A Bizzare Journey

This story was written when I was eleven years old. It was based on a dream that I actually had.

One day when I woke up from my sleep, I remembered a strange dream, which I had. I vaguely remembered the face of a huge giant and my classmates, Shivani and Lavanya.

Then that day, when I went to school, I saw Shivani with a puzzled expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I had a dream, in which you, Lavanya and I defeated a giant. Apparently, Lavanya also had the same dream. That’s what’s puzzling me.” She replied.

“Something’s wrong,” I said. “I also had the same dream. May be some coincidence.”

“Yeah, may be,” Said Shivani. But she still looked thoughtful.

I then saw my best friends Sanya and Priya walking towards me.

“Where were you? Sanya said. “The bell already rang.”

“I’ll come later.” I said. I then saw a Door Emptying Into Nothing. I stepped into it and I felt two hands on my wrist and a cry of “Don’t go there!”

Suddenly, I saw myself in a strange place with red, yellow and orange soil. Here and there were a few cactii. It looked like an extraterrestrial desert. Then I heard voices behind me. Oh god, I thought, I have dragged Shivani and Lavanya along with me. Then I heard a hungry growl. I turned behind and saw a terrible beast with four inch claws, red eyes and a drooling mouth behind me. It had the mane of a lion, face of a tiger, teeth of a shark and body of an elephant. Ultimate killing machine!

And the worst thing was…

IT WAS HUNGRY!!!

“RUN!” I cried. The other girls followed me. I could hear the feet of an elephant thump- thump- thumping on the sand. I ran into a cave. Suddenly there was a piercing scream. I turned and saw Shivani wriggling in the horrible beast’s mouth.

“Do something!” Lavanya cried.

“Lemme think!” I yelled. What could I do to stop the beast? I had an idea. I tore up the nearest cactus by its roots and threw it at the beast. Shivani screamed as it poked her legs. But the good thing was the thorns went in its eyes.

The beast was blinded and stumbled around in pain. In the confusion, it dropped Shivani and she scampered off into the cave. We all ran into the cave and I pushed a rock into the entrance.

“Now what should we do?” Shivani yelled. “This cave leads somewhere and we don’t know where. What if there’s another creature in here?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “This cave is a long passage. It has to lead somewhere. If it doesn’t, we’ll come back here.” I turned to Lavanya. The light of adventure was tinkling in her eye. But suddenly her face grew grave.

“But what about Shivani?” She asked.             

I turned to look at Shivani.

“I’m fine!” She gasped. “I’ll come.”

I glanced at her leg. It was bleeding. “You are not going anywhere.” I said firmly. I tore a strip off my uniform and dipped it in a pool of water. I tied it around her leg.

“Now it’ll be okay.” I smiled.

Shivani tried to stand. Then she tried to walk.

“Come on, let’s go.” She said. We walked along the cave and after half an hour it opened up into a place at dawn. It was just a bare land with a few hills in a distance and a building near us. I saw that it was a school. We huddled outside a class.

“Who’s going to enquire?” I asked. We started quarrelling. It resulted me asking the teacher. I opened the door and poked my head inside.

“Um, Sorry to disturb you, but which school is this? And in which city?”

The teacher looked at me. “Are you new?” She asked. “This is the city of Pune and this is St. Paul’s school. What are you looking for?”

I gasped. This was my own school. But how can it be? I turned to look at my friends. They stared at me in astonishment. I stared back. I turned to the teacher and asked, ”What’s the date?”

“13^th March.”

“And the year?”

“2060,” she replied and returned to teaching.

I was shocked. I had left when it was 2010 and now, in an hour, it is 2060? Anyway, I went to the staff room and got a teacher.

“Well, Ma’am, I think you ought to know that we have little problem, we have travelled forward in time. If we were of our correct ages now, we would be elder to you. We would be 61 years old.” I said. The teacher stared.

“Where is 5C, our class?”

“5C?” The teacher said.

“Okay, come with me.” She led us into a cold passage full of dust and cobwebs. A dusty door with a rusty plaque with 5C written on it was at the end of the door.

“What happened to it?” Shivani whispered.

“About 50 years ago, some paranormal activities occurred in this classroom. A girl was killed. That was when the school authorities decided to shut down this particular classroom. The girls were sent to other classes and that is why this school doesn’t have a 5C now.” The teacher sighed. “Pity, it was my mother’s class.”

“Your mother?” I asked. “Who?”

“Sanya Sinha.” She said.

“Huh, She is my best friend. Or rather, was. Where is she now?”

“The last house in the street.” She replied and walked away.

After she went, Lavanya whispered to me, “What’s paranormal?”

“Unknown activities, aliens, ghosts and such.” I whispered back.

“Let’s go to Sanya!” Shivani said. We walked to the street. I rang the bell of the last house. An elderly lady opened the door.

“Who is it?” She said.

“Sanya?” We asked.

“Is that you? Oh my God!” She said. “Come on in.”

We went in and Sanya offered us some cakes. We talked together for some time.

“Where is Priya?” I asked.

Sanya glanced at us and then looked at the ground.

“Well, you shouldn’t have asked.” Sanya said. “Just after you left, Priya mysteriously fainted in the class. It was horrible. And – well – she didn’t survive. Her last words were, ‘Give my love to my third friend if she ever comes back.’ ” Sanya said, with tears in her eyes.

“Oh no,” I said.

“But let’s not talk about these things,” Sanya said. “The question is how to get you back.”

“Yeah, may be we could walk back up the cave.” Shivani and Lavanya said together.

“Good idea, Let’s no waste any more time.” I said.

We walked back up the street together. There was the mouth of the cave. Sanya gave us a torch.

“Take this and go.” She said.

“Farewell!” Lavanya said.

We trudged back up the cave and I removed the rock I had kept at the mouth of the cave. The torch melted in Lavanya’s hands. We saw the Door Into Nothing and stepped through. And then we found ourselves in our own school the moment we had left it. I could see Sanya and Priya in front of me. Our uniforms were neat and clean again.

Our bizarre journey had ended.