A scary day @ Illusions Broken

It was Jen(Jennifer) who called me on my birthday and wished me first...It was not new and the same ritual will happen in the forthcoming years too...Had my ablution and wore my blue faded jean and black t-shirt...I have the habit of getting blue jean and black shirt every year on the eve of my birthday and this would be my nth blue and black combo collection...Every gal of my age loves to wear white frock bedecked with glittery and trendy fashionable stones but being so tom boyish ,I prefer jean rather than a frock...

My mobile beeped for several times and I saw 20 missed calls...It was from Jen and the latest message that read was "Sophie I wish to give you a surprise on this day and so make yourself ready in another 30 minutes and I will be there to pick you up"...Jen and surprise lol, I could not control my laughter...Apart from wishing me on my birth day she also claims to present me a surprise gift and the gift would be a doll...Barbie doll...Jen is a person who is so much involved in fantasy and all that and I always mock and smirk her whenever she starts her fantasy saga...year after year she presents me a Barbie doll with a kit containing cozy and trendy clothes sewn by her for the Barbie...I don't admire dolls and this Barbie is definitely not an exception. Jen admires Barbie's blonde hair and blue eyes...She speaks on and on about it but for me the hair and eyes makes no difference...So this time also I was waiting for my gift aka Barbie doll...well I did not want to disappoint Jen and sulk at the gift...I was waiting at my lawn for Jen's arrival...

Flashy red Sedan approached my garage...She was honking to glory and was trying to get my attention and I intentionally looked indifferent and never responded for the honk...Her face was as red as a tomato adding well to her complexion and with seething anger she approached me and all her anger vanished the moment she saw me and she was back to normalcy  She was in a hurry to take me to a place and she wanted it to be a surprise...Well surprise and you never goes well quipped me...She was very serious about her surprise and at least this time I was longing for one that too from Jen...

Sophie let us travel in your Ford exclaimed her...Well said me...no appeals...in another 10 minutes I was driving and Jen was beside my side...I took the route as pointed by her...Jen and I are friends for 17 years now...We first met at "Little Hearts" kindergarten when we were 3 years old and from then on became bosom pals...thanks to our working parents  After my schooling I took science in college and Jen was into "Illusions broken" a college for mastering wizardry and magic...I still wonder how two people with varied interest become close pals and we are live examples...Her magic wand accompanies her and "tel ym erised emoc eurt" is one sentence I learnt from her and every time she uses her wand she also uses the above sentence and it looks funny...I investigated the sentence and came to know that it is a jumbled form of “Let my desire come true”…Voila!

And finally we reached a place far from our locality and it took 5 hours for us to reach the place...Thanks to Jen’s wits which completely made us to forget about our long journey…We were greeted by two dwarfs wearing shiny lavender pyjamas which was completely annoying my eyes...out of nowhere a bottle came flying in the air and Jen caught it right and gave me the refreshing drink...The drink was so enticing and she said it was a trend at "Illusion Broken" to welcome the guests this way and gotcha I was in wizardry school and this was the secret place which gave me a surprise...Individuals were not allowed even parents need to send a prior request for a yearly visit and the parents were allowed to stay with their kids only for an hour but there I was with no request or time of stay was not restricted to one hour...

The entire environment was so different from the normalcy ...Some were flying in the air as if like people from another world...I have seen angels flying all around that too in fantasy stories but for the first time I witnessed all different things .I was taken to a room much deserted one from the main entrance and Jen was about to say something, I stopped her and said "tel ym erised emoc eurt" but nothing happened...Jen laughed at me and uttered the same words "tel ym erised emoc eurt" and immediately the doors opened....


The room was smelling pungent exactly the smell of ammonium which I smelled at my lab...hell with the odor...There were no lights and the atmosphere was eerie...I was horrified for being in the isolated place and the only soothing comfort was Jen's presence...She swayed her wand and said something(this time it was some magical mantra) and a bright chandelier splashed bright above our heads...Wah! I felt safe in the bright rays...I investigated the place and the place was surrounded with chemicals smelling yucky, wands of different size and shapes making me scared, logs of unusual size, leaves of trees(all smelling still more unpleasant and pungent, some were fresh, some were dried)...The room can accommodate 100 people at a time and we were only 2 and with no idea we were roaming there...As I took my next step another chandelier started to glow …from nowhere for every step of mine ,I saw one more chandelier glowing and when we reached the end of the room ,all I could see was splashing lights ...The room was glowing with lights ,I have witnessed such blazing only on a new year day or during a fire and the day was so different...I called Jen and asked her to take me somewhere other than the room ...She asked me to hold on for few minutes...

