A 19 year old girl though she was, Ankita looked like a 14 year old child with long black hair and hazel brown eyes, preparing hard for her jewelry design competition, which was a job she wished from childhood.

It was 2:30 on a cold Saturday night, when she was packing her stuff and looking proudly at her just-finished drawing of necklace and then suddenly, her attention was drawn to a nearby clearing which was visible from her room window. She saw something strange moving out there. Its shadow was visible which was like an injured person with a tail and big ears!

“Is it an alien? Huh…. How can an alien come here? It’s insane.” She thought, “Might be some children playing around at night.” She switched off the light and went to sleep.

The next morning she woke up, startled cause there was so much noise outside and also inside her house. She could see through the window, there were so many people gathered at the area where she saw that thing last night. She lived in a small house with her parents and an 11 year old brother named Ajju, short for Ajinkya.

She got ready and went down to see the reason behind all the noise. She inquired her mom about the noise. Her mom retorted that few ISRO scientists and cops out there to investigate. “What can bring the scientists here?” she got curious.

Her dad explained her whole thing. ”There seem to be an accident yesterday night around 2:30. A farmer living nearby saw it happened. He saw something big crash here and a thing came out of it. The farmer went there to check what it was. That thing was like half human-half cat. The scientists believe that the thing that crashed was a space ship or UFO and that thing could be an alien. But they cannot find anything except the pothole which was made by the space ship.”

Ankita was stupefied and thrilled to hear that. She could not believe what her dad said. This was her chance to go on an amazing adventure. She loved adventure and never missed any such chance. She had her breakfast and quickly went in her room. She made a list of all the stuff she needed like a baseball bat, food and water, rope, torch, sling shot, and her lucky charm which is her leather watch.

In a note, she wrote,” Mom and dad, don’t look for me. I am going to find that creature and won’t be back for some days. AND DON’T INFORM THE COPS. Don’t worry about me. You Know me, right? - A.” With this she finished her letter and waited for the twilight.

At evening, she rushed, with her bag which was filled her ‘Mission Galactic’ supplies and went down. Hiding from her parents, she slipped through the door. She felt some strange feeling that someone was following her. But when she turned around to see, no one was there. Moments later, she was standing in front of the woods.

Standing in front of the woods, she thought, “Should I go in or go back? What if that extraterrestrial creature gets hold of me? But…, after all this time, I have got the chance to do something adventurous, how can I just leave it? Oh! Never mind, here I come.” she confidently paced into the forest.

There were tall pine trees all over the area. She could still see the beautifully thrilling jungle as it wasn’t too late. The daylight was though almost on the verge to disappear. She kept walking for long with her bat in her hand, in case that thing showed up. She got tired and decided to rest for the night. She chose a big tree to place her tent under it and light fire. To her disappointment, she realized that she had forgotten to bring the tent.

“Oh no! What will I do? I can’t build one through the tree branches because it is very late now and there is hardly any light.”

And then she suddenly heard a rustling noise and she knew that someone stepped on a branch. She made a quick move and was going to hit the person or thing who was there but stopped. She was shocked to see her own brother Ajju!

“What are you doing here? Have you been following me from the start?” she scowled at her brother.

Ajju carelessly answered,” You took the baseball bat but forgot to bring the ball. How can you play? I brought the ball and to thank me, you have to take me next time with you to play.”

Ankita didn’t know what to answer. She was worried about her brother and at the same time she was relieved that it was not someone else. She asked her brother what else he brought. Oh, how much she wished to hear just one word ‘tent’, though she already knew that was not possible as his brother did not have a bag. “Just a ball.” He reverted.

She could not leave him there and also ask him to go home alone. She did not have any other options but to tell him the truth and let him join her. Ankita decide to stay up whole night to ensure his safety. Ajju soon fell asleep.

After a while, Ankita heard something rustle near her feet. She looked down and saw a poisonous cobra. But before she could do anything, the snake bit her and the pain she felt was intolerable. She tried to scream but not a single word came out of her mouth. She fainted immediately.

There was darkness everywhere. She was lost. She couldn’t see anyone. It was like all happiness inside her was sucked. She was all alone, miserable and dying to see someone. It was like a never ending tunnel, but soon she could see a light coming from one end. A ray of hope and happiness it felt. Her head was hurting a lot. She could not see properly, but with what she could see, Ankita was in a room, but not hers. She had never seen it before. Slowly her eyesight was getting better. It was a small room with an only window from which daybreak sunlight was dazzling.

Ankita could see her brother sleeping beside her. She was relieved. Her leg was properly bandaged and was hurting slightly. And her headache was horrible. “Who would have brought me here?” she thought.

A few minutes later, a girl came from the door and said,” Oh, you are awake. How do you feel? Is your leg alright?”

She seemed like a 15 year old beautiful girl with short black hair, fairly white skin and blue eyes. She was wearing military top and black jeans which looked amazing on her.

“I am fine. Just my head hurts a bit.” Ankita said.

“That’s good. BTW, my name is Heer. And you are right now in my grandma’s house. I found you fainted under the tree and your leg was injured. I saw your brother was sleeping and I woke him up and brought you and your bags here. My grandma cured your leg.”

“My name is Ank-“

“Ankita. Yeah, your brother told me. He also told me about your ‘Mission Galactic’. He was hesitant at first, but then I gave him a chocolate and he opened up to me. He is so cute.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you for helping me, but I think now I have to go and please keep it a secret, you know, the mission.”

“But, you know, I also sort of like adventure and I was gonna go to find that hu-cat I mean that alien. So….. Can I come with you?”

Ankita was confused. Although she knew she was going to say NO but at that time, Ajju spoke up, “of course you can come. But for that I need more chocolates.”

