Umbrella of Fate

It was a rainy day. An umbrella became inevitable. I borrowed an old umbrella- But I didn’t know it would lead me to an unexpected adventure.

I had borrowed it from my maternal grandmother. She told me that it belonged to my grandfather before he passed away, so I was honoured to keep it. Just as I walked out of school in the heavy rain, I felt something strange. Suddenly an unexplainable force pulled my umbrella to the opposite direction from my school, leading to a forest.

I tried to prevent walking that way but my umbrella kept tugging at me. The more I tried, the more I failed. I even tried to throw the umbrella away but that also did not work. Terrified, I stopped trying to prevent the umbrella and allowed it to pull me. After a while, I found myself laying upon soft green forest grass, gentle winds rushed through my hair and, the atmosphere was so quiet, only the rustling of leaves could be heard. But there was something so unsettling and eerie about this whole scenario, that it send shivers down my spine. I tried to figure out if this was a dream or reality. Then I tried to find my glasses which was probably hidden in the tall grass. My blurry eyesight prevented me to see properly so the searching would be difficult. After a while I found my glasses and then I saw a map beside me. I immediately opened the map and I was the map of this forest. There was a red ‘X’ mark in the center of the map. There was a sticky note stuck to the back of the map reading ‘’YOU WILL FIND YOUR FATE IN RED.’’ I instantly knew that it was something about finding treasure just like in movies. So I decided to follow that map, thinking it will change my fate and give me a sense of mystery and adventure in my life. I walked for several hours. My feet started revolting against my will and the thirst in my throat made me feel uneasy. Just as I gave up hope, I noticed something glowing in the dark and I was full of joy thinking that God has finally answered my prayers.

I went into the path of light, and there, I found a big patch of land marked with ‘X’ in red. I knew it was the same mark as shown in the map and I was overjoyed. One benefit about this rainy day was quite favourable. It made the ground wet and moist making it easier to dig. I started digging, and although it was fatiguing, something about this secret place made me want to discover its mysteries, so I continued digging faster. After tirelessly digging for hours, I saw a chest. I immediately opened it and it revealed old rusted silver jewellery, and a box containing damaged glasses. My smile faded upon seeing these. Also there was a letter which was from my grandfather before he passed away. It read ‘’Trust your fate, Maybe it’ll lie upon you’’. I was confused and decided to return home.

The next day I woke and my mother told me that we won six lakh rupees. I was overjoyed but I felt unwell and it turned out that I had a fever, so I stayed home from school. I was watching my phone on bed when it fell down. I leaned to pick it up, and I saw a letter lying just beside my phone. I picked it up and read it. It said

“SOMETIMES HE BEST REWARD LIES WITHIN,
AND YOU HAVE TO FIND IT THOUGH LUCK OR HARDWORK”

I thought of last night’s incident and realized how my fate changed with my grandfather’s blessings.

By Ayushi Brahma

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