There was that thing again—that thing that made sense but there was no sense to be made from it, that pull in the middle of my stomach or my soul or whatever that tugged at me relentlessly. A sixth-sense. A spiritual beckoning. Or some other type of shit. I don’t know man, but the moment I felt it, my hackles raised slightly and a blossom of panic erupted in my chest. Pa had sent me on an errand—and I swear I was trying, really, it was just this emotional crap with Ma ‘n everything throwing me off somewhat. It was the vibe I was beginning to get—that the more I gravitated towards my family from the Foothills, the less I could try and feel my Pa and the spark coursing through me, inside and out, in my bones ‘n everything. And the more I listened to my Pa’s gruff laughter in my head, the smaller my Ma’s tears became, and for whatever reason I couldn’t fit the both of them in my head at the same time, no matter how hard I tried. Just. Jeez.

Anyway, I was…um. Oh yeah, the thingy in my thingy that I was feeling. After a moment of analyzing it, I decided it didn’t feel…quite like Pa’s had. His had been gentle (ha), insistent, letting me approach without tugging the chain. This was more like a siren wailing in the back of my head, an urgent sort of push and pull at the exact same time. I almost choked back on spring water when I felt it (I was in a creek, chillin’ the most), and after the idea that Pa’s fury was about to rain down on my ass finally subsided I focused enough on the feeling to let it guide me. Because it was a good idea or…something like that. I didn’t know—still don’t—but it wasn’t like I was about to ignore the bastard.

Anyway I was...uh…yeah, I was makin’ my way downtown, towards an area I hadn’t been to in a while, preoccupied I was up north with the stuff. I traveled as fast as I could without winding myself too quickly, back to a place I only remembered in hazy, drunken memory (we’re still not talking about that). Only now it was different from what I remembered-- I saw this big-ass thing in the sky, my head craning back to get a good look at it, completely blown away by it, the sense in my head telling methat was where I needed to go. And how the hell? came the inevitable question, snarky and poisonous in my head as I edged forward, almost as though I were about to dip my hooves in the heavenly blue lava that gurgled and bubbled around me.

It was like---like something was reading my smart-ass thoughts; right underneath me, something formed around my hooves and started to lift me up, and I kind of yelled and backed away off of it, but it wasn’t letting me go so easy, and I just sorta tumbled once again onto another cloud and it was lifting me up because that was where I wanted to go even though this was crazy as hell. I mean
look. I‘m was on a cloud. How swank was that?!

It didn’t take long before I made it to wherever the hell I needed to go, which turned out to be the Heavenly Fields on steroids. There was irony somewhere in this; I mean, I don’t know, I was still preoccupied with the clouds. I hopped off my sweet ride and the thing in the back of my head was buzzing even harder, almost hard enough for me to feel it with the back of my eyes. I followed it inward towards the center; and for whatever reason, my mind decided now was a good time to feel some apprehension on what was happening. Traveling here wasn’t a big deal, I guess; I always ascend to the heavens by goddamn clouds, it’s no big deal, obviously, ‘s just how I roll. No, there was something about fluffy fields of fucking flowers that was giving me chills and a sense of impending doom. But I was still going where the itch was telling me to go.

I mean, it’s whatever, right? I rode the cloud. There was no turning back now.