LOKI - Aafiya Noora M S

                                                                       LOKI

Chapter - 1

Mystery of the Missing Glasses

Summer started only a week ago. Mia was really excited to come back home after the long term. She went to a boarding school about 60 miles away, because there weren’t many secondary schools in their tiny village.

She’d just woken up, the weather was lovely outside. She sat up with a smile and reached out her hand to the bedside table. She was unfortunately among those few unlucky people who had to wear glasses at all times. So when she couldn’t find them there, she panicked. She gave the table a ones over, but her glasses weren’t there. Her vision was lousy without them. Still sleepy but very worried, she searched the table and everywhere else she could think of.

Half an hour passed, and she was no closer to finding them. The day was off to a bad start. This was a difficult task, finding her glasses when she couldn’t even see. Barely a week home and she’d already lost her summer hat, her favorite pen and now, her glasses. Great, just great.

“Mom? Are you here? Mom? Mom? Where are you? Mom? MOM!” Yelled 12 year old Mia. She was anxious to get her glasses.

“What’s with all the screaming Mi? If you were calling me, I am upstairs, in the attic.” Her mom yelled back.

“Mom, did you see my glasses anywhere?” She was really worried.

“What? I can barely hear you Mia. Come up here!”

“Fine, give me a minute.” Usually she’d be upstairs in a jiffy but without her glasses, it was dangerous and  messy business. Dangerous because the steps to the attic were spiral with no railings and on top of that, she could barely see 3 feet in front of her, and messy, because their attic wasn’t the cleanest one around and the plants that line the stairs always tried to trip her. After being away for over 5 months, she had to get used to this.

Just as she predicted, the steps were challenging and she stumbled a lot.

”Mom, did you happen to see my glasses somewhere? I kept it on my bedside table, like always, but now its not there!” Finally upstairs, she sat down with a heave, rubbing her little toe that she had stubbed on her way there.

“You lost your glasses? Again? I thought you stopped loosing that ages ago! How many times have I told you to take good care of your belongings? You can’t just forget where you keep things you use daily! And that room of yours! Always messy. You’ve been home for barely 5 days, and just look at that! How can you find anything there?” Her mom had spent the morning and all last night sorting out the things in the attic while trying to find their old fishing string and was in a grumpy mood.

“Mom, I kept it on the table, I told you. I searched the entire room as best I could. It’s not there. And I didn’t even come upstairs! .”

“Fine, we’ll find it. But you’ll clean that room once we find your glasses, Okay?”

“Fine fine. Now, my glasses.”

Mia wasn’t a very organized person. Quite the opposite actually. Her room was always messy and her mother hated it. But that couldn’t be helped. She’d tried being neat for a while, but she simply couldn’t keep up. She found it much easier to find things when they were disordered.
Her mom called her dad, and together with his help, they set about trying to find Mia’s lost glasses. By noon, they still hadn’t found any trace of it. Finally they stopped their search.

They sat down for lunch. Mia was frustrated.

“Dad! Somebody must have stolen it! I know I kept it there last night. It can’t walk away by itself! ”

“Mi! You can’t just assume someone stole it. You probably just misplaced it somewhere. Let us check if we covered everywhere, huh?” Her dad was the opposite of her mom, cool and funny.

“Hmmph, alright.” She grumbled.

“Ok, so did we check the drawers? “

“Yes”

“Kitchen?”

“Yes”

“Bathroom? Dining room?

“Yes, Yes.”
”What about the living room? The laundry basket?”

“Yeah, we checked all that.”

“Where else? Outside? In your tree house? Inside the fridge?”

“Daaad..Inside the fridge? Seriously? I’m not thaat crazy.”

“Oh no, you’re beyond crazy, I know you.”

Just to be sure, Mia even checked in there, but no such luck.

Finally…

“I am sorry kiddo, it has to be around here somewhere. You’ll have to make do without it for a while, until we find it.” her Dad looked apologetic.

She sighed, nearly wanting to cry. “This is tragic! There goes the rest of my vacation. What will I do without my glasses? I can’t hike, read, climb, Or fish, not even play properly! And when Anne, Jack and Susan come over next week, I probably won’t be able to go to the movies with them and we’ll probably have to cancel that camping trip, or they’ll have to go without me!” She was hysterical.

