Wishes Granted

Impossible

Hank was bored, but it was worth it. Susie had dragged him out of bed on a Sunday to a flea market. He had stayed up late watching scary movies and eating pizza, and would have like sleeping until at least noon, but he could never say no to Susie. They had been friends and neighbours for a dozen years, and Hank had been in love with her for the last two of those. Of course, at sixteen he was in love with a lot of girls, but none of them ever paid any attention to him, except for Susan, his best and closest friend. And he paid attention to every detail of her, at least when she wasn't looking. So as she wandered from table to table, searching through random boxes, Hank followed along, and admired her whilst feigning interest in the knick knacks of these strangers. There was a table of books that kept his interest for a few minutes, and he actually purchased an old NES game that he'd hoped to try again, if he could find his old Nintendo. Susie rummaged through all sorts of ridiculous clothing, but he paid close attention as she held them up to herself and raised her eyebrows questioningly. He laughed and nodded his head at many of them, all the while just admiring her and wishing he could be more than friends.

"Hey, look at this crazy bottle," she exclaimed from a few tables over. She held up what looked like an ancient green soda bottle with all sorts of grooves and bumps on it. It was painted with what looked like a wise old man in a turban, blowing into a flute like instrument. It had a price sticker of 25 cents.

"Oh yes, the classic genie bottle, I was hoping we'd find one here," Hank joked, "my treat, I'll buy it for you."

He coughed up a quarter and Susan giggled as they walked towards the exit with their bags and newest find.

"Man, that would be great, wouldn't it? To have a wish granted? Gosh, I don't even know what I'd wish for, do you?" she asked.

Of course Hank was not going to admit that he wished for her, in fact he was certain that love couldn't be granted in a wish form anyway, so he said the obvious next best thing.

"I wish I could fly! It's the best superpower, who would't want to fly? Man that would be awesome," he said, and jokingly rubbed the bottle.

"Gosh," he joked, "I can feel it working already," he said and started to run around in circles, with his arms spread out like an airplane as he would have done as a kid.

Susan sat down on the grass laughing and pointing at him. She was greatly amused, and Hank soaked it up, jumping now and then, attempting to get lift off, and finally tripped and fell, right next to her. He leaned on his arm and tried to catch his breath.

"What about you? What would you wish for," he asked.

Susan stopped laughing and sat up. Her face became serious and she said, "Why world peace, of course," and they both started laughing again. It was pretty clear she was making fun of beauty pageants with her answer, and though Hank could never say it, he figured that she could easily win one.

The sun was beating down, and Hank was thirsty. He rummaged through his bag, trying to remember if he had a drink in there. Then he grabbed the bottle up and pretended to drink from it, going for more laughs, but knowing it was a bit much. He actually had the bottle half way into his mouth and was shaking it, pretending like he was trying to get the last of a drink from a stubborn jar, when he suddenly coughed and gagged.

"Are you okay," Susan asked, concerned and leaning over him. She grabbed the bottle away and realized the top had come off.

Hank was doubled over, trying to cough up the cork or whatever was on top of the bottle, though he couldn't picture it clearly in his head. Susan was getting ready to try the Heimlich maneuver, when he stopped coughing, but was still shaking. His shirt was vibrating strangely she noticed. She'd always noticed how Hank liked to wear tight shirts, and the older he got, the nicer he looked in them, but this was different. At four different points, from almost his shoulders, to almost his belly, his shirt was twitching and stretching strangely.

"What's going on, arghhhh" Hank yelled.

His shirt was ripping in the back, and Susan stood up and backed away, shrieking. Large green flaps protruded from Hank, and seemed to be unfolding themselves. Why? What? Hank was in pain and couldn't understand what was happening to him, just the embarrassment he felt knowing that Susan was watching. He just wanted to get away, he was clearly sick or something. He stood up quickly, and meant to run towards his home, when his feet left the ground. He didn't even mean to jump, but for some reason he wasn't coming down, he was rising. He looked down as Susan who had a look of terror on her face, a look he never wanted to see coming from her. He turned and fled, flying towards the woods instead.

Susan was dumbfounded. Part of her knew deep down what had happened. It must have been the bottle. It made no sense. Magic wasn't real. Now Hank was gone, and she could never tell him how she really felt. She didn't know if she's see him again. She didn't know what to do or say...But before he was out of earshot, she had to say something. So she shouted it. "Peace be with you!" and then cursed herself for saying something so dumb.