SEVENTH SENSE

Some people are destined to have their lives riddled with accidents and catastrophes. Paula can be considered as an epitome of such blunders. Things fell as she came in their presence, buildings exploded at her unceremonious arrival, states flooded as she graced them with her presence. Psychologists say that the human mind has an inherent sense (known as the sixth sense ) that gives little nudges to a person and warns him/her of an imminent danger. Paula always felt, she had built up a seventh sense- the ability of complete destruction itself in whichever ways possible. 

The world currently was facing a deadly virus called ‘Jalgnus’ . Although the name sounded like a smelly mushroom, the virus was an airborne carrier whose primary symptoms were bloating , rashes on skin followed by difficulty in breathing and then instantaneous death. The virus had claimed one percent of the world’s population and Paula was glad that she at least had neither caused nor aided the spread of this deadly virus. Today, locked away in her room, facing a global pandemic ,should provide some respite from this supposed seventh sense, thought Paula. She sat on the sofa of her living room, munching on popcorn and watching a Korean drama on Netflix, the protagonist of which was the current recipient of her infatuation. A week ago Lee Chen had arrived at New York for fan signing event, in which he disastrously ended up covered in cake from head to feet thanks to Paula. As she drooled over Lee Chen’s enchanting eyes and mesmerising looks, she felt a sudden urge to have a sip of water. “Dang!” She muttered as her laziness shuddered at the thought of getting up from the comfy sofa( which seemed to have permanently stuck to her bottom), walking ten steps through the living room, opening the door of the refrigerator, picking up the bottle, screwing its top and taking the final long blessed sip. ‘How I wish I lived in a world where Lee himself got up to get me water’, she thought and with supreme efforts got up from the sofa.

As she stood up, her back tingled with the usual spidery seventh sense. She attributed the vibe to head rush and turned towards the door only to pause in astonishment - for a fraction of a second, the air between the archway that connected her living room to the kitchen seemed to shimmer like a mirage. Shaking her head and blaming the binge worthy Korean dramas for this illusion, Paula stepped through the doorway.

She felt as if she had stepped through icy water. Looking back through the passage way in confusion, she was surprised to see a valley , filled what seemed to be red light, or was it red mist? She couldn’t fathom. The temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees, the air smelled of sulphur and it didn’t take long for her to realise that, she was standing in the balcony of a huge mansion. Paula jumped out of her skin as she heard a familiar voice yell “You!” . Turning around in trepidation Paula witnessed the handsome, the charming Lee Chen striding towards her holding a glass of water. Her eyes followed his legs in wonder and her mind was jubilant. ‘Ooh My!’, she thought stars sparkling in her eyes. ‘My seventh sense brought my wish of Lee getting me water into reality. Oh Oh Oh, this is so cool. My heart is singing with Joohhh Nooo!’ 

As Paula’s brain registered the entire scenario, her thoughts suddenly reassembled themselves - ‘ Oh Hell, Lee Chen is thundering towards me with his face screwed in anger and he is clutching the glass of (is it even water?) water with every intention of throwing it in my face. Oh Crap, Crap, Crap!’ Of their own accord, Paula’s feet started backing off and she hit the railing of the balcony, just as Lee threw the glass door open and splashed her with water. 

Paula helplessly stood there drenched, staring at Lee in shock who simply said,

“Oh! You are real” 

Paula felt that her lips were stuck together with super glue and she managed a non committal - “Huh!”

“What did you do? Take me back RIGHT NOW!”

“You are in Love with Me?” Paula gasped in full fangirl mode. “Oh Lee”

“What the devil are you talking about?” Lee seemed to be looking at her like she was crazy.

“You Know, you said I am real, which means you have been seeing me and you asked me what I did…” she trailed off suddenly realising how ridiculous it all sounded. 

“I meant what did you do to bring me here- in this God Forsaken place. I just wanna get home and you better take me back.”

“You came here with me now?” 

“What do you mean now? I am talking about the Fan signing, a week ago- when you bumped into the guy carrying the cake and the cake flew at me. I tried to go to the Men’s room to wash off the goo and ended up here.”

“What is this place?”

“What is this…..” Lee seemed too enraged to finish off the sentence “You brought me here didn’t you miss prissy, why dont you drop the act?”

