One day, when I was walking home, I saw a hooded figure following me. The twilight had merged with darkness and hence, fear seemed to be taking bites from my storehouse of courage. I walked as fast as I could and then looked back. I was so relieved that ‘Mr. Hoodie Scareson’ wasn’t following me anymore. I took a deep breath of relief, turned around and was shocked to see that hooded figure right in front of me with his hand on my shoulder. I wanted to scream but decibels had abandoned me. I gathered all the strength I had, pushed him aside and ran as fast as I could. Luckily, I saw my friends in the playground. My vocal cords broke the barriers of fear and I managed to yell. Thankfully, they came running, gave me water to drink, made me sit on a bench and asked me, ” Diya, what happened? Where are you coming from at this hour? Why do you look petrified?” After I sipped some water, I told them that my mom was down with a severe headache. So, I went to the pharmacy to get some medicines for her. While I was returning home, a dark hooded figure started following me and later caught me. Somehow, I managed to get out of his grip and ran. That is when I saw all of them in the playground and called out to them.
“This sounds scary and worrisome. We need to find out who that person is. We need to inform our parents and the police” said Neil. Mira, Nina and Jay agreed. I asked them “By the way, what are you guys doing here? I thought you must be studying for the last exam, which is tomorrow. Mira replied, “Yes, we were studying but we got so bored that we thought of meeting up for an hour or so. We came here just ten minutes ago. We called out to you but we didn’t get any response. We tried calling you on your mobile phone too, but no luck.” I checked and realized that I had left my mobile phone at home. Jay ran and gave the medicines to mom and told her that I was with them and will return home in an hour. Mom was kind enough to hand him two big bottles of juice for all of us and he conveyed the whole group’s ‘Get well soon’ wishes to her. Thankfully, he brought my mobile phone too.
All of us relished the apple juice and disposed of the bottles carefully into the dustbin. We decided to go to the place where ‘Mr. Hoodie Scareson’, a name I had given that hooded figure, was seen first. Slowly with soft steps and hiding behind trees, we reached that spot but no one was there. We looked around with the help of the flashlight of our mobile phones but couldn’t find anyone. We were about to sit on the lawn, when I saw that hooded figure going towards a house. All of us ran and caught him and pulled him towards the lawn. We took off the hoodie of his long trench coat and couldn’t believe our eyes. It was an old man dressed as Santa Claus, who looked sad and it also seemed like he hadn’t eaten in days.
Before we could say anything, he requested us to give him some cold water to drink. Nina went home quickly and not only brought cold water for him and us but also some sandwiches for everyone. Neil asked him, “Who are you? Why are you dressed like Santa and why were you following Diya?” The old man gulped half a bottle of cold water and said, ” I am Mr. Santa Claus. I was following Diya because in this whole town, she is the only one who truly believes that I am real.” I curiously asked him that if he is Santa, then what is he doing here as it is not Christmas time. That is when pearls of water started following from his green eyes and in a sad and helpless voice he said, “Everything is gone. My home, my elves, my reindeers, my sledge and all the gifts. The ice at the north pole has melted away due to global warming. How is it that you kids don’t know about it? It started over twenty years ago and everyone knows about the havoc, the loss and the chaos.”
We just looked at him in shock. Mira told him that they had not seen anything about this on TV, in the newspapers or on the internet. He was surprised but suddenly his eyes went to Mira’s huge watch, which showed the time, day and date. Santa said, “Oh! Now, I see what is really going on here. The only powers left with me are the powers of space and time travel. Unknowingly, I used my time travel power along with my space travel power. Your watch says that this is the year 2022 and I have come from the year 2049. I made a mistake but everything happens for the best.
All of you and the other children on this planet now, are the hope of tomorrow. If you don’t stop global warming and the culprits causing it I will tell you what our world will be like after 20 years. All the islands will be submerged in the sea or ocean, the melting away of the north pole will make the sea level rise. Pollution of every kind will make sure that most of the animals are extinct. With many of the forests having been destroyed, the heat level will be so high that half of the human population will be dead, if they haven’t already died due the floods, tsunamis, famine and diseases. Drinking water will be sold like gold at high prices and every edible item will be genetically modified, due to which the life span of people will get shorter.
Children of today have to stop this situation from becoming a reality. You have to spread the word so that your parents and ever environment lover will start taking steps like planting trees, stopping deforestation, conserving water and teaching everyone how to harvest rain water as well as organic farming. Decrease all types of pollution by finding out their root causes and the criminals causing them. Create solutions to mend the damage that has already been done. Promise me that all of you will be ‘Eco-Warriors’ from today onwards and will recruit others into your ‘Save Mother Earth’ army.” We promised Santa and he vanished into thin air but not before he munched happily on the sandwiches.
That night, we realised the purpose of our lives and went home with a million thoughts in our heads. It was really hard to believe what we had just witnessed.
“Dad, my purpose of narrating this incident to you in whole
is that you, being an environment scientist who is always on eco-patrol,
can guide us how to find solutions and fix every loophole
as well as create a ‘Save Mother Earth’ army and achieve our goal
as this is a serious warning from the north pole
to save our future generations and our planet’s soul”,
said Diya to her dad in a soft voice full of anticipation, when he returned home after an important mission. He promised to help them. She informed her friends and all of them slept soundly that night with dreams of a better tomorrow for the generations to come.
Vizzmaya is a wanderer in the land of stories and an explorer in the sea of poetry. She is 10 years old but her life’s experiences make her writing age faster but gracefully. She is awaiting for the release of not just her first book but all her 7 e-books via Amazon by the end of November, titled- Vizzmaya’s wonderland (parts 1 to 7) which contain poems, stories, write-ups and jingles. She hopes they add positive energy to the lives of everyone who reads them and is passed on to others for their betterment.
Vizzmaya Jalal, a Class 5 student of St. Francis ICSE school, Mumbai, is a poetess, a writer, an aromatherapist, a herbalist, a classical singer, a classical dancer, a keyboard player, a basketball and chess player and a linguist who speaks 9 languages. She is an iron girl who sees her bedridden mother medically suffer like hell each day and yet inspires and motivates her to fly higher with the help of my maternal grandfather’s positive energy and take others along with her beyond the clouds of earthly problems and pain to a peaceful place where spirituality and science live together in harmony; thus staying true to her name, Vizzmaya which means wonderment.