Again the boy was gazing outside when his Physics class was going on. Mr. Sanjay the well-known teacher was teaching, when he saw Jeevan. His face was again towards the window. He gave him a glance but all in vain. The boy was busy, watching the birds. The youngest teacher of the staff walked towards the tenth grader boy. He then shouted at him "Don't you understand! How many times I have to scold you?"
"Sorry, sir."
"Tell me which question was the last I discussed?"
"Question number 48 of MCQ."
"What? Are you mad or something? Don't you see there are only 36 questions in MCQ and I was discussing Short Answer Type Questions."
"Sorry, sir."
"That means you have not even glanced at your book once."
"I am really sorry, sir."
"That's not expected from you. You are a bright student with a lot of potential. You have to utilize it. This is not the way. I am scolding you for your own sake. Go, stand outside."
"Sorry, sir. I will not repeat this again."
"Thirty times you have told me this but the outcome is always the same. Now, go outside. You will stand there for the whole period."
"Oh, I am really sorry sir. Please let me in."
"My words are final."
After thirty two minutes the bell rang. Mr. Sanjay was leaving when Jeevan stopped him.
"Sir, are you going to tell my sister and brother about it?"
"Ofcourse I will."
"Please sir, I am begging you don't tell them about it."
"Jeevan, this is necessary. Your brother and sister both need to know this."
"Please, aren't you my dear cousin."
"That's the reason I am going to tell them everything."
"I don't want to cause more trouble for them. Please, I will follow your every command."
"I will see what to do. Don't repeat it again, bro."
"Thanks!"
The boy entered the class and saw everyone having their lunch. Had six periods already passed away? He took his back seat against the window and started having his lunch. He didn't cared about anything going on in the class. He was not even tasting his food, which was prepared by his sister by waking up at 4:30 a.m. The only things in his mind were 'what ifs'. His thoughts were interrupted by his classmate.
"Jeevan, can we talk for a second?"
Jeevan followed him without a word. The boy led him to a larger group of boys who were looking at Jeevan.
"Do you want to talk to me?"
"Yup, but not with words." Said a boy.
They all started beating him. No one was helping the poor boy.
"What are you doing?" was the voice of a tigress.
Everyone feared this young girl of fifteen. All the bullies ran away.
"Lakshmi, thanks for your help."
"Why were they beating you?"
"I don't know. Maybe they wanted to play a little and where would they find a boy as sick as I am?"
"You should defend yourself."
"What do you expect from a boy who has to struggle with keeping up his attendance. You can't expect him to fight like a ninja. Oh, I am sorry that was rude. I didn't meant to hurt you."
"Hey, that's alright."
Jeevan had only one friend, who was Lakshmi. He respected her very much and Lakshmi always took care of him. Jeevan was always able to see his sister in her. Whenever Lakshmi was around him, he felt protected. He felt, he would always be under his sister's shelter. For Lakshmi, he was like a younger brother who was hiding something from her. In the past he used to be very cheerful, funny, cool and hopeful. This attitude of his made everyone like him. Moksh, Ojasvini, Suhani and Lakshmi were his best friends. But suddenly he had changed completely. Now he was not that hopeful boy anymore. He just separated himself from others. Everyone thought, he has changed and was now a new person. On the other hand, Lakshmi thought, it was impossible for someone to change completely. There had to be some reason which he was hiding from her.
Finally, after so much trouble, the school was over. Jeevan's brother Jaivik, was waiting out for him.
"What is this! Who beated you?"
"It's nothing. I am fine. I will tell you once we are home. Where is sis?"
"She is coming wait for a while."
Jeevan lived in a joint family. His grandparents had three sons. The eldest of the son had two children Gopal and Sanjay. The middle one had a son and a daughter Jeevan and Janhavi. And the youngest son had a son who was Jaivik. The family split into two. Their grandparents and Sanjay's family lived together while Jeevan's and Jaivik's family was the other part. The three loved each other immensely. They lived like siblings. Everything was going smoothly in their lives but two years ago, everything changed. Their parents met an accident and now the three of them were orphans. This incident broke Jeevan completely. Janhavi was an independent girl. She had to take up the place of a mother. They all started teaching tuitions. Now whenever Jeevan or Jaivik thought about their mother it was Janhavi who popped in their mind. She was crestfallen too but she had to prioritize her duties before her weaknesses. If she would have not been able to accept the truth, the family would have torn apart. Jaivik was always looked up by his brother. So he had to also accept this truth and move forward in his life. But Jeevan was not able to accept the truth even after two years. He always waited for his parents though he knew they would never return. Soon the three teenagers were at home.
