(Image is AI generated using Prompt Hunt)
“Should we stop here?” Cameron asked, giving Sebastian a look with stirring butterflies in the stomach.
Their hands shivered at the sight of the huge bulky man with a long sky-blue beard. His torn moss-green floral blouse swayed with the soft gust of the wind. The troll wore a pair of slashed trousers, muddy because of scampering away from the wet fields. Its hair was so messy, it appeared like a nest to a giant bird.
He was equally carrying six boxes of oranges on both shoulders; three on each broad shoulder.
The scorching sun was up at midday, but the cold sweat of fear, not of heat, soaked the twin. They were surrounded by weird trees whose trunks danced and twisted at the rhythm of the whistling melancholic wind.
Despite the time of the day, the gloomy atmosphere beamed at them. The fields, which were supposed to be golden because of the ripe grains of rice, appeared barren.
“Earth to Bastian! What now?! Our oranges are stolen!”
“The troll… it looks familiar,” Sebastian whispered.
“What’re you saying?!”
“The troll looks familiar!”
“I don’t care! How do we get our oranges back?” Cameron pouted and kicked some dried leaves. “I don’t want to be turned into any kind of animal by that witch.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
They, along with some other children in their village, were taken by an old hag to have them steal for her.
“If you don’t do my bidding, I’ll turn you into disgusting frogs! You filthy, annoying children!” the witch’s grumpy voice echoed in Cameron’s head.
“Let’s go back to the market and steal oranges again,” Sebastian hissed.
“I don’t want to be a thief.” At that point, Cameron burst into tears. “Mom and Dad would be mad if we become bad people.”
Sebastian hugged his twin. “Okay, now. Shh. We won’t turn into bad people. How about we look for the troll and get the oranges back? Then we’ll return them to the vendors in the market.”
Cameron wiped her tears, smiled, and nodded.
From a distance, two pairs of sharp, proud eyes glimmered. Several revolving heads with high-definition lenses followed the movement of the twin as they search for the troll’s hideout.
They kept walking until they stumbled upon a drowning field of rainbow cotton plants. The field box overflowed with not water but with boiling bathtub bubbles, like some formula of mixed chemicals in a lab class.
“See anything, Cam?”
He glanced at his petrified twin, who was pointing at something she saw in the field.
“Is that a human body?” she asked, trembling at the idea.
“Come on. Let’s check it out.” He took her hand and guided her to where she saw what she thought was a body. “There’s nothing here,” he said when they reached the spot.
“I saw a hand.” She took some steps closer, only to be startled by a flock of seagulls emerging from the bubbles. She stumbled on her back and slumped on the grassy soil. “Ouch! That hurts!”
The seagulls flew to the northern part of the field towards a mountain covered by various types of clouds. The dark nimbostratus clouds emitted branched lightning with silent thunder and glistening raindrops. A lump of heart-shaped cumulus clouds was pierced at the center by some stratus clouds that were shaped like an arrow.
“This place is weird. Since when did seagulls flock on mountains? Aren't they supposed to be by the sea?” Sebastian asked, scratching the back of his head. He reached for his hand to help Cameron. But she slipped again when a loud slurping thud thundered.
The twin was in disbelief seeing that the clouds disappeared when a funnel-like thing swallowed them from the mountain's peak.
When the sky was cleared, five perfectly round black holes bounced against each other. They were like giant basketballs, which caught their attention. The holes merged as they grew bigger and bigger.
The twin got off and scampered away when they saw that the fused hole was floating in their direction. It was swallowing everything it touched like a literal Blackhole.
“The door! We need to look for the door! Hurry!” Sebastian pulled Cameron’s arm as they ran toward the end of the field. A sliver of hope smiled at them when they saw the exit. “There it is!”
“Mom! Dad! Open up please!” they shouted as they pounded on the wooden door.
Then, someone twisted the doorknob.
“Well, hello kids!” a smiling couple greeted the flabbergasted twin. “So, how was the simulation room? Did you like it?”
“Don’t ever wanna go back inside,” chorused the twin while wiping their sweat off their faces.
Heavy footsteps annoyed their ears as they complained more about their experience in the room their parents created.
“Didn’t expect you two to come out pale and shaky.” A teasing voice cut off their whining.
The twin peeked behind their mom only to scream in fear.
“Ahh! The troll!” They ran and locked themselves in their rooms.
“Hey! What is wrong with you? I was just teasing. Mom? Dad?” Erica, confused, asked their parents.
“Come on, dear. We need to show you something.”
They all walked to the monitor room where they keep the records of the simulation.
“Watch.” Her mom pressed the rewind button and played it.
Erica consciously scanned her outfit in the mirror. A floral blouse and ripped shorts. Oranges in hands. “Seriously? Did they imagine me as an orange-stealing troll? Your twin really has a rich but embarrassing imagination.”