“Mia darling, its alright, we have time. It’ll be here somewhere, we’ll find it, ok? Come on! Lets go have some of your favourite strawberry tart, that I made, just for you.” Her mother soothed.

“Come on girl! Cheer up! Its just your glasses. At least you didn’t loose some of the things I did… the Car keys, my wallet, the Remote… I’ve lost lots of things kiddo. I’m surprised, your mom still let me stay here.”

That made her feel a lot better. At least, she wasn’t the only one always loosing things. Whether it be her glasses or her dignity.

That day, was one of the worst days of her life. Loosing one’s glasses seems like  a trivial thing to most people, but only those with horrible eye sight who once lost their glasses will understand how truly horrible it is, how helpless and vulnerable you feel without them. Seeing her so miserable, her dad took her outside, and helped her climb the tree house. Mia and her dad made it together years ago. The sturdy little thing was still there after all these years. It brought back lots of memories and this is where she always came when she needed some time alone. He spent the morning with his daughter, and then left to the village to get the groceries.

 Mia just sat there, listening to some music from her radio. Her grandfather’s last gift to her, before he died. It was one of her most valued possessions. She was feeling much better and had lost most of her sour mood. She closed her eyes, leaning against the thick banyan tree in which the tree house was made, peeling an orange and slowly sucking the juice before eating it.

She reckoned this was not too bad a way to spent one’s vacation.

 

 

Chapter - 2

The Thief

 

“Mia, did you take my mirror?” That was her mom, waking her up in the rudest way possible. The previous day, she had accidentally fell asleep in the tree house and was woken up by her dad to get her back to bed. She was feeling a bit sore.

“How would I know?” She mumbled back sleepily.

“I checked everywhere..” Her mother worried her lips. The mirror was precious to her, not only because it was made of precious stones and was the most expensive thing she owned, but also because that was her wedding gift.

“What can I do now? Maybe you are right Mia, maybe there is a thief somewhere in the locality. I cannot loose it. I’ll let the local policemen know about this. Let’s see if someone else has had their stuff stolen too.  I am off now Mi, you are in charge, be good, ok?” Her mom left minutes later, leaving her alone in the house. Her dad had to get back to work.

She got up soon after, and after served herself some breakfast. She then played piano for a while. She was brilliant at it. Afterwards, she decided to climb back up the tree since she didn’t have anything much to do, that she could, in her current condition.

She soon resumed her previous pose in the tree house floor. Sitting there idly, she ate chocolate and listened to music from her beloved radio.

Suddenly, she heard a “SCREEEEECH..”

 Her few minutes of peace was disturbed by someone rudely grabbing her chocolate. That terrible screech was all she heard, the rustle of the leaves were the only thing that indicated where whatever grabbed her chocolate and made that weird sound might have come from.

She was suddenly scared. Her vision being half blurred didn’t help matters. Suddenly something came swinging at her, she screamed and ducked.
”Huuuohhhh” and then suddenly, her music seemed to come from further away. She swiftly looked up to see the blurry figure of something that resembled a monkey, holding her precious radio, the only thing that she had of her grandfather. The creature, was sitting on the branch, just out of her reach, seemingly inspecting it. “Oy! Get back down! Give it back to me! You..you thing…give it to me! NOW!” She was horrified, and furious.

It just seemed to laugh at her face. It jumped further upward.

“Come here! Return it to me! It’s wrong to steal! You can’t just snatch things off people! That’s so rude!”

It didn’t budge. She really needed the radio back. So she tried being nice. “Come on! Aren’t you a nice little monkey! Come here! Please give me that box. Please…, you are a good monkey aren’t you….Come on…Ugh..!” The monkey seemed to be enjoying the show. She tried throwing things to it - or more like, at it, like the hat seller from a story she had read in her childhood. She tried offering it bits from her lunch, she tried speaking to it, she tried everything. And finally, she lost her patience.

“That’s it! You will come down right now, and give my radio back to me. You got it? No more nonsense from your part.I’ve had enough of it!” And then something very unexpected happened. The monkey seemed to have lost its cheerfulness and suddenly looked sad and guilty. It’s ears drooped, along with his tail. It jumped to where Mia was, dropped the radio low into the ground and got back to its previous position, It let out a pathetic ‘ook’ and then covered its face with its tiny paws.

