Too late to regret

What would you wish for if you knew it'd come true?

On a day like any other, Audrey walked home from school after a stressful day of exams. She always looked forward to those 5 minutes of peace, walking by herself letting the sun touch her brownish tan skin while her short hair danced with the breeze tickling the back of her neck. That day, she was feeling like visiting one of her favorite places to walk by; an ally with a natural roof formed by the surrounding trees with tangled branches. It made her walk home three times as long, but it was worth getting in contact with nature at least for a little bit; she needed that.
 
As she entered the ally, she took a deep breath welcoming nice fresh air. She ran her fingers through the trees that surrounded her and looked down at the floor covered with dry leaves.  She made a sudden stop when her hand touched something that did not resemble a tree. She felt a thick piece of string hanging from one of the low branches. She couldn’t help but smile as soon as she looked towards it. On its end, it had a beautiful piece of rock, red with pinkish and orange dots inside. It was about the same height of her little finger, and its width was completely misshapen.
                                                              
The rock felt very cold on her hand, though the material was soft, as if it had just been polished. She stared at it for probably too long, which increased her happiness by the second. She finally drifted her eyes away and tucked the necklace on her brown backpack, then continued walking much faster than before, almost hopping; she was eager to get home and wear her new treasure.
 
When she finally got home, she went straight to her room, she didn’t even notice when her mother called her for lunch. She sprinted into her room, closed the door and immediately took the necklace out of her backpack. She put it on around her neck and stood in front of a full body mirror. Her uniform, a short dark blue skirt with light blue vertical lines and a plain white polo shirt, didn’t make any justice to the beautiful rock.
 
She looked through her closet and grabbed a gray silk blouse with short loose sleeves and a round neck line. When she put it on, she was amazed at how good it looked on her. The necklace was highlighted and the light coming from the room’s windows made it look as if it was glowing. She was in love with it.
 
Her happiness didn’t last long, though. Shortly after, she felt like the skin on her chest was burning; and sure enough, the necklace was getting hotter and hotter by the second, until she had to rip it off and throw it on the floor. Luckily, she was quick enough before getting any permanent burning damage.
 
Audrey was startled by a knock on her door. “Lunch is served”, her mom said. She quickly changed into comfortable clothes and ran downstairs to eat and try to forget about the necklace for a moment.
 
But she couldn’t. She was curious about such an odd artifact. She swallowed the food as if her life depended on it and ran to her room again, almost slamming the door on her way in. She picked up the rock and it was cold, matching her room’s temperature. She sat on the corner of her bed and stared at the rock, stroking it with her thump.
 
She grabbed her phone and texted her best friend, Micca. “Come over ASAP, I have something to show you”, she texted. She was happy to receive a reply almost immediately, “On my way!” Micca said. They’ve been best friends for as long as they can remember, and living so near each other, it was usual for them to end up together in one of their houses almost daily.
 
Micca arrived looking as gorgeous as always, even when she was just wearing a regular tank top and shorts, she was the type of person that you had to stare at when she entered a room. Her long black hair swiveled around in perfect harmony with her movements, paired with her face lacking any type of imperfection, it made her look like a doll.  She gently closed the door behind her as she entered Audrey’s room.
 
Audrey didn’t waste any time before standing up to show Micca the necklace on the palm of her hands. “Isn’t it beautiful?” She asked with a big smile on her face. Micca’s face immediately glowed with a bright smile too. “Wow” was the only thing she could manage to say. She tried touching the rock, but Audrey pulled it away.
 
“Be careful! This isn’t just any necklace. There’s something about it that’s strange, and I need you to help me figure it out.” Audrey said as they both sat down on the bed with their legs crossed.
 
“What’s weird about it? It looks like a perfect piece of jewelry to me.”
 
“Just wait and see. But you have to be patient.” Audrey said and she put the necklace around her neck again. Micca was very patient and waited for a few minutes until the necklace started making Audrey’s skin red.
 
“See?” Audrey had to harshly pull off the necklace again to avoid being burnt. Micca reached for it and the rock was just as hot as before, but it cooled down in just a few seconds.
 
