Neville Park pt. II

'Welcome, Coates. It's great to have you.'



'How do you know my name?'
'Who's to say I'm not the one who gave you that name?'
'...uhhhhh... huh.'
'Well said. Now Coates, you have many questions, like... why are you here?'
'Why am I here?'
'Or, who am I?'
'Who are you?'
'Like that! Another one could be, say, how did you get here?'
'How did I get here?'
'Now you're getting it! It's always good to ask questions.'
'Yeah!' I nodded, twiddling my thumbs and looking over this bizarre but beautiful red-clad woman. 'So, why am I...'
'So! Step out of that pool and follow me. Are you hungry, Coates?'
My stomach answered for me.
'Right! Well, I do have these hot dogs with bacon right over here.'

She pointed to a pedestal where some wieners and buns were laid out. I stepped out of the water like a puppet and assembled a sausage, took a hungry bite and spit out the whole thing in disgust. Still in my teeth was a giant green grain.

'Yeah, sorry. I don't really care for those grains either. Oh well! It doesn't really matter anyway. Follow me, you'll see why!'

The woman in the red hat led me along a pathway and I was compelled to follow. We passed several rows of green marble statues atop pedestals, all carved of exposed humans male and female in blissful poses. She stopped at one marble pedestal that did not have a statue yet and I quickly saw where this was going.

'I'm sorry, but I don't get stoned anymore.'
'Those who live in glass houses don't throw stones.'
'Guess I don't wanna be stuck in one place for the rest of my life.'
'Strike a pose, then.'

There were three pathways: left, right and the way from which I came. I ran down the nearest one (right) as fast as I could. The lady in the red hat and the green marble statues faded behind me into the distance. Then they came closer. Suddenly I was right back where I was. She had the same confident smirk on her face. It was irresistible.

'Stuck in one place?'
'This isn't funny. How do I get out of here?'
'Ha! Like I'm going to tell you that. Get up on the pedestal. You'll like it. I've told you you'll like it.'
'Get lost. Make like the ocean and um... erode. Yeah! Okay Goodbye.'

This time I sprinted back the way I came, back towards the fountain in the middle of the garden. Except this time there was no rung ladder leading upwards. Perhaps there never had been a ladder at all. I scanned the area for another escape but none was obvious, every direction probable to lead back to where it began. Perhaps there was no escape because this was where I was meant to be. Too easy though. Maybe.
Instead of choosing a direction, I plunged into the water of the fountain. Despite it being only shoelace-deep before, my whole body was submerged upon impact. I swam down, not feeling any immediate need of oxygen, also while sensing something following me. Sure enough, just over my shoulder were a dozen water snakes, darting through the water like vicious laser beams towards me. There was an underwater cave ahead just within sight, narrow enough that these slithering phantoms might not squeeze through. But they were gaining. I wasn't going to make it.