“But… But” Paula Spluttered “ But I came here just now. And I have no idea how or why, and I dont even know what this place is.” She finished lamely. They stood there, looking at each other perplexed . Suddenly there was a strong gust of cold air and Paula shivered. That seemed to bring Lee back to his senses, as he cloaked Paula in his coat and dragged her inside the Mansion. Somewhere far away thought Paula, she heard an inhuman shriek.

“Wait here” he said, “I need to get Augustosius”

This gave enough time for Paula to take a measure of her surroundings. As she peeked out the window, the world seemed to be full of reddish maroon light, the kind that brought the picture of Mars into mind. The sun looked older and flaming red, with none of its usual heat. The air smelled dank and acrid, and hazy black shapes circled the sky periodically. The entire situation felt surreal and yet Paula was sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“Hi” said a cool ringing voice breaking her reverie. Paula turned around to see her friend August.

“August. Oh August did you get here too?” She wailed. 

“Do we know each other?”

“Oh” Said Paula as comprehension dawned on her. “You dont know me. Anyways, can you tell me what’s happening?”

August looked at Lee meaningfully.

“In Quantum mechanics, the wave particle duality states that matter can exist in both forms simultaneously- particle as well as waves. A logical extrapolation of this theory is parallel universes. My opinion is that - we are on earth, in an alternate universe. But how this universe’s earth became so ravaged, Augustosius is better equipped to explain.”

‘Augustosius’ thought Paula giggling to herself. Her world’s August was extremely secretive about her full name and now Paula understood why. 

“Well, this all started with a disease. It affected humans of all genders and ages and was called ‘Scarlus’ - because of scarlet rashes it left on its victim’s skin, followed by difficulty in breathing which ultimately lead to death. When half of the world’s population died, a new species started evading continents out of no where- they were scaly reptilian beasts who fed on humans and animals alike. Humans who sided with the beasts were given protection and treated as slaves, those who rebelled like us were attacked and eaten. A few like me survived. We call these beasts ‘Reptlons’.”

“I have seen these, these reptlons” added Lee “They show herd behaviour and are unlike any earthly beings. They are the reason why this earth seems to be on the verge of death- they bring changes in the basic elements ,corrupting them, taking away their positive healing effects and leaving behind nothing but death and distress.”

Paula’s mind started becoming numb as she registered what was happening in her world.

“Scarlus” she whispered “We have scarlus in our world too. I sent Lee here a week ago, exactly when Jalgnus started, when Lee entered this world, the disease must have entered our world. Wow! I am the reason for this Global Pandemic after all.”

“What are we supposed to do?” She continued and a great crash reverberated through the entire building. The mansion was filled with screeching creatures with snouts like birds, yellow eyes and great leather black wings. Paulas’s heart lurched in terror and her back suddenly flared open afire with agony. The world was gonna end, she thought, as the pain suddenly receded. Paula had great black wings on her back. The creatures were all rustling at her feet and bowing . Paula knew she could control these creatures as the seventh sense seemed to have taken complete control of her being.

“My Great Queen, Daughter of Abbadon- the Destroyer, ” the largest of the creature chittered “Welcome ! We have been sent by the devil to bring you back to his world where you belong. What must we do of this son of angel? He will surely foul our plans”

Paula turned her golden yellow eyes towards Lee - who had sprouted white feather wings. He seemed paler and was getting sicker by the minute. The Hell atoms present in the environment, seemed to be reacting unfavourably with his part angel blood, now that the angel blood had shown dominance ,in imminent danger.

Paula was a normal girl blessed with kindness at her heart. ‘I maybe the daughter of one of the Princes of Hell’ she thought ‘ but I am also the daughter of my mom, and never shall I let evil lay waste on my earth or any other earth for that matter’ 

In a thunderous voice she commanded - “ Be gone foul creatures to where you belong, and never shall you return to earth , I command thee in the name of Paula daughter of Abbadon” .

One by one the creatures vanished, and earth was returned to her normal self.

“They will be back” whispered Lee, now sinking down. Mustering her energy, Paula ripped apart the space time continuum and fell back into her living room . It seemed only half an hour had passed in her universe. She nervously felt her back, where the only sign of wings were two huge welts. She looked around for Lee who was in her arms a minute ago, and realised he was no where to be found.

A week later, Paula’s earth was free of Pandemic, and she was dating the enigmatic famous Korean actor - Lee Chen. Her power (not the seventh sense as she realised )was a part of her everyday life now, whose destructive nature was quelled by Lee’s counteractive powers. Abbadon was going to be back Paula knew, but she was sure - she and Lee were ready to face him.