I can’t find that blue shirt anywhere in his closet—upstairs in his room—and I am beginning to wonder if he’s looking for a blue shirt that no longer exists today; I wonder if it’s a shirt from the past.
I finally convince him to get going, and as we go outside the house I realize we are in a city I haven’t seen before. I don’t recognize it at all. Somehow I know I have been gone from home for a while and that’s a logical explanation for why I don’t know my whereabouts now. I try to be patient and think of asking around about how to get to Dad’s doctor’s office.
A woman on the street approaches us and offers to take us to my dad’s appointment; I thank her and get my dad in the back seat of her car. As I go around her car to get to the front seat, she speeds off with my father inside her car! I start running as fast as I can to catch up with her. I am upset because she took my dad away. I notice I somehow run way too fast and it’s easy to catch up with her.
As I make her stop—to get my dad from her back seat—I ask her why she would do something like that. She tells me that there’s an organization or group of scientists and wise men—of some sort—who have hired a lot of people to kidnap my dad and take him to a lab so they can perform experiments on him and find out how he was able to develop mental powers, mind-over-matter powers, and most important: teleportation.
I can’t believe what she says and I tell her to ‘take a hike.’ I notice Dad is happy to see me again.
We start walking and I try to get us a taxi. Two men approach us and ask us if they can help us with anything. They seem very nice but I am not in the mood for more surprises, so I thank them and tell them we will manage. Those two men try to get my dad in a car, and I get very angry with them and—to my own surprise—I start fist fighting with one of them.
I finally get rid of both men and decide to take Dad back to that strange house we now live in.
That night all objects start to move around my dad—just like they do every night while he sleeps—and I can’t help but watch and think about the events of the day. While Dad sleeps, I tell him I can’t understand how he became so eccentric and kind of weird during the time I was gone from his life. It is now clear to me that all the objects inside the house protect him, somehow, while he sleeps. I think a lot about what the woman who first tried to kidnap him said regarding that strange organization that wants to get his hands on my dad. I am worried now.
While Dad sleeps—still in the middle of the staircase—I tell him that if something bad ever happened to him, life for me would never be the same; nothing would make sense in my world anymore. I also tell him I love him dearly. I wonder where I was gone for such a long time. I can’t remember where I’ve been but it sure is nice to be back, living with him.
The following day, I try to get Dad to his doctor’s office again; as we leave the house we see a man with two children. The man tells me he knows who my dad’s doctor is and offers to take us; I thank him and tell him we will get there on our own. The man threatens me with a knife and says he’s going to take my dad away. I get very angry. Dad seems bored by the situation; he patiently waits to see what happens next.
The man and I begin to struggle to take over the knife. As I struggle with him, few other people approach us and try to kidnap my dad. It is clear to me now that these people can’t kidnap my dad while he’s inside the house, but will try anything to get to him whenever we go outside. These people seem desperate now to get my dad.
As I now struggle with more people—men and women—others take my father away in a car. I take one of the children’s bicycles—from the original man with two children who first approached us that morning—and I start riding it, chasing after the car that took my dad from me.
The whole pursuit seems like it’s taken from an adventure movie. I avoid hitting all kinds of things on the road, and even change to different vehicles from time to time. After a long time, I am able to catch up with the car and take my dad out of it. All I want to do now is take Dad back home.
I finally get my dad back and as we try to go back home, those same people start to surround us and Dad and I run toward a nearby apartment complex. Once inside it, we run upstairs and a minute later we are on the roof of the second floor. I think if we hide there, all these crazy people will go away and leave us alone. Soon I realize there are a couple of people on the roof with us, and a man is now riding a forklift toward us. We have nowhere else to go. That crazy man charges all of us with his forklift and at least four of us—my dad included—fall from the roof.
As I fall, I try to get to my dad—in midair—and I embrace him and try to turn around so I will land on my back and he doesn’t get hurt. As expected, a second later I land on my back with a big thump, and it takes me a few seconds to recover, but I feel I still have my dad in my arms, on top of me.
As I open my arms, a while later, I realize that the one there is not my dad but a fat woman! I get up and try to look for my dad. I see him a minute later: He slowly walks toward the gate door to get out. I smile, thinking I now know how he has evaded these crazy people on his own for all these years. I am amazed at his teleportation skills. I run toward him and he tells me he wants to go home now because he’s hungry.
But before I can tell him I will take him home, he gets kidnapped again!
As I try to get him back, once more, a noise coming from outside my window wakes me up from that dream. I think to myself—in real life—I can’t leave things like that; I have to go back. I guess I was not fully awake, and somehow I keep on dreaming.
I found myself in the middle of a pursuit; I’m happy to be back into the same dream. I look around and I realize I am now inside one of the ‘bad guys’ cars. It seems to me I stole a car with one of the men still inside. (It seems to me my dream kept on going, even while I was awake minutes before.) As I drive through the streets of that strange city, I ask the man why they are stalking my dad so much; the guy asks what’s it to me. I look at him in disbelief and tell him I’m my dad’s daughter! That’s why I try to get him back from them, every time.
The man looks at me as if I were crazy, and he tells me that my dad doesn’t have any kids anymore! He tells me my dad is 185 years old and that’s why all scientists in the world want to get their hands on him; but my dad makes it impossible for them to catch him, time and time again.
I look at myself in the rearview mirror and see I’m not who I think I am. I see in the mirror a strange face. I look like a man in his mid-twenties, with a goatee and all. I am very surprised by my own looks.
Everything makes sense to me now: since my dad is 185 years old, it’s clear that all his children are dead by now. I am currently someone else, and he has—somehow—found the way to call out to me for help. Dad probably is beginning to feel lonesome, or maybe he’s just getting tired of fighting those people alone. I know in my heart that I will always be his daughter, despite what I may look like now. I will always protect him.
As I still follow a car—with my dad in it—I realize why he sleeps every night in the middle of the staircase: his mind has lost track of the time that has gone by, and that’s why he sleeps there, waiting every night for his wife to come back home so they both can go upstairs to their bedroom. Dad seems unaware of the fact that she has died a long time ago. We all have.
I smile, thinking that regardless of whoever I might be now, I will leave everything to take care of him and make sure he’s all right. I now know I will never leave him alone, for as long as he needs me.
With that thought in my mind, I step on the gas pedal, ready to get him back so we can go home.
