by Meera, The Emerald Heights International School, India
Off the sandy coast of Pecland, Somalia; the waves carried more trauma, fear and horror than fish and salt. Pirates ruled these waters, and their ships were floating prisons.
In the dark shadow years of piracy, a small 13 years old girl named Ashira, was lured and taken months ago from her village on the promise of food, shelter and a job. But all she got was hollow promises and betrayal of hopes. She was forced to carry weapons, guard hostages, and worse to witness unspeakable horrors. Night after night, Ashira gazed at the stars above the ocean and prayed in silence, “God! Please save me. I don’t want to be this person. Please send someone to rescue me!!!!”
That’s when the stars and universe answered her sincere veritable prayers. They weren’t stars at all. They were HER. The sky pierced and cracked open with a radiant spark and the legendary super heroine who had the power to absorb sunlight and releases it in a powerful burst of light; dived onto the ship like a fireball. She was the Courageous Collette.
The pirates were bezelled by the radiance and started shouting while raising their rifles but they were nothing against Courageous Collette’s blazing light. She disarmed them with beams of sweltering radiance and saved Ashira.
Ashira froze and her eyes brimmed with tears and she dropped the gun. Minutes later, the rescue ship took them all aboard. Ashira was free. Courageous Collette regularly visited her in the recovery centre and monitored her recovery.
One day she hesitantly asked Courageous Collette “Do you think… I could help others like you one day?”
Courageous Collette stood up and emphatically said “That’s what heroes do.”
And as the sun set over the coast of Somalia, Ashira turned a page in her sketchbook, beginning to draw something like a mask, a symbol, a bright light breaking through shadows; clearly signifying the making of another Super hero.
Four months after the escape, Ashira stood on the grimy sandy rooftop watching the unfathomable boundless sea. It was the same ocean that had once been her prison, the same sea that had nearly sank her heart and soul. But now, she was no longer a petrified, timid and a panic stricken girl. Now, she was Durga—a VALIANT DURGA, a name she chose to signify her re-birth.
Under the guidance and rigorous training of Courageous Collette, Ashira had trained herself quietly in covert. She didn’t have powers such as Sonic Screams or Teleportation but she had speed, intelligence, instinct, agility and