Birthday Wish

One day, Mara and her friends were walking home from school. It was going just like any other day. Then Mara heard one of her friends say something from behind her.

“I think someone has a birthday coming up!”

Mara paused to think then froze in her tracks and began to blush.

Her friend shouted with excitement, “That’s right! It's your birthday and we have something special planned just for you!”

Mara was so embarrassed but so grateful that someone actually remembered. Her friend asked, “Why so red?”

“I'm sorry,” Mara said with regret in her voice. “It seems like nobody ever remembers my birthday.” Then she cracked a smile and shouted, “But you did! And tomorrow will be the best birthday ever!”

They continued on walking home with great hope for their special plans her friends had in mind for her big day.

That night, Mara found it very hard to get any sleep so she stared out her bedroom window. Right as the clock struck midnight, she saw a shooting star and thought to herself: I should make a birthday wish on my birthday star. Mara did this without hesitation. As soon as she made the wish, she felt a great jolt shoot straight into her as if something became a part of her. Mara shook it off and decided it was just extreme exhaustion affecting her. She should get some sleep. She had no energy left so she passed out almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Mara woke up to an odd feeling that something was off. The whole house was silent. Mara rushed downstairs in a panic. Halfway down, she paused and gave herself a dope slap. She reminded herself that nobody ever remembered her birthday. After reminding herself of that, that feeling of happiness started to slip away little by little.

She said to herself, “Hey, at least my friends didn't forget.”

As she stayed in her own little world, she ended up walking right into the family car. Now at first Mara thought it was odd, because nobody was at the house and they usually used their own transportation whenever they went out. In the end, she convinced herself that a family friend picked them up and continued to head out the door.

Mara was walking, but she couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. Usually the town was filled with noise but not today. For some reason, the air was filled with silence, not even the birds were singing. This started to creep her out as she continued to the mall that she and her friends would meet up at a lot.

After one of the creepiest walks she had ever taken, Mara finally arrived at the mall and froze in her steps. The mall was empty! How could the mall be empty right now? The mall was darker than usual. The only light she could see was this one guiding light lighting a long hall.

As Mara froze in shock, she managed to yell out, “What’s going on?!”

“You did this!” a deep voice echoed in the air. “This is YOUR wish!”

Mara was so confused. She thought to herself, How can this be? How did I do THIS?.

“Did you not make a birthday wish upon me wishing for everyone to be happy?” the voice shouted.

Mara thought to herself, I would never wish upon that vile thing. I must fix this.

The voice replied, “I know what you are thinking and you indeed made that wish upon me. For you see that star was me falling from grace and I made everyone happy by making you not exist!”

As the laughter started to echo in Mara's ears she burst out at the voice yelling, “HOW THE HELL DO I STOP YOU?!”

The voice laughed harder. “Foolish human, every wish has two reactions -- a positive and a negative. I helped the negative become the outcome. If you wish to reverse the wish just give me your soul!”

Then Mara noticed a light at the end of the hall. She decided to walk down the hall and see what was going on. As she got closer, she could see a gem and a knife.

The voice shouted to her, “All you have to do is feed the gem by giving it just a drop of your blood. Give me your soul or wander alone forever! The choice is yours!

Mara thought long and hard. Was there no other option?

She knew what had to be done so she grabbed the knife, slit her hand, and let the blood drip upon the gem. A great flash occurred and she was back in her house. She could hear the sound of her family all gathered for a meal. She rushed and tried to hug her mother, but something odd happened. She went right through her.

Mara yelled out, “How can this be?”

She heard a thundering voice shout, “FOOL! I said I would reverse the wish. Not get rid of it. Your family is back, but now you never existed. Your soul is MINE!”

With that said, a great beast ripped open the void. Mara could only manage to scream out ‘NOOOOOOO!’ as her soul vanished inside never to be heard from again.