DT 02 "A Wish Amiss"

A Chapter by dw817

Dad was all in a blur now, talking to himself. "Wishes aren't real ! Fairy stories ! There's some - some scientific reason this happened. Were we all hallucinating ? Is it some type of new science !?"

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DOUBLE TROUBLE

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D O U B L E T R O U B L E
(When one is not enough ...)

© July 2016 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 2 - "A Wish Amiss"

* * *

This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

But before all that happened. Let's go back a few days from now, when it was my Birthday. And Dad and Mom had made me this very nice vanilla and cinnamon Birthday cake.

Unlike last year where no-one showed up despite inviting everyone from my class, this year, we were just going to have a private Birthday party in my home, and with family only.

And just as well we had it indoors instead of at a park as there was a bit of an electric rainstorm raging outside, finally having broken through the heat wave we had the past few days.

We were all in the dining room. The candles were lit, the lights were out, and it was time for me to make a wish and blow out my candles.

I remember leaning over and thinking up a wish. Hey, I was only 10-years old, what could I possibly wish for ? I knew what happened last year with the rest of my cake. My mean sister cut it up and took it to class making up a bit story saying how she baked it for everyone.

I told everyone she was lying and while I think the teacher believed me, no-one else did.

I wasn't going to have that same thing happen this year. I made my wish. I leaned over to blow out the candles, when I felt a tickly sticky painful feeling all around me.

I looked to Mom and Dad and their eyes were wide open with fear. I tried to say something but it was if the breath were caught in my throat. I couldn't utter a syllable.

I looked to my sister and, she too, thought something was very much out of place as she had her mouth opened even more in fear than my parents did.

My Mom rushed out to grab me when Dad held her back. That was strange I thought. Then there was this blinding white light and I was blown back.

What I thought was long hours was actually mere moments. I woke up to see Mom patting my hand and my sister smacking my face.

"Wake up 'tard !" she yelled.

"Not so hard, dear." Mom told her.

I was awake, my sister had already leaned back her palm to smack me again whether I was awake or not but I pulled away from her. I coughed slightly, felt a bit of a pain in my chest, but nothing worse than that.

"Figures you would survive." my sister sneered.

"Survive. Survive what ?" I asked.

Dad came in close now. "You don't remember anything son ? No ? Well unless all of our eyes were playing tricks on us, you were hit by lightning. It came straight through the chandelier and sparked right in the middle of your forehead. You lit up like a Christmas tree, then I guess you passed out for a moment.

He pointed a finger at me, "You're very lucky to be alive ! Not too many people get hit by lightning and live to tell the tale."

"What'd ya wish for, twerp ?" my sister angrily asked me.

"I ain't telling you !" I told her. All eyes were on me, so they couldn't see what I did. The candles were still lit on the cake - yet to the side of the cake I detected a separate glow.

Pulling away from the protective comfort of Mom and Dad I struggled to stand up.

Dad offered gently, "Easy tiger, we may need to call a doctor to get you checked out."

"Maybe later." I said to him. Then saw what no-one else was seeing.

My cake was still lit, the wax only now started to trickle down the sides of the candles, but a very strange sight was to the left of the cake.

There floating in mid-air were candles, hovering about an inch over the table. They were an exact copy of the candle positions that were on the cake.

Surrounding the floating candles was a haze, a gray smoke if you will, and in the same shape as the untouched cake.

Dad, Mom, and my sister now saw it. They all shrieked in fear, everyone except me. I was curious at what I was seeing.

My sister finally overcame her fear and reached over to touch it but Dad grabbed her, "No no, pumpkin ! We don't know what this is. It could be very dangerous !"

* * *

My Mom strangely enough pulled me aside in confidence. "Honey, what did you wish for ?"

"I can't say or it won't come true." I told her.

She smiled kindly, "Sweetie, I need to know, it may be related to - what - whatever it is we are seeing here. I promise I'll make your wish come true if I can."

I nodded, "Okay, well, you remember last year how Stacy took the rest of my cake, brought it to school and told a bit fat lie saying she baked it for the class ?"

Mom nodded, "That was very wrong of her to do that."

