CHAPTER EIGHT
Luscious Young Man
In that wicked and lonely world, Chloe suddenly saw a gang of Santa’s followed by other men wearing masks-but all of them dressed in red, white and black, the famously known colors of Santa-chasing what looked to be a young innocent boy. She didn’t know the time of the day. She had spent all days awake ever since she found herself abducted from her home, and now she was in a different new world full of people that seemed to look like Santa Claus. It was high time to start thinking much about what was going on. Seeing the little man being chased towards where she was, she felt fear creep up on her as she was sure no one had yet seen her. She feared her own safety. She had not met anyone yet in this town and she was totally convinced that no one lived here. Even the fire she had seen in fire place; she didn’t know who had made it, though it looked like it had been burning for centuries.
She looked there again. The roaring gang of Santa’s was still chasing the gasping young man whose chest was bare; he was wearing damaged faded jeans. At that time, she didn’t know what would happen next. Her fear mixed with anxiety confusion. My mother said I should never stop believing, and that I should keep trying, Chloe thought as she felt more stuck. But thoughts perhaps were wastage of time at that moment as the cluster of Santa’s was soon approaching the small town. Although they were still a far distance, it was impossible for her to hide or vanish into the town before they arrived, but another part of her had already decided to wait and see why the young boy was running away from the crowd of Santa’s. Now she could also see muscular women wearing similar long robes like those of sorceresses. Her biggest task now was to cross the forbidden gate. Only then she would she be able to go back home, out witting the mystery Santa.
Suddenly, the wind started blowing and making some swishing noises, few moments later, a royal looking penguin emerged from the small house where she had taken shelter before. The Royal penguin shook its wings and then ran back inside the house. At first, she thought her mind had mistaken something else to be a penguin; but in reality the door of the small house was open, which she had left closed while moving out. May be the wind had blown it open. She even feared to go and look inside to check whether the penguin was really there.
She ran to the opposite side of the small street, and then decided to enter the small house where the penguin disappeared. Inside, she decided to listen to the silence before she could yell out to the penguin. As she waited for minutes, her face turned sad, giving her head a chance to think that maybe she was running crazy; no penguin had entered the small house! Oh! The royal penguin was there. Only that she had not seen it yet. The poor penguin was hiding from her in one of the dark corners. It was only scared of her, that’s why it had hidden perhaps thinking that she was dangerous and was there to harm it. She turned to it, with a sad glance and gesture as if she wanted to say something. The royal penguin stayed at a distance, the floor was damn cold, and the walls only filled with ancient objects and a statue of two men sacrificing a young man which she recognized.
She took steps from where she was and moved towards the penguin, both were scared of each other but to her surprise, the penguin didn’t run away. It remained still. “You must be the magical girl who’s lost in the kingdom of flying Santa’s.” the penguin said, without a preliminary. “I hope you find your way home, but I’m afraid, great men have failed to reach the forbidden gate before; so what about a young girl like you” She wondered how a mere penguin could speak, she wanted to ask the penguin to repeat himself but it was a silly idea, thinking; what if it doesn’t repeat?
This meant to her that all penguins in this world spoke, but this was an ordinary penguin similar to those she had watched on discovery channel. Her encounter with a talking penguin, made her to suspect that may be this penguin ate all the people in this town and she was next on the menu to be eaten alive.
