I stared up at the blinding white tiled ceiling as I sat, my long slender legs stretched outward ahead of me. My pale hands covered my face, and I felt salty tears make their way out of my eyes. My mother had been sitting in that hospital bed for a year now, and I have been sitting here everyday, as long as the nurse would allow me. I rarely ate now a days, I never had an appetite or any food cravings as I had used to. I was beginning to grow bone thin. I know people say my mother would not want to see me like this, but it was just too much. My school had been letting me take days off of school, which I gratefully took, but I still went some days, but my grades were just crushing under the stress of all of this. Suddenly I felt a warm hand touch my shoulder which caused me to jump. The nurse stood with her clipboard in hand and she gave me the signal it was time to go.
I stepped out of the double sided doors and stuffed my hands into my pockets. I breathed out and watched as the air formed into a smoke-like swirl and disappeared into the cool night air. It was the beginning of fall, one of my favorite times of the year. When I was little my mother would always put my hair into a long French tail braid, and her delicate hands would always send a chill down my back as I had always enjoyed her playing with my hair. We would always make our way down, on bike, to a beautiful marbled fountain we had at our local park. In the center it had a statue of an angel with long hair that traveled down its back, it's wings outspread and its arms laid crossed delicately across its chest. It would have its eyes closed and its head would be tilted slightly to the side, looking down. We would always throw a coin into the clear water and my mother would always tell me that one day, an angel would come meet me and make all my wishes come true. I shook my head, it was all just silly. I stopped believing in it a few years back, when I just decided it just wasn't as believable as it was when I was a kid.
I found myself standing in front of that same fountain we used to always visit. I stopped going when I lost faith in it. My mother always tried to reassure me with these stories saying when she was a kid she would come here and an angel once granted one of her wishes, but it was just plain ridiculous. I sat on the ice cold marble edge and looked at all the coins which sat on the bottom. The bowl of the fountain was a couple feet under ground and if you looked to the bottom, all you could see were coins. I shook my head, all of these people wasting money, even if it is just a penny or a quarter, kids just throw them away to try to get something from it, thinking they're just going to get that wish one day? I ran my hand gently across the marble, the cool smooth surface sending chills up my arms and down my back and causing goosebumps to surface. I let out a sigh and raised my head to stare at the angel. I never really payed much attention to detail, I realize there was a flower laying limply in it's hands and it had the slightest smile curving at the corner of it's lips. I've always found it beautiful, but it just gives false hope. All the stories our parents tell us, whether it's for holidays, to get us to sleep at night, or just to make us happy, it almost just crushes us when we realize they aren't real.
A cool breeze blew my hair in my face and it made me realize how cold I really was. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and clicked the power bottom to illuminate the screen. The screens light flashed a bright blue color across my face, and the numbers 11:27 was centered at the top of the screen. I breathed in the fresh air and released it as I stood up. I began my journey back home, and took my time to take in the scenery of the park I took for granted, it was harder to see in the dark but I could still see most of it clearly. The trees that surrounded most of the park were cherry blossoms. Normally there would be bright pink flowers falling onto the grass and sidewalks, but now they were a darker pink and a beautiful orange and they nearly completely covered the sidewalk in a breath taking contrast of different pinks and oranges, but I could still make out the grey of the gravel. It was all just beautiful, I just never took the time to notice it, as most kids probably didn't either.
I felt a vibration in my hand and I looked down to see a text from an unknown number.
"Do you have a wish, Danny?"
I scrunched up my nose in confusion, I don't recognize the number and I wasn't expecting any contact with anyone. I looked behind me and any places I can think anyone would hide; behing or in a tree, anywhere above, behind, or next to the statue, and places by the benches. But nothing. How did this person get my number? Was it just one of my friends trying to mess with me? Questions such as these circled my head and I didn't know what to believe. I decided to go home and worry about it later. I slipped it back into my pocket and made it down the sidewalk and went across the street. I heard a rustle behind me and I looked back, but saw nothing. I squinted my eyes trying to see where the sound came from. Suddenly I felt a force shove me a few feet away and my eyes widened at the realization that there was a car that didn't have it's headlights on and it almost hit me. I was paralyzed with fear, there was a dark figure that stood above me and was already taking off in the opposite direction. I couldn't speak and I felt tears stream down my face. I stood up and looked around, but the figure was gone.
And many more questions came that would haunt me and would leave me tossing and turning restlessly in bed that night.
