A Spooky Spell

Poof! 

Holy crap! Where am I? How did I reach here? Just a few minutes back I was cleaning an old lamp that I had found in a roadside antique shop and now suddenly this? A beach! Of all the places to land, how can I end up here? The sound of gurgling waves, the wet sand and the humidity in the air was enough to drive any sane person stir crazy. And I still have a cleaning rag in one hand but where did the lamp go? Oh God, what a mess! I am sure if anything goes wrong mom is going to blame me.

But why can’t I see a single soul on this beach? Where’s everybody else? How can a beach in India be so isolated? Didn’t people love to splash and play in water like lunatics? Ah! There are some trees over there. Maybe I should go there, rest and think what I did to land up here. 

Poof!

Suddenly Koyal found herself face to face with a trendily dressed woman with wings and a crown. 

“Hey, where did you just come from? And who are you?”

“Hi Koyal! How are you finding your new surroundings?”

“Well, I hate beaches and so of course I hate this place. But who are you? And do you know how did I land up here?”

“Well, I am Blue Fairy and I am here to….”

“Hang on. Blue Fairy? As the one in Pinocchio?”

“Yes, I am that Blue Fairy, and now I am the owner of the lamp that you were cleaning. You did three circular movements on the lamp and so you are here on the Tiara Island.”

“Tiara Island? I have never heard of this place before. Where am I? I mean, which part of the world I am in right now?”

“Well, you are not on the earth. You…”

“What? I am not on the earth? But how’s that possible? Few minutes back, I was in my room, cleaning this lamp of yours and…”

“Will you let me finish?” Going red, Blue Fairy yelled at me.

Ah, I should better keep quiet. This Blue Fairy seems bit uncool about my questions. 

“So shall I continue?”

Even though I found Blue Fairy quite rude, I nodded. Alas, I wanted to get out of this stupid beach.

“Ok. This is Tiara Island, a prominent part of the Fantasy Galaxy. You ended over here by rubbing that lamp. I know, I know, you must be thinking that since when did rubbing a lamp started ferrying you to the Fantasy Galaxy. Well, before the humans became greedy and avaricious, this lamp was owned by the Jeannie. But with the passage of time, whosoever found Jeannie in the lamp started demanding materialistic things and that pissed off our Father Michael. So he transferred Pinocchio’s guardianship to Jeannie and I was made the sole owner of this lamp. Now I will serve as your guardian on this island.”

“Why a guardian? Why can’t I get a chance to get my three wishes fulfilled?”

Irritated, Blue Fairy literally roared (and to be honest, she looked quite ugly doing that). “Told you, no materialistic wishes. Here, take this iPhone. It’s equipped with WeChat. Whenever you need help, just ping me on that. I will come to your rescue.” Saying this, Blue Fairy disappeared with another poof.

Aww shucks. Now what am I supposed to do with this iPhone. I hate iPhones. Android ones are quite cool. And what kind of trouble I can find on this deserted island? Let me tell you, this Blue Fairy was one weird lady too. Before I could ask her any questions, she just went poof. Just because she’s a fairy, does she think she can do anything? And if she’s my guardian, where the hell she disappeared to? Shouldn’t she stay with me?

Anyway, I will explore this island. At least I should know where I am and who else is there, if anyone. 

As I was walking through the trees, suddenly I heard a boy screaming on the top of his voice. Curious about who it could be, I started walking toward that voice and what I saw next was so strange that I couldn’t believe my eyes. Right in front of me, Calvin — clad in black pants and red-and-black striped shirt — was running around, calling out Hobbes.

“Are you Calvin?”

At the sound of my voice, Calvin swivelled around. “Who are you? I have never seen you before.”

“Well, I am Koyal and just few minutes back, I landed here.”

“Does Blue Fairy know you are here?”

“Yeah, she gave me this iPhone with WeChat to contact her if I ever need her.”

“Well, that iPhone is crap. Don’t use it. Just give it to me. I will return it to Blue Fairy.”

Of course I knew how Calvin thought as I have been following his life since I was 7 year old. No way was I going to give him my iPhone. So instead I said, “I have always been a big fan of yours. You always seem to have great adventures.”

Listening to me saying this, I saw Calvin getting lit up like a Christmas tree. “Of course I am a great personality. My sense of humor and wit has even surpassed the imagination of my creator, Bill Watterson. Are you here to interview me? I can grant you one small interview as I have some spare time on my hands.”

Thinking that I could surely use this interview in my next high school’s newsletter, I said, “Sure. I would love to have one with you.”

“Ok. So what will I get?”

“What will you get means? You want something in return?”

“Of course, there’s no such thing as free lunch. I am all for materialism and the benefits attached to it. I know some stupid emotional humans don’t give enough importance to money but I am above those baseless sentiments.” Rubbing his hands together gleefully, Calvin said, “Money is power and power is money. Show me the money and I will answer all your questions.”

I could see an unholy glee in Calvin’s eyes and that started terrifying me. I never thought a six-year old kid could terrify me, a 16-year old who has survived secondary school without giving into ridiculous peer pressures. “But what will you do with the money? I don’t think you can use the money on this Tiara Island?”

“Who says I will remain on this Tiara Island for long? Once I get the money, I will bribe Blue Fairy to land on the earth. Once I land there, I am going to rule the human kind. Just wait and watch what I will do then. So back to the original question: how much will you pay me?”

