Written By Ahana Chakrabarty (Grade 6)
Two people, a man and woman, were running up a road. The woman was holding a baby wrapped in blankets carefully in her arms. They sprinted up the road.
‘Where is the place? How much longer will it take to go there? We don’t have much time,’ the women panted.
‘Just here, we are almost there,’ the man said.
He came to an abrupt stop. The women almost bumped into him. He, with the women following behind, went to the door of a huge dark old shop. As they both ran inside, they heard the sound of many running feet. The man closed the door softly and guided the women upstairs.
‘They are not over here,’ they heard a man say.
‘Must be hiding somewhere,’ a second man said.
‘Search the entire place,’ commanded a third. ‘The Danes can not escape.’
Mr and Mrs Dane had reached the top of the stairs and ran past the door on the right side. In front of them, there was a curious huge round object. It was shaped like a cave and inside it, you could see many colours running everywhere, there were white dots in random places and the dark and light colours met each other beautifully. They rushed towards this mysterious object and just as Mrs Dane was going through, they heard the shop’s door break open.
‘Search the shop, they have to be here,’ the voice of the third man said. The sound of many running feet met their ears.
They’re here, they’re going into a tremlin,’ cried a man as he ran past the open door.
Mr Dane put his hand around his wife’s waist and pulled her into the object with him.
Mr and Mrs Dane had almost gone inside the object. For half a second they had the strangest feeling in their body. It felt as if it were being stretched on every side. After some seconds they found themselves in an unknown place with many children playing in front of them. They got up and looked around. There was a young man sitting on a bench near them and watching the children play. They went towards him.
‘Hello, would you please tell us where we are,’ asked Mr Dane.
‘This is a park,’ said the young man, looking up at Mr and Mrs Dane.
‘Oh, um ok,’ said Mr Dane and Mrs Dane looked at him with exasperation.
‘What country is this.’ she asked.
‘India,’ said the man, surprised to know that they did not know the country they were in.
‘OK, Where is India.’ Mrs Dane asked
‘Asia,’ answered the man, thinking they were mad.
‘Where is Asia,’ asked Mr Dane, trying to join in the conversation.
‘Earth,’ replied the young man, thinking they had got some serious mental issues.
Mr and Mrs Dane looked at each other.
The young man got up and quickly exited the park, hoping not to see any more of them. Mrs Dane sat down on the bench and looked at the baby in her arms. Mr Dane removed a very small book from his pocket and ran one of his fingers on it vertically. The book immediately became big and very fat. He sat down on the bench, put the book on his lap and read it.
‘We will have to go to a place called Rare Square,’ said Mr Dane after reading at least ten pages.
‘Rare Square, that’s a funny name,’ said Mrs Dane.
‘I’ll ask one of the passersby,’ said Mr Dane, looking at the huge number of people passing the park.
He got up and marched to the entrance of the park. He walked towards a lady who was picking up a handkerchief that had fallen on the ground.
‘Excuse me, could you please tell me where Rare Square is?’ asked Mr Dane.
‘Rare Square,’ she said, looking perplexed. ‘I think you must have got the wrong name. There’s no such place as Rare Square.’
‘But,’ Mr Dane looked through the pages of the book. ‘Oh, I got it. I know where to go now, thank you,’
Mr Dane went back to his wife who was now patting the baby.
‘There are exact instructions of where to go here in this picture,’ said Mr Dane. He walked towards the exit of the park.
Mrs Dane got up and fell in step behind her husband. They took turns now and again until they finally reached a small deserted house. A small piece of paper was stuck on the gate. It said: DO NOT ENTER! DANGEROUS!
Mr Dane went inside the house but Mrs Dane stopped when she saw the sign.
‘It’s safe,’ said Mr Dane. ‘They put that sign to keep earthlings out.’
Mrs Dane hesitated only for a moment before following her husband. The house was dark, filthy and smelly. Mrs Dane wrinkled up her nose as she followed her husband deeper into the house. There were some stairs leading downwards to an underground floor instead of leading up. Both husband and wife went down the stairs and looked around. It was darker than the rest of the house. Mr Dane groped around and put his finger down a cup. He clicked a button which was inside the cup and immediately the room lit up.
When the light went on they saw a large room with peculiar objects all around. The objects were kept on small tables on the side. In front of them, they saw an object which looked exactly like a bird. It had its wings closed with beautiful bright blue eyes looking straight at Mr and Mrs Dane. Its red feathers looked like flames. Mr Dane went towards it and opened both of its wings. Almost immediately the bird’s eyes went from blue to green and it opened its beak. Suddenly an echoing voice spoke to them.
