Pandora's Box: June's destiny

It all started on a cold, misty night with the endless chirping of crickets in the field, everything was as ordinary as the day before, except the crows, something appeared to have provoked them even more than usual.

I, June, am a 14 year old girl who lives with her two aunties up on a big farm and this is my story of Pandora's box. It was about 5:00 in the morning when the agonizing shrieks of the nearby crows woke me up. After living most of my life on the old rusty farm , I had become used to the unpleasant sounds but that morning, the crows were a choir of dying cats. I had found it hard to fall back to sleep and I still can't understand how my aunties were able to sleep through all of it.

With nothing to do, I decided to quietly go down stairs and watch some television.

Tap tap…

I instinctively turned around but to my dismay, there was nothing. With a shrug I went back to watching the TV.

Tap tap…

This time my curiosity got the best of me, I got up and bravely crept to the window. It was a pitch dark night, the only light source was the silver glow of the waning moon which was accompanied by the many scattered embers of a dying fire. I squinted my eyes, hoping to see something but again nothing, I had started to think I was going mad in the head when suddenly there was a swish of movement then came a tall, thin shadow of what seemed to be a man, like a stick figure, running into the backyard.

Without a second thought, I ran through the living room and out of the door to the backyard. Looking around frantically, sadly I was only confronted by the darkness of the night, sighing, I decided to go back to the house, but just before I was about to leave a strange voice called out to me softly. Turning around, I saw a thin long finger coming from the shadows, beckoning me to come closer.

For some reason, I had a strong urge to come closer, I felt like there was something familiar about the peculiar hands but oddly enough, I couldn't seem to remember anything.

Following my guts, like what my dad would say to me when I was little, I ever so slowly walked towards the creepy straw hand. I stood inches away from it, the hand gently extended toward me and reached under my chin. I looked down and saw that the hand was touching my necklace, the pendant shone luminously under the silver moonlight. I had worn it since I was a baby and could never think of a time when I took it off, the necklace was a treasure that reminded me of my deceased parents whom I had barely met but what has this to do with him.

Swish…

All of a sudden, the hand hastily grabbed the necklace and tried to pull it off. In a panic, I burst out with a scream, the creature seemed frightened from the scream and quickly retreated back to the shadows, reluctantly letting go of the pendant. I instantly turned around and ran for the house, my aunties had been waiting for me in the living room.

"Why were you screaming so early in the morning" scowled aunt Natalia

"Oh , it was nothing!" replied June quietly, "I'm going back to bed now."

Before her aunties could say any more, she had already ran up the stairs back to her bedroom. The next day, something felt strange, like there was some eeriness in the air.

Since both my aunties were in town for a couple of days I had many chores to do, like cleaning, milking and many others. While cleaning out the cow waste in the fields, I heard what seemed to be a crow fight because all I could hear was the flapping of wings and the cawing of beaks. So, as would any curious person do, I went and checked it out but to my surprise, what I saw was something that I never thought I would see!

A tall woman and a talking scarecrow! I thought I must have gone mad in the head for a moment. They were arguing loudly and about a dozen crows landed around them, some in the trees, some on the floor and some even trying to keep afloat in mid air, it was like they were following their leader.

The scarecrow first took notice of me and then the woman, then they gave each other a determined glare. As any normal person would be, I was terrified and about to run, but then the scarecrow shouted my name and I stopped in my tracks. "Hey, please don't run, I'm not trying to hurt you, she is." said the scarecrow.

"Excuse me, June is it? Please pay no attention to him, you see he is just a stupid scarecrow. I mean just look at him, no one knows what he's thinking of, you can't trust him." said the woman

What she was saying was true, he didn't look the most trustworthy but who am I to judge I thought.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"If you come with me I can tell you why!" pleaded the scarecrow

"Don't! If you come with me I promise you, you will know everything," said the woman in a gentle kind voice.

I really wanted to know why but who to trust? "First what are your names?"I asked

"Call me Mr. Smiley," said the scarecrow.

"My name is Pandora,Queen of Ravenwood" said the woman.

While they were answering me I was observing their fascinating appearance. Pandora was a fair young woman dressed in an angelic snow white feathered silk dress, she had raven-dark up and ocean blue eyes. Tucked behind her back was a pair of silver wings, she was like an angel from heaven!

Mr smiley wore a shimmering purple and orange coat with a matching straw hat that sat on his bald head, his body was made of straw too, his eyes were piercing blood red with two stripes of yellow down the middle. Part of his face was white like a ghost and his lips were stitched up, making him seem like he was always smiling

But what really made my heart skip a beat was his hands, they were thin and made of straw just like the ones who tried to take my necklace, it was him, it was Mr Smiley who tried stealing my special necklace. "How could I trust a thief!" I thought, and with that I decided who I was going to side with.

Pandora let me ride on her back while she flew high above, "Where are we going your majesty" I asked.

"To my castle! Where I will tell you everything." answered Pandora

After maybe 2 hours of flying in the cloudy sky, we finally got there, it was on a humongous floating island, murders of crows flew past us and once we landed, dozens of servants came to greet us, some were whispering about me and others were just staring at me.

