Alternate

Prickly pears line the asphalt streets.
Ammonia clouds gather above.
The music notes fall lazily out of my ears.
So tired.
The sun is hidden but the world still feels like an oven.
Shadows don't even want to come out.
I walk the rocky streets with beads of sweat dripping down my back.
I just want it all to go away.
A gunshot rings out.
A baby cries.
A womyn shouts.
I keep trudging til I come to the meadow full of ragweed, dry brown grass, and dandelions.
I look up through squinted eyes and see in front of me....
A UNICORN!
I hear in my mind "Get on."
So I do, unable to fully comprehend what is happening.
It must be all the chemicals in the air and food I think.
The unicorn starts running fast, faster, and even faster until the world is one gray blur.
Then we stop.
We are still in the meadow, but it is green and lush with wild flowers of purple, orange, blue, pink, and yellow everywhere.
Children are laughing and playing.
The sky is clear.
The water pure.
People are walking, talking, and dancing together.
It is beautiful.
"where are we?" I ask the unicorn.
She laughs and says "Here"
"Where's here?" I ask not understanding.
"We never left."
I still don't get it.
The world I was just in did not look like this.
The unicorn understands my thoughts and laughs again...
"Your reality is simply different than mine. I'm showing you how I choose to view the world. You can view the world like this as well. And maybe, once enough of us view the world filled with this light and love, all realities will become one and we will live together in harmony."
I woke up under the dying tree.
I felt refreshed.
Was it a dream?
It felt too real.
And under this dying tree, I see a little green leaf coming into being.