Photo by ArtsyBee
As the sun set over the town of Berkaset in the region of Irik, casting long shadows across the streets, a young girl bent over a pile of discarded banana peels in an alleyway. She was busy removing the fibres from each banana peel carefully and bundling them together.
A gruff voice scoffed and called out. "Hey, what are you doing there?"
Allynna glanced up to see a tall, burly man leaning against the alley wall. There was a nasty scar running down the side of his face, and his eyes gleamed with suspicion.
"Collecting banana fibre, of course," Allynna replied, sounding very confident.
The man snorted. "What for? You some kind of weaver or something?"
Allynna hesitated, then decided to trust him. "I'm trying to make a cloak," she said. "A magic cloak."
The man raised an eyebrow. "A magic cloak? Whatever for?"
"It's a cloak of invisibility," Allynna said. "If I can weave it from banana fibre and say the right words, I'll be able to disappear whenever I want."
The man chuckled. "You think it will work? That's a good way to get yourself killed."
Allynna glared at him. "I know it will! I have to try."
The man studied her for a moment seeing her seriousness, then shrugged. "Suit yourself. But let me give you a piece of advice. If you're going to collect banana fibre, you should go to the marketplace. They sell bananas there, and you won't have to rummage through the trash."
Allynna smiled. "Thanks. I'll do that."
As she walked away, the man called out to her. "Hey, kid. You know what they say about magic, don't you? Be careful what you wish for."
Allynna scoffed, eyed the man and went about her business. She was too focused on her goal to listen to his gibberish. She made her way to the marketplace and bought some bananas with the change she had left. She then spent the night carefully peeling them and extracting the fibre. It was hard work, but she was determined.
Being an orphan meant she could do as she pleased as long as she had a place to sleep at night and food in her belly. With this cloak, she could grab food from the market and never be hungry.
Finally, she had enough fibre to weave a cloak. She worked tirelessly, her fingers flying over the loom. When the cloak was finished, she held it up and said the words she had been practising for weeks.
Vanish and disappear,
Cloak of magic so dear.
There was a sudden gust of wind, and Allynna felt a strange tingling all over her body. When she opened her eyes and took a look at her hands, she was gone.
For a moment, she was thrilled. It worked! She was invisible! Then she tried to get up but realised something was wrong. She couldn't move. It was as if she were stuck in place, like a statue.
Panicking, she tried to take off the cloak, but her hands wouldn't move. She was trapped. She tried to speak and call out for help, but her voice produced no sound.
As she sat there, helpless, she heard the voice of the man from the alleyway in her mind. "Be careful what you wish for."
Allynna realised she was trapped. She was now a prisoner of her magic, forever invisible and immobile, doomed to stand in the same spot for all eternity.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. This freewrite is inspired by the prompt "banana fiber". Join the Freewriters community to receive daily prompts, hosted by @mariannewest.