"A wish?" I asked incredulously.
"You harass me all night. You stalk me to my car. You curse me. Now you're trying to get to know me better by asking me about my wishes?" My voice rose as the tattered ruins of my patience gave way as months of frustration and stress begin seeping through.
I had had enough. The last year and a half had been excessive to say the least. I didn't realize the value of education until the summer between junior and senior year when some of my friends got out of school and began failing at life, I realized I was on the same path.
I worked hard senior year but my previous three years didn't set me up to succeed. I took the slow, easy classes and while my classmates were taking intro to calculus I was taking algebra 1b. The same applied to the other core classes like reading and writing. Two semesters just wasn't enough time to turn things around.
All through the summer I had worked my butt off at crap jobs saving up to pay for college. My family didn't have the money to help and my grades weren't good enough for a scholarship, so I worked. I balanced three jobs through the summer and maintained two into the first semester at the local school where I am taking a full course load to maintain student status for car insurance discounts and to catch up with where I should be after graduating high school.
Despite all my efforts, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Due to where I live, I don't qualify for the "in area" rates at the community college. Because I live at home, the FAFSA doesn't help much and I end up paying when I do my taxes. All my money goes towards gas getting me to and from school and work. To accommodate my school schedule, I have two part time jobs instead of a full time one, meaning no benefits. I am trying my hardest but my grades are all C's and I'm always tired. Then there are people like this guy.
"I DON'T want to be your friend, man!" I screamed. My body tingled with growing rage as I stomped towards my car again. I could feel the man's worried eyes on my back further enraging me. "He has no right, that judgmental ..."
I spun around after only taking three steps, my face contorted with loathing and regret. I ran back up to the kneeling man and pointed violently at him as his sad, scared eyes looked back at me not knowing what was next. "I don't want to be your friend." I growled at him through clenched teeth fighting back tears.
"I don't have TIME for friends, I don't have MONEY for friends, I DON'T HAVE ENERGY for friends!" Hot tears began streaming down my face as I unloaded all my frustrations on the doe eyed drunkard kneeling in the parking lot.
"I've got two crap jobs, a full load of coursework and your drunk ass wants to turn me into a goat? A goat!?!" The fleeting thought entered my brain that being a stupid, mindless herd animal would be so much easier than what I'm going through. A scornful cackle escaped my mouth followed by a sob. "I'm 19 fucking years old! I cant dispense liquor! Let me tell you, I could use it a lot more than you! I can't wait till I'm legal."
My rage winding down, succumbing to sorrow. "I work really hard, I work my ass off! I don't deserve this crap. You know what I wish?"
The man's eyes widened in terror, he started stammering and shaking, "W-Wait kid! Think ab-about what..."
"I wish that ________________________." The words just fell out of my mouth.
The man's eyes glazed over for a second and he seemed in a trance. "Done" was all he said before he shook his head to get out of the daze. The man looked horrified and immediately stood up. "Oh, kid! Oh kid look, I'm really sorry. I didn't... Oh God!"
Embarrassed by my outburst, physically and emotionally drained, all I could do was ask, "Can I please go home now?"
With that the man nodded and immediately scurried off, out of sight.
Climbing into my car, I took a minute to compose myself, a late night car accident won't help anything. After a few deep breaths I started the car and went home. Its 2:30, I have class at 10, need to get up at 9....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the car drove off the now suddenly sober man staggered feeling the costs of the wish beginning to take its toll.
A curse, when properly applied, uses the distorted energy of the universe to empower karma to reassert balance. When people are petty, cruel, or hateful and take action on those feelings it causes ripples in the energy of the universe. The curse then uses the chaotic energy of those ripples to exact revenge of some sort and also remove the ripples that person had caused. Cursing people, is actually a good thing, IF they have caused a lot of negative chaos in their lives.
A wish however, is a whole different story. The cost of attempting to destroy a balanced soul is harsh. Rather than using the universe's energy to fulfill the wish, the energy comes from the spirit of the one who attempted to lay the curse.
If the boy had wished to be left alone, or had wished to be home in bed and asleep then our curse placer may have gotten away unscathed or a modest year or two older. Alas that was not the case. Aspects of the universe are melting and reforming to fulfill the wish and the body and spirit of this man are the power source of these great changes.
The man clutches his chest and gasps as his body is quickly depleted. In seconds his body ages from early thirties to what would appear to be 90's. His fat and muscle mass evaporates as mass is converted to energy and whisked away to fuel the wish. The man collapses in his newly found frailty. Every aspect of his body thins as the spell attempts to leave a sustainable vessel for the soul to reside in. His frame shrinks until he is a frail, ancient looking midget but still the spell demanded more.
At the brink of leaving this world the wish begins to draw off the man's life force. Souls are immortal, and thus the true cost is wrought. Thousands of lives worth of experience gathered across countless planets over untold ages wink out of existence, used as fuel. The soul, now infantile in its own way, cannot support a being as complex as a human with all of its thoughts, even a dying one. To correct this, the man winks out of existence and in his place a hibernating beetle appears in the ground where the man was, waiting for spring.
With that the wish has finally gotten the power it needed. The energy has already attached itself to the exhausted 19 year old boy who is now sleeping soundly in his bed at home.