Story Contest 2016 #2 - Outstanding Stories » Work by Yourself

“Work by Yourself” is one of the outstanding stories of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2016 written by Aryan Bhardwaj, India.

Work by Yourself

Once there was a young and jolly girl Malika, who was very lazy and unhappy. She hated doing work of any kind. Every day, her mother would tell her, “Malika, if you want to be happy, you must learn to do routine work and chores.” But lazy Malika would not listen.

One night, as Malika was about to sleep, a fairy godmother appeared and questioned Malika, “Why are you so unhappy?”

Malika replied, “I don’t want to do any work. I wish all my work was done by itself. Then I will feel very happy.”

The fairy wanted to teach a lesson to Malika. Therefore, after Malika went to bed that night, the fairy waved her stick and performed some magic.

The next morning, when Malika got out of her bed, to her surprise the bed cleared up by itself. Malika was shocked and thrilled. When she entered the bathroom, the toothpaste jumped onto the brush, which then galloped straight into her mouth, and started brushing her teeth.

Later on, all of Malika’s work including her homework was done, her books were packed, and her shoes were polished. All of this seemed pleasurable until Malika went for that bath: the steaming hot water in the bucket poured over Malika on its own. She shrieked with pain and screamed, “It has burnt my skin, Stop!’’, but the bucket would not listen to her. She then ran out of the bathroom. Soon, old torn frock flew over her and fitted on her body. Malika screeched again, much louder this time, saying, “I don’t want this frock’. It’s torn.” However, it was no use. Soon, her hair was combed untidily and at breakfast all the food got mixed up and flew into her mouth. She could not swallow what she was eating.

Malika's mother was baffled to see what was happening. She wondered what had happened to her dear daughter. However, Malika had no time to answer her mother’s questions. She was caught up in a whirlwind of actions done to her.

At school, it did not end, but got worse. Malika’s pen started scribbling all over her book, and the teachers scolded her. Somehow, she got through the day and reached home in the evening. At home, she sat on her favorite swing. The swing went up and up, not stopping once. She squealed, but there was no way it could stop. At last, Malika fell on the ground and wept, regretting what she had wished for.

That night the fairy appeared again, and Malika begged for forgiveness. The fairy was kind enough to return things to normal. Malika had learnt her lesson. From that day onwards, Malika’s attitude changed forever. She learnt to do her work by herself and taught others to do the same.