SHORT STORIES FRIDAYS (23)

GRACE’S WITCHY ADVENTURES : A PARANORMAL THRILLER BY ME.

The Story so far:

Grace Royce accompanies her best friend and colleague, Sharmila Gupta’s wedding in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. When Sharmila shows her fiance’s photo, Grace is shocked because she has frequently seen him in her dreams forcing an innocent girl to suicide.

She saves Sharmila from marrying a criminal after nabbing him and his friends in a shameful act of trying to hang an innocent girl.

Grace has recurring dreams of Sharmila attempting suicide when the friends are holidaying in Dehradun. Her fear is about to materialize after their trip. Grace skilfully revisits the past and alters everybody’s memories to stop the wagging tongues of people from hurting Sharmila. She thwarts the attempt of a mad scientist X, in Australia, who is watching the proceedings, to kill Sharmila.
He stages small accidents which Grace is unable to prevent. Finally, he is able to cause a hit and run accident leading to Sharmila’s death. Grace is mourning the loss of her good friend while blaming herself for failing to protect her. She has a strange dream at night, where she finds herself in her bedroom in Australia. Her dead parents appear before her and they take her into the alternative future time zone, had Sharmila lived. Whatever she witnesses is awfully shocking to her.

She sees the evil side of Sharmila abusing her friendship and taking advantage of her. She is horrified to see her best friend kidnapping and sacrificing her with the help of a mysterious stranger. She comes back to her room with her parents and Sharmila’s soul pays her a visit. She explains how she was cursed by her grandma after she accidentally killed her grandfather who was bedridden with cancer.

When she clarified that it was just an accident, her grandma realized her folly and offered a choice to die young before the curse could materialize or live a long cursed life. She had chosen the former. Sharmila warns her to be careful.

Grace decides to investigate Sharmila’s death and views the CCTV footage that shows the car which ran her over. She finds that it belonged to Vinod Mohan, Vivek’s ( Sharmila’s former fiance) younger brother. She approaches the police and hands them the evidence. Vinod claims of innocence and says that he had lent his vehicle to a friend who reported it missing. Grace is frustrated and prays to Sharmila for guidance.Grace sees identical bracelets on the wrists of Vivek and Sharmila in her dreams. She requests Sharmila’s mother for the bracelet and discovers the hidden microchip which alerts X in Australia because both the bracelets were connected to his destiny machine. He orders Vivek’s death which leaves Grace completely stumped.

X is surprised to find his mentor Edward Fox’s son Stewart on his doorstep. Stewart is shocked to hear about Sharmila’s death. He takes X to task for acting in a haste and tells him about Sharmila’s past. Both of them are planning to bring her back from the land of death to wreak havoc on earth which Grace sees in her dream.Grace questions Sharmila’s spirits and discovers the identity of her killer. Grace leaves to Australia with Sharmila’s parents. She requests Sharmila to infiltrate X’s gang to uncover clues and prevent him from carrying out the dangerous task of reviving her. She spots X and enters his body in the presence of Stewart.

X gets into trouble after misbehaving with a waiter and Stewart slaps him. He drags him out of the cafe as they go back to their hideout.Sharmila decides to have fun at X’s expense. She enters his body, snatches the phone from one of the guards and calls Grace with the update. X returns the phone with a thanks. His guard is pleasantly surprised. When X comes to his senses, his guard appreciates him for his good manners which X vehemently denies.

Sharmila re-enters his body and X turns into a pervert. Stewart kicks him while the guard chuckles and gets fired. Sharmila possesses him and manages to capture the incriminating photos of the hideout. The guard visits the lab and blackmails Stewart to reinstate his job Or face the police. He has already forwarded these pictures to other men as a precaution and potential blackmail. Stewart and X are ready to merge their sinister machines as Sharmila is shocked and contemplating how to stop these villains from carrying out their evil plan.She foils their attempt to revive her with their combo machine by entering X’ s body and making him enter wrong password that destroys their project. She leaves him and possesses Stewart who tries to seduce X. They fight with each other and while they are discussing the chain of events, they eventually find out about Grace and try to kill her by sending their assassin.

Grace has a nightmare and witnesses her own death. When she wakes up, she’s shocked to find a stranger holding a sharp knife in her room and she screams.She sees a stranger about to murder her but it turns out that Sharmila had entered his body and tells her about her involvement in the case being discovered. She requests her to fake her death so that X and his men will stop making attempts on her life. The man leaves with his partner who was about to set the house on fire. He convinces him not to clean up the act. They are being followed by their own gang members who end up being dead because of the assassin’s quick thinking. He sends the confidential info to the police and alerts X about the betrayal of his men whom he had to kill, thus, getting away from the crime itself. X and his men are hiding, watching the police raiding their den. The next day, Sharmila’s mother enters her room and screams.

Grace wakes up and tells her about Sharmila’s soul. She acts as a medium and Sharmila talks to her mother. The assassin sent by X to kill Grace has forgotten what he did because Sharmila had possessed his body. He wants to know how he ended up in Sydney when they had an important task. His partner shows him the pictures on his phone and says that their boss had asked them to go into hiding.

X and his friends are awestruck with the splendor of Stewart’s residence. Grace excuses herself from a tour with Sharmila’s parents. She is shocked to find a strange woman who appeared out of thin air into her room and claims to be her Aunt Ruby, the sister of Marge Royce, Grace’s mother. And now:

Chapter 13

A Magical Adventure

Aunt Ruby watched Grace’s expression in amusement. She asked her, ” Do you want to see more magic? ” Aunt Ruby watched Grace’s expression in amusement. She asked her, ” Grace was surprised to find Aunt Ruby reading her mind. Her aunt waved her hand and a table of delicacies appeared in front of her.

