Samantha then felt a pang of emptiness within her, as if something was missing in her chest. She narrowed her eyes as she realized the gravity of the power she held. There were stipulations to be made, but she would do whatever she wanted. She looked at the ring and saw that she didn’t need to hold herself back anymore, as though she’s won the race. The power welled through her mind, she looked back to her cousin and said “are you excited? To marry Johnny, I mean?”
“Well of course I am, Sam, why wouldn’t I be?” Diana said without hesitation.
“That’s… it’s just I wanted to…” Samantha struggled to gather herself, the thread of logic she was running on was starting to fray. “I’m sorry, it’s just, I’m excited too. It’s all so marvelous! Tonight was a remarkable night and I’m feeling… I feel like I’m on top of the world.”
“That’s…. You’re losing me, Samantha.” Diana’s tone uncertain of what her cousin was getting at.
“Diana, what if I told you I could do anything?”
“I’d say you’ve had too much to drink.”
“You might be right, I do feel a certain amount of intoxication right now.”
“You’re scaring me Sam.”
“I wish you didn’t feel that way.”
Diana’s body language, which was leaning towards uncomfortable, began to ease as a slight yet warm smile drifted along her face. “Okay.”
Samantha began to giggle to herself aloud as she realizes what she has done. She didn’t realize the corruption of the ring, only that it was an isolating experience, and before she could really take that harm she managed to find someone to talk to about it.
“Diana, is there anything in this whole world you should would happen? Something that you’d like, it could be anything, even something impossible.” Samantha said and she stroked her pinky against her ring finger. “Honestly, Sam.. it’s a little out there, but… Johnny is great, I love him to pieces, he’s a great guy! The problem I have… I’m jealous. Jealous of how perfect he is. Yeah, he’s flawed, no one’s perfect, but I love how he’s just… the ideal man.”
Samantha nodded along as Diana opened herself up, the drinks and the magic flowing through her mind that give way to a state of extreme openness. “Please don’t laugh, but I’m jealous of him because… well, because I want to be him.” Diana starts to get choked up, she just admitted to something she wouldn’t have, even if she were only drunk. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be him specifically, I’d rather just be man. I’m charmed quite a bit by it for sure, the allure of machismo, but I also would have to have it. I wanna be taller, I wanna have a beard, I wanna not worry about having boobs or overthinking my life in the ways I’ve found being a woman… except I don’t as well. It’s weird, I love being a woman just as much as I hate it. Like, I don’t even think I can get past the fact that I’ve had a crush on Terra since middle school, but we’re just best friends. She wouldn’t go for a girl like me, and I love Johnny so much. I… I dunno, it’s all so complicated.”
Samantha smiled as she placed a hand on Diana’s shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be. You want a world where you can do both and be both?” Diana looked at her cousin with a a strange sense of optimism and disgust thinking surely Samantha doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Samantha gently grabbed Diana’s cheeks and looked her in the eyes.
“Diana, I wish for your wish to come true. I wish that you could be a man or a woman. I wish that you could feel comfortable in your skin in ways you only ever dreamed. I wish that you could have it all.”
Diana blinked a couple of times before she could speak when she felt a strange sensation in her chest. She looked down as her breasts began to deflate and hair began to grow.
“Oh my god…” she said, her voice growing deeper and deeper. She pulled a compact mirror out of her purse to see his transformation. Stubble grew slowly as her face began to change shape, the testosterone in her system making way for more masculine features. She looked back to Samantha and smiled widely. “What did you do?!”
“I wish you wouldn’t worry about it.” Samantha said as she watched her cousin grow taller. The new man giggled until he felt a compulsion to laugh and swept Samantha off her feet. “This is incredible! Thank you so much, Sam!” Samantha felt the warm of Diana’s larger frame, she tried not to laugh at the fact that he was still wearing his cocktail dress. “You’re welcome sweetheart. You deserve to feel comfortable in your skin, no matter how you see yourself.”
Almost in an instant, Diana felt herself shrink back to her feminine form as she began to weep tears of joy in Samantha’s arms.
Later, as Samantha got to her car, she realized something that staggered her for a second. She suddenly remembered the party differently, with Diana having more of a mix of genders at their party and the notable absence of the Terra, the Maid of Honor. Samantha pulled out the invitation to the wedding she’d been keeping in her purse and she saw the totality of her wish manifest before her. “Celebrate the 3 way union of Johnny Menton, Diana Rice, and Terra Kinson, August 17.” Samantha felt invincible, as unto a god.
Samantha drove home, thinking of what she could do next, thinking of how far she may go, and even thinking about how her life could be changed.