It is 10:00, in the summer of June. I am sitting in a very colorful train station. People call it the “hippie” train station. I am sitting there with my older brother, Miles. We’re twins, but he is 3 seconds older, so we are the same age. We are from Venice Beach, that is probably where our love for basketball came from. We are tall for a basketball player. We are committing for a basketball scholarship to UCLA, one of the best in the country. The train arrived. It looked like the train from the Harry Potter movies. Pretty cool. It was black with white edges.

We get onto the train and we see not only people but muggles! Nah, just kidding it was just the people; they were very nice. They asked us if we wanted something to eat and drink! That has never happened to me before. There was only 1 downside, WE WENT ON THE WRONG TRAIN! I knew something was a little weird about that train. Instead, we went through this portal that would take us to a place called, Lion’s Tale. It sounded like a drink from a bar or a brew from a sorcerer. I am wondering if Miles and I were going to be ok.

Furiously walking out of the train, there was this dirty mutant creature that looked as green from a sick cartoon and very ugly with hairs all over its back.

“Hello Mike and Miles, my name is Neto. Money transfers are all over, so don’t worry if you have that American junk.”

“How do you know our names?” Mike said with fear in his eyes.

“I know you because we have human identification all over this place,” said Neto. “Let me show you around, the Lion’s Tale”.

Neto had a weird personality, not gonna lie, I was very nervous.

We got to a money transfer machine, not an ATM apparently. Miles overheard people getting yelled at those creatures. The creatures are saying, “It isn’t an ATM, it is a money transfer machine!” Pretty funny; Miles was just laughing at the fact that little creatures like they are yelling at the humans.

“Thank God Neto didn’t yell!” Miles said with joy.

We observe this place and we look and see everything that you can ever want, amusement parks, nice restaurants, parks, chocolate fountains, water parks, and many others. If I rambled on, you would be bored. It was a blast. There was no alcohol though, the irony.

Miles and I check into a hotel nearby from a park. The hotel was very nice. It had waterfalls with sculptures of different creatures. Also, the sculptures were edible; they were made out of creamy, smooth, and silky milk chocolate.

“Have a piece of this. Please take. It is a gesture we have in this hotel.”

I finished my chocolate, so I checked in to the hotel. My brother, on the other hand, is savoring his piece. I usually just eat it and usually not savor it.

Honestly, the hallway was nice, it has more sculptures, except it was white chocolate.

We are in room 567, a room that was for the president. It had 2 king sized beds and caviar. Not to mention the room service was amazing. The chefs didn’t even charge us for the caviar. The best part was seeing the purple night sky and a view of the city. We saw Neto, but he was upset; as good people do we check on Neto. he was nice and maybe a friend in this place, I owe him one for showing me the city. Miles wanted to come with me as well.

“NETO!”

“Oh, hey guys…”

Are you ok?”

“No…”

“What is going on?” I ask in a panicky matter.

“Someone is trying to take over the whole entire location. All of us are in danger.”

I was shocked at this. Considering that there had to be a portal to get into the Lion’s Tale; someone must have hacked it, or something, at least.

“Who is this person trying to take over this place? I can see why. It is a literal paradise.”, I ask eagerly.

Neto froze. He didn’t say anything; not a peep.

I thought, “What is going on? Am I in this delusion, to the point where I think this is real life? I hope I don’t die, this is serious, more serious about who I was going to take out for prom my senior year. More serious about where I was going to college for basketball… This is life or death, at least I think so…”

Suddenly, Neto just points at this armada of superhumans that were a perfect villain in a Marvel Superhero Movie. In fact, one of the leaders was a giant, had a war suit that was probably made out of metal, and a laser eye.

The superhuman leader I was talking about, yeah… HE WANTS TO SEE ME! Now, I am very confused, why would he want to see me? He wanted to meet me in the hotel where I was staying at, specifically the banquet hall.

“Hi.. who are you, and why do you want me? Why me? Why do you want to speak to me? I am just a kid that went on the wrong bus. Please don’t hurt me.” I say with fear in my speech, as well as me sweating so much to this malicious creature.

“Hello, my name is Davis.”

“Davis? That is your name? HA! I thought it was going to be like Salazar or just something evil. You know, like in those superhero movies, they have cool names.”

“Shut up, Mike…”

How does he know my name? I have never met him before, at least I don’t think so.

Davis said to me, “How about we have a little scavenger hunt, me versus you, whoever wins, gets to keep this wonderful place.”

I am actually surprised that he said that to me. To be completely honest with you, I thought he was going to have a war to the death or something like that.

“Fine, make the best person win,” I say with confidence.

I want to see how this will turn out, he would win no matter what because he is one of the most overpowered superhumans alive. In this case, I just hope I don’t die while doing this. This is for me and my brother, Miles. This is WAY better than UCLA.

“Are you ready?” my brother asks, knowing that I know he is worried about me.

“Yep… hope I don’t get killed…”

I was so worried that I didn’t want to move from the tile flooring in the hotel room. So, I decided to have my brother push me out of the room, and carry me down the hall to the area we started the scavenger hunt.

“Ok.. here are the rules for this scavenger hunt or race… whatever you can call it whatever you want. Anyways, no cheating from having gadgets, including phones or anything that involves something with technology. If you have something, please put it in this bucket.” The announcer wasn’t kidding, the superhuman put EVERYTHING inside that bucket. So, now it is even. “Let the scavenger hunt begin!”

So now we get the first clue. It says this note on a red sheet of parchment: Go to the place where this all started.

Well, that can be anywhere, wait a second, the train, this is where we came from. I go to the train and yet here is the next clue: Man, I love something that is creamy, better yet something that is in the hotel.

Well, that is easy, the chocolate sculptures. They were good.

I race there to the chocolate sculptures and see that there is still some leftover… I decided to take a piece, ok? I am NOT on a diet, so hah I can do it. Anyways, I think this is the last clue: The finish is where you started the contest of power that is bigger than you have ever imagined…

Good news is I know where that is, bad news, the superhuman, or just human now is catching up. I have to race there before it is too late. I dive into the finish line and…

***

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

It is 9:30 in 2019 in the summer of June, ready to go on the train to UCLA. I get up from my bed at my house and got up Miles.

We say goodbye to our parents in the same train station I had a dream about. “Bye, I love you guys!” I say.

My mom and dad are in tears and say, “We love you too.”

Miles and I get onto the train. I take out my ticket, the ticket that looked the same in my dream. This time it goes to UCLA, where I will start my college basketball career.

I told my brother about the dream I had about this place. He said to me it was “the exact same dream I had”. I wonder if this is a “twin thing” or if it just was a coincidence, whatever. I just hope wherever this train takes us, this would leave me a new path, a path with a bunch of risk-taking, thrills, downs, and just normal, but no matter where this path is or when this will happen or how it is going to happen, it is going to be one heck of a ride.