‘Give me the password.’
‘Velentice,’ said Mr Dane
‘Correct,’ said the bird. ‘You shall move forward.’
The bird came alive and flew toward the wall in front of Mr Dane. It took some of its feathers and, with the help of her wings, made the feathers glide directly towards the wall. When the feathers touched the wall they turned into flames and the wall slowly divided itself into two halves. The two halves had a lot of space between them and this made a way forward. The fire vanished and left no sign that it was there. The bird flew back to its table.
‘ This path made by the two divided walls will lead you to another bird who will tell you how to use this house. When you own the house, this underground room will have a tremlin waiting to take you back to Velentice.’
The couple went towards the path and, in a short distance, saw another bird identical to the one they had seen before. This time the bird spoke immediately.
You as Velentons will occupy this house. As soon as you own it, it will become larger and cleaner. The earthlings outside will be unknown to this, even if they saw it happen. There will be a tremlin present here to take you back to Velentice. Many things earthlings need such as money, drivers license etc will be given to you in some minutes. As l will not be able to give you any money after this, you will have to have a job. Please write your name in the paper l will now give you.
And almost immediately, three strips of paper were visible. Mr and Mrs Dane took them and wrote a name in each.
Veela Dane
Nevlon Dane
They looked at their child and hesitated before writing.
Willson Dane.
***
Ten years have passed by. Willson ate his breakfast and got ready for school. His mother dropped him off. Willson was now a ten-year-old boy with curly black hair and green eyes. He was a smart boy and was a good student. The teachers liked him. Though, he still didn’t have many friends as he was quite different from the other students in mysterious ways. Finally, the school bus arrived. Willson said bye to his mother and climbed the bus. Just as the bus started to move, Willson saw that the expression on his mothers faces had changed, from being merry and energetic to extremely fearful and worried. Willson lost sight of his mother and the bus gained speed. He kept wondering if he could be the one she was worried about.
Willson reached school a little late because of the traffic. Just as he reached his classroom in school, he heard a teacher speaking.
‘l am going to announce some very exciting news-’
When he entered, he saw his Science teacher, Miss Priscilla standing in front of the class.
Miss Priscilla was a woman in her mid-twenties. She had long curly black hair which was always tied into a neat ponytail. She had warm brown eyes and she never wore fancy clothes. Miss Priscilla was pleasant, friendly and beautiful. Willson sat down in his place and looked at his teacher.
‘Today, two scientists are going to come to our class for science period.’ she said. ‘They are going to introduce you to many new and exciting concepts.’
‘Are they famous scientists?’ asked his classmate Dianca.
‘I am not really sure,’ said the teacher. ‘l hope you will be in your best beha-’
At that moment, there came a knock on the classroom door. Two men entered the room. The first one had friendly blue eyes with neat black hair. He wore a black suit and a gold watch. The second man had green eyes with beautiful blonde hair. If he did not have such a surly expression on his face, he would have been good looking. He too wore a black suit. The two men walked towards the teacher’s table and looked at the class.
‘Class, these are the scientists who are going to be with you for the science period.’ Miss Priscilla said.
The man with the surly face said nothing. The other man smiled at the class.
‘Hello, kids. My name is Michael and this is my assistant Oliver,’ he said. ‘ I am going to read through your names. When your name is called, stand up.
Michael started reading the names of the students in the class. After some time he stopped and looked up.
‘Willson Dane,’ he said.
Willson stood up. The two scientists stared at him. They had a short talk with the teacher.
‘Willson, l need to talk to you,’ Michael said. ‘Come with me.’
Willson walked behind Michael. They reached a deserted room. Michael closed the door and looked at Willson.
‘Tell me the truth, you are a Velenton right,’ he asked.
Willson had no idea what a Velenton was. He looked blankly up at Michael.
‘What does Velenton mean sir,’ he asked.
‘I am one too so it doesn’t matter if you tell me,’ Michael said, looking at Willson seriously. ‘Have your parents really not told you about this?’
Willson shook his head. Michael went to the classroom door.
‘Stay here,’ he said, before going out.
He came back after ten minute
‘You’re going to go home with me,’ he said.’You have a holiday from school today. You need to be explained.’
‘Explained what!’ Willson exclaimed.
‘You’ll know,’ Michael said, looking impatient.
So Willson was driven to his house. Michael rang the bell and his mother opened the door. The colour drained from her face when she saw Michael. Mrs Dane asked them to come inside. She led them to the living room. Michael settled himself on an armchair and Willson and his mother sat on the sofa.