And before Ankita said anything, Heer spoke up, “Yes! Thank you so much. I will get your chocolates right away.”

Ankita decided to take Heer with her, but at her own risk and after seeking permission from her grandma. She told her everything about her plan.

Heer’s grandma allowed her to go. Heer gave Ankita some of her clothes to wear. They were similar like the ones which Heer was wearing. They started walking soon after they had breakfast. Deeper and deeper into the forest they went, the darker it got. They found a river at the time of afternoon and decided to rest there. They washed their faces and ate food which they had brought.

Suddenly, all of them went quiet. They heard crunching sound in the nearby bush. They all silently got up, all scared to move a bit. But, to their relief, a bunny came out of the bush. They all went there to feed the bunny and play with it but they saw scratches of nails on the bunny. They were all alerted. The creature must be here somewhere. They turned around to look and they were horror struck to see something coming towards them.

“It- it is the hu-cat” Heer said, shivering slightly.

The hu-cat, as was named by Heer, had white fur with yellow ears and tail. Though, it was a way higher than a normal cat.

“Hey” said Ajju, “You are not looking bad as I thought. You are handsome indeed. Want to be my friend?”

Ankita tried to stop him. And that time, hu-cat screeched.

Ajju proudly said “Hmm, he said yes.”

“Ajju run!” yelled Ankita.

The alien started running towards them. Ankita took Ajju’s hand and the three of them started running as fast as they could. Ankita could feel herself shaking.  Fear was rising through them rapidly. The hu-cat was coming nearer and nearer. Heer saw a big tree and she indicated to hide behind it. They did as they were told. They could hear muffled voices which belonged to hu-cat. Just as they hid behind the tree, Heer did something unexpected. From her bag, she took out three shot guns and their refills and gave each of them one.

“My father is in army. Now, do u know how to use them, right?”

“No, of course we don’t” Ankita told her still in shock.

Heer taught them how to use and refill it within 10 seconds and then she went in front of hu-cat with a naughty smile which Ankita thought didn’t belong to her. She started firing on the creature.

“What are you waiting for, sis? Come now or the alien will be defeated by Heer alone.” Ajju ran and started firing while Heer was refilling.

Ankita didn’t fancy it much, but anyways she also went out. The creature could not do anything, so it hid itself behind a tree. It was bleeding in hand and a foot with a weird blue blood.

After firing for some time, they stopped. Ankita couldn’t hear any sound coming from that region. She slowly went to check there, gun still in her hand and ready to fire at any moment. As she went nearer, Ajju cried loudly. She turned around to look and saw that the hu-cat was running so fast, not towards them, but in other direction, holding Heer and their bags in its hand! They both chased after them. It was not possible for hu-cat to run quickly because of injury, apart from the weight of Heer and the bags. Still it was soon out of sight. They both called for Heer, but there was no response.

After walking for a while disappointedly, Ajju stopped suddenly, “Sis, they are here. See.” he whispered.

Heer was tied to a tree with the rope which Ankita had bought with her. And the hu-cat was searching something in Heer’s bag. Ankita had a plan. While hu-cat was facing the other side, she would free Heer and they will run as fast as they could.  

As she went there, hu-cat suddenly turned to her. She was so scared to do anything. The creature went to her and said, “I do not have any intention to harm you.”

Ankita shivered because of the hoarse voice. “I am not the one you need to fight against. You have to fight against her.” it was pointing at Heer.

“Wh-why do I n-need to fight against my friend?”

“She is not a friend, I am.” And with this, it pointed a gun at Heer, which it was hiding behind its back. It was a small bright blue gun.

Before Ankita said anything, he fired it at Heer and she felt a shock. She was boiling and her skin was turning into white color. At the other side, the hu-cat also felt shock and was shrinking. In a matter of time, Heer was transformed in hu-cat and hu-cat in Heer.

“Wh-what did you do?” Ankita shrieked.

“Hey, is that a Doraemon gadget? I also want to try it.” Ajju said excitedly.

Hu-cat, tied to the tree screeched loudly and broke the tree, and was free. It screeched louder than ever.

“Bang..!!” a tranquilizer hit the hu-cat. Ankita could see many people coming towards them, including cops and scientists.

“Dad!” The hu-cat which had turned into Heer screamed and rushed to a person in an army suit.

“No. Step back. She is not Heer. It is the hu-cat. It transformed into her using this.” Ankita pointed at the gun.

“I need to make something clear.” said the man in the army dress to the people who came with him. “She is my daughter. Yesterday night, when she brought stupefied Ankita, out of nowhere, this creature came. It injured me and it transformed itself into Heer and made my mother a hostage. I escaped to bring help so it took Ankita and Ajju with it as leverage. I am happy that Heer is now back to her original form.” He turned towards Ankita and Ajju and thanked them for their help.

“Oh, so the whole time, we were with the hu-cat? I can’t believe it.” Ankita said with fear.

“Yes, it wanted to take some human species to its planet and so it captured you.” Heer said.

“Okay, now children please allow us to escort you home as soon as possible. Your parents are worried about you so much.” Heer’s dad said.

“What about the hu-cat? Can I keep it as my pet? Please?” Ajju asked to Heer’s dad.

“Ofcourse you can’t.”Ankita said laughingly.

Once they reached home, their parents hugged them and also scolded them for leaving.

Ankita thought that she will go on another adventure like this in the forest again. She loved it.

_____

“Don’t worry, I have deceived them.” Hours later, Heer’s father was talking on some alien transmitting machine, “Yeah, I am in form of some Army guy and that idiot is in my form.”

-          Naisha Raychanda (23th Sept, 2020)