SHORT STORIES FRIDAYS (30)

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

Hi Friends,

First of all, I would like to thank you for your overwhelming positive response to my paranormal story ” Grace Witchy Adventures “. I have decided to publish this series as a novel. So, you wouldn’t be able to read this story from next Friday onwards. But…… But……… But….. I have planned to add more thrill and adventure to this story which I am expected to finish by Mid-August and release the book by the first week of September. Now, there’s another update. Instead of Grace’s witchy adventures, I will start publishing a new horror series with a new story every week. So, Fridays Short stories will be dedicated to horror and crime thriller. Thank you for your patience.

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.

Aunt Ruby tells Grace that she is a Princess of Witches and her parents are still alive and living in Queensland. Ruby produces a magic mirror in which Grace sees her past. She was on October 13, 1876 and a wicked wizard, Xander, her father’s friend turned foe is planning to Kill Grace but her father kills him. His evil spirit takes over her father, Reginald, and he tries to strangle her but fortunately her mother, Marge, saves her and hands her over to their trusted servants, Maria and Vincent, and time travel to 1994, with her memories modified. Ruby also warns her that her nemesis, Xander, has now reincarnated as X, Sharmila’s murderer and a crazed scientist. They wait for Sharmila’s parents to return.

Grace introduces her aunt to Sharmila’s parents and they decide to leave for Queensland. The assassin of Sharmila can’t help feeling that he had left his task incomplete. So, he leaves the note for his partner and pays a visit to Grace’s house in Melbourne which looks like it has been torched. He is unaware of the change in their hiding place and is surprised to find the den completely deserted. He’s killed before he could contact X. Stewart shows X his secret lab and his latest upcoming invention that could detect the presence of a ghost and lay a trap for capturing Sharmila’s soul. And now:

The assassin, Michael’s partner, Charlie calls X and tells him about Michael’s departure to Melbourne from Sydney. X is furious to learn about Michael’s abnormal behavior. He realizes that Sharmila’s ghost entered his body and prevented him from murdering her. He finds out that Michael died in an accident and wants to take revenge on Sharmila’s soul and Grace. Stewart asks him to calm down and wait until the completion of his secret project.

Grace, Aunt Ruby, and Sharmila’s parents arrive in Queensland. They admire the beauty of the grand palatial house. The family is reunited and introductions are over. Grace meets her family members enthusiastically. There’s an explosion and a man resembling Santa Claus appears before them.

Grace hugs her father while Sharmila’s parents stumble upon the living room, only to find a man apparate. Aunt Ruby saves the day by magically inducing them to sleep. They are contemplating how to use magic without arousing suspicion of the humans. Grace suggests using a magically enchanted remote control to make Sharmila’s parents believe that everything runs on remote and that her parents are scientists working for the Australian Government. Sharmila’s parents and Grace’s parents enjoy their breakfasts, warming upto each other. Ruby helps Grace to activate her dormant power. While everything seems to be fine, Grace’s witchy intuition warn her of an imminent danger. And now:

Chapter 17

Intuition saves the witch.

That night, Grace had a weird dream. She saw Sharmila’s soul trapped in a jar and two evil men successfully completing their project. The gadget looked like a giant IPad attached to a timepiece. They entered the date and time and suddenly, the whole scenario shifted to the night when she was to be murdered by the assassin, Michael. This time, he had an evil grin and plunged the sharp knife into her stomach. She woke up with a start and sweated profusely. Her Aunt Ruby materialized in front of her. ” Are you alright, my child?” she asked her. Grace hugged her and cried. ” I just saw myself getting murdered again, ” she sobbed, ” Poor Sharmila was trapped and the evil men turned the time and date when I was about to be murdered. The assassin looked pretty intimidating and wasted no time in killing me.”

Aunt Ruby comforted her and sat beside her on the queen sized bed. She produced a cup of hot cocoa magically and offered it to her. She said, ” I am not going to give you false reassurance that everything is going to be alright. It’s your gut instinct and intuitive power that’s awakened and warning you not to be careless and watch out your every step. First, I would advise you to call Sharmila’s soul and always keep her with you. I will make you a pendant and ask her to stay inside it. Don’t worry. The interior of the pendant will look like a palace. She can stay comfortably without getting paranoid. Always wear it, and keep it hidden if you are taking it off, while going for a bath. We will begin your training in magic from tomorrow. Now don’t worry your pretty head and go to sleep.” Grace fell asleep eventually.

The next morning, she woke up and had her shower after brushing her teeth. She wore a pink shirt and a blue skirt. She was about to step out of her room, when her internal magic flared up. She noticed a tile looking entirely different from the others. To test her intuition, she took out a crumb of cookie and dropped it on the tile. A poisonous scorpion appeared in front of her and snapped the crumb with its sting. Thank God! Her magical power were reactivated. Otherwise, she would have died.