Prof Cindy, Jen here...could you please make your appearance spoke Jen in an unusual bold tone..I mocked her and said "is your Prof. Sin..Sin...sorry Cindy deaf" for which she gave a "I will kill you” look which made me shut my mouth...There appeared a luscious mirror before our eyes... I have never seen such big mirror ever in my life and I got my opportunity to check myself how good I look and I went near it and touched the surface...err it looked rough and all I saw was a wall...I took few steps backwards and again I saw shiny mirror...The whole day seemed to perplex me...and Jen again said "Pro .Cindy, Jen here please make your appearance"...

Outta nowhere a lady in her mid 40’s appeared on the mirror...Her face was visible and I could not spot her body...She was wearing a specs that was exactly resting on her nose...I heard a bold yet mellifluous voice greeting me "happie birthday Sophie" and I was searching the entire room to find who it was...Now I could not smell pungent odor and the smell was so pleasing to my nose and it was a sweet odor. Jen pinched me hard and asked me to thank Prof.Cindy for the wishes...My mouth became dumb and I was struggling to say thank you...Prof.Cindy swayed her wand from the mirror and beautiful chocolate cake was floating in the air before my eyes and Cindy threw a knife and I feared, that it was going to hurt me and I protested with my hands to stop the fast moving knife and god the knife sat exactly on my hand...I was horrified yet I heard a chorused voice to cut the cake...For a moment the chandeliers were gone and candles were floating all around the room...I was confused...Jen asked me to blow the candles and I said, it was impossible to blow the candles placed all around the room" She asked me for a single blow and what a miracle, lights from candles went off and chandeliers were splashing as before. within minutes candles too vanished...I still did not understand how I cut the cake but I found a piece of chocolate cake resting on my mouth...And the cakes too vanished from my vicinity...Jen asked me to go near Prof Cindy and get her wishes...With all fear I went near the mirror and again Cindy swayed her wand and a heavy bag rested on my hand...Prof.Cindy bade good bye to Jen and within a second the mirror vanished before us...I could not comprehend on the things that I witnessed...Jen pulled me out from the room...When I paced towards the exit of the room the chandeliers went off and it was again a mere pungent smelling room which I witnessed when I entered it for the first time...Sophie uttered some magical words and the doors closed...

I came to the main exit...People, atmosphere and things looked so different..."Illusion broken" was one queer place I have visited till date...I pleaded Jen and asked her to take either to my place or hers...We drove fast and with fears I drove still more fast...We reached Jen's place after 6 hours and aunt Linda(Jen's momma) was greeting me...She was in her black attire...Jen took me to her room and gave the gift and it was Barbie yet again...Still my mind was occupied about the heavy Prof Cindy's gift bag that was resting on my car...I never dared to open it...Jen please don't bring fantasy into my life...Let the magical world be with you ...I am not interested and not ready to enter the wizardry world staking my life...I shouted at her and she said that was going to be the last visit of mine to "Illusions Broken"...

I was not in a good mood to enjoy my day..I wanted to be at my home and after all the promises I bade bye to Jen and marched towards my car...I saw aunt Linda in the living room and a portrait was made to hung that day...The face looked familiar...I went further and enquired aunt Linda and to my surprise aunt Linda said "Today is Prof.Cindy's 2nd death anniversary and that is why I am wearing black attire”.I could not comprehend things nor had the guts to ask Jen about it...I rushed to my car and drove to my place...

I parked my car in my garage and went inside...The next day when I was about to start for my college a velvet blue bag was shining inside my car...I yelled at my mom and asked her to take the bag out and keep it in my room...My mom did the way I instructed her and she took the bag with ease...I thought it should be heavy...I went to my college forgetting about the events that happened on my bday...

That evening I came home, spoke to Jen as usual..I decided not to speak or mock her wizardry world...We spoke on general topics...Had dinner with my parents and went to my room...Velvet bag was shining in my glass rack...I never dared to touch the bag anytime and so I decided to cover my glass rack with a curtain...

I told my mom and asked her to cover the rack with a curtain.When I returned home that evening velvet bag was missing from my vicinity and glass rack was disguised in a beautiful curtain...That was some relief...

My curiosity of finding the gift inside the bag vanished...I will never forget that one particular birthday...I decided not to step out on my birthday and as usual I get Barbies from Jen but our hang outs are restricted to places 
“Illusions Broken” may be a perfect place for Jen but I personally believe that one’s illusions can never be broken? What say!

P.S Wrote this fantasy short story