Water, Wonders, and Trunk Trouble

Chapter 3

Eleanor Elephant was a sound sleeper.

It seemed that, every night, she fell asleep soundly enough to dream mere moments after her heavy head sunk into the pillow. Each night, she was immersed in an amazing, fantastic world that seemed as vivid as the real one. But it was a world where anything was possible, a land full of her favorite story book characters, fantastic adventures, and all sorts of amazing happenings.

Sometimes, that wasn't a good thing. She recalled one dream - a dream that started wonderfully. Both her and Kisha were taking a lovely stroll through the land of Narnia, when suddenly the White Which came. She and Kisha suddenly became archers, desperately fighting a losing battle against the mighty sorceress. And just when it seemed like the tide had turned, Kisha began to change.

Her gray fur changed to a crisp brown and her smock and beret morphed into a wizard's outfit. Then, she grew claws and began chasing Eleanor, screaming hideous curses as she did so. Eleanor ran, and ran, and ran. But then, they came.

Every single My Little Pony she had ever owned was chasing her. And they were mad. As she ran and ran with all her might away from Kisha and the hideous plastic ponies, she fell into a land. A strange land. A land made entirely of gooey candy and sweets. And all her friends were there - each one a twisted, hideous version of their former self.

Well, OK. Once she had awoke, she realized that actually the "twisted and hideous" forms were actually rather goofy. CJ had grown extra limbs and was donning nothing but Cupid-patterned underpants. Hopsalot was huge and wearing goofy overalls. She couldn't remember the rest, but they were all very silly in retrospect. But while she was dreaming, they were terrifying.

That night, as Eleanor, exhausted from her fun but exerting pool party, fell into a deep sleep even quicker than normal, she didn't encounter Narnia, the White Which, My Little Ponies, or any altered versions of any of her friends.

At first, she had a nice pleasant dream about a relatively normal day, except that she had invited several Disney princesses over for a tea party. She had a fun time talking with them.

She was just taking a sip of tea - hot, flavorful, almost magical tea, sweet as blueberries and fragrant as jasmine - and was enjoying it immensely, when she suddenly felt a strange, uncomfortable sensation in her trunk. She squirmed it about, but it was as if some force had suddenly imposed its will over her own trunk. Suddenly, her trunk kept twisting and turning uncontrollably. It was...it was...it was tying itself into knots. She tried to stop it, but she couldn't. And suddenly...she...she...she couldn't breathe...

NO! she thought. Auuurrgghhh! I've got floppy trunk syndrome! Floppy trunk syndrome...floppy trunk syndrome...floppy trunk syndrome...

NOOOOOOO!

The first thing she thought when she awoke was, I can't believe I thought that! Floppy trunk syndrome is when your trunk stops moving, not when your trunk moves uncontrollably!

And the second thing she thought was, I still can't breathe through my nose!

She gave a deep gasp as she realized that her trunk was tangled. Just as in her dream. Just as in her dream.

For one moment, all of Eleanor's smarts - all of Eleanor's reason - seemed to fly far from her mind. She was too panicked - and she had too much of an imagination - to even begin to think logically.

She couldn't stop hyperventilating and clutching her tangle of trunk. The rosy color left her face as one hideous horror plagued her mind...

A terrible mass. A terrible mass of vile green mist. Not mist - thick smoke. Thick smog. A smog more poison than any natural substance. Perhaps it rose from the cauldron of some hideous witch, a witch who had imprisoned or eaten or simply tortured countless princesses, just because she wanted to. Just because she was evil. And the mist seeped into her trunk and took control. It tangled the trunk it possessed into knots. Because the witch wanted nothing more than to kill Eleanor.

"No, no, NO!" Eleanor screamed at the top of her lungs and tears streamed down her cheeks. "You won't kill me! You won't kill me, you wicked-!"

Eleanor gasped deeply, and then she gave in. She flopped onto her bed, her once pink face now perfectly pale.

(Kisha's transformation was a reference to her character design in the 1999 version of JumpStart Preschool - 'cept the real thing didn't have big claws. The fact that Hops' monstrous form wore overalls is a reference to the 1994 version of JumpStart Kindergarten. Not that I'm trying to depict either character design as bad - I just wanted to make some funny references. Also, the twisted version of CJ having extra limbs is a reference to this disease frogs can apparently get that makes them grow extra, non-moving limbs. Twisted CJ's cupid underwear is a reference to the fact that me and my sisters made CJ wear such undies back when we made up JumpStart stories orally years ago.)