1st 5 Pages June Workshop - Mutalib

Author: Nur Athirah binti Abdul Mutalib
Genre: Young adult; fantasy
Title: Fatress Prophecies

After the initial shock wears off, Holly swears everything was a blur. She didn’t even have time to put the box away but carried it through customs and immigration.

The flight wasn’t long and if it was she didn’t pay any attention. She gave the tickets and passport when the time came and slept through most of the flight only escaping to the lavatory to cry alone.

When the kind stewardess tried waking Holly up to eat, she swatted the fingers away and buried herself underneath her blanket. Though Holly was hardly asleep, no, her mind was focused on other things.

Her father looked disheveled and her mother tried her best to be the family bridge, holding their hands and guiding them where they need to go because Mrs. Hope knew how important Anthea Hope was to Holly and Wes.

Reeves, a loyal employee, picked them up at Heathrow Airport in a Jaguar but instead of feeling giddy about meeting her grandmother whom Holly loved, she felt a deep pang of hurt and a real sense of loss.

Reeves would always smile when he sees me, Holly thought, remembering the little crinkle he gets in his eyes when he fetches her from the airport but not this time. No, he wouldn’t dare smile during his recently deceased best friend’s wake. The journey was about two hours away and Holly kept to herself most of the time.

Coming up the baronial mansion as the city slowly melted away from view, Holly’s mind was in a recurring flashback. All those puzzles, Sudoku and crosswords she and Anthea would solve in the Sitting Room and books, most of which Anthea chose and force Holly to read to be ‘more culturally diverse’, the sword fencing fight she had with Reeves through the long stretch of corridors with Anthea’s rare Napoleon’s swords (but the grandmother made sure they were blunt enough not to cause any serious damage) while Anthea took turns cheering her granddaughter and butler. Reeves fell from the edge of the thick carpet and Holly won. She remembered Anthea shouting, “That’s my girl!”

On a Christmas visit two years ago when Holly admitted her fascination for yoyo so a month after that Anthea shipped Holly her Avalanche. She didn’t even know any tricks but it didn’t stop her.

The string would get tangled up and Anthea would ask Reeves to wind it.