[slow music creeps up, euphoric feeling, a chorus of Kailah’s echoes in the air]
[sound by rvgerxini]
“Kailah, Kailah, Kailah.”
“It’s pronounced Kailah, like Kayla”
“Kailah.”
“No, no nickname please.”
“Kailah, Kailah, Kailah.”
“Just Kailah.”
[synth-like music starts playing, by InspectorJ]
Hi, I’m Kailah, and every morning when I wake up I record an audio message of my dream I had the night before. Sometimes they’re like huge braindumps of the day. My mundane moments of being a college student. Other times, it’s like an overfilling cup of the songs, movies, or other current obsessions. If not that, then they are leftovers of my waking moments with a pinch of wishful thinking. So, here’s a quick walk into my mind.
[the sound of small waves crashing and segulas flying in the distance air sound by John Sipos]
So I’m walking down the boardwalk in coney island around where my nana used to live. I’m wearing a pair of old Adidas and an old pair of shorts that are way too short and keep riding up my ass crack.
[intense upbeat dance music starts playing in rhythmic patterns. Sound by Sirplus]
Then I see there’s a man on roller skates with an aura that’s so John Travolta Saturday night fever that it triggers my fight or flight. So I’m running. Running down the boardwalk jumping over the planks of wood which now are growing faces and try to trip me up by poking out their tongues and screaming the friends’ theme song. But I’ve never seen the show so most of what they are saying is muffled instead of the chorus of clapping over and over again. And then I’m tired of running. So I switched to fighting. I turn around, pulling out a wrench from my back like those cartoon characters, and give it to the roller skater who now has shapeshifted into a younger version of Leonard Cohen.
[sound of crashing waves by John Sipos]
And once we get into the crashing, our bodies dissolve in the water.
[Synth-like music by InspectorJ]
That was one of my quarantine dreams. I was thinking a lot about family, watching a lot of old movies and listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen… and by listening, I mean crying. This next dream, also really intense. Also a quarantine dream. But a little less… fun.
[a measly and melodramtic violin starts playing by Liezen]
So I’m in a different dessert. Orange sand and crystals all around me, I’m slipping further and further into the heat. The sand is practically swelling me whole and my friends — a whole bunch of them dressed in rave apparel, with sweatbands on their foreheads and a boombox slugged over one of their shoulders — and they pass me, “Hey, Kailah,” they say and I wave. “Hey guys, where are you going? What’s going on?” And they look at one another like they’re all in on a joke I’m too dumb to understand. So they say, “yeah we’re just heading across the medi,”
[music stops]
and I’m like “the medi?” and they’re like “medi” and I’m like “the medi??” and they’re like, “the medi…the Mediterranean Sea?” and then I’m like “Oh” and they just kind of look around.
[measly and melodramtic violin continues to play by Liezen]
And then I ask “Can I go?” And by now half of my body is underground and I can feel myself still slipping further and further into the sand. And then they leave. And I try to bring myself out of the sand, I try to reach them, try to climb my way out. And I call out their names, but they just keep walking, and finally, I’m completely submerged by the sand. And they’re gone.
[Synth-like music by InspectorJ]
And now my final dream I’m going to share with you guys, this one? A cinematic masterpiece. You’ve heard of the MCU but now here’s the KCU, the Kailah Cinematic Universe.
[intense action music plays by Metrostock]
So I’m the avenger’s aircraft above new york city and it’s on fire, there are malfunctions happening all over, people are screaming, there are alarms ringing and the avengers — cap, iron man, spider-man, thor — all of them — and were all gathered around this hole in the aircraft and we can see the whole city. Aliens are everywhere, buildings are destroyed and so we all have to drop down in parachutes into the ground but before I drop down, cap says, “we have to find each other.” and he pushes me out. And as we’re mid-air and flying down. Some of us land in Harlem, some land in NoHo, others in Hell Kitchen and Tribeca, were all over the place. I end up on the upper ear side and I enter this brownstone. And I took a shower in the nice bathroom and a lady there gave me a new suit to wear so when I left the brownstone, the world was ending, aliens had invaded and everyone was running for their lives and I was running down the street and I saw my family running and I was like no I can’t stop, so I run down the block and the streets turn to jelly and I’m running and running and the aliens are near and capt’s like ‘Kailah we need you’ And I’m like, duh why do you think I brought this and I look down and my hand has crystallized into these sharp blade things and I crack the crystals on the grounds of union square and all the aliens disappear.
[a chorus of applause by Jessepash]
And I saved the world! But made a big mess and they throw me in jail for being the messiest person ever and I gave my Nobel peace prize acceptance speech from a public bathroom in Kissimmee Florida.
[applause fades]
[jail cell doors slam shut sound by turleleg]
[Synth-like music by InspectorJ]
Now, those dreams are kind of filled with some melodrama and some intense action-filled storylines. And I’m no avenger or lonesome girl alone in the desert. They only show the fragments of my life. And honestly, my dreams keep me going and they’re something I look forward to every day if I’m fortunate enough to remember. They allow me to lean into my imagination and as a writer, that a solid foundation is so important. And there are so many more dreams I could give you access to but, honestly, a girl’s gotta keep some things to herself. But, that’s just a little bit about me and the crazy and messy dreams I have on the regular. Thanks for listening, I’m Kailah, have sweet dreams and goodnight!
[synth-like music fades out]