The Hero – The Celebrity I Story By Shreyash,14,Chh. Sambhaji Nagar

The Hero

Chapter 1 – The Celebrity

It was a drenching Tuesday evening in September, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. A young boy sat on the edge of a tall building, twenty stories high. He was thin, with long black hair, and wore a black mask, concealing his face except for his deep blue eyes. He wore an emerald green shirt, black jeans, black sports shoes, and an ordinary wristwatch, which had no numbers but instead featured some symbols.”

He was enjoying the fantastic view from the top. There was a massive mountain with a large area of green fields, filled with cows and sheep, before him. A beam of blue light pierced through the dark clouds, and a deep purple sky stretched behind the stormy clouds. The view in front of him was the most beautiful he had ever seen in his life.

‘Wake up! Wake up!’ interrupted a harsh voice.

It was a dream. The boy slowly woke up and opened his eyes. He was lying on a white bunk bed in an orphanage.

There was an old man with a brown beard and mustache. He was bald on top and had some brown hair on the sides. He wore half-moon-shaped spectacles and a white shirt with lime stripes and gray cotton pants. He was waking up all the children in the hall.

It was seven o’clock. The children were sleeping in a large dormitory with a white polished, slippery floor and many beds. A large clock hung at the entrance, and hundreds of boys filled the hall.

The boy who had been dreaming of the view picked up his spectacles from the desk beside him. Now he could see clearly. He was a thin, weak boy with brown eyes and round spectacles. He wore a white nightdress with blue vertical stripes on it. There was a support stick lying behind the desk. The other boys wore similar clothes, making it difficult to identify any one of them.

The whole group of boys ran to the bathroom, but the poor fellow wasn’t able to walk properly as he was handicapped from birth.

‘I am here to help you, Arpit!’ said the boy coming down from the bunk bed via the ladder on the other side.

He was also a thin boy with black eyes and brown hair. The boy handed a support stick to Arpit so he could steady himself, as the floor was slippery, and Arpit had fallen several times. Soon, they reached the bathroom. There were twenty-five bathrooms, but over two hundred students, so there was a huge line.

‘For the last eight years, you’ve been helping me, Aarav, and you don’t even let me thank you,’ Arpit said softly.

‘I think there should be equality in friendship. Isn’t that right? You help me with my studies, and I help you with walking. Why are you being formal by saying thanks?’ Aarav questioned, smiling.

Aarav and Arpit were best friends. They had been in the orphanage for twelve years and were a little over twelve. They had promised each other that they would be friends until their last breath.

It was three-quarters past seven when they finished their bath and went to the breakfast hall. There were cornflakes for breakfast. Arpit was in a hurry, thinking he was getting late for class, but Aarav was not in a hurry; he was calm and ate slowly.

‘Why are you in no hurry? Aren’t you getting late for class?’ Arpit asked in a spiffy voice.

‘Class? What class? From today, our summer vacation has started!’ Aarav said, surprised.

Arpit dropped his spoon in the cornflakes bowl, shocked to learn that summer vacation had started. However, he still didn’t believe it.

‘Are you sure? I think yesterday the teacher told me that summer vacation starts next week,’ Arpit said doubtfully.

‘Arpit, when are you going to stop asking that? You asked me the same question yesterday and the day before, too,’ Aarav said softly.

‘Okay, forget about that. Well, which dream did you enjoy?’ Aarav asked, curious.

He narrated his dream to him. While narrating, Arpit was both happy and sad. He wanted to experience that dream in real life, but it was impossible. Aarav understood that and took out some candy from his pocket.

‘Close your eyes and take this,’ he said, handing Arpit the candy. ‘Guess the flavor!’

Arpit ate the candy and said, ‘It’s a sour and sweet lemon drop candy! Am I right?’

‘Yes! You are correct, my dear friend!’ Aarav said happily, smiling.

They played this way until nine o’clock, as they didn’t have to go to school. Aarav was happy because summer had started, and he could play all day, but Arpit wasn’t. He wasn’t as delighted because he liked studying and couldn’t play as many games as the other children.

They went to the garden, a prominent place with the whole area covered in green grass. There were tall trees at the boundary and bushes of flowers. In the center, there was a grand fountain with a statue of angels holding a lamp in their hands. There were several benches, too.”

They sat on a bench. Arpit brought his drawing book and colors; he liked drawing but didn’t draw the view of the garden. Instead, he drew the views from his dreams.

