The galaxy itself seemed to stretch, the Earth below him spinning rapidly for a moment as eons passed, only to slow again when Cuppy began to fall back towards the earth astride a comet. One of them, familiar in some way despite her inhuman appearance, turned away from the observation port, a tearful expression on her face as the ship warped away, leaving Cuppy alone in space for a moment. In an instant, he was inside the ship and among its residents, hearing arguments in a language he couldn't make out exactly, words that weren’t even words, more like ideas loud enough to be heard. Had they upset their benevolent friends of the skies? Cuppy’s perspective shifted up, following the gaze of the villagers and honing in on a craft far above. “Why weren’t they here yet?” Beyond the distant pyramid of dark hewn rock, the moon began to pass in front of the sun, an eclipse. A sense of abandonment filled Cuppy’s thoughts. A lush field of green jungle stretched before him, and he began to float through it, brushing through trees and vines until he came to a broad clearing, where a city of megalithic stone revealed itself, its occupants rushing towards a circular area that reminded Cuppy of a helicopter landing pad and staring into the sky. Stirred by the foreign sensation of being hyper alert in a time when his mind was meant to relax, he began to pick up on his surroundings. All at once, a coldness shattered the peace as though a bucket of ice water were poured on his face, nearly jolting him awake. Then he went limp and fell immediately asleep.Ĭuppy’s mind drifted idly, like a boat tied to the shore of a beach, being rocked gently by the ebbing tide.

He crawled like an inchworm deep under his blanket, burrowing the wrong way into bed. Cuppy, for his part, had maxed out his mental credit card, think lump swirling with numbers and rules. Much like Freyja had done, Richie began to rut and roll around in the silky sheets. The kids plunged into their soft white beds.

Warped reality myteam