The Mystical Apple

Chapter 2 The Introduction

Om Shastri was a 16-year-old boy, born and brought up in Banaras, India. He used to work as a guide there and survived with his mother Hayley Shashtri and a monkey 'Babum'. His father Kartik Shashtri had passed away a few days back, he used to work in a zoo.This monkey kept fleeing from that zoo to stay with Om. When Babum first came in that zoo he was a few days old and Om always visited him along with his father. He used to play, eat and sometimes sleep with him. Now it'd been 6 years and they have become inseparable.Om was homeschooled, his father taught him in his free time, and in the evening his mom helped. He is a good student and a good son. one thing that was full to the brim in his nature was compassion and love for living-being, be it human, animal or trees. He probably got this from his mother.

Hayley is an American who came to visit this beautiful city for soul searching and Yoga and fell in love with Kartik, got married and settled there. Hayely is now a yoga trainer and English teacher in some institute.

When Kartik died Om took the job of a guide as he was well aware with Banaras city and its people, Banaras is a holy city and attracts millions of tourists (Indian and foreigners both) every year for its famous temples, the holy river Ganga and one of the richest universities of India.Om was very good and popular in his job due to his fluency in multiple languages. People especially girls often get smitten by his personality. Pretty blue eyes with dark brown hair on a nice tanned skin tone. He was the perfect blend of American – Indian beauty. He had profound knowledge of about almost everything, be it social, political, historical, literature or mythological, he had got this knowledge by visiting various places and people; his parent used to take him everywhere they went and answered as true as they can be with all his questions, sometimes it seemed too early for a kid to know certain things but they preferred not to lie about anything. It helped him to understand people, culture, nature, and emotions. And of course, books were the great source of all the knowledge he held.

Being a Banaras adolescent, this was pretty much expected to have an inclination towards Mythological stuff, After all, Banaras was the city of temples situated at the bank of holy river Ganga. There were thousands of priests and sages in this city. The air in the City was always filled with the mystic energy of humming of Chants, hymns, rituals, yajnas. People came here for salvation, to get rid of their sins and be pure, for soul searching and that kind of stuff. With so much of mystical and emotional energy, It was one of the best places for Magic and for some people black Magic!

A few days back Hayely convinced Om to move to America for his further studies and start a new life there. Somehow, she managed to get Babum along with them. Hayely took this decision for Om's safety.After the death of Kartik, an old woman kept visiting near their house, she always stared Om and sometime tried to talk to him. Somehow Hayely had this nasty feeling that this crooked woman is kind of evil. Om would have talked to her if he wasn't forbidden by his Mom to stay away from that old woman.One night when Hayley was coming back from the institute, that woman came forward and talked to her

"You know, he doesn't belong here. With the death of his father, his protection cloak is gone and now anyone can track him. Your house may be safe from magic but he does go out! And there are so many magic vultures roaming in this city. Let me have him before any evil takes him. "

"You dare not see him let alone have him. You don't want to see a fierce version of me"

"Oh, mamma! This was not a request! You know I can take him any minute I want, I was just being polite to you... you know like a mother to mother!" the old lady said with a shrewd smile.

Hayely came one step closer to that old woman, her eyes were red with rage, she said in the firm voice:" Do not threaten me about my son and stay away from my son otherwise I'm sure you are hell not prepared for the consequences, you will experience the deadliest nightmare your whole bloodline could have ever imagined!" The old woman was taken aback by her, she moved side and let Hayely go. As Hayley moved forward, she shouted from distant

" Think about it!"

Hayely knew that here she couldn't protect him alone and she couldn't rely on anyone with his son. After all that old woman was not completely wrong, there could be tons of people waiting for such opportunities. Thankfully they couldn't lay their hands yet due to "silver stone" water. Hayley and Kartik were aware of the magic around his son. So, to keep him magic proof they used "silver stone" in their water container and everyone used to drink that water only. As little as a sip of water was effective for a day. For now, that water was keeping him safe but soon somebody would find out a way.

Her mind was juggling into possible scenarios. She was scared.

well, she ought to be!

She couldn't sleep that night; her mind was paving the safest way to keep his son protected. Eventually, she decided to go back to America.

In the morning Hayley offered him a plate of his favorite breakfast "Aloo Paratha" and said:

"Om, I was thinking to move back to US. We have some family, relatives there. And after Kartik I'm finding very difficult to survive here."

"I understand Mom, I miss dad too, but leaving this city would make no difference. Probably we'll miss him more there. I'll help you to get through this. And what about Babum?"

"It's not only Kartik, but also my mom, your grandmother might need us too. after all, she has become old now. I think we should go and take care of her. I believe this is what your father would have wanted too. And don't worry about Babum, I'll manage to get him along with us "

Hayley used more reasons to weigh her proposal as she put one more "aloo paratha" on his plate.Om couldn't say no this time. And they packed their house to fly for US.Hayley was a little relieved in her mind that she might have found a way to protect his son. She had no idea how wrong was she!