Hello, Kitty...Nice Kitty...

The sun had already given rise to a luminescent waning crescent, but that did not keep the bustling Chinatown festival from slowing down.

A friend had brought me into a traditional-looking Buddhist temple that apparently had been remodeled into a school. Whisking through the dimly lit hallway, I noticed each room was jam-packed with kids with light exuding from every crevice and pore made between the door and its archway. We finally turned left and broke through the double doors into a much larger room filled with familiar faces (not unlike coming back to the Great Hall at Hogwarts).

Everyone was busy enjoying themselves whether it be playing Big 2, surfing the web on their laptops, or simply chatting it up with the person sitting next to them. A certain sharp clinking noise caught my attention. There were a few people messing with puzzles in the corner of the room. Intrigued, I took a seat next to them and picked up my own puzzle to solve.
“You don’t mind, do you,” I gestured to the old man who was seemingly in charge of the activity, “I promise I’ll be careful.” The man nodded.

Several minutes later, I found myself holding several warped metal fragments and a shredded piece of string. I had “solved” the puzzle in my own personal way. The man narrowed his eyebrows.
“Careful, right,” the man said in a cold tone. Silenced by guilt, I simply looked at my hands. “Well, since you like puzzles SO much, you can come back tomorrow morning. I’ll hand you some things to fix this mess.” Fix this mess? Impossible. Nonetheless, I returned the next morning.

I walked down the hallway, but this time alone. Dawn broke, allowing a gentle stream of sunlight to seep through. I arrived outside the room I was in the night before. Sunlight did not shine through these doors.

Hesitantly, I brought my hand up to push the door ajar. It was dark and musky inside, but two figures were visible. A Geisha was standing inside, whispering to the old puzzle man.
“Where is he,” she violently hissed.
“He should be here, my Lady. I told him to be here after he broke the puzzle.”
“Enough! I grow impatient. The boy has lived too long…”
“…The fuck,” I questioned to myself, “It was just a puzzle, I don’t think I should die for it…”
“IT’S HIM,” she screeched. The man burst through the door as I backed away and started to run. The old man was too slow; there was no way he could get me.
“WORTHLESS OLD MAN, MOVE ASIDE!”
I made no attempt to look behind me and sprinted down the hall. A mirror on the opposite side of the hall was perfectly placed for me to catch a glimpse of the beast. With the poise of a Geisha, she extended her arms and let loose a shrill cry, flaring her rows of exceptionally jagged incisors (not unlike 1:33 in http://bit.ly/kAY9j). She pointed a slender white finger at my forehead through the mirror.
“Oh…FUUUUCK!”
Several moments later I heard a deafening roar and felt a hard stabbing feeling in the back of my head. The geisha had sent her personal attack crow (Adam Carolla’s dream come true!) and lion.
Just as I burst through the temple door, the lion smashed down the wall. The geisha’s shrill cry resonated through air. Sunlight flooded my eyes, but I continued to blindly sprint across a stone bridge and back into the heart of the Chinatown hussle and bussle.
“OUT OF MY WAY, I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”
I crashed through the vegetable and fruit stands and shoved aside anyone who had so much as a hair in my way. The lion had a similar disregard for who or what it bulldozed through on its path to my forehead. Stumbling through the center plaza, I found myself surrounded by several Asian stationary and gift shops. I look a glance over my shoulder and didn’t see the lion. I took my chance and dived into the nearest shop and took refuge behind a shelf, closed my eyes and held my breath. The next few seconds took forever. I heard the paws of the lion pound against the ground outside the shop. It growled and continued to rage through the market.
“Er, can I help you,” a lady asked. I finally opened my eyes and looked up.
“WHOA THERE,” I exclaimed as I stumbled back down on my rear. The clerk was standing directly over me, holding a very large Hello Kitty plush doll.

You’re kidding me, right? How on Earth did Hello Kitty manage to manifest itself in my dream?