I think it all started when I saw that firefly in my room in the middle of the night. I had suddenly woken up and then saw the firefly flying from under my bed. A little curious, I wanted to see if there were more fireflies under the bed, but when I looked, there was nothing. But I heard a sound — the sound of howling winds. It creeped me, so I looked up, and as soon as I looked up, I was suddenly standing in the middle of the desert. I was confused and also thought maybe I’m hallucinating. I stood baffled when I heard a voice, “Walk straight,” the voice said. I was confused, but I thought maybe I shouldn’t be questioning and just walk straight, maybe I’ll get home. So, as the voice said, I walked straight.
As I continued walking straight, I started noticing how the desert started turning into fertile soil, and I was now walking in some kind of garden. I heard the voice again, but this time the voice seemed closer. I looked around and there I saw — it was a firefly.
“Oops, you can see me,” said the firefly. The little shining fly suddenly circled around and there it was — to my disbelief, a pixie.
Everything else already surprised me way too much, but seeing a pixie blew my mind.
“Do not stare at me,” said the little flying fellow. “Now you have a task to complete or you will never be able to go,” said the pixie.
“A task?” I asked.
She said, “Hurry,” and though tiny, pushed me — and suddenly, I was under some kind of hole.
When I tried to get up the hole, I saw what stood in front of me — a giant beanstalk, and I thought, was I living the Jack and the Beanstalk story??
I started climbing the beanstalk, and then when I did reach the top, it was a beautiful garden park, and there sat the giant alone. He looked at me, and I was terrified — I thought he’d attack. But he looked sad, so I walked closer and saw he wasn’t a giant at all — just a boy, wounded at the knee and unable to stand. At this, I didn’t know how to aid him. I looked around, and then I saw it — a tap — which was weird because I was above the clouds. But without much thought, I got the water with a bucket that lay beside the tap and brought it near the boy and tried to clean his wound.
As I poured the water, the wound started healing on its own — it was magic water. The boy stood up and thanked me for my help, and suddenly the ground was shaking. I felt a movement — the garden floor was broken “I stood on top of one of the floating pieces. The boy looked at me and said, ‘Don’t worry — just imagine how you want to move, and the stones will guide you.’
With that, I caught a hold of it, and suddenly we were flying in between the clouds. The boy smiled at me through the clouds, and as I opened my arms to feel the breeze — I was there, back in my bedroom, the same way I was when I looked below my bed. I was baffled — was it a dream or did all that actually happen? I could not understand anything, but as I looked around, there I saw the firefly again.
– Christina K Sangma