Pandora was busy with something else and had assigned me a maid who led me to a lavishly decorated bedroom.

For the next couple of days, the queen and I became close friends, we drank tea, and did many other interesting activities but I was kinda getting suspicious because Pandora kept on changing the subject whenever I want to ask her my original questions that she promised to answer and she always wanted to wear my necklace and see it.

One night the queen held a banquet, I was sent to her chambers so we could get ready together. Her giant wardrobe was lined with every clothing item you could imagine, from 5 metre long dresses to fancy hats and shoes. It was like walking straight into a flashy, colourful wonderland.

Everything was going great until we started putting on accessories and jewellery. Pandora suggested we swapped jewellery, I wear her jewellery and she wears my necklace. From previous experiences, my instincts were telling me that something was wrong so I rejected this idea!

Pandora did not take it well, she became extremely furious and start shouting in rage, no longer was she the calm angelic beauty I knew but a red faced woman screaming and throwing a fit.

I took a step back, paralysed in fear and stripped from the ability to think with a clear mind, every muscle cramped and tightened.

My eyes fixed on the growing figure in front of me, her bones cracking in place, how her lips turned into a beak, she was now a giant monstrous crow, not to mention an angry one too!

Finally my mind came to reality and I gained some senses, my legs knew exactly what to do straight away. The word 'run' kept repeating through my mind.

All I could hear was a loud beastly caw, followed by a "Give me that pendant now or I will kill you!" I knocked over furniture so as to hopefully slow Pandora down but it was too late, I was cornered and left to accept death.

Knowing this could be your final breath was scary and no fourteen year old would like to be in that position. My ears had now block off the growing shouts of Pandora and my eyes closed tightly, I braced for impact. The cawing of the giant beast became louder as it came closer. I waited… but just as I thought Pandora was going to pounce at me, something flew across the room. I opened my eyes to see Mr Smiley! He was now fighting this beast of a bird. In his hand, he held a huge pitchfork which he wielded with ease as he jabbed at Pandora. "Take that pendant and go to the kitchen, I have prepared a portal for you that will take you directly to Mount Valtro, where you must climb up and open a box with your pendant. Now Go!" shouted Mr Smiley. I knew what I had to do now but I still didn't know who to trust since Mr Smiley was the one who tried to take my necklace in the first place but I had to do something or more people would get hurt.

I started running. When I look back, I see Pandora's beak ripping off one of Mr Smiley's arms, I gave a shriek and ran faster since my life depended on it which it literally did. Past the chaos of servants and guests who were all trying to get out at the same time, they must have known it was dangerous to stay around when their queen was in her true form. luckily I wasn't aiming for the front door, dodging all the people I ran rapidly to the kitchen where I saw a glowing cabinet. I opened it to find a purple hole, I crawled through.

Now I was at the foot of Mount Valtro,I started to climb up, each step I took was petrifying because of my fear of heights, it was a race against time now. By the grace of God, I somehow made it to the top. I suddenly heard caws from behind me, it was Pandora, she had escaped Mr Smiley and was now charging at me. I started to climb the stairs of the temple, finally I reached the top. Pandora was right on my tail, "Don't you dare open that box!" Shouted Pandora.

This reminded me of the races I would have with my friends at school, but this time I couldn't lose. I sprinted straight, my legs were exhausted from climbing the mountain, my body was soaked with my own sweat from head to toe but my mind was filled with determination. The box sat on a huge celestial monument, I placed the necklace into the hole,it was a perfect fit.I fell to the ground and waited for fate to do its part.

"Noooooo!" Shouted Pandora

Suddenly the floor started to tremble and the box clicked open, Pandora's figure slowly withered away into a screaming cloud of darkness, the cloud got sucked into the box, and in return it shot out a cloud of light which got absorbed by my body.

Everything came back to me,dozens of lost memories started playing in my head like a movie at the cinema, an image of Mr Smiley appeared in my mind and a tear rolled down my cheek, I instantly snapped back to reality.

I got up, aching in pain, I started walking slowly past the destroyed ruins and down the stairs, back to the portal.

As I crawled back to the kitchen, I saw Mr. Smiley lying on the floor, on the brink of death, I dropped to my knees beside him and started sobbing.

"Hey don't cry June, do you remember me now ?",croaked Mr Smiley,"You made me with your dad when you were little, you even gave me the name Mr Smiley when you first saw my face. We were best friends!"

"But why didn't you show yourself?!" I asked as tears flowed down my face

"I wanted you to have a normal life and it was far too dangerous so I had to watch from the shadows, your parents gave me the gift of life and in return I became your protector, I can finally leave this world knowing that I did my job, so don't cry!" Said Mr Smiley with a smile.

"Please don't leave me…",I asked

"I will always be with you June, one day you will understand why things happen for a reason! I am a scarecrow and as a scarecrow, it is my job to scare away the crows for my owner. I love you June…" said Mr Smiley

"I love you too Mr Smiley"