Wings of Love and Affection

This story is based on the characters of a science-fiction novel, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’, by Madeleine L'Engle. I have given a brief introduction of the characters below. Enjoy reading the novel by clicking here or read a detailed summary and analysis by clicking here.

Characters-

Meg Murray- Meg Murry is a teen girl, who is impatient but determined.

Charles Wallace- Charles Wallace Murry is a five-year-old prodigy, and the youngest child in the Murry family. He has supernatural abilities, including the ability to read minds.

Mrs. Whatsit- Mrs. Whatsit is a supernatural being who used to be a star in the universe. She takes the form of an old woman and is one of the children's three guides on their celestial journey

Mrs. Who- Mrs. Who is a supernatural being and one of the children's three guides on their celestial journey. She frequently speaks in literary quotations

Mrs. Which- Mrs. Which is a supernatural being and one of the children's three guides on their celestial journey. She has no physical form and appears as a "shimmer" of silver light. The repetition of letters in words she speaks gives an impression of her being far away.

Zingya- A mysterious celestial creature with deformed faces, two tentacles and no feet. This is not a character in the original book- I have created it myself.

A very interesting process mentioned in the novel is that of a tessering or a tesseract, which is similar to time travel and teleportation.

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Wings of Love and Affection

Meg Murray could hardly believe what she was hearing! It was midnight and Mrs. Whatsit was telling her and her brother Charles Wallace that a mysterious legion of faceless beings were descending on Planet Earth in the next 24 hours, from the dark planet Camazotoz to destroy it. Only through their knowledge of the tesseract, could the planet be saved. They had only 24 hours to fullfil their mission!

“Charles, what will we do? We must not wait, we need to do something, quickly!” Meg exclaimed, in a confused and desperate voice. “Oh, Meg, do not be so impatient. We may not know how to 'tesser', but we have Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which with us. Let us talk to them. I have full confidence in our abilities- we can surely do this.” Charles Wallace reasoned with her. Meg hesitantly agreed, and the two of them approached Mrs. Whatsit. “I shall take you to Happy Medium. She, with her magic powers, can show you those mysterious celestial beings. Get ready to 'tesser'!” She said, and before Meg knew it, she was feeling the lifelessness and uncontrolled sensations in her body again. No matter how many times Meg tessered, it still was painful and difficult for a mortal like her.

They reached the small cave in which Happy Medium sat, watching little children play, in her crystal ball. As soon as she saw the three Mrs. Ws, she rose up and bowed in respect. “Oh, you must want to see the Zingyas approaching the Earth. It pains me to see such depressing scenes, but it is important for you to know what you are up against.” She said, and showed them the innumerable mysterious creatures- the Zingyas, approaching their beloved planet. Their faces were deformed, they had two tentacles in place of their arms and no feet- they would probably float in the air to move forward. Just the sight of these creatures sent shivers down their spines. “Ttthey ddo nnot hhave eeyes. Thhey ssense tthe llight tthat is rreflected from oobjects.” Mrs. Which explained.

“We will give you a robe sewn from the precious stars- it would stop the light from reflecting from you, when you wear it. In simple words, it would make you invisible, not just to the Zingyas, but also to the mortals and us.” Mrs. Whatsit explained, handing both Charles and Meg a beautiful, glittering garment. For a moment, Meg was lost in its sparkle- she had never seen anything like it. Mrs. Who wished them luck and said, “Carpe Diem. Latin, of course. Seize the moment, my dear children. Remember- fortune favours the brave.”

“You know that the units of time on the Earth are not very accurate in the universe- but remember, you have very little time left.” Mrs. Whatsit warned them.

By that time, the Zingyas had reached the Moon. Meg and Charles Wallace had to hurry- they could not let them reach planet Earth. Mrs. Which helped them 'tesser' to the Moon and left them on their own. They were dressed in their celestial gowns and could see the three Zingyas, whose moves were completely synchronized- like everything at the planet of Camazotoz. “If we break their rhythm, they might get confused and might even lose some of their power. But, Meg, I am not very sure- you never can be sure about creatures that emerge from the Darkness.”Charles said. Meg agreed, and the two of them started to throw stones at the Zingyas and tried pulling their tentacles. It seemed to have no effect on them- they were still moving towards the Earth, at a rapid speed.

But, they refused to give up. “Charles, they are too powerful for us- we cannot break their rhythm. We need to find the opposite of Darkness- we need to spread light here.” Meg said, and immediately plucked a star from her robe and threw it at the Zingyas. Before it could hit them, they sensed it and pushed it aside. “This won’t work either. I will remove my robe and go in front of them. Meg, you throw a star at them from the other direction. This would confuse them. Do not worry about me. I am sure that I can do this.” Charles told his sister. Meg was hesitant, but agreed. To her dismay, as soon as Charles removed his robe, the Zingyas sensed him and shot a bullet-like thing at him. He immediately fell unconscious.

Meg could not control her emotions and ran towards her brother. She cried out loud, and in a fit of anger, picked up a stone and threw it at the Zingyas. To her shock and surprise, one of them let out a strange squeal and fell to the ground. “How is this possible? We had tried hitting them with stones, but they had hardly felt it. What was so powerful in this stone that it hurt a Zingya so badly?” She wondered. Then, she understood- there was nothing special about the stone. It was her love for her brother that made the stone powerful. Light was not the opposite of Darkness, it was just the absence of it. The opposite of darkness was LOVE- pure and true.

She thought of all that she loved- her family, the three Mrs.W’s, Aunt Beast- and above all, her home, Planet Earth. She started picking up stones- but saw that the Zingyas were already lying dead. Thoughts are more powerful than stones, she realized. She picked up Charles Wallace in her arms, and looked up, only to see the three Mrs. W’s standing there, smiling proudly.

“Time to go to a bright and beautiful home, my dear children. You are true guardians of your planet. You have wings of love and affection.” Mrs. Whatsit said, with her eyes glistening with tears of pride.