THE LUCKY CHARM

I cringed at the sight and offered a silent prayer to my departed friend. Before I answered granny. "No way!"

  The old woman chuckled. Her silver hair falling from her bun.

  "Why so?". I shrugged.

"It's strange and weird. At least for me.. that is... like I mean... is kind of interesting. But what happens when you finish the game? Game over! that is it".

   She nodded as if she was digesting my words.

  "Indeed it will". 

  She said in wonder. 

  "But ..at least, it will be worth it once you have played. Who knows, things must get interesting".      

      I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

  " What do you mean by interesting granny?". 

" Okay...aren't you at least a bit curious about what is in?". 

   Okay it's not me or is this old woman here the old version of Jos?

Anyone?

"Sure... But right now the only thing I'm curious about is how much that game will cost me my lunch".  I glanced at my watch. 

     It was already 1 in the afternoon.

  Once again I looked at the old woman and offered her a smile. 

  "As much as I love chatting with you...I believe that I should be heading home so I can attend to my sister"

   She chuckled again. 

   "Well as a token of my gratitude please take this".

   She handed me some sort of a charm. 

"Take it child, it is a token of my appreciation. It is a good luck charm".

   She said, 

"Excuse my words granny but I think you need luck more than me... I can't take it". 

I said politely. 

  "Take it.."

"No!"

"Come on child I know you want to". Her eyes sparkled as she continued to force the sketched charm towards me.

"Um.. no I don't want to".

" Take it!". 

  She said through gritted teeth. 

  Ok fine that is it ...I really want to leave this place now... I quickly took it. She smiled victoriously.

 "Good, now just imagine that it has some sort of magic that can make your wish come true.. and don't give it away ...I will know if you do".  She winked before walking off. 

   Weird!.. anything I had come across so far today was weird.. so so weird ..a weird game and now a weird old woman. 

   In haste I kept the charm hidden in my back and hurried to leave before I encountered any more of those weird things in this place. I swear people are just insane whether they are young or old. They were all weird today. 

  But on my way home I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched.

***

   " Honey, I'm home!". I screamed and burst through the door. Is a kind of habit that I usually do when my parents aren't around.

" PJ!". A little voice squealed and ran to me. I chuckled, bent over and messed up my sister's hair while she giggled.

  " Hey...short girl...what have you been up to in my absence ?". Jen, my baby sister, pouted and crossed her arms around her flat chest . She was a little girl with a cute face, rich dark curly hair and cerulean blue eyes, which I am sure is yet to change when she grows old. On the other hand, I have dark black afro hair with some curly at the end. I got that from my Dad and Mom and my silver-brown eyes . We don't exactly look alike.

  Among both of us, she was more sissy than me, though I got the curves of a perfect shape, she was that sissy girl who always dresses up like a real girl. Just looking at her skirt and pretty blouses versus my bigger t-shirt and oversized jacket with my oversized pants made me look more boy than the girl I was. I feel awful when I dress in a fitted dress which exposed my curves and body shape ...I feel like is not advisable for a girl with a shape like mine to dress like that. 

" Okay stop calling me short!". She glared at me.

  " Hey look here... when I grow up I will be taller than you". I chuckled.

" Sure you will, but for the meantime you are short just accept the fact ". I walked past her and hopped down on the couch.

A moment later, Jen came and sat beside me on the couch .

  " What are you about to watch?". She looked up at me with her pretty looking blue eyes. 

" I don't really know...but I think I will be watching a fantasy movie . Care to join me?". I gave her a teasing grin... knowing very much well on how she hates scary movies and claiming to be having nightmares about it. Sure enough, she glared at me and threatened me with her eyes. 

  "Mum and dad are actually going to know if you do". 

  I couldn't help but laugh at how predictable she could be. Of course, what do you expect from a seven year old kid? "Fine but can we at least watch some fiction movies that aren't scary?". 

  I said, Jen pouted a little before she nodded.

  "Okay but please can I pick a movie after we watch yours?. Please". She begged and preferably made her eyes grow bigger. Her version of the poppy dog eyes was very hard to resist and no one... I mean no one was able to resist it when she made her eyes look like that.. They look so cute!.

  I groaned. Not too sure that she actually used what I taught her not too long ago on me, just to threat me in order to watch the movie she want. 

" Fine",. I grumbled and she let out a whoop in return .

  " But only if you will promise me that you will stay quiet and won't ask me questions during the movie... deal?".

" Deal for real". She grinned.

***

True to my words. After we were done watching my movie, I handed her the remote control and she chose one of her favourite Disney animation movies . Starting from Frozen, to red shoes and the seven dwarfs then finally arriving at Encounto. Probably I should be bothered since she had watched three consecutive movies while I had watched only one. But I seemed to be fine with it for some strange reasons. It was actually nice that I was able to reminisce about my childhood cartoons. I kind of forgot how great Disney movies are.

  But Fanfiction movies are still the best! On my list. 

After letting her watch her Disney movies, we had a little break and ate our dinner- which we just ordered since I was too lazy to cook for us. When we were done, we resumed watching. This time, I picked a sci-fi movie.

  " Are Vampires, werewolves and Angels real?". There she goes again, she asked as soon as I turned off the TV. It was already 10pm . Mother would freak out if she learned that Jen was up past her bedtime.

" Nope for vampires and werewolves...but Angels are true... don't you come across them when reading your Bible?".  I asked.

  " Of course I do...".

" So why did you still ask about Angels then?". 

  " While I don't know but I kind feel like asking...but you haven't answered me about the Vampires and the werewolves". 

  " I have...is nope to them...for they are not real anyway..I mean they are some kind of fictional work created by human ". 

  " But if they are a work of fiction, then the writers must have picked it up from somewhere, right? From what I learnt from you that all stories come from a certain origin. The writer must have either seen a real vampire, werewolf or Angel, probably must have read something about them ". 

   I stood there frozen by her words. Despite her year and how little she was, she is actually smart.

  I saw her rubbing her eyes and yawning.

   " Well, it doesn't matter if they're real or not, right? What matters now is that it's time for you to go to bed. It's past your bedtime ". 

  Jen allowed me to lead her to her room . I made sure she had brushed her teeth, bath and made her change her clothes before tucking her in for bed.

  " Now go to sleep , you little squirt ". 

" Stop calling me that ". She yawned again.

  " As I have said , I'll outgrow you one day, PJ. And then you will be the squirt ". She grinned sleepily.

  I rolled my eyes .

" Like that is gonna happen anytime soon". I snickered .

  " If you want to outgrow me, then you should sleep". 

   She nodded her head once before closing her eyes .

  " You know what PJ? I wish I'm in a different world, where I can find adventure about Angels and their superior powers and what they do. Our world is too polluted". 

  I looked at her sleeping form as I took in her words . She let out a yawn .

  "Good night, PJ". With that, Jen had finally drifted off to sleep.