Aru and Kiko

Rachna Chhabria writes a story about a boy whose invisible companion creates trouble at school

Aru was walking in the park near his house. He saw a young boy of his age in a brown T-shirt and brown shorts, sitting alone on a bench. Chatterbox Aru sat down next to the boy.

“Hi,” Aru said.

“Hey there,” the boy smiled. “My name is Kiko. What’s yours?”

“My name is Aru. I study in Blue Dale School,” Aru said. “Where do you study?”

“I left school a year back,” Kiko sighed.

A few people walking past stared at Aru with odd expressions on their faces.

“Why?” Aru asked.

“I don’t feel comfortable revealing the reason,” Kiko replied.

“Sorry for making you feel awkward,” Aru apologised. “What are your hobbies?”

“I love reading, playing and eating.”

“Ditto,” Aru laughed.

A man jogging past scowled at him.

Aru and Kiko chatted for a while.

“It’s getting late. I better go home,” Aru said, waving goodbye as he left the park.

The next morning, while Aru was getting ready for school, he was surprised to see Kiko standing beside him.

Before Aru could say anything, someone knocked on his door. His cook, Nimmi didi, entered his room carrying his breakfast. “Your mother wants you to finish everything,” she said.

Aru was shocked that she couldn’t see Kiko standing beside him. Goosebumps dotted his arms. Kiko was a ghost! No wonder the people in the park were giving him odd looks, wondering who he was chatting with.

“Hello, Aru,” Kiko said cheerfully. “I’m not a ghost but a magic spirit.”

“How did you come into my room?” Aru asked.

“Through the window,” Kiko said, drifting out of the seventh-floor window.

Aru watched wide-eyed as Kiko reappeared in the room.

“How is it that only I can see you and no one else can?” Aru asked.

“You must be special,” Kiko smiled. “I want to accompany you to school every day,” he said, floating near the ceiling.

“No,” Aru shook his head, craning his neck to watch Kiko do backflips.

“You can’t deprive me of education,” Kiko reasoned. He stood in front of Aru with a serious expression on his face, his feet floating three inches above the ground.

“You will have an invisible friend in school sitting beside you. I can even help you with homework, especially art homework,” Kiko grinned wickedly, flipping through Aru’s art notebook. His translucent body quivered with excitement, like sunlight rippling over a lake.

“That’s bribery,” Aru said. He badly needed help in art class. “I can’t take you to school if you don’t wear the school uniform.”

“Croseous,” Kiko said.

Kiko’s brown clothes transformed into Aru’s grey and purple school uniform, right down to the purple badge. Aru gaped. Not only did Kiko look smart, the uniform suited Kiko more than Aru.

Aru slid into the back seat of his car. All through the car ride, he flung dirty looks at Kiko, who flew beside the car singing a song. They entered the school together. Luckily, no one could see Kiko. The first two classes were a breeze, as Kiko behaved himself during English and Hindi. It was during the third period that things went wrong.

The art teacher, Miss Lina, entered the classroom. “Today’s drawing exercise is to sketch my face. Make the sketch resemble me as much as possible,” Miss Lina said.

The students started their sketches. Everyone was eager to please Miss Lina and win a chocolate from her. Aru’s hand flew over the sheet, drawing Miss Lina’s likeness on paper. After he had finished, he studied his pencil strokes. In Aru’s sketch, Miss Lina’s ears looked too small and her nostrils too big. One eye looked bigger than the other, and the same was true for her lips. Sweat trickled down Aru’s body as he studied his sketch.

“Wow, you are a great artist,” Kiko mocked.

“Help me,” Aru pleaded.

Kiko immediately whispered a few spells to transform Aru’s sketch. But nothing seemed to be working. Aru started sweating, tears spilling out of his eyes. Seeing the sketch, the teacher would definitely punish him.

“Five more minutes, students,” Miss Lina said.

“If you can’t beat them, then make them join you,” Kiko said. Looking around the classroom, he whispered a few spells.

Aru saw that in the sketch of the girl sitting on his right, instead of Miss Lina, a clock stared at him. In another student’s sketch there was a water jug. In one sketch, instead of the teacher there was a pair of glasses, and in another there was a pencil.

Miss Lina walked between the rows, collecting the drawing sheets from the students. Her scowl became deeper and deeper as she gathered the sketches. “Students, all of you will undergo detention for the entire week,” Miss Lina announced.

“It’s all your fault that my classmates are getting detention,” Aru accused Kiko.

Kiko looked repentant. He whispered a few spells. Luckily for him, the spells worked, and every drawing became an exact replica of the teacher.

As the teacher shuffled the papers,
she blinked her eyes, then rubbed them. “Students, detention cancelled,” she said slowly.

“Whew,” Kiko sighed. “No more magic in school.”

“Also, no more school for you!” Aru said.