Wished

Chapter 30 - The Aftermath

With a strangled gasp, my eyes flew open as I finally stopped falling. I shot up into a sitting position and frantically scanned the room. With a sigh of relief, I sunk back down under my covers to enjoy the rest of my sleep.

There was no Alicia. It was all just some twisted dream brought on by stress or emotions or something like that. It was all just a dream.

Do you ever get that niggling itch at the back of your mind? It's like you know that there's something to do or that there's something that you should be doing but you have no idea what it is. There are plenty of times that I've ignored that feelings but something about the worry in the back of my mind made me turn my head just a fraction so I could see my alarm clock out of the corner of my eye.

I threw the covers off me with wide eyes and raced over to my closet. Either I had slept through my alarm clock or it just hadn't gone off but either way I was going to have to rush. Opening the closet doors, I rubbed my eyes with one hand and tried to stop worrying about being late to school.

And then I got the shock of my life.

My closet was full of oversized, baggy hoodies and jumpers. The exact ones that I'd gotten rid of. The ones I'd gotten rid of during the 'wish'.

It was like being hit by a tonne of bricks. My breath was knocked out of me and my knees felt weak. My head was dizzy and my stomach in a knot of panic and worry. I staggered back till my knees hit the edge of my bed and let myself fall till I was sitting.

There was no way this could be real. It was just some figment of my delusional, dream-state, imagination. It was just a dream, it was all just a dream.

Except it wasn't. Everything that Alicia said must have been true because everything had gone back to normal. My closet was back to consisting of hoodies and converse and my vanity was bare. Everything was back to normal and I'd begged for it but now I wasn't so sure if I wanted it.

No. I had to suck it up. I wanted this. This was my life and I was going to make it mine. I wasn't going to let Alicia play Sims with my life and make people feel feelings that they don't have. I could do what I wanted with my life and I didn't need Alicia stirring up drama to make it interesting. I was going to live my life for real this time.

I rooted through my closet, rifling through the clothes till I found what I was looking for. Throwing on the cream, lace tank top and pulling on the pair of baby blue skinny jeans, I tried look through my collection of beat up shoes for something nicer. I came up empty handed so threw on my old, trusty, white converse and went over to my vanity to look through the limited makeup supplies I had accumulated.

Tapping my fingers against my thigh, I thought about what to do. I had dabbed some concealer, swiped some mascara onto my eyelashes, filled in my eyebrows and lightly coated my lips with some lipgloss. I just needed to fix my hair but I had no way to do that. I had been relying on Shauna's spare curler but I had never actually gotten that thanks to the wish. I quickly braided my hair and pulled it over my shoulder, taking few strands to frame my face.

I wasn't the same girl that went into the wish. I cared about my appearance. Not because Shauna wanted me to or to get anyone's attention but because I wanted to look my best for me. That's what counted.

I ran down the stairs with my bag hanging from one shoulder and dropped it my the couch before heading into the kitchen. I was pouring my cereal when mom walked in and froze when she saw me.

"El?" She asked as if I was some intruder, breaking into their house to casually eat their cereal. What an amazing thief I was. Out in plain sight, leaning against the counter like I lived here. Oh wait. I did.