The Magic Watch :Escaping Reality | Story by Sanvi,12,Kolkata

The coral sky bubbled and frothed, with a swirl of white clouds. The sun looked proud of its fire and might, as it was setting slowly into the horizon. Tall skyscrapers towered the city. Rin gazed at the yellow sun captivated by its beauty, and walked ahead. She glanced at the antique watch in her hand, which her grandmother had gifted for her birthday. Grandmother had told her that it would help her escape reality.

What did that even mean? Rin wondered. She inspected its metal gears with interest. There were no numbers but instead there were weird looking digits in their respective places. In addition, the hands did not work or move at all. She thwacked the watch vigorously hoping it would work, but all was in vain. She sighed, clutching the watch and continued to trudge back home. She felt the watch was quite boring.

All of a sudden, her hand became warm, the watch began to vibrate and hum. A flash of light enveloped her in a bubble. Rin blinked rapidly, trying to adjust her eyes to the brightness. Whoosh! There she was. Wait, where exactly was she? This was not the usual concrete street she walked by. The path was different, with pebbles and grass. The air had a light charm to it, and the surroundings were lush and green. 

Was it a dream? A hallucination? Was she being delusional? How would she get back to reality?

Sauntering through the woods seemed like a dream. However, it was not.

Rin continued walking until she came to a crowd of messily made huts. Seeing traces of humans made her jump with happiness. She approached a kind looking man, and asked, “Dear sir, could you please tell me where I am?”

The stranger looked utterly confused and scratched his bald head. “Eh?” he said, looking mortified.

Poor Rin realized that the people living there did not understand English. Even after various other tries of communication, she knew it was useless. Some of these villagers even started running after her thinking she was a dangerous criminal. 

Calming herself down, she tried to shake the watch again, and to her surprise, it began to hum again. Thankfully, this time the bright flash was a sign of safety and not of danger. She reached her own bright modern city and the same old concrete road. Of course, it was not a measly old watch. It was a device to transverse to places in the world.

Grinning to herself, Rin knew this watch was going to lead her to many adventures in the future.