When she gained consciousness, Joy found herself back in the palace. She was surrounded by the palace.....
STORY
Joy found herself in a dark passage. She moved quietly and halted when she heard whimpering. Joy whistled softly and Sandy answered with a pathetic bark. She went towards the noise, whistling more often just to be sure… and nearly tripped over Sandy. Somehow her dog had injured itself. She couldn’t do anything, so she seized its collar and advanced.
She stopped again outside a room. She heard murmurs and was about to blast through the door when two hooded figures came out and seizing both her hands, dragged her into the room and pushed her down. As she got up, she noticed that the room was empty! The hooded figures had disappeared.
She heard a strange noise that hurt her insides. Unable to bear it, she fell down and the noise stopped. Joy lay there, trying to regain her breathing when she saw a tall hooded figure. She stood up shakily. Her gaze fixed on the tallest person she had ever seen.
‘I have been expecting you.’ He said.
‘Now that I’m here, what are your other two wishes?’ She kept a straight face.
‘The question should be; what’re you here for?’ He said. Joy pursed her lips. ‘I’m here to stop this stupid war.’ She squeezed her eyes shut. ‘For God’s sake, make this stop, it’s not the people’s fault that I exist. It’s not their fault Hayden’s lost somewhere.’ She sighed in defeat.
‘Oh, so you think he’ lost or maybe dead?’ said Vex.
‘Do you know where Hayden is?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘Who else would, if it’s not me?’ Vex said ‘You want to know the truth don’t you?’ He said as Joy gulped.
‘Maybe I’d like something in return too.’ He said quietly, and Joy felt afraid of the silence. She didn’t say anything so he moved on.
‘You wouldn’t find him if you start searching. And if you really want to-’ He hadn’t even finished his sentence as Sandy burst through the door and went straight for Vex. He dodged it and dispersed into the air.
Joy shook herself and scolded Sandy for interrupting something so important. Kneeling down, she ignored the cold air hitting her back. She suddenly felt something slash her back. She didn’t feel anything even though she sensed blood dripping from her but when she heard Vex’s yell, she collapsed. She saw people coming towards her as Sandy continued barking, then she blacked-out.
********
When she gained consciousness, Joy found herself back in the palace. She was surrounded by the palace-staff, her friends and her parents. She tried to get up, but groaned as pain hit her. Her parents immediately rushed to help her.
‘You were slashed and it was heard, no, felt everywhere. We all felt the wind stop and everything became still just like it did the night we lost Hayden.’ Julian said and Jayden look away.
‘All the people in the battle-field shuddered when this happened while the “monsters” disappeared somewhere. So we took a few other people with us to the gate through which you had gone and found you and Sandy.’
They had the called her parents and explained what had happened. At first they were astonished because they’d never travelled to a different world and even more surprised when they found their daughter wrapped in bandages, lying on an extremely lavish bed. They understood that Joy hadn’t been crazy all this time. Joy had been unconscious for many days and everyday her parents came to check on her.
She was told that the war had ended because when Vex hurt Joy, he hurt himself, too. It was a strange phenomenon on Utopia that anyone hurting Joy on Utopia would be hurt himself. So when Vex stabbed Joy, he felt the pain and decomposed to dust. No one had seen him since then, not even in the weird, non-Utopian places.
Hayden was still missing, but they had each other. Joy was still curious about what Vex was about to tell her about Hayden’s whereabouts but she concluded that Vex was just playing with her mind.
A few days later, Joy was healthy enough to go home and start going to her school. Her parents had got her leave of absence on health grounds and only Mary knew everything. They often discussed Utopia and Joy promised to take her there one day too.
********
Few months later, Joy went to Utopia with Mary and her parents for victory celebrations against Vex. Her friends arranged a great tour for her family. After their visit, Julian decided to return to his kingdom.
Soon summer holidays started, with her birthday getting nearer. ‘Joy, are you inviting those Utopian friends of yours to your party?’ Mary asked.
‘Why wouldn’t I?’ She answered.
‘Everyone’ll be surprised. Think about it; their faces so noble, dresses so unique and personalities so dashing! Believe me, people would beg you to let them become their friends.’ Mary waved a marshmallow. ‘I’ll think about that.’ Joy said after a pause.
That was exactly what happened. The day after the party people were all over her asking and requesting for further information. But Joy just smiled and went on with her work, ignoring everyone.
She was happy with her new routine. On Saturdays, she would visit her friends in Utopia and they would come to her house on Sundays.
‘It’s exhausting.’ Joy groaned.
Jane shook her head, while Julian laughed loudly and Jayden wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Whatever it is, I’m glad we’re all happy.’ Jane said as they all agreed. Jayden stood up and clapped his hands together. ‘It’s good to finally have peace and to be able to visit each other without fear. So all’s well that ends well,’ Jayden concluded and they all laughed.
‘To peace,’ he raised his coffee mug.
‘To peace,’ they shouted.
