I took my seat on the bed merging with familiar faces. I found solace in them, any problems or insecurities always fading whilst in their presence. The atmosphere was merry, a friendly barrage of verbal assaults bounced back and forth amongst the faces prompting hyena inspired laughter. The room’s walls were licked the purest shade of sky blue, the kind you'd expect to gaze upon in the peak of summer when the sun illuminated its surround, mid afternoonish. The faces were making clouds, slowly but surely manifesting them then sending them upward to the ceiling where an ornamental hot air balloon hung gracefully. This painted a picturesque scene, almost as if the balloon was navigating its way through mountainous fog containing an awestruck couple on a daring adventure, looking down at astonishment at the giant faces in the valley below. I myself, along with a selection of the fellow faces, was about to embark on adventure of my own. One that promised mystery and a new element of perception to the world we were familiarized with. I was nervous, but that nervousness was coupled with and also outweighed by a strong sense of excitement. We were going to be gifted keys to doors previously unavailable and an exotic minx named Alice was going to present them to us. This would not be the first time I had let Alice take my hand and lead me down trails only she could navigate. She was all powerful, therefore I made sure she was only visited when necessary - too much of a good thing will only ensure a dangerous deterioration. The journeys she took you on were mysteriously profound, I could say without doubt she promoted encouragement of out-of-the-box thought processes and this could be a most valuable tool to an individual capable of utilising this - in the right hands you could even go as far to say it could lead to greatness. You were never the same embodiment of what you previously were after meeting Alice. Scissors were required. Because of the constant cloud-making, locating the required tool was however proving much too difficult for what the task was. After many failed attempts, confusion and yet more verbal abuse hurled around the circle of faces, one of them suddenly claimed eureka and his hand dove into the depths of his right pants pocket while the audience watched intensely, perplexed by what was to protrude. He revealed a pocket knife with an ear to ear grin and thrust it up towards the roof with an outstretched arm. It almost looked like it had a halo, the light source above trickling down upon it giving the illusion of a glorious ring, and rightly so - it was our saviour! I carefully clicked out the the scissor section of the device that were fit for a being of G.I Joe stature and proceeded to make the delicate dissection, the face to my right following suit. Squares had become triangles. The nerves/excitement had undergone meiosis, they always did at this point, the point just before the embrace. In unison we did just that, we embraced her. It had been some time since I last felt this connection, she was now fizzling away inside of me and thus the process had begun. I poured myself into her, clearing my consciousness of everything available and becoming a blank canvas on which she could preside and do with as she willed, I was surrendering to her majestic mystique and handing over the controls of the spaceship we were both about to take off in. Likewise, she poured herself into me. Fifteen minutes or so had passed, although I wasn’t entirely sold on that... Or was it that I no longer cared for the concept of time? Was it even necessary? I could now feel a powerful surge growing from within me - a slow but steady uplift. It was somewhat a foreign presence but I was comfortable with it too. A recurring question had now crept its way into my mind, namely “What the fuck is going on?” Come on bro you know, you’re just hanging out with Alice. I suddenly snapped back into the room. Was i really just having a conversation with myself in my head? That would mean there’s two of me though, right? Nonsense, pure atrocity. The faces were still passing around the cloud machine and producing some impressive formations. I used to do that too. It had been a while since I had so I thought fuck it, I’ll give it another crank and see where it takes me. After packing the machine with the required ingredients I hastily lifted the cloud-maker to my lips and placed them in position. I didn’t struggle with the process, after all you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but he sure as shit will remember the old ones. The cloud was within me and I breathed it into the room gently, ironically giving my lungs a snippet of respect after putting them under what would be considerable strain. A solid wall of instant relaxation combined with a heightening of the senses rushed through my existence. Alice felt it all hit her too, I felt her feel it. She reacted instantaneously and I felt her grip on me tighten, power levels multiplied tenfold. This was the moment I knew I would now be viewing the world through Alice’s eyes and not my own. Shit got strangely weird, or was it weirdly strange? When I looked at the walls they were moving. Nothing insanely dramatic, they sort of just pulsed. It was so infatuating and I found myself obsessed, unable to direct my attention elsewhere. The sky-room was not just a mere structure anymore, it had well and truly taken the form of a living being. The walls were breathing! Curiosity had now scrambled among my inner dialogue and I found myself wondering just what the fuck we would find if we tore those walls apart, what would they reveal? The sudden piercing knock on the window behind me soon put a stop to the random tangent of thought i was seemingly stuck in like quicksand, although it startled me I was thankful to be saved from the silliness, even if it wouldn’t last long. The new face poked itself through the sky-rooms door soon after entering the house. I had only just become acquainted with this face recently and was all the more better for it. Listening to his tales of travel and just how he held himself in life was enough to send off waves of inspiring vibration and I’d happily catch as much of that energy as I would be permitted. Alice confirmed this to me. As he plonked himself onto the couch his boofy fro bounced joyfully around atop his dome and he eased into the circle of faces wittily tearing apart one face in particular whilst handing out banana’s. He always did that, it was his thing. He reached down and picked up a guitar. You could see the connection between man and instrument was strong. It just rang true, it was right and it was meant to be. Now I had heard him mucking around jamming before, but this time would be different. This time I was about to receive a treat so fucking tasty, visually and audibly, I would be inspired to write these very words you read. This time we would experience the talent together, me and Alice, intertwined and melting away from the experience. The lead was plugged in and as the room had previously, the guitar screamed out magically taking on its own life. Another face belted out a steadily funky rhythm on the bass and banana man proceeded to take me on journey through a musical realm unlike any I had been taken to before. It was nothing short of mesmerising. His fingers seemed to move in every direction at once, at times as fast as a bolt of vicious lightning, seemingly lost on the fret whilst all the while knowing exactly where they were heading. The sounds were as beautiful as a stunning pink skyline and they flowed into me, combining with Alice. It was beyond words. It was pure feeling and a sensation so rare I would be surprised to ever feel again. I sure hope I find it again, after all Alice can take us to places we never thought were imaginable... And so I will remain forever hopeful.      Â