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    Open Your Eyes
    Open Your Eyes
    Open Your Eyes
    Ebook136 pages1 hour

    Open Your Eyes

    By Alicia Kay

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    About this ebook

    Selena Varya has a very normal life. Like any other kid, she goes to school each day, finishes her studies and comes back home. When she meets the new student Kevin, an accident happens at school that sets into motion a series of events that could change her life, and the lives of those connected to her. The question arises: Who is Selena Varya, and is she really a student?

    Alicia and James are both excellent students, at the top of their class, and eventually, the only two left after eliminating others. They are close friends, drawn closer together by their wit and intelligence. In the final elimination, they both must compete against each other to prove their worth to the Choosers. What makes one better than the other? A story of learning the value of love, compassion, trust and faith.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRoopa Narayan
    Release dateMay 4, 2015
    ISBN9781941536650
    Open Your Eyes
    Author

    Alicia Kay

    Alicia Kay is the pen name of Ruthu Hulikal. At the young age of 14 she enjoys school, academics, skiing, swimming, Indian classical music and writing short stories that tickle the imagination. She has visited over a dozen countries and lived in 3 continents. She plays the ancient Indian instrument Veena performing at several places. She was able to ace her IGCSE exams at the age of 13 and she now lives in Chennai with her parents.

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      Book preview

      Open Your Eyes - Alicia Kay

      Special Smashwords Edition

      OPEN YOUR EYES

      Short Stories

      By

      Alicia Kay

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

      OPEN YOUR EYES: SHORT STORIES

      Special Smashwords Edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you’re reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

      Copyright © 2015 Alicia Kay. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

      The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      Cover designed by Telemachus Press, LLC

      Cover art:

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 5612493/amriphoto

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 13994091/dwleindecker

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 14234903/benimage

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 16010445/avlntn

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 19986025/kameshkova

      Copyright © iStockphoto/ 60126060/BigJoker

      Published by Telemachus Press, LLC at Smashwords

      http://www.telemachuspress.com

      ISBN: 978-1-941536-65-0 (eBook)

      ISBN: 978-1-941536-66-7 (Paperback)

      Version 2015.04.27

      Acknowledgement

      To my Mom, Dad and Mrs. Padmini Vijay

      Table of Contents

      Open Your Eyes

      One Moment She was There

      The Watcher

      The Return of the Voyager

      The Potion Maker

      The Conjecture

      Caught in The Act

      The Immortality Gene

      Reality

      A Light at the End of the Tunnel

      The Fan

      Deception

      The Difference

      The Foundation

      Fear

      Luck… or Is it?

      Perseverance

      About the Author

      OPEN YOUR EYES

      Short Stories

      OPEN YOUR EYES

      She opened her eyes. She had lost him, she had lost him forever. She thought of how he always had a witty reply to everything she had to say, could understand every one of her theories, and could anticipate her next move. He was the only one who had understood her completely … and now he was gone.

      The other man looked at her from behind. She was thinking of him again. Alice he called out. She slowly turned her head as a small smile graced her lips.

      "Hey" she said, running up to him and hugging him, burying her head in his chest. He hugged her back tightly, holding her close.

      "How long are you going to mourn your loss? You have to move on he whispered into her hair. She smelled of pinewood and fresh spring water, but her face was as pale as snow and her shoulders stooped with an invisible weight. He was the only one who understood me, no matter how wrong what he did was. I still miss him. she replied. You may miss him, but you cannot forever live in the past. What he did is his choice, you cannot hold yourself responsible." he said softly.

      "I wish this didn’t happen. I wish I never knew him she said. But it did, and you do, so there is no reason to waste time on wishes. he replied. Hey he said softly, tilting her chin upwards to him. You have to let go. Maybe no one understands, but that is the way it is. Everything has a price; the price of your gifts is to be lonely" he said.

      She took a deep breath, the fire in her eyes rekindling.

      "You’re right. I cannot let him live my life for me. I was depressed, even when I had no reason to be. After all, he is the one who has done wrong, he should be guilty, not me. I have to dictate my own life, and if the path I choose requires me to be lonely, then so be it." she said bravely.

      "Will you go back?" he asked. She smiled and sighed.

      "Yes" she said, holding his hand.

      He took her palm and pressed his index finger into the middle, where an hourglass shape was etched naturally. He pressed it, and she could feel her heart slowly beat once, then twice, then faster and faster as a thin golden trickle of energy started in her hands and slowly spread its way through her body, energizing her.

      She gasped as she woke up and took several deep breaths. Alicia! Are you alright? asked a concerned voice.

      Fine she said to the man shakily, twisting her head to observe the landscape in front of her. The valley below them was sunlit and bright.

      Many were as gifted as her. They were all born with talents to achieve certain purposes, but none of them ever realized that they were. None of them made the effort to use what they were given. She wasn’t about to make the mistake they were. She knew what she had to do. He held out his hand and pulled her up as she grasped it.

      Ready? he asked her, grinning.

      I was born ready she said, grinning back determinedly.

      They both held hands and looked down at the valley, and she knew then that it was not the end of a quest, but the beginning of one.

      ONE MOMENT SHE WAS THERE

      One moment she was there, the next she wasn’t. Of course, she had been sitting at her desk for all the time, but her eyes seemed so distant, and whenever someone asked her a question, she would answer as though nothing had happened.

      Professor Harper shook his head. She was listening now, attentively, but a few moments ago she had seemed to wander away. He assured himself it was nothing to worry about; besides, Alice was the top student, ahead of the class in everything. It wasn’t important as long as her performance wasn’t compromised.

      A girl behind her snickered; she was the most popular in class and everybody quailed if she even looked at them. Alice didn’t understand why. There were so many things Alice didn’t understand about them. Like their concept of ‘peer’ pressure.

      It was supposed to mean that you were ‘pressured’ into doing what others of your age did, but if ‘A’ thought everyone was pressuring her, and everybody thought ‘A’ was pressuring them, they were all actually pressuring themselves. Alice suddenly heard a voice in her head, do not worry about them, they are not worth it. It was happening again. She could hear the voices in her head.

      The school bell clanged and brought her out of her reverie. Alice put her books into her bag and got up. The professor had already left. The girl snickered again and got up with her. She started imitating Alice’s voice as everybody started laughing at her. Usually Alice would ignore them but today she could feel anger boiling inside her. She turned and said I can understand why you would want to be like me but it takes a lot more than imitating my voice. It wasn’t a nice thing to say, but the way she said it was vicious and poisonous. She kept her voice perfectly level, as if stating a fact and her back straight with her chin up. Her stance seemed proud, careless and defiant.

      The girl was shocked and she stalked off. Alice was livid. She could understand if they mocked her because she was fat, or stupid, or ugly, but it was unfair if they did it because she was too good and they could never match up.

      The next day in class, she got the worst grades. Her eyes drifted away and she heard a voice, ‘Ignore them, they are not worth it.’ The girl behind her was imitating her again.

      Alice felt the rage beginning to take over her, and thought back to all the insults ever thrown at her; all the hate, the jealousy and all the whispers behind her back. The reminders fed that fire that was building within her, and she closed her eyes, trying to drive away the feelings. She couldn’t get angry, or it would be

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