Lighting flashed across the ceiling and curling up underneath her covers, Bianca hugged her dolly closer. A crack of thunder and she was up and across the room and down the hall.
At first she wanted to cuddle up with mommy, but then decided that she actually wanted to ask her brother something and instead made a bee-line for his room and after knocking, she entered, waiting to see if he was still awake.
After a moment, Victor shifted the covers and asking, "Scared?" waited for Bianca to climb into bed with him.
Nodding in response, Bianca explained as she climbed into bed, "Yeah...that and there is something I have been meaning to ask and I wasn't sure how to ask it...something I have been wondering about."
Patiently, Victor waited for his sister to get comfortable next to him. As he did this, his mind flashed to the note and the evening that had passed.
A couple hours earlier Victor hadn't been called by that name...he had been instead addressed as Vicky. And his sister had been called Bryan. But when their mother had called them down for dinner, she had called them down by the names Bianca and Victor.
Wondering if this was something to do with her wish, torn between being glad that he didn't rip up the note and troubled by his lack of action, Victor was drawn out of his thoughts as Bianca asked, "Do you ever get the feeling that maybe you once were a girl and I was a boy and that we were older?"
Unsure, thinking about how he looked more like a young boy and was wearing more and more clothes suitable for a boy of age four and acting like one as well...why all the while Bianca was going through the same changes...and knowing it all had to do with the note...Victor finally looked at his sister, who looked like a five year old girl and acted like one to...and then asked, "What do you mean?"
Sighing, Bianca pulled her dolly out from underneath the covers and as the rain pelted the windows, she explained, "I don't know how to explain it...but that about two weeks ago I think I might have been a boy and then started to change into a girl."
"Are you happy as a girl or would you rather be a boy?"
Silence and Victor was almost ready to re-ask the question when Bianca said, "I'd rather be a girl....I am happy as a girl and I don't think I should be a boy...or would be happy as a boy..."
Silence and Victor thought about the note. After bit, he shifted about, listening as the dry-night he now wore underneath his pyjamas made a crinkling noise. Then he asked, "So if the opportunity presented itself, you wouldn't want to be a boy?"
"No...I am happy."
A shifting noise and Victor felt his sister press closer as if trying to get comfortable, felt her nightgown and dry-night pressed up against his pyjamas and then as she found a comfortable spot, she pulled away. After a moment, she asked in a drowsy tone, "How about you. Would you become a girl?"
Victor stared up at the ceiling, slowly dropping off to sleep as well. After a bit, he said in a quiet voice, "No...I am also happy."
Soft breathing and Victor realised that Bianca had fallen asleep. Sticking his thumb in his mouth, he pulled a plush animal out from under the covers and staring at the ceiling, he thought about the note. After a bit, he to slept, content that his life and Bianca's would be fine...and that he had made the right decision in making his wish and not tearing up the note.
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Underneath his bed, the note...as if listening to all this...shifted and then, as if lifted by some unseen wind, flew up into the air and then vanished. Weeks passed before the note was seen again and then it was by three girls that were best friends and everyone said always had the giggles.
Laughing about what Amanda had just said, Becky replied, "Oh my god...he didn't?"
Laughing, Amanda told her, "He did...and right in front of our foster mom...Jeremy must be the biggest weirdo on the planet...don't you agree Heather?"
"Heather?"
But their friend had lagged behind and the moment the other two had noticed, the both looked at each and giggled and then turning about, they made their way back...only to discover that Heather was holding a note.
"Let me see," Becky squealed. "I bet it's a love note."
Heather blushed, and then giggling a bit, she replied, "No...It is someone's idea of a joke...Listen to this..." and then she proceeded to read the note out loud.
Giggling, Amanda told her, "I bet it's a joke started by the geeks...they are always unhappy about something."
"I bet it was the Jocks," Becky said.
"I bet it was that creepy Emo kid that is always skulking about," Heather replied.
"What if it is true?" Becky asked. "What if this note does grant a wish? If that were even possible, what would someone even wish for?"
"Well if they are unhappy, they can just rip up the note," Heather explained, pointing at one of the last lines.
"What would we wish for?" Amanda asked. And then as an afterthought, she said, "I would wish for something weird and exciting to happen to Jeremy."
"Please," Becky said, suddenly no longer giggling, "I gave up believing in that sort of stuff when I gave up believing in fairies, princesses and pretend tea parties with my dolls."
Grinning, Heather withdrew a pen from her backpack and then said, "I'm going to right down our wishes." and then giggling some more, she added, "So you are going to have to come up with something by the time we reach home-room and our free period...Amanda, you serious about what you said about your wish?"
Thinking about it, Amanda giggled and then nodded her head. Next to her, Becky cried out, "I'm not making any wish...now give me the note.
Heather giggled and then took off down, with Amanda and then Becky following. As she moved down the hall, she cried out, "I'll only give you the note after you have told me what you would wish for."