Short story and painting by Jana Mahmoud (10 years)
“Lina,” her mom calls her, “it’s time for dinner.” Lina was a small girl, a 12‑year‑old girl. When her mom called, she didn’t reply, not because something happened to her but because she was admiring her shadow. She felt something weird: her shadow was not doing the same moves. The shadow suddenly waved at her. She felt frightened.
Her mom came and said, “Lina, what on earth are you doing?”
“I… I…” said Lina hesitantly.
“Come on, dinner will be cold,” said her mom calmly.
It was bedtime. Lina slept fast, but suddenly her shadow escaped from the wall. It wanted to escape its shadow life. It suddenly started transforming into a very black creature. The creature had escaped.
The next morning Lina did not have a shadow. Her mom was reading a legend saying about this creature that it was searching for the blue lily. This flower can grant any wish you want, but there will be a huge price to pay.
For example, someone lost their mother and they wished their mother to come back. Their mother will come back, but someone else’s mother will be gone. That’s why the blue lily flower is dangerous.
The shadow creature was searching for it to wish for humanity. Lina believed in this legend. The next day she and her family went farming. They saw a blue lily. She kept it for years until she was 29. She did an experiment and made the blue lily able to grant a wish without a price to pay.
She wished to have a normal life with a normal shadow. After that, her shadow creature was gone.
The End
