NOT THE ONLY ONES

14. THE ORB

It's Geography class going on and teacher is talking about rocks and soil.

I concentrate on the lecture coz there's nothing else to do.

"Mally... " Roma calls me.

"What? I m not daydreaming! I m paying attention on the lecture "

"No , look " she says pointing outside the window to the factory.

I see greenish blue smoke coming out of the factory. Factories release black or brown smoke why the hell is it blue- green!?!

"I'll go and see"

"No Mally, don't. I m sure the other's can take care of it" Roma says.

"No, I m tired of being treated as a child. I will go "

****

Oh! Gosh, it's so hot in here. I wish I had a magic wand then I would have changed my clothes into shorts and t-shirt.

I see that everybody is walking towards the exit door. It isn't lunch break yet, why are they not working?

I ask a man if it's their lunch time going on. He tells me that it isn't. I further ask them that why weren't they working so he told me that something happened in one of the factory units; their cooling unit.

Right now I m walking towards the cooling unit. It took a herculean effort to convince them to let me in.

(Inside the cooling unit)-

Is this really a cooling unit? It's freaking hot in here. I walk around to see if I find something strange.

I pause when I see a glow of light. I walk towards it and I have to cover up my eyes coz the light I too bright.

I reach into my bag and pull out my glares. It'll give some relief, I hope.

With the glares on I see that the source of light is something like a soccer ball. I reach closer to get a better view and the heat increases.

The ball is red in colour and it has encryptions on it. It has beautiful patterns inside it. It's somewhat like the orb in Lara Croft: Cradle of life, but prettier.

I use a towel from my backpack and pick it up coz it lay in a puddle of water.

As soon as my fingers touch the orb, sparks fly everywhere and there's a flash of white blinding light even my glares couldn't stop it now.

I began shivering and I realise that there's beeping sound. The cooling machines come back to life. So maybe it was coz of this soccer ball thing.

I walk out of the cooling unit. I tell the workers that their machines are functioning now.

I feel it wouldn't be right to leave the orb here; unprotected, it may cause more trouble. So I decide to take it back to school with me.

I wrap the napkins on the orb and carefully place it inside my bag.

I reach back to the school. I hope Robert and the others didn't notice my absence. I would get into trouble if they know about my feat.

I see that everybody is wandering here and there so I assume it's recess already.

"Roma, I m back " I tap on her shoulder and say.

She squeals and says "you scared me, I m glad you're back. You ok? "

"Yup, I m unscathed. Roma, you didn't tell Robert I was out; did you? "

"No, I didn't. But I had decided that if you wouldn't have been back by one I would have definitely told him " Roma says.