"How did you get hurt?" was the question of the head of the family.
"Sis, you see, I was not paying attention while walking so I smashed in a wall and got hurt."
"Oh my! How experienced lier you are but you can never trick your family." said Jaivik.
"Ah! Alright, you got me. One can never trick you bro and sis. You see I just got into a quarrel with boys and you see it turned into a fight which was just one sided. You are getting my point."
"You never quarrel. Your class has not even listened a word from you in past few weeks." said Janhavi
"Okay, some boys started beating me for no reason. That's all."
"How can you say this?" was the question from Jaivik
"Hey, don't you remember, we have to leave for teaching tuition." reminded Janhavi.
After two hours of teaching they were finally walking back home when Jaivik suddenly stopped at a bookstore.
Jaivik said, "I want to buy a Chemistry book."
He started purchasing and that was when Jeevan led his eyes on a beautiful book which was well sealed. He read the tittle 'A Gift From spirits'.
"I want to buy it." He requested.
"Jeevan, there is barely any time left for our studies after teaching tuition classes. Then, when will you read this?"
"Oh! Please."
"Go ahead buy it." She said.
Jahnavi and Jaivik always did the smallest possible thing they could do to make their brother happy as he was usually disheartened and ill. The two of them always tried their best to make him joyful.
At home, Jeevan was curious to know what was in the book. He curiously unwrapped it. To his surprise on the first page his name was written. He eagerly flipped the pages there was nothing written, it was totally empty! He thought it was just a diary. He kept it in a corner and didn't touch it for months.
Jahnavi said,"Jeevan your diary is lying in a corner. You have not even glanced at it from months. Atleast use it."
"How can I use it?" asked Jeevan
"Ah, of course by writing on it."
"It's a waste of both time and ink. Why should I waste my precious ink by writing on it?"
"Jeevan! What should I do about this boy!" she whispered to herself.
It was night. Janhavi had finished her work and was about to sleep. Jeevan and Jaivik were already in bed. They were about to sleep when they saw something incredible! That was the night which changed everything in the life of the teenagers. A portel started opening. First they thought it was a dream. A little did they know what future had stored in for them! Soon the portel grew larger and larger. What shocked them the most was, many vampires came out of it. To their surprise, the whole world started changing into a monster land or something like that. They looked around, the land was now barren, the moon was red, the sky was dark and they were surrounded by dry trees and thorny bushes. All the vampires started running after them. The three of them were in a surprise. Janhavi held both her brothers' hands and started running. They were all confused. What should they do? From where these vampires came from? What was going to happen? The only thing they knew was, they had to run. Run until the very end. Soon, the vampires were near them. They had no choice but to split up. The three of them were running in different directions. They ran and ran. Running was their only option. Is this the end? Jeevan thought and all of sudden he was back in his bed with Jaivik and Janhavi. Their faces were pale. They all were shivering with fear. Jaivik glanced at the watch and to his surprise the time was the same when those vampires had arrived. Jeevan's eyes were full of tears.
"What is going on?" Janhavi wondered in fear. Suddenly she observed a strange light. She started to search the source. That was when Jeevan looked at his diary which was shining. Instantly it's pages started to flatter and then they stopped. He picked it up. He was shocked to see that something was written on the diary which was earlier empty.
He started loud reading the content "Oh kids! I know you are puzzled. You need to know that you are destined to save the world from evil creatures. Today, you faced the vampires, its just the beginning. The only way to stop them is to close the permanent door of that world. Oh my dear Jeevan! You are the one and only living creature who can operate the mysterious hidden doors which connect all the worlds. The settings of these doors have now started to collapse on their own. If you will not operate them, all the worlds would start collapsing. Hurry up my dears. Cheer up, everything is going to be alright."
Jaivik commanded "Go ahead. Read the rest."
Jeevan answered "This is the end."
Janhavi ordered her brothers to sleep. It was a very difficult night, finally after a lot of efforts they all slept.