Dreamer's Misery

• Shaanvi Swamy, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

Jinx walked into the wind. Pale grains of sand crunched beneath her feet and the ants marched to their homes like seasoned soldiers. Black waves roared, leaving a bubbling foam trailing in the sea. The trees yearned for the first rays of sunlight. Thunder roared, dragging its destructive fingers across the land. Prickly green plants crunched beneath feet and the crisp salt wind screamed at the torrents below.

Jinx stood near the shallow ends of the sea. The trees called her name. A few more steps and she’d be lost in the spindly, twisted branches. At last, she gave in to the intensifying curiosity. Jinx slowly turned around to find twisting branches reaching out for her like broken hands. A sharp twinge sparked through her like a blade of torment. She stopped dead, petrified. Jinx felt smouldering eyes burning through her. Something’s watching me. Her stomach lurched and her blood turned to ice. Not wanting to make it obvious she was aware, she closed her eyes and calmly drank in the scents swirling around her. Jinx was odd. All her senses were much sharper than the average girl. Everything smelled like the ocean and nature, but there were other scents that didn’t belong.
More people, or dangers?

Jinx's skin prickled with anticipation as she began to edge towards the looming trunks of wood. She scanned the foreboding forest, swinging her dark amethyst hair. It was lengthy and dipped below her shoulders, blossoming into a longer, paler iridescent glow. Jinx tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat as she drank in the strangling, tangy air. Her family was gone, she never knew them anyway. But, a mysterious disease that had taken her twin’s life, that was all she knew. No stars danced, the moon didn’t illuminate the dark, only a ghastly pale light could reveal the night.

With each step she ventured deeper into the unknown forest. Uneasiness gnawed at her, greedily eating at any hope she had left. Suddenly, she felt a sharp twinge stab through her like a blade of torment.
What was that, could I have imagined it?
Jinx blinked, the tension dropping from her shoulders. With a final glance from narrowed eyes, Jinx broke into a run. Shadowy ferns brushed with their damp, sticky ferns and the sickly glow of fungus guided her feet.
Let me out!

Jinx burst into a glade with an eerie chill. A branch snapped and a flash of fur was all Jinx saw before everything went black. Jinx pushed against her unknown attacker and braced herself for a harder blow. She broke from her fierce opponent and slammed into the coiling roots near the edges of the glade. Jinx felt blood trickle from a deep shoulder wound as she glared at the tawny amber fox, laying sprawled under the shade.
Who is he? Is he like me?
The fox began to spark as another shape formed. A boy groaned and locked eyes with her.
Another human?!
Suddenly Jinx smelled blood.