“Why would it do that?” asked Micca staring at the rock. Audrey shrugged, wishing she had an answer. “Can I try it?” Micca lifted her face in excitement to meet Audrey’s eyes.
 
“Sure, but be careful. You have to take it off as soon as you feel it warming up.” Audrey warned.
 
Micca stood up to face the mirror and put on the necklace without hesitation. She smiled at how beautiful it looked. After a few seconds, it started glowing with a dim red light all around it, but she could barely notice with so much sunlight coming from the windows. Several minutes passed and there was no temperature change on the rock.
 
“That’s odd, it’s not doing anything.” Said Micca in confusion.
 
“Are you sure? Maybe it just needs more time.”
 
“Hopefully not. It’s so beautiful I sure wish I could keep it!” As Micca said these words, the necklace glowed with such a powerful light that it was obvious even right under the sun, but it only lasted a few short seconds. Audrey giggled at what Micca said, but paid no attention to the rock. “Wow, did you not see that?” Micca asked.
 
“See what?”
 
“It glowed like a hundred light bulbs just now when I said I wish I could keep it.” The same thing happened again as soon as Micca finished the sentence. “See? It did it again!”
 
“Are you sure? I didn’t see anything.”
 
“Hold on…” There was a moment of silence. “Audrey… I know you love this necklace, but I like it just as much. Do you think I can keep it for myself?” Micca finally asked.
 
“Sure, it’s of no use to me anyway, if it’s just gonna try to burn on me.” Audrey said, with lack of emotion. Micca knew Audrey very well, and she never gave things up that easily. She bonded with anything she was fascinated of.
 
“Audrey,” Micca went back to sit on the bed and held Audrey’s hand. “I think I figured it out.”
 
“Figured what out?”
 
“I think this is a wishing stone!” Micca said with excitement. Audrey laughed without breaking eye contact, but didn’t say anything. “I’m serious, I wished I could keep it and you just gave it up, you would never do that, don’t you think?”
 
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t prove anything.”
 
“And the light that only I could see, that was the rock working out its magic for me.”
 
“Come on, Micca, you’re just dreaming now.” Audrey said, still giggling.
 
“Ok, let’s test it out again”, replied Micca with confidence. “I wish it rained right now.” And just like that, the sun light slowly disappeared, covered under dark clouds, making it suddenly rain. “Do you believe me now?”.
 
Audrey looked out the window with her jaw dropped; she was so amazed that she could get no words to come out of her mouth. After a minute, Micca wished for the rain to stop and so it did, making the sky sunny again, just as it was before. Audrey turned around to face Micca, but her face was frozen. Micca, in the other hand, was glowing with happiness, she could get whatever she wanted.
 
But it was risky, she didn’t know the rules to this wishing rock, or if it had a limit of wishes she could make. She knew this could turn out to be a great blessing and she intended to use it only for good, she was always a responsible and respectable person after all. But the worst risk of all didn’t once cross her mind, at least not at that time.
 
“But… how come it didn’t work on me?” Asked Audrey, finally snapping out of her amazement.
 
“I don’t know. But don’t worry, this is our wishing stone now, I’m not going to keep it all to myself of course!” Audrey smiled after hearing this. Seeing what the rock was capable of, she was very jealous of it; she was always the one wanting to have it all, sometimes regardless of the cost. “What do you think we should do now?” Micca continued.
 
 “I have a billion ideas. But… how do you think it works?” Audrey asked.
 
“I don’t know, but we have to be careful and wish for the best thing possible next, just in case it has a limit, you know.”
 
“I know, and I have a genius idea!” Audrey said as they both sat down on the bed again. “You know how there are so many mean kids at school? They mock almost everyone. Wouldn’t it be great to wish they changed into completely new people? People who are nice and help everyone instead of mocking them.”
 
“Oh, Audrey, you have such a good heart.” They both smiled at each other, but Micca’s smile soon faded away. “But no, they don’t deserve that. Why would we make villains into heroes? I think it would be much better to wish them out of existence. That’s what they deserve.”
 
