A mad tea party

I arrived home to find myself sitting at a mysterious table. A table with neither legs nor a tabletop, yet somehow I knew it was a table. Around it, many beings were simply behaving as though everything was perfectly normal.

So I decided to join in and make myself a cup of tea. I was curious to learn more about them.

These creatures were all staring at me as if they had never seen a human in the room before. There I was, warming up the water, ready to pour myself a brew and perhaps start a conversation or join one already in progress.

They looked at me again.

It was almost intriguing. Why was everyone staring at me? I felt like a stranger, occupying a space I hadn't realised I wasn't supposed to take.

Yet I focused on my tea.

Just as I was about to let the first drop touch the mug I'd set aside, I realised I felt like exploring something different. What if, instead of reaching for the tea bag I always went for, I tried something else?

I noticed a wonderful selection of leaves beside me. Following my instincts, I sniffed a few that smelled promising, made a little salad of them in a teapot, and brought it to the table.

I had to hold it on my lap until I discovered that the table was a safe place to rest my cup and teapot.

And then came the questions.

So many questions, all at once, that I simply fell silent. So many hands touching my hair, my skin, trying to understand how I was made. Yet I couldn't explain that myself.

So I took my first sip.

I realised I couldn't understand a word they were saying. I couldn't make sense of their language, but somehow, I could sense what they were trying to tell me.

And even though I didn't understand them, they let me show them, through my energy, just how big I was, despite the size of the body standing before them.

And yes, I was ginormous.

So big that I could almost reach every corner of the space we occupied. Some parts of me even escaped through the branches, overflowing beyond the flowers.

Yet I had no awareness of my size. I simply couldn't see myself that way. I was convinced my skin was the boundary of my being.

They all wanted to learn more about me, and I wanted to know more about them.

I finished my cup, and when I tried to pour myself another, there was nothing left in the teapot.

Someone offered me a sweet. I automatically extended my hand to take it, only to realise that many other sweets were being offered all around me.

So I stopped.

I got up and walked around. I stumbled upon the root of a tree, and the texture of the ground beneath my feet became rough, as though I were walking on sand. But when I looked down, it appeared to be grass.

Nothing was as I knew it.

It was a new world, and there wasn't enough time to take in everything happening around me.

I thought I was the same as always, but I was certainly not. I thought I knew what I was doing, only to discover that I didn't.

I went for a pink cupcake shaped like a nose, with a red cherry on the side.

It tasted sour. Almost disgusting.

But I wanted to experience it all.

I had chosen it. I could have picked another one. I could have accepted the sweet that had been offered to me. Instead, I'd gone for the one that caught my attention.

And now I had to take responsibility for my choice.

As I ate, a tail began growing from my back. Claws emerged, making it impossible for me to finish the cupcake.

I was embarrassed.

My dress was nothing more than threads of old fabric scattered across the ground.

I had become a wolf.

I ran away.

I hid in a cave, not knowing what to do.

A little dung beetle looked at me and sparked a light.

“You've been set free,” she said. “You can do whatever you wish now. There's no need to hide anymore.”

“Go and hunt what is best for your soul!”

And here I go.