Grace could hear a rumbling sound in her stomach. Pancakes with maple syrup, burgers, omelettes, noodles, cakes and pastries, pasta and french toast with two glasses of orange juice! Aunt Ruby commented, ” I know you are hungry. Instead of watching them, and dripping the floor wet with your saliva, let’s have our breakfast.” Grace needed no more prodding as she and her aunt feasted upon them. When they were full, Ruby made them disappear. She faced her niece and said, ” Let’s have some tea before I could explain why I am here.” After a heavy breakfast and tea, the aunt and niece sat on the couch to have their discussion.

Aunt Ruby said, ” I want you to know about our family first. As you might have read in books about the types of witches like The Earth Witch, Water Witch, Air witch, Fire witch, Kitchen witch and so on, we are unique kind of witches. We are The Time Witches. We belong to the Time Coven in The Forest of Queensland. We can travel back and forth in time and can see the future as well. We are powerful enough to change someone’s destiny by altering the past, present or future but this power is strictly restricted. This is so to prevent a Time witch from becoming a rogue and exploiting people for his or her personal gain. You can use this power only twice a month. Besides, dealing with time, you can also perform regular magic like other witches. That makes us incredibly powerful. Are you ready for shocker? ” Grace merely nodded, not knowing what to expect.

Ruby said, ” You are a Princess of witches and your parents were the King and The Queen.” Grace looked at her aunt incredulously. Ruby smiled, ” I see that you don’t believe me. It’s better if I show your past in the mirror to clear all your doubts.”

Ruby produced an ornate mirror and tapped it with her wand. A mist started forming on the surface of the mirror which cleared shortly. She was shocked to find her mother in labor pain. She watched herself being born. Her father doted on her and she was blessed by all her family members who celebrated her birth grandly. Aunt Ruby kissed her on the forehead and gave her a gold chain. While the celebrations were going on, there was a huge ruckus in their coven. One of the guards came rushing towards the palace. He was breathless and announced, ” Pardon me, My Lord, for my intrusion. But Xander, the evil wizard, has found out about the birth of our Princess. He’s coming to claim her for a sacrificial ritual to make him immortal.”

Her father handed baby Grace to Ruby and said, ” Close all the doors and windows of the palace and protect it with enchantment. I am going to kill the evil wizard. He might try to impersonate me. Never open the door unless I say, ” My Gracie, my princess, ” thrice.”

Grace could feel the goosebumps on her hand. She felt as if she was watching a Historical action movie. Wait… The entire background looked completely different to her. She was puzzled over the costumes of her family members. They were dresses like those living in the early 19th Century.

“Aunt Ruby,” she said, ” Why are you all dressed up like this? Are we supposed to wear the costumes belonging to the Victorian Era? ” Her aunt replied, ” I will answer your questions. Just watch it until the end.” Her father fought bravely against Xander, the evil wizard and managed to kill him. Xander’s dying words were, ” The battle isn’t over yet. You may have won this time, Reginald. But I will be back to claim My Princess. How could you kill your own friend for the sake of a baby? You could have plenty of others. This girl, born on 13th October, 1876, was supposed to die today to make me immortal. You betrayed me. I will make sure she dies.”

Grace thought that his face looked familiar. She was pretty scared. The mirror went blank as Ruby waved it away. She wore a grim expression on her face. ” Grace, ” she added, ” You aren’t 28 as you think. We modified your memory as per the present century. You were born on 13th October, 1876 on a Friday. You have been blessed with tremendous power. Xander was your father’s best friend until a seer foretold him that you would be responsible for his death. Likewise, if he wanted to be immortal, he should sacrifice you on the day you were born. Your father walked out on him and chose you over his best friend. The evil wizard died physically but his evil soul took over your father and he tried to smother you. Fortunately, your mom stopped him and handed you over to Maria, our trusted housekeeper and your nanny. She and her husband, Vincent, always loved you like their own child. So, they took the form of your real parents and traveled forward in time to the present century in 1994. Your memory was modified to keep you safe from your supernatural enemy. Only you can wipe out Xander’s existence.”

” Does it mean that Mom and Dad are still alive? ” asked Grace with tears in her eyes. Aunt Ruby hugged her and said, ” Yes, Sweetie. They are all waiting for you. You have a huge family back in Queensland who are anticipating your arrival.” Grace asked, ” Do we have to go back to the past? How does it work? I don’t want to wear old fashioned clothes.” Aunt Ruby chuckled, ” Everything has changed. We are living in accordance with the 21st Century. Most of us are 500 years old but our physical appearance looks like we are in our 40s or 50s. Being a Time witch has its own advantage. None of us have wrinkles or grey hair. Your life is in great danger. You need to come with me right away. Your enemy isn’t aware of your being alive. Thank God, Sharmila saved your skin.”

” How did you know about the attack on my life? “

” My dear child, all of us kept a close watch on you through our crystal ball. “

Grace replied, ” I can’t come immediately without Sharmila’s parents. I owe her my life. They will be here by tea time.” Aunt Ruby thought for a while before saying, ” Ok, dear. We will try to concoct some story to convince them to accompany us, alright? Now a word of caution. Your enemy has assumed another form. Can you guess, who he is?”

Grace’s eyes widened in horror as she realized that Xander was none other than the modern day evil scientist, X. Watch out for the next episode for more thrill as Grace begins her training as a Time witch.

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