An original story, written by our student Siah Mittal.

Siah is 13 years old, a young orator and writer from Gurugram. We are proud to have her as a student of the Online Creative Writing Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Siah for this exemplary true self-expression.

A Wrinkle in Time- Collection of Short Chapter Stories

Chapter 1 – Introduction

A masked killer in the area, and two lonely twin orphans, but for how long…

The year was 2050. Alia and Arthur were 13 years old twins. Alia was elder by 5 minutes. They went to St.Xaviers. Alia was the fearless one, always up for a challenge. While Arthur was the opposite. They didn’t know who their parents were or where they came from, all they remembered was waking up in an empty house.

Empty, but not abandoned. It had food, water, and everything else one needs to live. It was on the outskirts of the town. They didn’t have any money but the school accepted them without asking for any school fees. The supplies they found when they first arrived, never ran out, ever. Students or teachers didn’t give them much importance. They didn’t have a social life. They went to school and came back. This was their daily schedule.

Life was going fine so they didn’t question anything…until one day.

Chapter 2-Masked Killer

One day an announcement was made about the masked killer. Students were told to go home carefully. That day, on their way home Alia saw the abandoned building beside their house. She challenged Arthur to spend the night there with her. He denied but Alia kept insisting. Finally, he agreed.

At night, while they were on the way to the building, Alia sensed someone following them. They were going up the stairs and this time she saw a shadow following them, which was unusual since no one even came near that area. They reached the top and saw a reflection of something sparkly on the wall.

They turned around and saw the killer wearing a…ballroom mask and…a crown??? Even though the situation was frightening, Alia felt something. Unable to identify the feeling, they kept backing up, but it was no use, it was a dead end.

Suddenly, a door opened behind them. They saw stairs ahead of them and scared for their lives, they ran down them. They finally stopped (after what felt like forever) and saw some light ahead. Naturally, they went towards the light. After a couple of minutes, they came to an opening.

Chapter 3- Realization Hits

It was a breathtaking view. The ethereal beauty and the landscape were surreal. The ineffable beauty of the greenery was glorious. The air felt magical. The atmosphere was peculiar, yet it felt right being there.

They went further ahead and saw a beautiful village. Children running around playing, men working and women doing the household chores. They went further into the village and saw people wearing very old-fashioned clothes. Something which would have been worn in the 18^th century.

Arthur had a feeling that they were in a completely different place right now, it was like they were in a different period. To test out his theory he asked a merchant the year. He gave them a weird look like they were psychopaths.

Turns out, they had traveled 3 centuries back in time, it was the year 1750. That’s why the place was so beautiful, there was no pollution.

Chapter 4- Kingless Queen

A messenger of the royal family had seen them enter the village and told the queen that two kids wearing uncanny clothes have come. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by guards. They escorted Alia and Arthur to the kingdom. The queen wanted to meet them.

Alia had déjà vu upon entering the palace. The crystal necklace she had, started to glow. She was shocked but quickly got over it as they entered the throne room. They saw the queen sitting on the throne (instead of the king)  and the ministers whispering to one another.

The queen silenced the ministers and complimented Alia’s butterfly necklace even though she was wearing a crystal one.

Arthur hesitantly asked the queen why she was on the throne instead of the king. Queen thought about it for a moment and then, to their surprise, offered to tell them a story. Scared he said yes. “About 50 years ago, my husband(the king)and my two kids, and I lived happily in the kingdom. The people of the royal family aged slowly. In ten human years, we age by one year, so we live for centuries. But if the importance of royalty starts to perish, so will our power. One day my husband was wondering about our kid’s future. He went to a well-known priest, who was said to be able to look into the future, to ensure the safety of our kids. The priest told him about the disasters which were going to occur in the future. The importance of royalty will also terminate and they’re aging process will fasten. He was worried and just a few days later went missing. Even the kids weren’t found. They have not been found to date.”

Alia suddenly realized he didn’t go missing, he went to the future. She realized that the masked killer was nobody other than the king. She ran up to the throne and asked for permission to speak to the Queen in private with her brother. Queen, astonished by this gesture, agreed and requested everyone to vacate the hall. Alia said “ Your Majesty, we are from the future, the year 2050. We seem to have accidentally time-traveled back here while escaping from a masked killer. We noticed he was wearing a crown and a ballroom mask. It is also very well possible that the killer is your husband who had time traveled to the future and for some unknown reason become a masked killer.” The queen looked angry like she would have both of them killed, instead, she just took a deep breath and said, “There’s only one way to prove this theory, go to that priest, but it won’t be easy.” Without giving it a second thought, Alia agreed.

They decided to stay in the palace for the night and go to the priest the next day. The queen told them that the journey ahead won’t be easy, hence they should practice attacks and defenses. She called into the room, the best swordsman and the best archer. Arthur turned out to be a great archer, hitting the bull’s eye on the first try and Alia was a great swordsman.

Chapter 5- Quest of Necklace

By dawn, they were already on their way with their weapons handy.

It just took an hour by foot to reach the priest’s house. They saw him sitting on his porch revising some mantras. They went over and confronted him about the king. After taking one look at them, he told them everything. “A few days after I had given him the information, he came again, but this time he asked me for a way to travel in time. I couldn’t deny it as he was the king, so I told him the way to the cave. When he opened the trap door, he saw the gods in front of him giving him a choice, he could either go to the future but be cursed or stay home. He chose to go to the future and was cursed to become a psychopath, forgetting who he was forever. His kids had also followed him there. There is only one way to bring him back, find the charm necklace which is destined to bring him back to his senses. To find that necklace you will have to follow the direction of the air till you reach a statue. Just go in the direction where the statue is pointing and you will reach a dead end. There you will find the necklace.”

They quickly thanked him and left for the quest, but before they left, the priest complimented Alia’s butterfly necklace and winked.

They were puzzled about how to follow the direction of the wind. Suddenly Arthur had an idea, he tore a piece of his shirt and rose it up in the sky. They went in that direction but it never seemed to end, it just kept going and going and going.

Finally, they saw the statue and to their surprise, the statue was pointing to the cave they entered from. There was no necklace, just the cave.

Chapter 6- Past Unravels

Disheartened they went back into the cave. As soon as they opened the trap door, standing in front of them, was nobody other than the killer.

They tightened their grip on their weapons. The killer tried to pounce on them but they dodged him. He then tried to corner Arthur but Alia blocked him with her sword pointing at him. But he just flicked it away like a small toothpick and pinned her about to kill her.

Right then he saw the necklace she was wearing and it looked as if he were blinded by it. Before he could come back to his senses, an arrow shot him right in the back. He fell to the ground howling in pain but while that was happening, she realised she was wearing the necklace they were looking for all along.

Hurriedly she took off her necklace and showed it to him. Arthur, acting on instinct, went over and forcefully had him keep his eyes open.

The killer, now back to his senses, stood up and asked “What am I doing here? What are you guys doing here?” They explained to him about the god’s curse and how he became a lunatic. He then asked “How do you guys know this? How did you even come here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the kingdom? Why do you guys look so old aren’t you supposed to be 8 if I was gone for 50 years as you said.” They were confused but something just clicked inside of Alia and she asked “What is attached to my necklace?” And to her suspicion, he said “A crystal, I should know, I gave it to you. What kind of a question is that?”

“Dad?” Arthur was stunned while the king just said “Of course who else would I be?” Suddenly it all made sense to her why she didn’t know where they came from, how the children of the kingdom were also missing, and why they aged so slowly. They just gave him a big hug and didn’t say a word after that. Finally, they left him and said a sentence they never thought they would say in their life,

“Let’s go home, Dad.”