As I walked through the museum, admiring the amazing paintings and sculptures that these artists spent hours—maybe even years—creating, a strange black corridor with dim yellow lights caught my attention just as I was exiting the building. One moment, I was thinking about going home to cuddle with my cat; the next, I felt myself being drawn into the depth of this corridor. I looked up and realized that these dim lights were not ordinary; they were stars, just like the ones in our beautiful sky. I could see the Big Dipper, Orion, Leo, Aquarius, and many other stars that took my breath away as soon as I laid eyes on them. I followed the corridor to a room that resembled the one I had just passed through.
As I ventured deeper into the room, I discovered a painting with a divine brown rim dusted with a hint of gold, captivating anyone who looked at it. It was definitely not a normal painting; it was purple and moved in ripples, calling my name slowly and inviting me to touch it—perhaps to join it on whatever exotic journey it had planned. Before I knew it, my hand made contact with the purple-pink ripples. When I finally touched it, I felt as if I were being sent to another world, a world I could see and feel fully, with emotions I had never experienced before. I was finally able to stand up before collapsing again.
I slowly opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the intense green and blue lights that temporarily blinded me. After collecting myself, I got up. My surroundings had never felt so out of place before; I found myself in a theater, but not just any theater—it was in space. There were so many buttons that I felt overwhelmed. I could see Earth, beautiful as ever, but something was off about it. It wasn’t the typical version of Earth; it was my version. I took a closer look at the buttons to figure out their meanings. Upon closer inspection, I found that these buttons would take me to parts of the world I wanted to visit.
The first place I wanted to go was definitely my own country. I pressed the button that read “TÜRKİYE.” I had never wanted to go somewhere more than I did at that moment. Suddenly, the chair zoomed across the atmosphere and brought me to a bird’s-eye view of the country. Everything looked so beautiful and peaceful—no signs of threat. As I looked more closely, I noticed a group of little girls holding their fathers’ hands and going to… school? I was so happy to see that we were encouraging little girls to get an education and that their fathers were allowing them to attend school. This realization made me understand that basic human rights were often denied to children simply because their parents were affected by the country’s less-than-ideal beliefs. Another thing I realized is there were tons and tons of women being able to go on walks at 2 a.m. without being scared if something was going to happen to them by people who showed up uninvited to our home. I felt so proud to see my country at its best and where everyone was comfortable. The next place I wanted to go was America; as I spent a part of my life there, I needed to go back. There were articles saying, “We have finally been able to get the number of school shootings to 0.” I was shocked at the article, as school shootings were a big problem in America, but hearing that it was solved made me go over the moon. “We have finally been able to get the number of school shootings to 0.” I was shocked at the article, as school shootings were a big problem in America, but hearing that it was solved made me go over the moon.
Another place I wanted to go was the Middle East. So I pressed the button to take me to the Middle East. As I was traveling over Africa, there were so many countless lakes that were filled with really clean-looking water. When I saw this, I wanted to get a closer look, so I tapped the armchair and made the chair stop. It was very obvious that the waters were super fresh and hydrating. When I took a closer look, I saw that people were still living in packs but in better-conditioned neighborhoods. As I made my way to the Middle East, the weather was clear as ever. That only meant one thing: the war is over. Finally, the wars that were going on for decades were finally over. As the chair took me further to look at the land, I saw beautiful rivers with people swimming. Last thing I knew was the rivers were borders, and now people didn’t even care that they were swimming in their borders. Then a big screen flashed across my eyes. It was stating that “TOUR’S OVER.” After the screen went away, the chair started moving at the speed of light. I was pushed into the chair with great force. Before I could even blink, we were back at the starting stop. The same big screen flashed in front of my eyes that said “trip over. Tip please 🙂 .” I tipped it 20 dollars. Before I pressed the exit button, the air suddenly felt like Antarctica; that’s when I noticed in my world it was summertime all the time. The weather was hot, the sun hitting your skin just the right amount. I was going to miss this place. Then a voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “HEY! The museum closes in 5 minutes, and you have been looking at that wall for an hour. Might consider seeing a doctor, sweetie,” the worker said with a warm smile. That’s when I realized the medication I was taking for my schizophrenia was not working. I was looking at a wall for the past hour.