For a moment, Audrey thought she was joking and was going to say something completely opposite, but the look on her face made her look determined and completely serious. Audrey didn’t know what to say, but she knew she had to stop her. “You said it was our wishing stone, you can’t just wish something like that. I can’t let you!” Audrey said.
 
Micca stood up and grabbed the rock, still hanging around her neck. “I know what I said. And I’ll let you wish whatever you want too, but my wish comes first.” Silence followed. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, I’ll make my wish then.” Micca said and quickly fled the room.
 
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The next morning, Audrey was incredibly tired. She could not sleep, thinking of a million reasons why Micca’s wish was so wrong and what the consequences might be. They had their lockers next to each other, so they met first thing in the morning after arriving.
 
“Look, I made a list of the bad people who don’t deserve to be here.” Micca said without even greeting Audrey first. She showed a list of about 12 kids from their grade, they were both finishing middle school that year. Audrey didn’t have to say anything, Micca knew by her look that she was still against it. “Fine, I’ll do it myself. I thought we were always going to be supportive of each other, but if that’s how you want to play it, fine. Don’t thank me when this school becomes the perfect place to be without having them around.” With that, Micca left.
 
One of the kids on the list, Josh, was coming their way as Micca walked away. Josh was one of the worst kids in school; he was always fighting smaller kids, or throwing gross things at others. Audrey watched as Micca came to a stop, grabbed the rock necklace and wished for him to not exist. Within a second, Josh was nowhere to be seen. Micca turned around and smiled at Audrey; she couldn’t contain her excitement knowing her wish worked, but Audrey didn’t have any reaction to it.
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.
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By the time it was lunch, Micca was already about halfway through her list. Each time she’d erase someone’s existence, a new student would appear on their place. It was not really a new student, it was someone who entered the school the same year as the erased person did, except it was the first time Micca had seen them.
 
She was amazed by the power of the wishing rock. Somehow, her memories of the erased people were not affected, at least as far as she knew, but new memories with the classmate appearing in their place were forged into her brain; most of them good. And the best part, she thought, was that she could tell the old memories apart from the new ones. Micca was so excited to share this with her best friend that she even forgot how Audrey was not on board with this whole thing.
 
She and Audrey sat at the same lunch table almost every day, but she wasn’t there that day. She went outside to the patio and found Audrey sitting on one of the benches next to an apple tree, eating lunch with another student that she didn’t recall Audrey being friends with. Micca went there and asked the other girl to give them a moment alone, which she did.
 
“What’s up?” Audrey casually asked, as she finished her Tuna sandwich.
 
“Audrey, do you not notice anything different?”
 
Audrey thought for a few seconds before responding. “I don’t… should I?”
 
“Well,” Micca excitedly pulled out her list to show her. “I’m on number 8 now, see? And didn’t you notice the new guys who took their place? You should have new memories with them in it now, haven’t you noticed?”
 
Audrey took the list on her hands and carefully read through it. “You’ve actually been doing it, haven’t you?” She said, after a moment. “You’ve been disappearing the people on this list! I don’t even recognize the crossed names. Do you have any idea of the impact this can have, to everyone!?” She gradually raised her voice.
 
“Shh, you’re going to let our secret out.” Micca replied, taking the list back. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m helping you! All the bad stuff that these people did to us and to everyone else never happened thanks to me. But of course you don’t notice because I guess your whole memory was changed and I may be the only one who remembers them now. But you should be happy about it anyway. Don’t you trust me?”
 
Audrey stood up, took her lunch bag and left without saying anything. But that wasn’t going to stop Micca from finishing her task. She was convinced that she was doing good for the world by ridding it of people unworthy to live.
 
By the end of the school day, she was out of the building before anyone else and finished going through her list. A lot of new memories were coming up on her mind, everything seemed confusing to her now, but she still stuck by her believes and thought she was strong enough to handle it. It was only fair, she thought, that now that she was done with her first set of wishes, she’d give the chance to Audrey to get something she wanted, since she promised her the wishing stone was not going to be hers alone, even if they weren’t talking to each other at that time. So she waited a few minutes outside of school until Audrey finally went outside. She was alone, as she usually walked home by herself.
 
