I walked upstairs and turned the door to my room. I walked inside, sat on my bed, and began to think about what I was going to do. Then something hit me. I had never undone the wish about walking through walls and doors. So how come I clutched the doorknobs of both my door and the house door? This was weird. I had to know the answer as well.
After stumping myself for a few minutes, I decided to test something. I made myself invisible again, and reached for the door. My hand went right through it! It seemed as if the ring did something to my wishes. It connected them somehow. I needed to be able to walk through doors when I was invisible, but not when I was visible. The ring knew that and made my wishes one in the same! My clothes and shoes were still visible. I tried to put my foot through the door, but it just banged against the door as always. I took my shoe and sock off, and my invisible foot passed through the door. I kept extending it outward but once my jeans touched the door, it would go no further.
This was an important discovery. OK, I thought. I don’t need to wish those things anymore. They’ll just happen. There was one more thing to try, though. I wished my clothes invisible and I walked completely through the door. I passed back into my room and made everything visible again. I concluded that whatever was invisible would be able to pass through walls and doors as I had instructed.
I resumed planning my night’s escapades. For whatever reason, I emptied my backpack and put in things that I would need if I actually went to Brad’s house. Then I decided I would take a wait and see approach once I got to Erika’s house. Yea I’d just play it cool and let the situation unfold.
It was now about 7:30. Lindsey had said they’d be there at 8:30. I knew where Erika lived and realized it would take me about an hour to make it there. So I grabbed my things and headed downstairs.
“Mom, I’m going to Brad’s house now,” I called out.
“OK,” she said, her voice coming from the kitchen. “Call if you need anything.”
“I won’t, but OK,” I said. “Bye, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, hon,” my mother said and I walked out the door.
I needed to make sure she wouldn’t go snooping around, I thought as I walked down our front steps to the sidewalk. She hadn’t ever, but I couldn’t take any chances with this. I wished that she would not call Brad’s house or even remotely worry about me as long as I was not at home. That should take care of things.
I didn’t need my backpack now, since I wasn’t going to Brad’s. I wished it was back in my room, in a concealed place my mother wouldn’t find it if she happened to go looking in there for something. I began walking to Erika’s house. I saw no reason to make myself invisible yet. It was starting to get dark outside, and by the time I made it there, it would be totally dark.
Along the way I thought about the various things I could do. But I didn’t know if Erika’s parents would be home. Or if anyone else would be in the house. Trying to do something to them like I had done to Mrs. Barnes wouldn’t work if there was someone in the house.
I was about 10 minutes from Erika’s house, when a car sped past me on the road. I recognized it as Lindsey’s car. Trisha appeared to be riding with her, much like this afternoon. I thought that this would be a good time to make myself invisible. I wished myself, clothes, shoes, and jacket all invisible in one fell swoop. Everything about me vanished completely. I just hoped that the transitive effects of my wish would still be intact.
Two more cars went speeding past in the next few minutes. I only assumed that the contingent of Claire, Mia, and Katie were inside. I finally made it to Erika’s house. It was certainly a mansion, sitting on a nice, secluded hill. I was pretty tired from walking all this way. Then I realized something. I could have just wished myself here. No, I thought. I had to make it look like I was walking to Brad’s house. Oh, well, at least I could wish I wasn’t tired. Immediately all my energy came back to me.
Erika’s mansion was protected by a huge steel gate that looked like something out of Batman comic books. I stepped up to it, expecting to pass right through. I was in for a rude awakening. Luckily for me though the first thing that hit against the cold steel was my foot. I quickly retreated away from the gate. Puzzled for a moment I stood there looking at it. Then I realized I was only able to pass through walls, doors, people and animals. I never said gates. I corrected that with a quick wish, stepped through the gate, and walked on up to Erika’s house.
I approached the front door. It looked like the only cars that were parked there were the three that had gone past me and the one that I recognized as Erika’s. Her parents were not home. I stepped through her front door and followed the voices I heard into their living room. Just then I heard a dog barking. I spun around to see a cocker spaniel frantically barking at thin air. Then I realized he was barking at me. How the hell could it sense me?
“Oh, Buster, shut the hell up,” Erika said. I wished that the dog couldn’t sense my presence. It stopped barking right away. I knelt down to it and tried to pet it. But my hand passed right through it. Oops. I wished that I would be able to pet this dog only, just to comfort it. I always had a thing for dogs, and the way Erika seemed to treat it bothered me. I stroked its coat of fine hair, and it seemed to calm down, even though it couldn’t sense me.
“That’s OK, Buster,” I whispered, and then I realized that my voice could be heard!
“What was that noise?” I heard Trisha suddenly ask.
Oh shit, I thought. I wished that they couldn’t hear my voice.
“He’s probably just whimpering ‘cause I yelled at him,” Erika said. Her voice was rough and disinterested. She truly seemed to have no love for this dog.
I stopped petting the mistreated creature, just so one of them didn’t come out here and see the dog reacting to something not there. I walked into the living room through the foyer. The foyer was composed of hardwood material. On the last step before I touched carpet, the floorboard creaked loudly.
“God,” Erika said, “All this money for a house and it still makes noises like that.”
“Oh come on,” Mia said. “Everyone’s house does that all the time.”
“You’d think my parents would have found something that wouldn’t do that though,” Erika complained. “They find all other kinds of stuff like that. Silent dishwashers, silent air purifies, silent this, silent that. Their whole life is built around lack of noise!” she screamed. I admired the irony of that.
“Jeez, calm down,” Mia warned her friend. Mia was best described as a hot-blooded Italian. She’d find a home on The Sopranos if she ever wanted to be an actress. She had long, wavy, jet black hair, a tiny waist, somewhat large hips and ass, and of course, a large rack. In fact, hers were probably in the DD range, whereas Lindsey’s and Trisha’s were in the C or regular D range.
“What should we do first?” Lindsey asked.