Playtime

As the dawn of days begun, the sun rose from the horizon, shining onto the ground and the towering walls of Rosia. Alex stared at the giant, 15-meter tall wall while laying on a grassy hill. He brought the yellow book that his dad gave him last night out with him. But he isn't reading it, he's just staring at the wall while daydreaming. He daydreamed about him being the world's greatest magician, mimicking the one in his favourite fairy tale. It was called 'The Wizard's Forbidden Wisdom'. The story was about a hero named 'The Chosen One' trying to stop a villain from destroying the world with a type of magic called 'Mental Magic'. He dreamed of himself as the villain in the story, causing chaos in his mind. Rather than reading the book that his father told him so.

Suddenly, someone threw a pebble at him. The force of the pebble wasn't enough to hurt him, but just enough to get his attention. He zoned back in, sat back up and looked around to see who threw the pebble at him.

"Oi, Alex over here!"

The voice came from behind him as he looked back to see who it was. It was one of his friend, Liam. Liam sat beside him to talk to him.

"What's up? I see that you're daydreaming."

"What- I'm not."

"Then why are you staring at the wall while smiling like an idiot?" Liam asked smugly.

"I just..." Alex said as he is thinking of an excuse. "Thought of something funny."

"Really? What is it?" Liam asked curiously.

"Let's not talk about that," Alex said as he's trying to change topics. "Anyway wheres Oliver?"

"Well, speaking of the devil," Liam said while pointing towards the left of Alex.

Alex looked towards his left. A demon stared back at him, the 'demon' had a wild grin and gigantic horns that are the same size as Alex's head. Alex jolted away from the demon and screamed. Liam and the 'demon' began laughing hysterically at Alex. Alex calmed down and realized who is really the 'demon' in front of him.

"Oliver! Don't jumpscare me like that!" Alex whined while sitting back up from the ground. "It isn't even funny!"

"Heh. Sorry." Oliver said in a cheerful tone. "Couldn't help it."

"Where did you get that mask anyway, that thing is frightening!" Alex asked while Liam was still laughing hysterically.

"HAHA-He-He-Made-It-Haha!"

"He's trying to say that I made it," Oliver responded to Alex as Liam's explanation was unclear. "Couldn't help it when he's laughing like a goddamn goblin."

"You made this?" Alex gasped. "It's well made!"

"Yeah, I made this just to scare you."

"Why?" Alex asked with a disappointed expression. "Why would you waste your time just to do that?"

"Your reaction is priceless," Liam said while picking up Alex's book off the ground. "What is this?"

"Oh, just a book that my dad told me to read, it about curses," Alex said while laying back down on the ground, staring at the sky. "Don't have the mood to read it right now, I got bored when I read the first page."

"Curses? I heard of them, but I don't really understand them" Oliver said.

"Mind if we read it?" Liam asked curiously.

"Go ahead."

"Why don't you read it with us?" Liam asked.

"Why should I? I got really bored after reading 1 page."

"Maybe that's because you're reading alone," Oliver said while sitting down beside Alex and put his mask on the ground. "If you read it with your friends maybe it will be more fun!"

"Fineee-," Alex whines while sitting back up. "I have to read it later anyway, so why not."

Liam put the book in the position so everyone could read it, the book was titled 'Curses for Dummies'.

"Wanna take turns to read it?" Alex said. "It'd be more fun right?"

"Yeah sure," Liam agreed as he pointed to the first paragraph. "Oliver, you should start on this paragraph first."

"Mhm," Oliver agreed as he started reading the text of the book out loud. "A curse is described as a supernatural power that inflicts harm or punishment on someone. Everyone in this world will get their first curse at the age of 7."

"After getting their first curse, their curse's effects will continue to alternate every 7 years until they die or they reach the age of 91," Liam said as he continued the paragraph. "The reason why humans were born with curses is still unknown, but different races and countries have different religious beliefs as to where they came from."

"Curses only affect humans," Alex said as he's getting more interested and interested in the topics of curses. "The effects can range from minor changes to daily life to life-threatening disabilities, such as minor discomforts, sleep deprivation, death and much more."

As they're reading more and more about curses, Liam and Oliver got a little bit uncomfortable reading this. As it's almost their seventh birthday and they are about to get their first curse. They are scared to read about what will possibly happen to them. However, Alex didn't feel uncomfortable while reading this, he only got more and more interested.

"I think I'm done reading it," Liam said in an uncomfortable tone. "I have so many questions about the concept of curses, but my 6 years old brain just couldn't handle it."

"Same here," Oliver said as he agreed with Liam.

"What's wrong? There's still like a few more pages in this." Alex said as he flipped the book until the last page, "In total... This book has 273 pages."

"What-" Liam gasped. "Who wrote this many pages for this book? And who would even be comfortable with reading this entire thing?"

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked as he's confused. "It is very interesting! Why do you guys feel uncomfortable about this?"

"Oh, now you're interested?" Liam asked. "Who's the dumbo that's just whining about not wanting to read this book a few minutes ago?"

"It's like reading about your future or going to school," Oliver explained. "You know it's coming but you don't want them to."

"I don't understand what you're talking about, in my opinion, curses are cool."

"Hah?!" Liam and Oliver gasped as they couldn't believe the words that are coming out of Alex's mouth.

"Okay, okay, hear me out. Curses are cool because it affects your lifestyle, and when you do something surprising despite the curse stopping you," Alex said with a confident tone. "It will be even cooler because it makes you so badass."

Alex is just blathering bullshit at this point. Not even the writer knows what he's talking about.

"I don't get it," Oliver said as he cast a confused expression at Alex. "Is your brain even working."

"Maybe you guys are too low IQ to understand my wisdom." Alex mocked. "You'll understand this Sunday, once I get my curse!"

"I'm not sure who's the one with low IQ here," Liam said with a sarcastic tone. "I don't think I have seen anyone excited to get their curse."

"I think I'm going back," Oliver said while standing back up. "I forgot I need to help my parents with something."

"Okay sure, see you later."

As Oliver is about to go back, he remembered something he forgot to tell Alex.

"Oh right, I almost forgot!" Oliver said. "Alex, do you want to come to my house to have a dinner party tomorrow? Liam's coming."

"Hmmm, maybe," Alex said. "My dad usually has overtime on Saturday, I'm just going to tell him to not buy dinner for me. But what gives?"

"Oh, his dad got promoted and decided that they want to celebrate," Liam said. "His dad got promoted into the royals guards I think."

"Oh, I see."

"Well," Oliver said. "See you on Saturday."

"See you."