“It’s your turn now, I guess.” Micca said after running up to Audrey, but she just continued walking without acknowledging Micca. “Oh, so you’re absolutely not talking to me now?” She continued.
 
Audrey stopped her step. “Oh, you’re talking to me?” She asked.
 
“Duh, who else would I be talking to?”
 
“Sorry, but-” Audrey could not finish her sentence before Micca jumped in.
 
“Look, I know we haven’t been in sync lately, but I made you a promise and you know I stick by all my promises.” Micca said, but Audrey’s only response was the look of confusion. “What, do you not want to do this anymore?”
 
Audrey hesitated to say anything. “I think you may be mistaking me for someone else,” she finally said. “Do I even know you?”
 
Micca laughed, thinking it was a bad joke, but Audrey’s face told her it wasn’t, she really had no idea who Micca was. At that time, it all made sense to her, all of her confusion with the old and new memories. She thought she could tell them apart, but she never imagined the severity of the consequences her wishes had, up until that point that is.
 
“No…” Micca murmured. She stepped back and looked around her, her breath came in heavily and her hands started to tremble.
 
“Are you okay?” Audrey asked, but there was no response. “Do you want me to call someone?”
 
Micca ran away without saying anything else. She ran as fast as her legs would let her, she needed to go home right that instant. When she got there, the door wouldn’t open with her key, so she banged on it until someone opened it, and it was not anyone she’d seen before.
 
“What’s going on?” A middle aged woman asked as she opened the door.
 
“No, this can’t be happening, no!” Micca said, stepping back, almost in tears.
 
“Are you alright dear? Are you in any trouble?” The woman asked, but Micca ran away again without a response.
 
After just a few steps, she headed back to her house, which was not hers anymore. “Do you know a person by the name Michelle Rosewood?” She finally asked.
 
“Oh yes, she lives three blocks from here. It’s that way,” The woman said, pointing to her right side, “you’ll notice the house because there’s always a friendly Dalmatian in their yard. She’s a very nice woman-”.
 
“Thank you!” Micca said, running off again. She knew the house the woman was talking about, it was where one of the kids on the list lived, but what would her mom be doing there? She asked herself. She knew the answer to her question, but she pushed it as far back in her mind as she could, hoping to make the reality of it go away.
 
As she approached the house, she saw a kid she’d never seen before going in. It was a boy around her age that had a lot of similarities to her. She stood there for some time, not wanting to knock on their door. She knew it was the right house by recognizing the friendly dog. Eventually, after a couple hours, a man came out, one that she recognized, and she knew her most feared thought was correct. It was the father of the boy she disappeared that lived there. She realized that the work of the wishing stone could not only affect what she wished for, but everything around it as well.
 
By wishing the boy to cease existence, she changed the past to make it so that his parents never met. What she was not aware of, was that her mom and the boy’s dad were always close friends from childhood, and the only reason they weren’t together was because of the man’s wife, who was with him since their teenage years. Since that marriage never happened, another one took its place, and it was one that ceased the existence of Micca herself.
 
In a desperate thought, Micca started running towards Audrey’s house after her realization. She had no idea how to fix what she’d done and knew Audrey didn’t even recognize her as all memories of her were vanished, but she was the one who found the stone and Micca had to convince her into finding a way to undo her mistake. As she ran towards Audrey’s house, she made uncountable wishes that were not granted, and she realized that one of the stone’s restrictions was that she could not wish anything that would undo a previous wish.
 
Exactly three hours after her last granted wish, when Micca was only one block away from Audrey’s house, the wishing stone fell on the floor; and so Micca ceased to exist. No one ever noticed her disappearance, no one ever knew of her nor remembered her. Except for Audrey, whose only memory of Micca was of that day when she approached her after school. But she soon forgot about that too, leaving no trace of Micca’s existence. And as for the wishing rock, it stood there awaiting to choose its next user.

 

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Yelissa]

Awesome story, very sad ending, but very real, loved it. You are very talented.