The Hub

If I were to run a party hub, it would be the most coveted place on earth. People would flood the gates of the hub and leave laughing and singing praises about it, which would mean even more people pleading with the gatekeepers to let them in at the time.

But what would you think if I told you that this party hub is only known about by teenagers. The ones who know about it have a hard time concealing it from boring and interesting adults alike. Children in the making of being a teenager would beg their older siblings or friends to let them know about this huge secret. But a vow, is a vow. A vow that if broken would lead to a war if broken.

But lets not talk about if I would run the hub. Ms. Fletcher runs it much better than I do. Ms. Fletcher was a middle aged interesting woman who had the best of all stories to tell about any topic you could think of.if you asked her to blurt out a story on an earbud, she would start with it immediately.

'Once upon a time, there was a horrible, terrible, awful giant who terrorised a village. One thing odd about the giant was that he adored earbuds. Give him one and he would you go if he caught you. The village called Aroma. The village was christened Aroma because flowers grew absolutely everywhere. but it was not like this all the time. The land was once barren. Not even Cactus grew on the land. The legend goes like this: when famines prevailed due to the barren land, a beautiful lady appeared out of nowhere. She waved a hand and small saplings grew out of land. Stretching to the length of the sky, these saplings turned to trees. Flowers grew from bushes and creepers bore fresh and incredibly juicy fruits.

But the giant would not let the villagers enjoy the fruit and flowers. He would move from house to house baring his fangs and asking for earbuds. He would not let people get out of their houses without giving him earbuds. One day, a traveller called Orlando was crossing the village. The giant asked him for an earbud. Orlando was a brave and intelligent young man. He took and earbud out of his bag and attached a needle to it. The giant did not notice the needle. He plugged the needled earbud into his right ear screamed out in pain. The ear was bleeding all over. The giant screamed out in pain, bared his stinking fangs at Orlando and ran to the nearby forest, never to be seen again. The villagers hailed Orlando as their first king and sang high praises about him far and wide. The villagers lived happily ever after.'

But Ms. Fletcher's stories did not always end on a happy note. Their were tragic ends too. Romeo and Juliet seemed ever so tragic when Ms. Fletcher told it.

Susy and her best friend Liza loved Ms. Fletcher more than any other teenager in the London. Ms. Fletcher loved them more than any of the teenagers she knew too. One thing you must know about the party hub was that all the teenagers had at least once in their life visited the hub. They loved the hub so much that they vowed never to let out a whisper about it. Ms. Fletcher trusted all of them.

They all loved her and were like a secret club of fun. The only drawback of the club was that once they grew to the age of 20, the teenagers had to leave the secret club and inject themselves with the memory serum. No amount of begging and brawling to Ms. Fletcher changed the condition whatsoever. The memory serum erased the memory of the club from the person's mind forever. You just wouldn't remember the most glorious period of your life and remember yourself as just another boring teenager who liked to skate-board. This meant that all the adults in London had once been to the hub but just didn't remember it.

It was Susy's 13th birthday on the day it happened. It was the most dreadful day of Liza and Ms. Fletcher's life and the most dreadful (but surprisingly the day she treasured the most in her memory in the title of 'fun') birthday in the life of Susy. It was early morning when Susy entered the hub with Liza. The bells at the door jingled as they entered. Ms. Fletcher appeared out from the dark hallway in the corner of the dark room and damp, moist air hit the faces of Susy and Liza. But they weren't afraid. They visited the hub almost every second day (they couldn't come everyday or their parents would be suspicious). As soon as she so them, Ms. Fletcher's girlish voice boomed 'Ah...Susy and Liza, my dear, dear girls; and its Susy's birthday!! Come in dears, in-in-in!!' She ushered the girls inside the hub through the dark hallway. As soon as they enetered, a warm and welcoming atmosphere in the main hall greeted them.

It was always like this in the hub. That's one reason why the teens loved it. The party hall was on the other side of the main hall. That was another reason. Bright fire cackled in the fireplaces of the hall. All the 8 fireplaces were surrounded by cosy scarlet armchairs. Susy and Liza settled into the armchairs as Ms. Fletcher made them hot chocolate. Ms. Fletcher had stopped accepting money from the two girls a century ago. The girls sat in silence, slurping their drinks. Ms. Fletcher asked them if they fancied some freshly- baked brownies. Liza said 'No, thank you Ms. Fletcher' and Ms. Fletcher laughed. 'Oh for god's sake lizzy,' she said, her brown eyes twinkling. She was the only one who called Liza 'Lizzy" and got away with it. ' How many times do I have to ask you to call me Susan? Say it: Susan!' 'Susan' the girls repeated.

'So Susan,' she said (she liked to tease her) 'I and Liza were thinking about something. If we see the hub as a great building with an artistic sign hanging saying "the hub", what do the adults see it as?And you are an adult, why do you see it the same way we do?' 'Hmm...I have been asked this question many times. Its not every time I give an answer,' Susan said. 'Oh, come on Susan. You know us. We would not breathe a word about it to anyone' Susy said angrily.

