The Mischievous Boys And The Wicked Witch

• Reuben Thomas Sunil, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

Slam! The door opened. They were face to face with the evil witch with black hair and a mole on her nose in whose basement they were locked in. “You kids thought that you could escape!” the witch screamed. She grabbed them by the collar and threw them back in the basement.
Tom and his friends were playing on the beach on a cool summer evening. Tom suddenly noticed smoke coming from an abandoned house built on a rock. He challenged everybody to run and reach the top of the rock. All of them accepted the challenge.
On the way, Max tumbled and nearly hit his head on a rock. When everybody reached the house, they started feeling hungry. The sweet and sour smell of soup entered their noses. Ben opened the door to take a look inside. “What are you doing?” Max asked. “I am trying to see if there is anyone inside the house.” They opened the door and went to get some freshly cooked soup. The soup tasted horrible, so they went to put it back. Suddenly, they heard a creaking sound only to find the witch entering with a little, shabby and charcoal black bag. She stared at them with bulging eyes and frown covering her forehead. “What are you doing in my house?” the witch shouted. “AAAHHH” they all screamed; they were scared. After looking at the half empty bowl, the witch said with a grin on her face “Did you drink?” “Yes” the children replied. “You were the last human I needed to finish my magical potion. Now it’s the right time to test it.” She cursed them that they will never be able to breathe in air but only in water. Fear captured their minds, their head started spinning and they felt like chocking. They ran as fast as they could to the deep ocean nearby.
“We need to stop her; she can curse anyone with that potion!” Ben exclaimed. Ben’s eyes caught something mesmerizing. “It might be able to help us!” Max screamed. They immediately swam towards it. It looked like a merman, who was injured and bleeding profusely! Ben’s eyes fell on some magical seaweed that healed the injury. “Thanks for saving me, but I have never seen you around before, and how are you alive under water?” the merman asked. “Oh, a witch cursed us so we cannot breathe on land,” Tom explained. “Is there a way we can get rid of this curse and stop the witch?” Ben asked. The merman took lead towards an underwater city and took them to the Queen of Mermaids. She gave them a potion that would end all their problems. They immediately swam to the surface and reached the witch's house, destroyed the potion, but suddenly the witch came into the house. They tried to escape but they were again caught in the trap of the witchcraft after the witch sprinkled some powder from her charcoal black bag and threw them in the basement.