The Magical Boy

( "Leopard" by Srikaanth Sekar, TheLeopard)

There once was a little boy, Liam, who always had horrible nightmares and his mother tried to think of ways to help this poor boy but nothing seemed to work.

Liam's Mother: Oh dear son, I wish you could sleep better tonight. I am going to rub your back with some Sleep lotion from Bath and Body Works and use the bubble bath also in Sleep.

Liam: Mom, nothing has worked. Why would this work?

Liam's Mother: Just try please. I also put a sling shot your grandpa gave me when I was little under your pillow.

After all of these things nothing seemed to help him. He was so distraught and was becoming cranky because of the lack of sleep. She tried to read to him about all the animals of the kingdom. There were ugly animals and beautiful animals. There were fat and skinny animals. He fell fast asleep as his mother read.

One night Liam had a nightmare that a beautiful leopard was chasing after him but he did not want to kill the poor leopard because of his beautiful spots. The leopard was built like a bodybuilder because you could see his muscles working and moving as he walked. He was so amazed and wanted to touch the beautiful creature. The leopard wanted to kill Liam. If the leopard killed Liam he could wear his blood and show his people that he was a warrior leopard. Liam remembered the slingshot his mother put under his pillow.He drew out his slingshot but wasn't sure what to do. He was standing on a gravel mound where he was a little above the leopard and he reached down to grab a rock. He slowly dropped down to get a rock so that the leopard would not notice. Liam placed the rock in the slingshot and he drew it back and then bang, he hit the leopard right in the head. The leopard was lying there dead.

A bright light came before the little boy . It looked like a small bright sun that Liam could hold in his hands. There were many tools placed before him that he could touch and grab to use for safety.They were laid out before him on crimson velvet and everything was lined up on that fabric. There were hatchets, bows, guns, and instruments to call for help. Some instruments were the horn,the guitar and some animal calls. The boy was so joyful that he grabbed the horn and played tunes of happiness. He wanted to show his thankfulness to whoever gave him the bright light magic. He knew from now on he could protect himself from whatever comes his way. He did not want to tell his mother of the great news because he did not want to curse the good luck he had been having.

The next night he had a very similar dream but now the leopard’s family was coming after him. They were angry that Liam had killed their warrior and they wanted revenge. The boy thought of the bright light and it appeared before him. Liam had earned the reward of the bright light from above. He grabbed the bow and began pull the arrows out of his quiver and onto his bow. He drew it back the bow and let go, but first aiming at them. The leopard’s family was lying there dead. Liam was both sad and happy. Liam was sad because he killed some beautiful animals. He was happy because defeated the with courage and power. He had finally conquered his biggest fear.

The morning after this last dream he ran to tell his mother of the great news. She was pleased and told him that her methods worked. She tried to rub calming lotion on him, gave him warm baths and even put a slingshot under his pillow to help fight off bad dreams. He explained that the slingshot was what helped him the most. He never again had a nightmare. In his dreams he still was honored with the bright light that brought him powers and tools. He grew up to tell his children about the great mystery dream he had that helped him overcome his worst fear.

The Author's Notes:

This story was based off of Thataka , a section of The Ramayana .You see Rama (a great warrior's son) battled an evil woman but because she was a woman he was hesitant. It wasn’t right to kill a lady ( even though she was a monster) no matter how crazy she was. He was told to do it and he drew his bow and shot the woman monster. He was rewarded with weapons whenever he chooses. He again ran into another battle. The next scene more monsters came after him and he imagines the weapons and slays the monsters. I wanted to add a little twist on this story by adding in a little boy with nightmares. Liam has a creative mind but also gets nightmares. This helped me make it more realistic in our generation. He was brave and fought through his own battles with a little help. I liked how both men were very brave and got rewarded for doing what was right to protect themselves. Both men have helped themselves build character and a little bit of power. I really enjoyed writing this story because it was a fun topic to write about and made me think of myself as a child. Hopefully one day I can tell this to my children.