Virus

• Heidi Smith, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

I placed my hand on the rough bark of the poor, infected tree. It was black, like it had been roasted above a fire. The forest was dark and eerie at night, but I enjoyed the adrenaline pumping through my chest and how I swung round at every sudden movement. Anastasia, my best friend, stood at my right. Her long fingers were stroking the tree in front of us, soothing it. It was obvious she was about to cry, so I swung my arms around her and hugged her. “I’m ok.” Anastasia reassured me. She was smiling, but her eyes were still carrying helplessness and devastation. I opened my bag and took out a watering can. “How do you keep all that stuff in your bag?” Asked Anastasia. I put my hands on my hips and smirked. “I not telling you.” I teased. Anastasia always wanted to know how to do magic. All she could do was control nature and that came naturally. We descended from the Kings and Queens of the world. Long long ago, they were given the power to control certain elements by our Creators.

I pulled energy through my fingers and clear, beautiful water spilled into the blue watering can. “Here.” I offered Anastasia the watering can. She took it gratefully and began watering the tree. When she was done, it put the watering can in my bag, grabbed Anastasia’s hand and she sang a high pitched, screechy song. I covered my ear with one hand as the tree branches wrapped around us and lifted us into the sky. When Anastasia was done, I lowered my hand. “Sorry.” Mumbled Anastasia. We looked around us. We needed the cure for the infected trees, or this virus will spread to the humans. Anastasia pointed to the white mound in the distance. “There, there’s Isberget. It’s so pretty!” She said in awe. Isberget was Swedish for Ice Mountain. The Queen of Isberget had the power of ice from the Creators. She married a Swedish human and he named the region Isberget. We needed to get there because they had the cure to the virus. The problem was, the kingdom was so cold, only certain people could go there (being the Queen, the King, their daughter and their nephew). “We’ve got to get Justin, we need fire to get into Isberget.” I said.

Anastasia sang her screechy song and the trees brought us just outside Justin’s cottage. “Justin!” Anastasia and I yelled in unison. But there was no Justin, instead there was a big bulky man. He was holding something, a scroll. He turned around and when he saw us, he said “Ahhhh, young Anastasia and Juliet, I see you are looking for Mr Brown. He isn’t here, he’s in the City, waiting for his trial.”