‘The boy tells me you have not told him anything about Velentice,’ Michael said looking at Willson’s mother.
‘N-no, w-we t-thought that h-he is-is t-to y-y-young to k-know all this,’ she stammered
‘I see, the people of Velentice have decided to give him a chance,’ Michael said. ‘We will watch out for the signs. If they do not come, we will spare him.’
Mrs Dane signed with relief. Willson did not understand anything. What is this thing his parents had hidden from him?
‘Your family will have to move back to Velentice,’ continued Michael. ‘I have never heard of any Velenton who has stayed on Earth for so long. It is dangerous for us. We expect you back in three days.’
Willson’s mother nodded and looked at Willson’s puzzled face. Michael got up and walked towards the door.
‘When you reach Velentice we will like to talk to you, your husband and the boy. Goodbye.’ Michael closed the door as he went.
Wilson looked up at his mother.
‘What was he talking about?’ he asked. ‘What did he mean by saying he did not know any Velenton who has stayed on Earth for so long.’
‘Willson, there is something I need to explain to you,’ his mother said. She got up and went towards the armchair Michael had sat on. She settled in and looked at her son.
‘Willson, we are not from Earth, Our kind lives on another planet which is in another galaxy,’ She said.
Willson’s mouth dropped open.
‘What do you mean we are not from Earth,’ he asked. ‘And what do you mean by “Our Kind”. ‘
‘I mean that we are not earthlings,’ his mother said. ‘We live on a planet called Velentice.’
‘Okay,’ said Willson, though he still did not believe this. ‘If we are from a different planet, then why do we live here.’
His mother looked very uneasy.
‘Wilson, that is because-er-because of some issues,’ she said.
‘What kind of issues,’ Will asked.
His mother sighed.
‘I was always afraid that l will have to tell you this one day,’ she said. ‘You see, Will, our planet has a very special kind of fire. It is a blessing. The fire is in every hospital and every time a child is born, it’s blessed. Now we Velentons believe that when the fire is green, its original colour, it blesses a normal child and when it is blue, which is very rare, it blesses a very special child. You, my boy, were a very special case. When you were born, the fire turned from green to violet. It was burning more fiercely than ever. After a few seconds a part of the fire went into you and tried to kill you. When it failed, the people of Velentice were sure you were a cunning devil. They wanted to kill you. Me and your father wouldn’t hear of it. When they started attempting to do it forcefully, me and your father ran away from the planet to keep you safe. We came here.
Willson didn’t say anything for some time. He looked at his mother and saw that she was looking hopefully at him.
‘So Michael, the man who just came, was a Velenton too,’ he asked.
‘Yes’
‘And he said I am getting a chance?’
‘Yes’
‘So we will have to go to Velentice?’
‘Yes,’ his mother said after hesitating for a moment. ‘I’ll fill your father in when he returns home in the evening and tell your teacher you will not be able to go to school today.’
‘Okay,’ Willson said, rather half-heartedly. ‘So I have to start packing?’
‘Oh, no Will. Don’t bother to pack,’ his mother said. ‘The thing me and your father used to come over here, something called a tremlin, will connect straight to our old house in Velentice. You won’t need to pack.’
‘Okay,’ said Will. ‘So I don’t need to do anything?’
‘No. Tonight, me and your father will tell you about Velentice,’ said his mother.
‘Fine.’
Will turned to go. Just as he reached the living room door, his mother called him. He spun around. His mother was smiling brightly at him.
‘Will’,’ she said. ‘ Before you go, I would like you to have this.’ She picked up a small flower from the table beside her. It was a beautiful flower. It had bright big violet petals with a very small circle filled with blue in the middle and a very, very small spot of red. Willson looked at his mother, perplexed.
‘This is a very special flower in our family,’ she said. ‘It gives us amazing luck. We were told some years ago that it is because of one very, very special member, who will later arrive. Its colours have something to do with the member. When I saw that purple fire, I thought this flower is meant for you.
‘Meant for me,’ Will repeated.
‘Yes. I don’t know what the blue and red colour mean, but the purple certainly makes it clear,’ his mother said. ‘There is only one of this flower in the whole universe.’
His mother handed him the flower with a smile. Willson took the flower and looked at it very closely.
‘Don’t carry it everywhere. Just have it around when you really need luck,’ she said. ‘It works better then.’
‘How does it give luck?’ inquired Will.
‘I will not tell you that,’ said his mother. ‘ You will gradually find the answer on your own.’
Featured Image Courtesy – Universe Today