She jumped across the offending tile and reached the breakfast table where everyone occupied their respective seats. Aunt Ruby had arranged for a vegetarian breakfast for Sharmila’s parents. They seemed to be fascinated with Grace’s parents and were laughing heartily over a joke. Grace was about to bite into her sandwich when she saw its color slowly changing to blue. She dropped it with an alarm and almost cried. Everyone turned their heads towards her. Her mother, Marge, left her seat to join her daughter. She asked, ” Gracie, what’s wrong? Why haven’t you touched your sandwich?” Grace looked at Ruby and she willingly stepped in to her rescue. She said, ” Grace’s probably having a stomach upset. I have the cure but it shouldn’t be taken on an empty stomach. Don’t eat the sandwich. I will bring something else.” She went into the kitchen and glared at the cook, Hilda. She yelled, ” What kind of sandwich did you serve my niece? She almost ended up dying.” Hilda had tears in her eyes, ” I would never dream of hurting the sweet princess. I had to go to the washroom. So, I asked Karen to make the sandwiches.” Ruby summoned Karen but she denied doing anything wrong. The morning tea and breakfast session ended on a sober note.

Sharmila’s parents were worried. Mrs. Gupta ( Sharmila’s mom) asked her whether she was alright or needed any medication. Grace assured her that she was feeling better. Mr. and Mrs. Gupta went for a walk in the Royal Garden. Ruby, Marge, and Reginald surrounded Grace. She said, ” I didn’t want to discuss this with you in front of Sharmila’s parents. But someone wants me dead and first hid a poisonous scorpion magically and then poisoned my food. I am scared. I never hurt anyone. So I can’t understand, why am I being a target of someone’s hatred? ”

Aunt Ruby always referred to her crystal ball to find out the culprit in the event of a crime detection. She produced one and chanted something. There was a thin smoke which cleared shortly and Ruby saw a face emerging in the crystal ball. She gasped when she saw who it was. Her own daughter, Alice! She glanced at Grace and her parents who looked at her expectantly.

She was furious and shouted, ” Alice, you wretched creature. I summon you now. Show me your ugly face.” A young girl in her twenties appeared before them. ” Mom,” She addressed Ruby, ” Did you call me? ” Ruby slapped her and yelled, ” I can’t believe I gave birth to a cold blooded murderer. How dare you try to kill Grace by your murderous attempts? Thank God, she saved herself by her active intuitive powers.” Alice looked at Grace with pure hatred. She raised her voice and yelled back, ” This bitch tried to steal my boyfriend, Lance. I wish I hadn’t brought him with me to meet your stinking Highness Lance couldn’t stop praising her in front of me. So, I had to get rid of her.”

Grace looked discombobulated. She retorted, ” Who the hell is Lance? I never had anything to do what him. Alice, my dear cousin, I am not stealing anyone’s boyfriend. It’s the last thing on my mind. Somebody already wants me dead. I am just trying to stay alive. I don’t have time for the crap called romance. You can tell your boyfriend that I am not interested in him or any man in the world.”

Alice suddenly looked relieved and hugged her, ” You are not interested in men. Does it mean you are a lesbian? ” Grace chuckled, ” No, you idiot. Aunt Ruby, please show her my life story.” Aunt Ruby took Alice into a private chamber and replayed Grace’s life story. Alice looked properly ashamed of her actions and begged for her forgiveness. Grace asked Alice to summon Lance so that she could patch up things between her and her boyfriend. She called Lance and he appeared in front of them. He looked very handsome. He hugged Alice and they exchanged a hot passionate kiss. ” Alice, my love,” he claimed taking her hand to his mouth and brushing his lips against it. He continued, ” I missed you so much, sweetheart. I only have eyes for you. You didn’t give me a chance to complete my sentence, ‘ Your cousin is gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as you’. You didn’t wait to hear my explanation. Anyway, I have found a perfect solution to end these miserable arguments.” He took out a tiny box containing a diamond ring and slid it on her finger, asking, ” Will you marry me? “on his bent knees. The whole family applauded and Aunt Ruby was all smiles for her daughter. Alice said yes and more hugging and kissing followed.

Grace teased, ” Lance, you will have to face me if I find any tear in her eyes. It should only be tears of happiness and not otherwise. Do you understand? ” Lance grinned at her and said, ” I won’t give you any reason to complain.” Alice said, ” Grace, you are the best witch in our kingdom. I tried to kill you but you forgave me so easily. And you also reunited me with my love. How can I ever repay your kindness? ” Grace replied, ” Forget it, sis. Please use your brain before jumping to any conclusion. I have a special present for Lance.” She took out a strand of silk thread and tied it around Lance’s wrist. She said, ” This is a special Indian tradition. On the occasion of Rakshabandhan, a festival celebrated to mark the strong bond of love between a sister and a brother, the former ties a decorative silk thread on her brother’s wrist to pray for his good health and long life. Her brother promises to protect her at all times at the cost of his life. I now consider Lance as my brother. So, remove all dirty thoughts from your mind.” Alice praised her along with Lance who said, ” Grace, my dear sister. This is the best gift any brother could get. I promise to protect you from any kind of danger and would always be at your side. ” ” With his bride, ” added Alice, ” You have two bodyguards at your disposal, Grace. We will never leave your side at any cost and protect you at the cost of our lives.”

Grace held back her tears as she opened her arms to hug her cousin. The entire family celebrated the occasion with a grand engagement party for Alice and Lance in the evening.

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