Joy had no idea where she was when she came to. She couldn’t open her eyes or even move......
STORY
‘What’s this?’
‘Where has it come from?
‘Is there someone in it?’ ‘Should we take it out?’
‘Please step back; it might be very dangerous.’ Joy heard voices all around.
Finally, she heard a calm voice taking command.
‘Please step back, only the prince can see what’s inside.’
Joy had no idea where she was when she came to. She couldn’t open her eyes or even move. Since she didn’t hear Sandy’s voice, she decided he was still unconscious. She stayed in the same position and waited for those voices to go away.
‘Open it up, and check if she’s okay.’ Someone with a British accent spoke.
‘Are you sure it’s her? It could be something else.’ Someone else’s questioned.
‘What would that be?’ The same voice rasped.
‘What if he has sent something? Or the humans, anything can happen!’
Just get me out! Thought Joy.
‘It’s definitely her. Everyone knows about her; there are prophecies on this. We’ve been waiting all this time. Now, open this,’ the man with the deep voice commanded.
Joy held her breath but nothing happened and dizziness fell upon her again. She could sense everything, but was still unable to open her eyes or move.
Someone finally opened the door and hovered over her. Joy was sure that it was the same raspy-voiced man. She felt him lift her space-helmet off her head and examine her features. ‘Yep, it really is her.’ She felt the two strong arms of ‘Mr. Husky’ pick her up and take her out.
Joy wanted to scream the moment her helmet was lifted. She wanted to jump out of those arms and punch that person on the face for making her paralyzed. She knew it was him who had bewitched her into that jelly-state.
When she was finally out of the capsule, Joy held her breath again. ‘Hey, you can breathe now, the air’s fine’, he cooed. Joy’s blood froze; the man had felt her breathing, too!
But when she released her breath she was even more confused. The air was fresh! Fresher than earth’s air and there was something sweet and blissful in it. Joy fell unconscious again.
***************
Joy groaned when she woke up. She tried to sit and fell back on a soft mattress. When she tried to move, the room filled with whispers, as if people were watching her. Joy kept her eyes closed, feeling too lazy too lazy to open them anyway.
‘Could you just clear out! You’ll get to see her in a few hours … we don’t want Joy to panic now, do we?’ The same voice calmed people down and made them go out and Joy heard him move closer.
This time, Joy was really in for punching him. I mean, who wouldn’t do the same when they find themselves getting bewitched and carried away and then the person doing all this just knowing their name.
‘What else do you know about me?’ Joy abruptly sat up once she was sure there wasn’t anyone in the room. When she opened her eyes she found she was in a room so huge that it was more like a hall. She examined the fancy hall, taking in the gold and red walls, the beautiful seats and tables and the crimson floor. She noticed two people sitting in one corner, but was least bothered about them. She looked around and her jaw dropped at the sight of the man sitting on a mini-throne near the bed. The man chuckled, but she didn’t respond. All of this was so surreal.
‘It’s beautiful, right?’ he said, looking at her in sheer amusement.
The person had beautiful green eyes, unruly brown and curly hair with features she had not seen on any human. ‘Where am I?’ Joy quickly asked realized that she was rude to that person, if he even was one.
‘It’s hard to explain, but you’re in a planet far away from Earth, named Utopia.’ I haven’t introduced myself – Crown Prince Hayden of Utopia. Call me Hayden.’ From the looks in his eyes, he wanted Joy to feel comfortable.
Mesmerized by her surroundings, she only said her name to introduce herself.
‘Your dog is being taken care of; he will be fine soon.’
‘How did I get here?’ Looking directly at him she asked. ‘That’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.’ Hayden smiled.
Joy looked at the two people in the corner. They smiled and came over to her. One was a beautiful girl with blue eyes and blonde hair, the other was a boy with mirroring traits, but the gold in his hair was brighter and fiery.
‘Joy, this is my brother, Prince Jayden, and my little sister, Princess Jane.’ The girl nearly cringed at the word princess but smiled anyway. ‘We’d leave you alone to rest. When you wake up, make sure to let us know. We’ve got lots of things to share with you.’ Jayden said with a warm smile.
Joy smiled back and they left. She eased under the extremely soft red duvet and slept.
***************
Joy felt fresher when she woke up. She walked around the room exploring every little thing. There was this hook in one corner from which a red shirt and gown hung neatly. Knowing they were hers, she dressed quickly and got ready to be awe-struck by the view she glimpsed through the window. She saw the largest garden she’d seen, with many fountains and natural spring. She was spellbound by the beauty around her but came out of trance when she remembered Sandy!
She opened the door of her room and walked around till she saw an old woman. She asked her about Sandy, but was unable to understand what the woman said. The woman took her hand and led her to a big, but slender white door with blue patterns engraved on it. The woman looked at Joy one last time and opened the door, Joy gasped when she saw the room! It was as big and wide as a park with a huge table in the middle with thousands of people sitting all around it.
At first, the people simple gazed at her, speechless, then waved at her and did all kinds of fan-girly stuff. Joy spotted Hayden and company sitting at the end of the huge table, with their smiling people.
Hayden waved her to join them all. She saw Hayden stand up from the head of the table to welcome her, but was astounded when he asked her to sit on his chair. She protested, but every single person on that gigantic table, along with all the others that were standing, insisted and made her take the prince’s chair.
Then food was served and everyone tucked in immediately. Hayden told Joy that they all had been waiting for her. She blushed with embarrassment at keeping them all waiting. She filled her gold rimmed plate with all sorts of food unknown to humans. The variety of food astounded her. The people sitting on the table were Utopians themselves and had been invited to a grand feast to celebrate Joy’s arrival.
After finishing the lunch she went back to her room to find Sandy sitting on the window. She cuddled it and they both looked out into the summer-day.
By the evening Joy had explored the palace a little and was now heading towards her room when Hayden took her inside a large room looking more like a living room. His siblings were there and they were enjoying a game unknown to Joy. Joy sat down on a couch and had a little chat with them.
‘Are you feeling comfortable enough, Joy?’ Jayden asked.
‘Yes, thank you very much.’ She answered. ‘How have I managed to get here?’
‘Your small craft, you see, crashed, well not crashed, we don’t have gravity here but landed and some people saw that and they called for us. We rushed off, carried you here and you know the rest.’ Jane said, tossing a card on a round wooden table for Jayden who carried on with the game.
‘And why did I feel so dizzy when I was being “carried”?’ Joy asked Hayden sitting in front of her on a sofa.
‘It’s because the atmosphere made your systems work in the right way when you breathed in.’ He shrugged. Joy nodded and stroked Sandy for a while, unaware that all eyes were on her.
‘It’s getting late, I’m going to go, you should get some rest too Joy, tomorrow would be a great day.’ Jane stretched herself after losing the game; she smiled at Joy and offered her hand. Joy didn’t get what she said but took her hand anyway and walked towards her room with Jane and she elaborated that she’d learn some new stuff and bid her goodnight.
Joy went inside with Sandy and lied down. She fell into a peaceful sleep after looking at the countless stars in the night sky.
To be continued...
