It's time to break the curse
The curse is in trust. Riley held the crystal ball in his palms, swirling the tiny balls in it to the left and right causing the crystal ball to chime softly.
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He wanted a life so badly that he had gained the trust of people in so many professional fields and taken their dreams from them so he could be them, live their lives, but it didn't make any sense.
Nobody knew him for who he truly was, he too had lived other people's lives for too long that he couldn't remember who he was. But he knew who he wanted to be; Selena.
Riley had recently gained the trust of the quiet, young boy living just across his street. It wouldn't have been an option but he was tired of being Sir Darlington whose dream had been to live a nice, quiet life by the sea after his retirement. So Riley had lived by the sea for 8 months and decided that wasn't the kind of life he wanted.
He wanted more.
He had strolled around that evening in his plaid trousers and hand knitted sweater when he saw Dennis. It wasn't like Dennis had the best life, but he wasn't sitting on the patio of a house by the sea, reading newspapers and dancing to old school music.
Dennis, just like every of his other victims, was well to do in his own world. He was dropped off at school everyday in a jeep by his parents and was head boy in the local school.
So that cool evening, Riley had taken a stroll again and caught up with Dennis after basketball practice,
“Hey kid,” Sir Darlington’s voice was croaky.
“Hi. Do you need help with something?” Dennis asked, throwing his backpack on his shoulder. Sir Darlington nodded
“Got a bottle of water there? I'm thirsty”
Dennis reached into his backpack and handed him a bottle of water which he thankfully gulped.
“I see you play basketball. Is that what you want to do as a career?”
Dennis shook his unsuspecting head.
“I want to be a professor but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get science right. I wish I could be the best science student at school.”
Sir Darlington could hear the soft chime as Dennis began to open himself up, recalling the dreams and aspirations he held close to his heart. When he was done talking, he began to feel dizzy and lowered himself next to Sir Darlington on a bench.
Before long, he was fast asleep and Sir Darlington's wrinkling features began to soften up, assuming the golden brown hair, brown eyes and pink lips of Dennis’s face.
Yet 4 weeks after living as Dennis McKinley, he was still dissatisfied until he met Selena.
She had transferred to his school from Florida and in 2 weeks, was able to beat the entire final year science record.
Riley, who was now living Dennis's dream of being the best science student, was knocked off by Selena and by all means, he was going to get her dream. He was the dream catcher afterall.
He approached her after biology class one afternoon, she was with her group of girlfriends, who Riley saw as her minions. He couldn't wait to become her so they would flock around him too.
“Hi” he held his hand out for a handshake. “I'm Dennis”
“I know who you are” her blue eyes were looking directly into his brown ones.
“I wanted to know if you could explain something real quick? I was quite sleepy in class”
Selena handed her backpack over to one of the girls and proceeded with Dennis to the locker room. He pointed out the ‘Chromosome’ topic and asked her to explain.
He was barely listening but when she was done, he put on a huge grin.
“Thank you. You want to pursue this science career after school?” He asked. She smiled, those blue eyes as icy as ever.
“No,” she walked straight to him and reached into his pocket where the crystal ball was always kept.
“Give that back, you don't know what it is”
“I know who you are because I made you” she was smiling now, “and I have come to take you back”
“What do you mean?”
Selena's blue eyes were glistening now, causing sweat to break out from Dennis's insides.
“I thought I was giving you a life, not knowing I was taking yours away from you. You were just a tiny baby and I didn't know what to do, so I gave you this,” she held the crystal up. “But now, I'm going to let you have a life of your own. Go kid, discover the world…”
Selena released the crystal and it hit the ground, shattering into irrecoverable pieces before Riley could protest. He could see Dennis rise with confusion from the bench at the field, and so did every other person whose dream was lost to Riley.
In that same second, he could see himself going back through time, unbecoming all those who he had become until he was back to his original personality; A child in swaddling clothes dumped on the streets, found by a white haired witch and handed a crystal ball on his first birthday.
Riley had a wild adventure that I wish I could be like him. Imagine having the chance to be anyone at anytime and switch around as much as you want. That's a life well lived. Although, he had to take other people's dreams to live that. It's great that Selena relieved him of the burden of not being himself. I hope that works out well for him.
I think some of us have a little bit of Riley in us. We always want to reach for another person's thing. It could be a trait, a talent, a possession, we don't feel content with what we have, who we are, and what we can do.
We assume we will be happy if we have what the other person has. If the universe smiles down on us, and we get our hands on these desires, we no longer feel happy or content, then we start questioning, "What was the essence?", "why am I not happy?".
It's human nature and I hope that those of us who are yet to discover our purpose will do so soon enough so we can let go of other people's lives. Thank you for reading.
What a twist, This narrative effectively illustrates the negative effects of attempting to live another person's life as well as the value of staying true to oneself. It reads like a warning about what happens when you lose yourself chasing the goals of other people. Really thought provoking!
Surely, you are right. When we lose ourselves while chasing the goals of others, we might never be happy. Thank you for your kind words.
While I think it would be great to be in possession of such power as having to be anyone at anytime, I don't think I'd have utilized it as Riley did. He was just too confused for my liking.
I didn't see the end coming and that made the story even more interesting. And there's a lesson to be learned from the story too.
People use power in different ways based on their unique experiences and how they perceive the world. Riley happened to use his in search of happiness and his true self.
Thank you. I am glad you learned something.
You have a wonderful imagination, @iskawrites. This is a creative and interesting story, with twists and turns that cannot be foreseen by the reader. Very compelling! Thank you for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.
Thank you so much, Inkwell 💖💝❣️
The power of possessing other people and their dreams is very striking, this makes the story have a great impact on the reader. In the end I could imagine the time regression.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Good day.
Thank you for reading and for the compliment. I appreciate you 💖
The twist you gave in your story, it stuck my mind totaly. I was really engaged with your story. Great writing.
Thank you very much