The monkey looked very sorry and miserable. Mia was understandably more than a bit shocked and surprised. She was just yelling at it out of frustration. She never expected it to hear, let alone understand what she was saying.

“Oh! Thank you! Listen, I’m really sorry for being so rude..I was just in a bad mood. Yesterday morning I lost my glasses and today my mom lost her mirror, now you nearly took my radio and..” She trailed off feeling like an idiot, talking to a monkey. But it seemed to perk up a bit. She felt bad for making it so sad. “Come here, I won’t hurt you, have some chocolate, I have more, or some orange from yesterday’s picnic.” Although she was a bit scared and it felt a bit like she was in a trance, she peeled an orange and then offered it to it. The monkey seemed to be on guard, but slowly, it inched towards her hand. When it was close enough to take the offered food, it quickly snatched it off her hand and ran back. Mia grinned. A monkey for company. Wonderful. Its not everyday you can feed a monkey and have it listen to you, especially after you yelled your head at it minutes before.. She sat there all evening, until it got too dark to see and her mom called from inside. She had returned early noon, having registered a complaint to the nearest police station. The monkey sat there with her, taking titbits from Mia every now and then. That night, Mia fell asleep very fast.

 

 

Chapter 3

New Friend

 

Next Morning, when she woke up, she reached her hand out to the bedside table, once again, out of instinct. When, she couldn’t feel her glasses, she was reminded of the previous day’s happenings. While she ate breakfast, she suddenly thought of the little monkey who took her radio the previous day. She hoped, it was still there. How cool would it be to have a pet monkey?

And indeed, when she climbed up the tree house that day, she found the little thing asleep on a small branch next to the platform. It woke up when she got near. It looked scared for a bit, but when she didn’t do anything, it slowly relaxed.

The monkey came closer to her. It didn’t run too far after taking a snack. By the end of the day, it practically sat on her lap. She really wanted to pet it, but was too scared to try. She wished she had her glasses, this monkey was definitely a cutie, but she wanted to see it more clearly.

She considered giving the monkey a name. For the time being, she had decided to call it mischief, and when she felt particularly creative, she thought she’d give him…or her a better name. But Mischief didn’t seem to mind that name too much.

The next couple of days were spent entirely on the tree house. She started speaking to it, telling it about her school, teachers, friends, the dormitory, her parents..and just about about everything else. It actually chattered back a lot, and listened when she spoke, nodding and ‘oo’ing at the appropriate places.

Monkeys, she decided, were very good listeners.

Finally, it was on the fourth day that she gathered enough courage to pet him. She didn’t mean to, really. Mischief was being too cute for his own good. He sat on her lap and bunt towards her hand. She couldn’t resist. It sat there, with closed eyes, enjoying the touch, reminding her of a cat. As she dragged her hand down its back, she felt something around it’s neck. That’s when she noticed the tiny black collar on the monkey. There was something written on it, probably it’s real name, but it was not clear enough for her to read without her glasses. And yes, it was still missing, but she was adapting quite well.

So mischief was someone’s pet! No wonder it’s so tame and understood everything! The poor kid probably lost his or her pet the same way she’d lost her glasses.

Speaking of glasses, her dad had taken her eye prescription to a specs store the day after she lost it. She would hopefully have another pair by tomorrow.

That night, she was lost in thought. Her new found friend was someone’s pet. She couldn’t keep it. That made her more than a little sad. She didn’t know she could get this close to something so quickly. She couldn’t catch sleep for a very long time.

 

Chapter 4

Circus Escapee

 

Next day, her glasses finally arrived. A wave of relief fell over her. She took her time walking around the house once again with her new glasses on. Last few days had blurred past.

 

They sat down for breakfast. Just as they were starting to eat, the doorbell rang. Her father went to open the door. A few minutes later, he came back with an amused look on his face. “The lady wants to know if we saw a young brown monkey with a black collar anywhere. Turns out if escaped from the circus for the umpteenth time and someone spotted it about a mile away from here.” Her mother too cracked a smile. “I’m sure we’d know if a monkey is nearby. From the circus you say?…..”

Mia however didn’t find this as humorous. The loud silence in her head, drowned out her parent’s voice.

That monkey had to be Mischief. He fit the description perfectly. He was brown, had a black collar and appeared out of nowhere after all.

