That evening Jean opened her closet and a dump smell that almost choked her poured out outrageously. It had been three hundred and sixty five days since she last opened it.Two pairs of pyjamas is what she's been surviving on this whole time.
One by one she tried on the clothes and could barely find a fit. A noticeable amount of change had occurred in her body. The then thin legs had developed a curve at the hip bone, her breasts had developed. and she had also added a lot of weight.
All this while Twinkle was quietly observing her struggle which made Jean even more uncomfortable. She was perhaps waiting for her to ask for help.
"Will you just sit there and stare or will you help me out with these clothes? It seems like I have outgrown them, what do I do now?" Jean asked with a puzzled face.
"At your service, dear friend," Twinkle uttered as she walked to Jean, took a pair of denim trousers and a shirt and inserted them in an opening she made on her stomach. Her eyes glowed with the blue beam again and she stood as still as a hill. After about three minutes her belly opened, the blue beam seized and she took out the two pieces of clothing and handed them to Jean.
" What…j..j..just happened here? How cool? What did you do to them?" Jean said barely able to construct a sensible sentence at this point.
" I have simply resized the clothes to your fit," Twinkle replied. Jean was speechless, she immediately hugged her new found amazing friend saying with tears in her eyes "you are God sent,Twinkle, am glad I have you." It's no secret that the loss of her parents had gotten her emotionally vulnerable.
She needed to pay Miss Magdalena a visit so as to inform her that she would be tagging along to the mainland the following day.
As she was leaving Twinkle, who for some reason had turned back into a beatle and was sleeping on the couch.
Stepping out of the house was a major move for her. She slang the door open and took a deep breath before heading out.
The island has a significant change. There were more street lights all along the snowy paths. There were also new homes and a dairy shop at the spot where boats used to park. After the tragic accident that befell her parents boats ceased to go out and only one ferry transported the Island dwellers to and from the mainland.
The cold streets were busy that night, she had no idea of the occasion until she saw a display with an Easter bunny. It is Easter eve. Each year at a time like this, except the previous year when there were restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic, she and her parents would be in the mainland at her uncle's place.
Jean was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realise how long she had been standing in the middle of the road. It was getting late so she dashed hastily before Mrs Magdalena closed her shop.
On her arrival she surprisingly found a bunch of people around a bonfire at the shop's courtyard, they were all colleagues of her late parents. They did that in their memory.
" It must have been so tough on you, child, take this, it will hatch on its own and when it does a cherished wish of yours will be granted," said one old lady who was among the people seated around the bonfire as she handed a big slightly cracked egg to Jean. She was believed to be of a magicians' lineage.
On seeing the sorrow printed on her face, Miss Magdalena held her shoulders saying, " it's very late, I ought to take you home before you catch a cold, you are not used to the temperatures out here, remember?" Jean had gone mute at the time. It now dawned on her that her sire and mom were really gone after being in denial for a year. She wiped bitterly on Miss Magdalena's arms. The two then walked slowly back to Jean's only inheritance. She went in without telling Mrs Magdalena her intended trip to the mainland. At this point she wasn't even sure of the trip either.
The night felt longer than usual. Jean couldn't sleep. She tossed from one side to the other in utter distress. Every lone thought that had tormented her throughout the year came back knocking in her head. She rose from the bed and stood at her favourite ventilage point, her window. She never closed it with the hope that her parents would one day call out for her to open the door on their return as they always did, giving a blind eye to the fact that there is no return from the world of the dead.
The waters were calm with little tides, beneath them a monsters' abode. They devoured her parents in that not even a bone to bury could be traced. All this while, Jean held the egg gifted to her as she showered it with her non- seizing stream of tears.
Twinkle rose from the couch, shape shifted to a lady and sniffed around suspiciously. " What's that you are holding, dear friend. That must be Vicky's! It certainly is from Vicky!"
Jean had had enough for the day. Whatever Twinkle was talking about must be a dream or something, so she thought. With a low tone and her hand on her head, probably due to the throbbing headache she responded, "This is a magical egg gifted to me by a former colleague of my parents, I am not sure of her name but you said she is Vicky. How do you know her?"
" Vicky was my best friend. We both loved water and most often came to earth for a swim. One day Vicky and I saw a spark at the bottom of the sea. It was too bright to be ignored. We therefore went closer and realised that it was a magical crystal horn. Curiously, Vicky picked it and disappeared at that very instant. I tried to search for her all over the sea with no avail and so I went back without her. My seniors burnished me from the galaxy until Vicky is found,"Twinkle narrated while looking up in the sky from Jean's window.
" I am so sorry about that ,Twinkle, but how do you know that the egg is Vicky's?" Said Jean who has now developed interest in Twinkle's narration.
" From the research I have done, Vicky gained an incredibly vast amount of magical power on holding the horn to a point that she became invisible to the human eye and even to me, a programme. Every magical based power is therefore utterly from her and so is your magical egg!" Twinkle paused and led Jean to the bed while holding her hand, "it is midnight already, let me help you get some sleep, dear friend, tomorrow holds a demanding task for you, you ought to get enough rest."
Twinkle rubbed her palm swiftly on Jean's forehead and what seemed like a blue vapour formed all around her head like a helmet. In no time Jean was sound asleep. She then shifted back to a beatle and flew to the window, certainly because it would soon be dawn and the little morning sun rays would be of some good to her system.