhood stories my mother used to tell me, by my bedside. In those days, I believed them. But as I got older, my common sense started to disprove my beliefs of fairy tales and imaginations, my modern mind choosing the modern world and all of its technologies. But right here, right now, my brain is at a loss.

But even though my mind is malfunctioning, deep inside my brain, I wished that this could be real, that I wanted this to be real. Seeing this impossible scene right in front of me rekindled my childhood love for the imaginary creatures that walked, flown or swam in our bedtime stories, especially dragons.

Slowly, but surely, I started walking towards the two teenagers and the Night Fury, my two feet not caring weather I stepped on the curving lines or not. In a few seconds, I may have destroyed the dragon's most prized and sentimental drawing just to be within a foot of his reach. But Toothless didn't seem to mind. At least he was not growling anymore

As I stopped right in front of the threesome, my common sense expounded for reason, but I ignored it, instead choosing my imaginary side of my brain, the side that wanted me to take hold of this, to believe in this, to remember this 'till the day I die.

Then, the boy asked the question.

"You don't believe...?" that we exist...?

I looked into his eyes, and said the only thing I could.

"I want to believe..." so much...

Silence. Then, the girl asked.

"Then why don't you...?"

Immediately, I felt sleepy, my eyes drooping instantaneously, my imaginary part of my mind screaming no, no, no, no, NO! DON'T SLEEP! NOT NOW!!! But before I could control it, my body failed me, and the blackness of dreamless sleep obscured and erased the faces in front of my eyes – the green-eyed scrawny boy, the blue-eyed tough girl, and the jet black dragon – sending me to a pitch-black world.

****

I opened my eyes and jumped on my feet.

I was early morning, the sunrise decorating the sky in brilliant yellow-orange light, sending the darkness to the other side of the earth, for now.

I quickly looked around, and found out that I had been asleep in a clump of bushes; my clothes all covered in dirt and dried leaves.

Instantly, my mind reversed back to the moonlit night in the sinkhole, the lines, the dance, the strange music, and last of all, the three faces that was seared into my memory forever.

I quickly turned around and found myself in the neighbourhood park, with its trees and bushes and playgrounds, all in normal, 3-D, non-animated detail. I quickly thought, was it all a dream? Had I fell asleep in the park? Though the evidence around me suggests so, a small part of my mind was heartbroken by the hope that what happened last night was real.

Oh well, no use moping around now. I thought while dusting my shirt and trousers. After that, I looked at the ground to see if anything had fallen from my pockets. Immediately, while doing so, I spotted something unusual on the dry ground, and picked it up. When I brought the object to my palm, my eyes widened.

It was a giant scale. Huge, jet black, and rough. What's more, it had all the details of the animated 3-D that I have seen during that wondrous night. As I held it to my eye level, tears welled up in both of my eyes and I quietly gasped. The significance of it, the nature of it, the wondrous and amazing conclusion it would mean, it was almost too much for me to bear; even though the burden was one of joy and not fear, of happiness and not sadness, of amazing wonder and not unremarkably mundane.

It was real.

It was real.

So, what do you think? By the way, a gamelan is a Southeast-Asian musical instrument. The closest description I could think of the instrument is that the gamelan looks like a set of small brass gongs, each emitting its own sound when hit by a stick. During the scene where Toothless made those lines on the ground using the tree branch and where Hiccup stepped on the lines, I could definitely hear the gamelan playing in the music.

So, is it a fail or not fail? Please review!