Free Awesome Blossoms: Horn OK Please by Kartik Iyengar Page B

the pile and ran towards the witch. The witch didn’t know what was coming. She stared at the stake with widened eyes and before she could react, in the next minute, her eyeballs rolled backwards as she slumped to the ground. The first deed was accomplished. The black raven, seeing his master fallen on the ground, perched himself on her trying to peck her out of her slumber.  Alice, then caught the raven, closed her eyes and wrung its neck. It was a disgusting sight, the sight of two dead bodies, one of the dead witch and the other of the dead raven. Alice herself was covered with specs of blood. She felt giddy, looking at the sight and thinking of what she had just managed to do. But she had not accomplished her goal yet. She had her family and friends to rescue.
    She looked around for the handbag, but couldn’t find any. She knew she would have to show the courage and rummage through the witch’s ugly and dirty cloak. She did just that and finally found a black satin bag. She opened it and tiny, bright balls of light flew right out of it. Each one entered one of the villagers mouth, still open and drooling. Alice quickly cut the ropes and suddenly, one by one, the villagers, her parents and friends woke up. Still in a daze, they looked at each other and asked Alice what had ha ppened, for she had started crying out of sheer happiness and fatigue. After hearing her story amongst her sobs, everyone huddled up together and gave Alice a warm hug filled with gratitude.
    Suddenly, Alice felt very stuffy. She threw her covers back, opened her eyes and looked around. She found herself at home, on her bed. The birds were chirping, the children were playing happily and the aroma of freshly baked bread floated in the air. Alice ran downstairs and found her mother cooking in the kitchen and her father puffing his pipe, reading the newspaper perched on his favorite armchair. She ran towards them and gave each of them a warm, tight hug.
    Thought it was a mere nightmare, it had taught Alice her le ssons. She realized how lucky she was to be surrounded by her parents whose boundless love for her would never fade away, her friends who cared for her and the people of the village who made the village a home. She had realized her own powers. She had realized the worth of reading. She had experienced the magic of knowledge.
    For a moment, she had lost it all, her parents, her friends and the villagers. She had gone through the pain and turmoil of the experiencing the loss. She had lived though that moment. Yet, she was a winner because this dream had taught her to value what she possessed, be it people of her books. She looked heavenwards and thanked God for the things that he had provided her with and said a small prayer.
    It was the power of the prayers from one and all which had evoked a sense of goodness in people’s hearts and driven the evil spirit away. She made a promise to pray regularly and send a note of thanks to the almighty.
    Who knew, the dream might have been real, the witch might have existed, may be the collective power of the villagers drew her away, or may be it was Alice who had driven the witch away. No one would know…
    But at the end of the day, everything was alright, everything was normal. And she was just another girl…

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN

The Dream
Whisperer
    By Ashwin Menon
    ***
     
    Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking.
    - J.C. Watts
     

 
     
    The Dream
Whisperer
    ‘ T here’s such a little meaning to the things we hold dear…’ This was the only thought going through my mind as I watched Anand berate Govind; his reportee. “I find it hard to believe that a Friday evening supersedes a 5 million dollar deal! Govind, you seem to have made a habit out of being completely undependable and I’m personally going to do everything I can to ensure that your free run ends here.”
    Don’t get me wrong – Anand is the guy every corporate entity salivates over. Solid shark, go getter,