The first Halloween

Sandy, Aesu and Ozu were very thrilled for their first Halloween experience. They had moved to the States nine months back and were desperately looking forward to the Halloween as they did not have it in their country.

“I am going to be a witch this Halloween. I always dreamt of being a witch every time I watched a Halloween theme movie”, said Ozu as she picked up a witch hat at the dollar store. She put on the black hat and turned around to ask her best friends how she looked. “Amazing!” exclaimed Sandy. “I am going to be a psychic”, she said. Aesu was still confused about her Halloween outfit. “I will figure something out”, said Aesu calmly. She had always been this calm girl and never really got anxious over anything.

On the day of Halloween…

“Woohoo! Who are these gorgeous ladies?” said Sandy with a giggle, as she looked at herself and her friends from the selfie camera of her phone. Even Aesu dressed herself as a witch. “Look at the calm and wise witch guys. Does she not look amazing?” she said jokingly, and everyone laughed. “We should make some videos”, suggested Ozu. “Let me wave my witchy wand!” She waved it in the air as if to create some magic. “Jajantaram, Mamantaram!” she uttered and SWOOP!!!!!!

“W.H.A.T the hell just happened?” they all exclaimed in unison. Their apartment looked different all of a sudden. The walls looked dark and woody, they got a spooky fireplace in the corner that was never there, the lights had dimmed and even the regular lights were now chandelier! The room smelled different. It smelled of incents and firewood. There were carved pumpkins everywhere and the kitchen had antique interior with jugs, wine glasses and fine dining. The three girls looked around in awe. And when they laid their eyes on each other, they got even more surprised! Their Halloween outfits got fancier and looked more expensive. Ozu had a long flair black dress with boots, and her hat looked longer. The witchy wand in her hand had turned into a broom. Aesu’s hair was twice longer than her regular length and had some purple jewelry around her neck. Sandy’s appearance changed completely from a colorful psychic to a black witchy dress with hat and broom.

“What is going on?” Aesu seemed confused.

“WELCOME! MY WITCHES…” a voice called out. They turned around and could not believe what they saw…

“Welcome to the world of witches!” she was a tall woman with Indian features: thick hair, brown skin and big eyes. “What world? Who are you?” asked Ozu with a lot of confusion in her head.

“The world of witches!” said the woman in a bold voice. “You all have been born with inherent power of witches. The powers remained inactive until this day. You all have found your wand and that is what brought you all to me. I am Gish. Your mentor into the world. I welcome you with all the supernatural powers on this day of Halloween.”

“Allah Miya! When I said I dreamt of being a witch… I don’t think I meant literally. I was…”, before Ozu could complete her words, Gish waved her wand and a bright white light sucked them inside. 

SWOOSH! A bright light appeared in front of the entrance gate of the Wizzery World. Ozu, Sandy, Aesu and their mentor Gish appeared from the light and the light vanished in thin air. The three of them stumbled as they landed, and struggled to find their stable feet. Gish however, stood poised and unshaken.

"Hey! How come you are so stable?" Asked Ozu a little pissed. "I have brought thousands of witches to Wizzery every Halloween. Don't you think the experience makes sense?" replied Gish in a sarcastic tone. "Wizzery?" asked the girls in unison.

"Yes. Wizzery is the world of the witches and wizards. We introduce the human-born witches and wizards to this world when they are prepared to handle their powers." Said Gish.

"Human-born? You mean muggles?" Asked Ozu. She was the curious one in the group; always questioned everything.

"No! Human-born. We prefer to remain more polite and subtle. These fictional movies have ruined all the witch decency", said Gish rolling her eyes.

"The original witches live here and the human-borns come in every Halloween to recharge their powers and also to receive Wizzery Certificates for all the goods they have done in the world." She said, adjusting her tone to the sophisticated one she had.

Sandy and Aesu were still in awe, taking a lot of time to process what had happened. They were looking at one another confused. Just then, a chubby guy with a big belly walked towards them. He was a little brown, wore glasses and smiled like magic. "So they are ready?" He asked Gish. However, he spoke in a different language that the three girls did not understand. Gish responded to him as a "yes" in the language.

"Hi! Welcome to Wizzery. My name is Hul." He said.

"Hul? What kind of name is that?" Asked Sandy.

"Ugh. Okay, it's Rahul. I just feel it sounds too Muggle-like."

"Hey!" Called out Gish

"Okay, sorry!" "It is impolite to use the M word here" he whispered.

"Haha. I am Sandy"

"And i am Aesu"

"Ozu here". She shook hands with him as both of them smiled.

Suddenly, she heard some sound of chimes and the stars glowed brigher with the sounds. "What...? How...? What just happened?" She asked.

"What?" Asked the rest. Nobody seemed to notice it.

"The sound... the glow..." Ozu uttered. "Nevermind. Nothing surprises me anymore. I am a damn witch." She said rolling her eyes.

They all followed the guy to room that somewhat resembled the dining hall of the Hogwarts. There were chandeliers all over the ceiling, and the dining tables were full of lavish dishes from all over the world. Our new witches walked around in awe; you could almost see them drooling.

Ting ting ting!

It sounded like someone was giving a toast. Everyone turned around to the stage where a fair lady dressed in a classic witch attire held a glass of champaigne and was ready to speak.

"Happy Halloween my witches and wizards. This is the 300th Halloween meet of the witches and wizards of the human-borns. We have three special guests for the night and we would like to welcome them to the Wizzery World."

There were rounds of applauses with cheers and laughter. "I am Sru, the president of Wizzery World and I have been in the position for past 100 years. As I welcome our three new witches Sandy, Ozu and Aesu, I would also like to welcome our newly elected president Syed!"

A lean and fair looking guy walked onto the stage in the Wizard attire. He seemed to be calm and reserved by his looks. He came forward to address the crowd. "Welcome to Wizzery World." He said in a calm and soothing voice. "Also, Happy Halloween to all of us. As we meet tonight, we welcome our new witches and also bestow responsibilities onto them, which is to do good to the world in our best actions and magic. We all have our magical powers, but we also have a gifted superpower that no one else knows about, until we come across them. As your magical journey starts today, you also explore to find your unique gift of magic. All the best!"

"What unique power?" Asked Aesu in confusion.

"Everyone has one power that no one else does." Said Rahul. "Mine, for instance, is , if someone falls in love with me or I fall in love, the stars get weird with their actions. There might be a lot of shooting stars at once, or you see a hidden constellation. It is always different you know!"

"Whatever that means." Said Ozu under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"We get to have our dinner with the new and ex president. Come over to the special table", said Gish and everyone followed her.

The ex president and new president were already at the table. The rest joined them. "I still do not understand. Am I dreaming?" Whispered Aesu to Sandy. Sandy pinched her on the arm, and Aesu brushed her off almost screaming.

"Welcome to the world ladies! We have our faith in you and believe you will do good deeds to humanity." Said Syed smiling. His smile made him look like a wise and kind Wizard who definitely deserved to be a president.

After they were done with dinner, Gish guided them to the same gate they came in from. "You all will be back here next year. I will still be guiding you and visiting you in between." Said Gish in her regular poised tone. "Take care of yourselves and do good always."

She waved her wand and the white light was there again. The girls waved goodbye to Gish and Hul as they smiled and the light sucked them in again. The stars twinkled brighter and the sound of wind chimes was there again, but before Ozu could say it again or process it, the light swooped them in.