The Other World

  CHAPTER 12: THE FINE ART OF PERFORMING MAGIC            The house was as exquisite and beautiful on the inside, as on the outside. They were ushered in and welcomed by Jenny's mother. The best thing about the house was, that it felt very warm and homely. The tiled walls had beautiful sceneries painted all over them. They were awestruck by the marvellous designs and architecture of the house. The upper parts of the walls were lined with brilliant paintings and portraits.           Jennifer's mother, Mrs. Emma Green, had prepared a delectable and appetizing meal for everyone. After the meal, Lily tried to go back home, but her attempts were in vain, thanks to the combined persuasion of the quartet and Jenny.            "But I should probably go back home. When I do have my own place here, why shall I burden you?", Lily argued.           "Oh yeah! That little rented room that you call a house, right?", Fred said sarcastically.           "And Lily, do you

  CHAPTER 11: A PECULIAR FRIEND            The quartet had shut their eyes tightly in fright. Jennifer and Chris were standing in a defensive stance, ready to attack the zombie, if required. Lily was defiantly standing in front of the teens protectively. Robert was simply standing to the side, like a silent spectator.             The fright-inducing zombie, just continued walking forward. They could hear his low grunts. He was now very close to the group. Chris and Jenny had raised their arms and almost attacked him, but then,             "Ouch!", Molly gasped as she felt a slight tug on a few strands of her hair. Chris and Jennifer's hands stopped midway. The teens opened their eyes, to find the zombie, slightly tugging on Molly's hair strands, looking at it with extreme fascination.            Everyone's eyes grew the size of saucers, except Robert's, who shook his head, and looked at the others, rolling his eyes.            He then looked at the zombie, an

  CHAPTER 10: STRANGE ENCOUNTERS           It was almost afternoon, when the group finished their trip. They were on their way to the Chris and Jenny's home. That's when, they noticed a commotion at the Meyerhoff Street. There was a young man standing at the front, who was mercilessly attacking people from a crowd that had gathered. They ran towards that direction. As they reached the spot, they saw people running about arbitrarily. It was absolute chaos.           Their eyes then fell on the young man, who had seemingly caused the panic among the people. He was shooting out sparks from his extended hand. He had sleek, black hair and sharp, angular facial features. His dark red eyes exuded coldness. His lips were curled up in a small, cruel smile, which turned into a frown, when his narrowed eyes fell upon the group, and his hand fell to his side.                             Andrew Wilson           "You can't subdue us protestants! Tinworth and it's population mig

  CHAPTER 9: MEETING THE ABOTTS         Robert McAdams was an annoying chatterbox! At least, that's what Fred's opinion was, about him, since he kept on blabbering about philosophical things. Molly, however, was simply starstruck by the man's wit, and his wise words. Alice and George were very much confused about him. They didn't know, whether to admire him for his witty sayings, or, annoyed due to his immature behaviour.        Right now, Lily and the quartet were sitting on the floor, sipping the hot chocolate Lily made for everyone. Mr. McAdams was lazily lying on a rug, his feet propped up on the windowsill. He was reading a book, while sipping on the hot chocolate from its mug, through a long straw.         Outside, the moon shone brightly.         "Mr. McAdams, do you know the way out of this world?", Molly asked Robert.         "No. I only know the process that transports you back to your world. I don't know the way", he replied.         &

  CHAPTER 8: JOHN ABOTT'S MESSAGE           It was evening. The setting sun, in the distance, was a sight to behold. The sky was painted pink . Four people sat on the ground near the window of a single-room house, admiring the magical view outside and one person trotted around the small open kitchen of the house, preparing tea.           "Lily, no milk in my tea please", Molly instructed. Lily just showed a thumbs up signal without turning around.            The Brackwells and George were lost in deep thoughts. Breaking the silence, Fred said, "Isn't it all so astonishing and unbelievable? Wasn't it today morning only, that our biggest worry was, whether Grandma would have made chocolate cookies or butter cookies? Everything just fell apart in a few hours".           "There's no use crying over spilt milk, Fred. What's happened has happened. What the upcoming circumstances are, isn't in our hands. But what we do to face it and how we fac

  CHAPTER 7: REGISTRATIONS AND GETTING MAGIC WANDS         "What's the plan for now, then?", the teens asked.         Grinning, Lily answered, "First of all, we are going to the B.L.E. office to register you people and get magic wands for you. Then, we are going to shop for some clothes and food on our way home".          "Arghh... Why don't you understand? We just want to go. Spare us! We are not settling down here", Alice said, extremely frustrated.         "Yes, and what do you mean by 'on our way home'? Where are you going to take us, Lily?", George asked suspiciously.         Sighing, Lily said, "Well... I may not be a saint. But I'm not a heartless being, you know. I  am not leaving you all by yourselves on the street now, am I?", then her voice grew firmer, but more beseeching, as she said, "And as for you all going back home, right away, let me tell you, you can't do that at least today. I respect yo

    CHAPTER 6: AN EMOTIONAL GOODBYE       "We're there, already?!", Molly asked in surprise. As John nodded, the four of them hurriedly got up. All the eight visitors and John stepped down from the train. Lily looked at Alice, in concern, who was grimacing in pain and rubbing her head, that she had hit on the roof of the compartment while getting up hurriedly.        "I'm okay Lily", was the only thing she said to her as an answer of her concerned gaze.        The four youngsters looked around and found themselves, once again, at a station. But this one was a bit different from the other one.         "And as soon as you step out of this station, you will be at Tinworth Highland", John said, but his voice and his eyes didn't reflect the enthusiasm that he was trying to show. The Brackwells and George looked at him in confusion.        "Take care, all of you. Lily, Eric, Brenda, goodbye. And hey, Ed, here's a chocolate for you. Your fav