She finished her breakfast as quickly as she could and then taking some left overs with her, madly made her way up the tree house. Mischief was, as usual, waiting for her there. He never came down. But she was glad he didn’t, or she’d have a lot of answering to do. Her parents weren’t aware of her new company. They were a bit concerned about the amount of time she spent on the tree house though.

Mischief stared at her for a while, as if judging her new look. She stared back, inspecting the monkey, now that she could see properly. He looked even cuter.

Suddenly, a mischievous grin spread across his little monkey face. She already knew he was up to no good.

“Misch..” before she could even complete her sentence, he had jumped up to her, snatched her new glasses and climbed up the tree. “Mischief!” She was shocked at his behavior. She had thought that now that he knew her, he’d stop snatching.

“Mischief! Bring it back! That’s my glasses! I lived without those for 4 long days! Give it to me.” Mischief looked back at her, but continued his way up.

Mia blamed herself, she was foolish to think he wouldn’t take it. With a groan, she sat down. She couldn’t very well ask her father for another pair. Her only hope was of Mischief returning them.

He did came back after a while. “Oo u.” he stood close to her, peering at her face, nearly making her scream. She had had her eyes closed, thinking of her new glasses.

She was greeted with the sight of Mischief with large twinkling eyes, holding up something in both his hands and tail. She sat up. He was wearing a small yellow hat. Her hat. Some shiny mirror, her mother’s precious mirror were held in his right hand. He took them, she realized. Her pen was held in his tail. Her old glasses! Her new one! Everything was with him! “Mischief!” She was too shocked to utter anything more than that. When she finally woke from her stupor, her eyes were wide.

“It was YOU! All this time these were with you! Honestly Mischief, I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots! I shouldn’t be this surprised! I don’t know if I should be angry that you stole them or happy you returned them. Oh thank you Mischief!” In her excitement, she forgot her anger at him, and hugged him tight.

“Oh! You are the best little monkey ever aren’t you!” She decided to ignore that he was the one who took them in the first place. Grinning wide, Mischief handed everything over to her.

She played with mischief for the next few hours. She watched him do tricks with his tail as she worked on making him a crown made of leaves and a nice flower garland to wear around his neck. As lunch time neared, she had to go back down. She hugged him in parting, and once again felt the collar. She was reminded of the sad truth. She was dying and at the same time dreading to know what was written on it. Her curiosity won, and she looked at it. 4, just four letters where written in caps lock. “L O K I. Loki! Loki? That’s your name?” She looked up at Mischief surprised. He just grinned back.

“Loki and mischief are practically synonyms! Guess I named you right.” “Loki…Oh lord this feels so weird. I can still call you mischief right?” Mischief cocked his head. She took that as a yes. Hugging him close to her, she murmured, sadly.

“You belong to a circus, don’t you? You are someone else’s. They are searching for you. And you must be missing them too I guess.”

“Ouh oov” Mischief responded, seemingly sad.

“You’ll be back home in a few days, ok? You’ll be able to go home soon if I tell mom and dad about you. But I want to have you for a little longer. You don’t mind that too much, do you?” Both of them shared an emotional moment.

“I gotta go…we’ll get you home, trust me.” She finally tore herself away from mischief and made her way back into the house, trying to think of the best way to break it to her parents that she had a monkey who broke out of a circus and stole her mother’s precious mirror and her glasses. She wondered how they’d react.

Taking a deep breath, she entered the house.

“Mom! Dad!”
”We’re in the backyard Mi”

She made her way there, the mirror, and her old glasses in hand.

“I found them.” She said.

“Them?” Her mom asked surprised, and turned to look at her.

Upon seeing them, her hands flew to her mouth, she tenderly took the mirror, and admired it. Slightly breathless she asked.

“Where did you find them? I reported their missing to the police. I must withdraw it at once.”

After the phone call, her parents, even her dad who usually never pressed her for details, wanted to know where she found them. Just as she was beginning to stumble through an explanation, a furry figure scrambled over and jumped on her shoulder. She recognized it instantly.

“Mischief!”she exclaimed.

“Care to fill us in?” Her father asked, after a shocked silence.

Soon, she spilled the beans. Mischief’s presence somehow made it easier for her. Although, both her parents were initially weary of him, he soon had their heart. That same night, her dad called the number they found, written on the back of Loki’s collar, upon further inspection, and informed the owner, who happened to be a young girl about her monkey. She seemed overjoyed.

