Mouse Warlord
[Note: Backdated. Raw format with editing when possible.]
Tessa was a gentle quiet girl who was well-liked by her classmates. She had a pet mouse, a strange like for a girl as most girls don’t own mice; that no one had ever seen. With her long glossy hair and shiny eyes, Tessa was the belle of her class. Her plaited hair and warm smile always won the hearts of the boys in the school. The girls envied her smooth flawless complexion.
Tessa was the only child. The mouse was given by her best friend; Missy, as a farewell gift. Missy was her close friend, neighbour and classmate who sat next to her. They often invited each other to their houses. It was on a bright and sunny day that Missy invited Tessa to her house. She was solemn. Tessa sensed her sadness.
“Tessa, we’re going to move house,” Missy broke the sad news, biting her lower lip to stop herself from crying. She didn’t want to cry because it would make moving away harder. Tessa stared at her, unable to comprehend the news at first.
“Move house?” was all she could utter. A nod confirmed her. “Why?”
“My dad’s work makes it difficult for us to stay in one place for long. We have moved house five times and I have to keep changing schools. You are my only friend and I am happy to have known you. I’ll miss you,” Missy’s eyes glistened with tears that threatened to overflow.
Tessa sniffed to keep back her tears. “I’ll miss you too.” They started to cry. It took them some time to stop. “Promise to write,” Tessa demanded. It was promised. Since they may not be able to meet each other again, they gave each other their prized possessions, Missy received a silver brooch while Tessa, a white mouse.
—
Although Missy was no longer sitting beside her, Tessa received her letters as promised, it was a weekly affair for her. She would finish her homework by then and read the letter. replies were usually long, as were Missy’s. Tessa liked to spend time in her room; reading, these days, it was writing letters to Missy. She would play with the pet mouse, Silver. It would hide in Tessa’s pocket to sleep. Tessa sensed that it was clever and tried to find ways to prove it. So far, none have succeeded.
Missy had suspected Silver had magical powers. It didn’t react to the food that mice eat like ordinary mice. She had tried discover its secret but never caught it doing anything out of the ordinary. Thus, she hoped that Tessa would be able to find out.
Silver, on the other hand, knew of Missy’s plan and was clever enough to learn mice’s behaviour. There were times when he forgot and craved for chicken instead of eating the dried corn. He was sick of mice food and wanted to have his favourite chicken. He was not a white mouse. He was an imp with magical powers unlike his peers. He had been serving Phantom for as long as he could remember.
—-
Silver was known as Divan in his imp form. He was often looked down upon by his fellow imps. He didn’t have any talent of his own. His elder brother; Divon, on the other hand, was very good at turning bronze into gold. His arch nemsis, Gordin, was very good at putting obstacles into the path of others and Divan was always his target for new obstacles. He took special delight from tripping Divan.
—
Divan shook himself from the past. It was no good thinking of Gordin when he was supposed to be completing his task for Phantom, his master.
[to be continued]
