"I wish Jessie was big again," you said.
"Wait? What? Wish me normal!" said Jessie. The outer layer of the single celled bacterium Jessie had become began to quiver.
"What...what's happening to me?" asked Jessie with fright.
I looked the microscope, eager to watch her development. Suddenly, pseudopods of cytoplasm stretched out, grabbing other bacteria. As they touched the other bacteria, they seemed to suck the cytoplasm from the other cells, adding their mass to Jessie's own. Jessie's head grunted and groaned, as her cellular body began to balloon and grow. As it enlarged, the process began to accelerate. Soon, Jessie's cell had consumed all the others on the slide and was stretching past the edge of the slide. I backed away from the microscope. I saw a greenish goo dripping off the slide and onto the table. In the middle of the goo was Jessie's face. She was still grunting and groaning, but seemed to be smiling, almost as if she enjoyed it. I backed away from the table, careful to avoid any contact with her body. I was beginning to think I had made a bad wish.
"I wish that Jessie wouldn't grow any bigger, " I said quickly.
The cell stopped growing. It was roughly the size of a small dog, maybe 3 or 4 feet long. It was a large single rod, lined by gyrating cilia with a long thin flagella at its base. And of course in the center was Jessie's angry face.
"You asshole! What the hell were you thinking? You could have at least let me grow to my normal size," said Jessie. She seemed a little disappointed that she couldn't enjoy growing anymore.
"Sorry. I just wanted to teach you a little lesson for being so mean. I'll turn you back to normal now. I wish Jessie was human again," I said.
We both looked at Jessie waiting for her to change, but nothing happened. Jessie stared at me angrily, her cilia gyrating wildly. Her flagella pushed her forward across the floor. "Well? What's the problem?" she asked.
"I don't know. I wish I knew," I said quickly. Suddenly, knowledge flooded into my head.
"Oh, no," I said softly.
"What?! Tell me!" said Jessie angrily.
"Um, well, it seems that you can't undo wishes once wished," I said.
"What!" said Jessie angrily. She shot forward towards me, and I backed away. I didn't want her to touch me like that. "You mean I'm stuck like this? Forever?"
"Not necessarily," I said, as I continued to nervously back away. "I just need to think of the right wish."
"You? Think? You are an idiot!" said Jessie. "That's why I didn't want you as a lab partner! Why don't you give me the ring and let me make a wish?"
I paled. "Sorry, Jessie. But the ring is stuck on my finger. No one can remove it. It was my first wish."
"I am going to kill you, you little creep!" said Jessie, as she shot forward bumping into desks.
I dodged and pleaded for mercy. "Please, Jessie, it was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt you! It was just meant to be a joke, a temporary thing to teach you a lesson. Please don't hurt me, " I said, as I ran around the room. "Oh, I just wish you weren't angry because you changed into a giant bacteria."
The ring tingled on my finger, and suddenly Jessie stopped. She had strange look on her face, like she was confused. Then she looked down at her body, and began to smile.
"Jessie, are you okay?" I asked, as I stepped down off a table.
"Yeah. I'm fine," said Jessie, as she continued to examine her body.
"So you're not mad at me anymore?" I asked.
"No, why would I be mad? " she said softly. "This really isn't so bad. In fact, it feels kind of nice. Especially the growth part. That felt really good."
I began to regret my wish immediately. It had somehow affected her mind. "Um, Jessie. I think I better make a wish and get you back to normal."
Jessie looked up at me. "Why don't you let me try? I am sorry for being rude, but I am the smart one. And I do have a few ideas."
"But you can't. Remember, the ring is attached permanently to my finger," I said.
Jessie smiled. "Well, then why don't you merge with me, just like I did with the bacteria? We can make the wish together then."
My jaw dropped in shock. The idea disgusted and repelled me. Jessie slowly rolled towards me.
"C'mon. It's not that bad. Being this way feels really good, and if you are part of me I know you will enjoy it, too. I know you really like me. You have wanted to be with me, to be in me, for some time. That is why you were so mad at me for rejecting you. Well, now we can be closer than ever. We can be one," said Jessie, as she continued to follow me around the room slowly.
"Jessie, you don't know what you're saying. The wishes have affected your brain. You can't want that," I said.
"Oh, it's just for a little while. Until we can figure out how to wish ourselves back to normal. Don't you trust me?" said Jessie.
I ran across the room, far away from her. "Sorry, Jessie. But I don't. Just give me a second to think, and I'll fix you."
Jessie turned and glared at me. "No, I am afraid I can't let you do that. If you won't join me willingly, then I'll just have to absorb you and get the ring off your dissolved finger."
Jessie rolled over to a cabinet and pulled out a large jar of liquid. She dropped the jar, and rolled over the liquid, absorbing it. I could barely read the label, but I vaguely remembered it was a compound the teacher used to stimulate cell growth.
"Jessie, you can't get any bigger. I wished for you to stop growing," I said.
Jessie laughed. "You never were very smart. That compound doesn't make cells get bigger," said Jessie. She began to grunt, as her body started to bulge oddly. Jessie grunted as a her body seemed to separate into two sacs of cytoplasm.
"It causes cells to divide, " said Jessie, as he her head split in two. The cells finished splitting, and now there were two bacterial monsters glaring at me. One move towards the door, blocking the exit, while the other moved forward to trap me in the corner.
"Just give me the ring, and you can go, " said Jessie.
Suddenly, the creature at the door began to groan. Jessie turned and stared as it split into two. She looked down and saw her own body beginning to divide again. As she finally separated, she shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, well. The more the merrier. Now where were we?" said Jessie, as she advanced towards me again.
Suddenly she stopped, as her body began to divide again. This time, four new cells were budding off of her body. She winced as the cells finally finished separating from her.
"Oww, that kind of hurt. My head feels a little funny. I think we may not have divided evenly or something. I guess I shouldn't have taken so much, " said Jessie.
But she didn't have long to think, as 8 new bulges formed on her body. Then 16. She groaned as she continued to divide more and more, the process seeming to accelerate at an exponential rate.
Jessie seemed to be in agony. The many cells continued to groan, as they rapidly divided also. The room would soon be filled with the cells.
Jessie looked at me with fearful eyes. "Please, help. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to. It's too much. Too much. And it requires so much energy, so much effort. I am so hungry. Please, make it stop. Help me, " said Jessie.
But I didn't know what to do, and we were rapidly running out of room. So I wished that I was outside of the school. I saw Jessie's progeny spilling out of one of the school windows. One of them absorbed a small cat, and then propelled itself forward in search of prey. I knew I had to do something soon, or Jessie would continue to divide and consume the world. But I needed some place safe to think. So I wished myself home, and tried to think of some solution.