Mia, was heartbroken. She dreaded the next morning.

 

Chapter 5

Goodbye Mischief

 

The sound of a truck was heard, early the next morning. A young girl, who looked a few years older than Mia, stepped out of it. She looked anxious. Mia’s mom, welcomed them in.

“Mia!!! The owner’s here to get the monkey!” Mia had woken up before the sun to spend some time with Mischief. They were both up, in the tree house. She climbed down halfheartedly, Mischief on her arms. As soon as they entered, the girl gave a cry and ran to them.

“Lokiiiii!!..” She nearly yelled. The monkey didn’t waste a second. It jumped out of Mia’s hands and fell right into the other girl’s. They hugged for a few minutes. “I thought I really lost you this time. Oh! Thank you for taking him in!” The girl had happy tears in her eyes. She turned to Mia and hugged her. She felt more than a little awkward getting hugged by a total stranger, but she didn’t pull away nonetheless.

Upon Mia’s insistence, the girl, who introduced herself as Clara, agreed to stay till the evening. So they spent the day getting to know each other and playing with Mischief.

Clara found it funny that Loki now had 2 names that were almost the same. She told Mia about the many times Loki lost his way or ran away from home. She described about her life in the circus and how they were always moving.

When the time came to wave them goodbye, Mia felt her eyes fill with tears. They hugged tight. Clara promised to come by sometime with Loki. Soon after, Mia watched as the little monkey who caused them so much trouble and at the same time made them fall in love with him was taken away, to his real home.        

Prologue

“Anne, pass the biscuits please.” Jack asked his sister.

“You come get it yourself.” She answered.

“Mi….Tell her…its sitting soo close to her.” Jack begged his cousin Mia.
”I want some too, would be tasty with these lemonades. But this is too comfortable.” Susan cut off Mia’s reply. All four of them, where lying under a shady spot in the lawn, just lazily resting their head against the bark of the huge banyan tree, talking, filling each other in on what happened during the term.

That was when they heard a distinct sound of a small truck. Soon it became obvious that it was coming their way. All four stood up with a groan, not at all wanting to cut their time outside short.

Before Mia could comprehend anything else, something came running, and jumped on her, she fell back.

Distinct scream could be heard in the background. She sat up, and opened her eyes, to find something hugging her. Her heart soared. It took her only a moment to recognize who it was.

“Mischief!” She whispered. She felt tears forming in her eyes as she hugged her old friend.
Her three cousins gathered around her, shocked. A girl, whom none of them have ever met before, walked out of the truck, towards them. She too looked at Mia and Mischief with a smile.

“Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that a monkey she’s hugging?” Jack rubbed his eyes, which now resembled soccer balls.

“So it was true after all? Circus monkey.. stolen mirror..?..” Anne had to pinch herself to make sure this was real.

“Don’t worry, I thought she was bluffing too.” Susan’s jaw had dropped, speechless.

“Close it before a fly gets in.” Mia teased her, as she finally broke from the embrace, and stood up, with Mischief in her arms. She then turned to face the new girl. “Thank you for bringing him here. I am so happy to see you both.” The girl, whose identity was still a mystery to the others, smiled at Mia. “Same here. Mischief really wanted to come see you. I am sure you saw how excited he is too see you again. He has been bugging me about it for a while..”

Mia smiled and hugged Mischief closer to her.
“Clara, these are my cousins Jack, Susan, and Anne.” She introduced them to her.

”Guys, meet Mischief and his care taker Clara. They are the people I told you about, last summer.”  

Everyone liked Mischief and Clara. Mia’s parents too, were happy to see them both again. Mischief hadn’t changed one bit. He did grow a bit bigger, but that was hardly noticeable.

After a fun day spent together, it was finally time for them to bid goodbyes once again.

As she entered the truck, Clara suddenly remembered something. She reached into her pockets and gave something to Mia.

“Tickets for this season’s show. You missed it last time. It’s in the village, in two days time. All of you must come, okay? I look forward to seeing you there. Bye...”

They waved goodbye. As they watched him drive away, Mia turned to her cousins. “You believe me now?”

All three nodded. They hadn’t believed her the last time around.

Mia smiled, as she looked at the tickets in her hand. They could all go now, she just had to ask her parents first. But she was sure they’d agree. For Mischief was the one and only.

Aafiya Noora M S

IX-B