Dreaming of Home
My slumber was interrupted by a strange light. My eyes fluttered open. A cool blue hue cast over my room. Though it was night, it was as if a cobalt glow was coaxing me awake. I rose from my pillow and squinted while searching for the source of my disturbance.
As I stared into the light shining through my bedroom window, a humanlike silhouette emerged from the brightness. She moved toward me. The friendly figure reached out her hand. To my surprise, it looked like mine. Not only her hand, but her entire form looked like mine. Only she seemed―different. I stood from my bed and walked toward her. I did not touch her. She gestured to the other window in the corner of my room. I looked. To my amazement, outside my bedroom window was a hovering aircraft that I could not identify.
Was this an abduction? If so, why wasn’t I frightened?
I whispered to her, “Why are you here?”
Her voice flowed like silk threads drifting through the air, “I’m here to take you home.”
I tried to make sense of the scene but couldn’t understand. I asked, “You’re not an alien here to abduct me?”
She smiled graciously and clarified, “No. I’m not here to abduct you, and I’m not an alien. Well, I’m not alien to you.”
“Not an alien to me?” I stammered.
She answered politely, “You don’t know me, but we are from the same intelligence. You are one of us.”
She paused before continuing, “Have you ever felt like a stranger in your homeland?”
“Yes,” I replied quietly. I knew what it was like to feel awkward in my own body. Foreign in the familiar. Lonely in a room full of people.
She explained, “That’s why I’m here. I’m here to take you home, if that is what you want.”
The mood shifted. This goddess resembled a fairy godmother more than an invasive predator. Her face was soft and soothing. She wasn’t here to take me away from everything I loved, but to show me something hidden from view.
I reached out my hand to touch hers and said, “Yes, I’d like that.”
She sensed a hint of reluctance in my tone and asked, “What is it?”
“Can I come back? Can I come back to visit? I know this is not where I belong, but it’s my home. Is this ‘good-bye’ forever?” I questioned.
“No. It’s not ‘good-bye’ forever. It doesn’t even have to be ‘good-bye.’ You have a choice. I am here to show you where you come from and offer you answers to questions you’ve been evading. However, all is dependent on what you want,” she answered.
I inhaled deeply and looked out to see the aircraft gently humming under the gleaming stars. It wasn’t a warship or chariot. It was a lifeboat.
I reached for her hand and said, “Yes, I’m looking for answers.”
She paused before reciprocating my reach and said, “I must tell you, though you can come back, you won’t be the same. You will be changed and there is no unseeing what you are about to see.”
I understood and wordlessly nodded in agreement.
She returned my reach. As our hands met, I lifted off the ground with her. She said with a smile, “Good. Anytime you want to come back, you can without question.”
Our bodies moved toward the light coming from the hovering aircraft. I was unafraid. I was both leaving home and going home.