There were many drawings, such as a great banyan tree, a hundred times bigger than usual, where a human could only be seen as a dot in the picture; a great statue in the ocean, with a head like an eagle, limbs and body like a human, and wings like a dragon, sitting on a grand throne; a great building with people standing on it, facing a glowing city full of lights; a person standing on a vast beach, with a massive tide ready to swallow the whole Earth; a great blue portal through which a hand, with skin like crocodile scales, seemed to belong to a great beast.

And many more scenes that were beyond this world, beyond the understanding of a normal human. Every person in the orphanage came to Arpit to see what he would draw next. He was supposed to draw the view he had seen in his dream. Everyone was curious, especially the old man who woke up the children in the morning, Mr. Gupta, the orphanage’s owner, who spent most of his time with them. Arpit was his favorite child.

Soon, he finished his drawing and showed it to everyone who was waiting for it; everyone was curious to see it. He gave it first to Mr. Gupta.

‘Wonderful! It’s like a miracle! Purple sky! Is that you sitting on top?’ said Mr. Gupta.

‘I don’t know who the person is. It was just my dream, which I drew in the book,’ he replied.

The drawing book floated from the hands of the children like a boat. Everyone was so pleased to see his drawings, as his creations were terrific.

It was a quarter past twelve, and lunch was nearly ready. There were only forty-five minutes left. Arpit gathered all his things and went to the dormitory. Aarav was playing in the garden with his other friends, so he was left alone. Arpit reached the dormitory, put all his things in the desk storage, and lay on the bed, as he was tired.

After half an hour or more, Aarav came to the dormitory to take Arpit for lunch, but he was asleep. He woke him up and took him to lunch. Arpit was feeling sleepy.

‘Hmm, you go, friend. I’ll come after washing my face,’ he said.

‘Okay, but come on time,’ Aarav replied.

Arpit went to the washbasin and washed his face. A mirror was in front of him. Looking into the mirror, he saw a man behind him, wearing a black mask and with blue eyes, just like in his dream. He was frightened, but when he turned around, there was no one. He thought it was just an illusion, as he was feeling sleepy.

He went for lunch, and Aarav was waiting for him at a table. He had brought the platters for both of them. It was beans with chapatti today. Arpit went over and sat down, and they started eating and chatting. Aarav told him about the football match and many other games he had played that day. Arpit was considering whether he should tell Aarav what had happened to him. He thought it might sound like a joke, but finally, he said:

‘A strange thing happened to me when I was washing my face; the person from my dream was standing behind me,’ he explained in a casual voice.

‘Did you see him directly in front of you?’ Aarav asked.

‘No, I didn’t see him directly, but I saw him in the mirror, standing behind me.’

‘When you turned, was he still there?’

‘Vanished!’

‘It was just an illusion; you’ve been thinking about it a lot, so he appeared in your mind, friend.’

‘I think the same.’

They had nearly finished their lunch and had gone to wash their hands.

‘Is this the mirror where you saw him?’ Aarav asked.

Arpit nodded his head in agreement.

They went to the room where all the indoor games were stored. They took a chessboard and went back to the garden. It was afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly, as it was summer. They sat under a tree and started playing. Arpit was the chess champion in the orphanage, and nobody, not even Mr. Gupta, could beat him.

The first round was won by Arpit very quickly. The second round started, and a little girl saw them and came over to play chess. The second round was trickier for Arpit, but he still won. The girl exclaimed that she wanted to play, so they teamed up on one side—Aarav and the girl—and Arpit played alone on the other side. The match started, and it was a little tricky for Arpit to win since he only had a rook left, but he still managed to win.

Soon, a line of children formed to play chess with Arpit and attempt to defeat him. Arpit accepted the challenge and started playing. By half past five, nobody had been able to defeat him. Arpit was so tired that he decided to quit playing.

They gave the chessboard to the other children.

‘I think you’re a celebrity, Arpit. Wherever you go, people gather around you every time. How do you do it?’ Aarav said.

‘I’m not a celebrity! I’m just a common child in the orphanage, like everyone else! The other children just like me,’ he replied.

They went to dinner, chatted more, and then went to the bathroom. After changing their clothes, they went to the dormitory to sleep. Both were tired and fell asleep quickly, waiting to strike a lightning bolt on the orphanage the next day.

To be continued…

Story By Shreyash Balaji Kamble

 

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