"Get over it butt brain." I heard my sister say, but even the tone of her voice was tinged in fear at the continuing sight of the apparition cake.

Mom pressed me. "Okay, so what does that have to do with your Birthday wish ?"

I spoke louder so everyone could hear, "I wished for another cake just for myself that Stacy couldn't claim was hers."

My Mom then pulled back in fear. So did Dad and Stacy.

"Your - wish ?" Dad and Mom both asked tremulously.

I nodded.

Stacy wasn't about to let an opportunity like this pass. "So you can wish stuff huh ? How about you wish for me a new dollhouse or something ?"

I agreed. Any gifts I could give my sister might make her like me more and pound on me less. So I wished - and wished - and wished. Nothing happened.

Mom added quietly, "Maybe you've already used up your wish - and it can only be on your Birthday ?" Then a little louder with a big smile, "Why this must be magic !"

Dad was all business now. "There's no such thing as magic, Margee. No, this just needs to be examined more closely ..."

He reached a few fingers out to the ghostly cake to pluck out a floating candle when suddenly the mist vanished, the candles fell, still lit, to the table. And Dad had thrust his finger in his mouth from pain.

"Darling ?" Mom asked.

"It's - COLD. I think I burned myself - from cold !" Dad pulled his finger out and touched it with his other finger. "It's freezing ! Here, come check this out."

Stacy, Mom, and me, gingerly touched Dad's fingers. Sure enough they were like ice.

Stacy smiled, "Wow, that's cool Dad !" and she laughed with a wide mouth showing her braces. "Get it, COOL ?"

Dad groaned, perhaps more for my sister's weak joke than the pain. He then went over to the sink to run his fingers under them so they wouldn't get frostbite.

My sister picked up one of the candles from the 2nd vanished cake, blew it out, then smelled it. Then she smiled, "Smells like cake, nothing strange there."

Wax was now easily dripping on the cake. While it seemed everyone was content to let the remaining idle candles burn through the dining room table, I was not, and blew the ones on the cake out, and then the ones that were now just starting to burn the tablecloth.

I carefully lifted the candles from the cake to the right and saw very little wax got on the cake itself.

Dad was all in a blur now, talking to himself by the sink. "Wishes aren't real ! Fairy stories ! There's some - some scientific reason this happened. Were we all hallucinating ? Is it some type of new science !?"

Dad was so upset now his hand was shaking in the water. Mom came to console him. "It's okay, dear. Some things - just can't be explained, okay ?"

That was then. A day later something else strange happened. Dodge Ball in P.E. at school. Not that in itself was strange but as I was playing and getting ready to get beaned by the green rubber ball by my mean sister, ANOTHER green dodge ball just presented itself to the side of me.

Everyone was shocked, where did the ball come from ? I didn't wait to ask any questions. I just picked it up, aimed for my sister who was frozen in place with confusion like everyone else. And with prowess and accuracy slugged her right between the eyes with it.

She fell over and was going to cry from the pain but was still so shocked at seeing a ball appear from nowhere that she just kind of moaned and shook a little.

Everyone one else just backed away from the 2nd ball as if it were a monster or something.

Our P.E. teacher dismissed the whole thing and said the ball must've come from somewhere else - and it wasn't important.

A day later at school in the cafeteria, my sister made a real show crowing loudly that she got the last sliver of chocolate cake from the tray where we got our lunches - and that I wasn't going to get any.

A whole crowd had gathered around as they wanted to see me cry as she ate the cake - and this was something she had done in the past.

As for me, I was thinking hard on that cake. The moist chocolatey-ness of it, the hard white plastic fork. The plain off-white paper plate - when suddenly another piece, complete with fork and plate appeared just to the left of the one my sister was eating.

I grabbed it and ran away. Many of the students were stunned, just for a moment, then took off trying to catch me, mostly to ask WHERE the mystery slice came from, but also to take it away from me.

It was at that point I knew something was different with me. When I was hit by lightning, something - changed in me. With a bit of concentration, I could duplicate items. How far could I go ? And was there a danger to this ?

(to be continued ...)

END OF CHAPTER 2