'Fine,' Susan began 'but not a word. Not a word,' the girls moved excitedly in their armchairs. 'This hub is enchanted. I can see it the way you do because I am the blood of the founders of the hub. My ancestors ran this club and now I am. When the adults are injected with the memory serum, they start to see this place as a sombre building with a sign saying "under construction"' 'That's basically the COOLEST thing I've heard. Tell me more Susan' Liza pleaded. 'that's all there is to it' Susan said simply.

The trio sat in silence as the girls absorbed the news. 'Can we go to the market? I desperately need chocolate. It's time for the crowd to arrive. They are all going to be asking for chocolate drinks and cakes', Susan said after a while. The girls giggled. They all knew that Susan gave out chocolate as if it were free. There was something in her stuff that made teens long for her food. After they were done with giggling and Susan was done with rolling her eyes, Susan said 'let's go.' She and Liza finished the rest of their drinks in one gulp and got up.

While walking down the main road to Tom's, (He sold the best goodies in London) the trio talked talked excitedly about the hub. When they reached Susan asked for 'my chocolate' and instead of turning back to the chocolate shelf, he went to the back of the shop and brought a perfectly round slab of chocolate. It was small and fit in the hand of Susan. Susy and Liza wondered how Susan planned to get along with such a small slab of chocolate for the whole day. 'That'd be a pound' Tom said, grinning. 'Oh Tom' Susan grinned back, and walked out of the shop without paying.

While walking back to the hub, the girls put their doubt to words. 'You are curious little girls, really you are,' Susan sighed 'I'll show you a demo'. Susan broke the slab of chocolate into two equal halves and gave one half each to the girls. They ate it up within seconds, it was so creamy and delicious!! When they looked back at Susan, she was smiling broadly and waving at them a small, round slab of chocolate. 'Oh. Oh. Oh. Susan' Susy said breathlessly. She had understood everything. Liza looked questioningly at the other two.

'My family is a family of wizards and witches. Tom is my cousin.' Susan began but Liza held up a hand, her mouth still full of chocolate. 'Iunaaneiin' she let out of her still full mouth. With a deep swallow, Liza said again 'I understand everything,'

When Susan, Liza and Susy had trotted back at the hub, they saw a newspaper lying at the entrance with a headline:

SUSAN FLETCHER SUSPECTED OF BEING A WITCH: TERRORISES CHILDREN NEAR CONSTRUCTION BUILDING

All the three inhaled a sharp breath. 'Pathetic,' said Susy, breaking the uncomfortable silence that hung between them. 'Pathetic is the word,' Liza nodded. 'We have to clear your name, and we are' Susy glared at the ground.

Just then a newslady appeared. She was Stancy, a great friend of Susan's. 'I know he has tipped people off, that scum, scum I tell you,Lucius, I will get you for this!'Stancy screamed. 'Roll the camera,' she said through gritted teeth. 'That would not be necessary' said Susy. ' Susan, how much of memory serum do you have?' 'I have a cupboard full of it, Susy,' she replied anxiously. 'I get what you are thinking!' said Stancy, and for the first time since they had seen her, her face was not contorted in anger; she was smiling.

A mob of people suddenly flooded the building. It was the teenagers.

WE KNOW YOU ARE INNOCENT!!

One banner said.

WE WILL BACK YOU SUSAN! DON'T WORRY!!

Said another.

'Oh well, all the love you have given all these years Susan, it has paid off' Stancy said proudly. 'LISTEN UP! WE ARE GOING TO THE AIRPORT! DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TELL THE LOSERS YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE? Stancy yelled at the top of her lungs. 'YES WE WILL!!' the crowd yelled back.

'Let's GO!!' Susy said as Stancy ran into the hub and came back with a tiny shelf. Susy and Liza exchanged looks. They knew it was a whole cupboard in there. Stancy was not a friend, she was another cousin.

'Why are we going to the Airport?' Susan asked Stancy and Susy. Liza could not speak, she was flabbergasted at the whole scene. 'Oh, spare me your confusion,' Stancy said bluntly. When they reached the Airport, the group of them got into Stancy's private jet. As Stancy barked orders at the pilots, Susy loaded the whole cupboard of the serum into the compartment under the plane. Susan and Liza were just standing wide-eyed at the whole scene in-front of them. Time was going at the speed of milliseconds.

'Up, up, UP!!' Stancy said as everyone buckled themselves in. When they had taken-off, Susy saw the whole of London unfold before her. It was a breath-taking sight.

'NOW!!!' Stancy's voice pierced through Susy's thoughts. The plane lurched and a collective, dreamy sigh went off from the city below.

The memory serum had been released from the plane. London now did not remember that Susan was a witch, or that she 'terrorised' children.

They had not only cleared Susan's image, they had also saved the whole magic community from being broadcast.

Susan thanked the group profusely and closed the hub for the day. Susy and Liza went to their favourite garden and spent the day sniffing around flowers.

Life at London resumed normally.