After listening to Calvin’s plan, I simply couldn’t tolerate to talk with him. I knew he was created as a highly intellectual and philosophical kid but this kind of avarice was too difficult for me to handle. Thinking I am better off without him, I started walking away in the other direction.

“Hey girl, where are you going? What happened to the interview?”

“Yeah, I am coming back after few minutes. I have to look for Blue Fairy before I interview you.”

Saying this, I started running. I didn’t want him to ask me more questions. I had enough of him. Just as I going to pass a huge tree, I saw a lady sitting under the tree with a laptop. Clad in white trousers and butterfly yellow shirt, she serenely kept typing on the laptop. How did Nora Roberts end up on this island? Nora Roberts is an actual person. I could understand finding Calvin over here, but Nora Roberts? Now that’s too difficult to digest.

Deciding to take matters in my own hands, I asked “Ma’am, are you Nora Roberts?”

Looking up from her laptop, she gave me a vague smile. “Yes. I am penning a novel. Please don’t disturb me.”

How can this happen to me? How can I meet such a fantastic bestselling author on such a bizarre island? And how can I miss this chance to grill her? Maybe I can learn something from her and become a successful writer like her.

“Ma’am, I am a big fan of your work. I absolutely love the characters you create and the stories that you give life to. Can you please tell me what inspires you to concoct such phenomenal and staggering stories?”

“Listen, whosoever you are, I am not concerned. I asked Blue Fairy to put me on this island just to get rid of fans like you. I am fed up and bored of fans like you. I have had enough of awards and money. Now I only write for myself. I am not interested in answering your questions. Scoot before I create a dragon to eat you up. And believe me I can do so if you push it.”

Oh my, isn’t she cranky? Well, if she’s not interested in me, why should I? I have had enough of her tantrum. Muttering under my breath about the unfairness of life, I started moving forward. Now what to do? This place is full of weirdos. Shall I use WeChat and call Blue Fairy or shall I explore further?

“Explore further.”

Who the hell said that? From where did that voice came? Just as I lifted my head from the ground, I found myself staring in the eyes of an apparition of a chicken. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe properly, let alone scream out my fear.

“Don’t be scared. Even though I am a ghost, I am as harmless as a live chicken.”

“But you are a chicken ghost! I have never heard about a ghost of a chicken.”

“Now is that my problem if you human beings are ignorant about my existence? How typical! First you people kill me, eat me up in variety of ways and then just forget about my soul? Who said that chickens don’t have souls? If human beings can turn into ghosts, why can’t we chickens? Or do you think we don’t have unfulfilled desires to turn into ghosts?”

“But…but...”

“What but? I am tired of featherbrained humans. Even though we are born as chickens, it’s human race that’s full of chicken poop. Get lost…I don’t want to see you roaming around here. This is my place of haunting. Had I wanted humans roaming around my hangout, I would have been haunting the people on the earth. Now scram before I start squawking, and believe me your ears won’t be okay when I am done.”

Oh my god, this chicken is a psychopath. I have to get out of his sight before he impairs my hearing capacity to such an extent that not even Blue Fairy can do anything about it. Thinking that it’s better to jog than to walk, I started jogging away. Suddenly I found myself in a cricket-like ground. There was someone on the pitch doing warm-up exercises; however, from this far, I could only make out that the person was a guy. Deciding to check out the man, I neared the pitch. Suddenly that athlete turned around and started running. Oh sheesh! I don’t want to miss meeting him. Looking at my past record on this island, I bet he was someone interesting. So I started jogging toward him, and when I neared him, I couldn’t do anything but stop in my tracks.

“Oh hi there. Are you my fan? Do you want my autograph? Or do you want to dance with me? Although I am bit out of practice as I can’t find a dancer on this island, I promise I will be good. In fact, I’ll be way good.”

Who would believe me if I say that I met S. Sreesanth on the Tiara Island of Fantasy Galaxy. And how can I miss this chance of dancing with him? It’d be a crime if I let go of this chance. So I just squared my shoulders and took a step toward Sreesanth and bam, I walked straight into Blue Fairy.

“How dare you make a pass at my boyfriend?” Blue Fairy started throwing daggers at me.

“But I wasn’t flirting? He asked me to dance and…”

“Save your explanations. I know how vain and shallow human beings are,” Blue Fairy said giving a dark look to Sreesanth, who was busy staring at the grass on the ground. Turning back to me, she continued, “Anyway, I am sending you back to your home. You are not fit to be here. You can keep the iPhone with that WeChat with you. Consider it a souvenir from the Tiara Island.”

“But, I…”

And before I could complete the sentence, I found myself back in my room with a rag in one hand and an iPhone in the other. However, I couldn’t find the lamp anywhere. Before I could contemplate anything further, the door to my room suddenly opened and Anand, my younger brother, came rushing inside.

“Koyal, I’ve….Hey, you have got an iPhone. Where did you get it from?”

I didn’t know what to say and how to say the truth, but I knew I had to explain about this phone to my parents. It would be definitely hard for them to understand that their 16-year old daughter had got an iPhone as a gift from Blue Fairy, wouldn’t it? 

This post has been written for the WeChat contest held by Indiblogger.

Photo Courtesy: crystal--blue.deviantart.com