Tevun-Krus #122 - Synchronicity

Wish Upon a Star - a short story by @jinnis

Wish Upon a Star

By jinnis

My first wish came true on my seventh birthday. Dad had taken us out camping on a clear night in August. The lake rippled in the moonlight and a soft wind rustled the fir trees along the shore. We sat on a fallen log with our mugs of hot cocoa and listened to a story Mum told us when I saw a bright streak across the sky.

"Look!"

"What is it, Jeanie?"

"I don't know. I think a star fell from the sky."

My brother laughed. "Silly. Stars don't fall, they are fixed in the sky."

"Your sister is right, Charley." To my surprise, Dad took my side, something he seldom did. "Stars can fall, or at least that's what it looks like when pieces of rock and ice from space get attracted by Earth's gravity and enter the atmosphere. They are called meteors. Most of them burn up completely on the way to the surface, but some reach the ground and leave a crater."

"Cool. Can they hit us here?" As always, Charley was keen for an adventure. "I bet Jeanie will wet her pants when it comes towards us."

Mum probably read the fear in my eyes. She pulled me closer and whispered into my ear. "Don't worry, it's highly unlikely that a shooting star makes it to Earth. Do you know that you have a free wish when you see one? Just don't tell anyone, or it will go void."

I never heard of shooting stars and wishes, but I knew what had spoiled the entire trip—and wished that Charley would stop bothering me all the time.

The accident happened a week later. My brother was run over by a drunken driver while on his way back from school. I was at home while it happened, and no one put any blame on me, but I knew better.

☄️

The rest of my childhood was a bitter time. Mother never got over the loss, and growing up in her melancholic presence, I daily felt the guilt but never dared to mention it to anyone, not even the psychiatrist I was sent to.

I found my way out of the hole as a teenager when I fell in love with Daniel. With his warm brown eyes, tousled dark hair, and winning smile, he was the most attractive boy I knew. While I never understood why he loved me, I enjoyed every minute in his vicinity. For the first time, life seemed a bright adventure instead of a demanding task.

On my seventeenth birthday, we joined friends from school at a party in a villa by the lake. The place was amazing, with a vast park reaching down to the shore. It was already dark when I watched Daniel fooling around with a few other boys in the pool. I was happy and leaned my head back, losing my gaze in the starlit sky. In this moment, a shooting star painted its fiery path onto the canvas of the sky and I whispered the silent wish that Daniel's love would never fade.

Later that night, he went to get drinks. I chatted with a nice girl, but after a while, I got worried. I found him in the kitchen, kissing his old flame, Denise. Devastated, I left the room and stumbled outside, blinded by my tears.

"Jeanie?" He caught me by the elbow from behind. "I'm sorry, girl, it's just... you know, I've always loved her, and—"

I didn't hear the rest, as I tore my arm from his grip, leaving my broken heart behind when I fled the place.

☄️

The next years passed in a blur. I concentrated on school and my studies while I kept to myself and a small circle of friends. My life calmed down. I found a cosy apartment not too far from the city in a quiet village and enjoyed my independence. As an educated woman, I knew neither my childish wish in the camping holiday or my love-struck teenager request at the party could have changed the path of the universe. It was all coincidence, and I'd read too much into it—to my personal harm.

The day I turned twenty-seven, I spent my ride home from the office browsing job advertisements. I had been working in the old firm for four years and the new manager made my life hard. When I stumbled over the job opening with a renowned accounting company, I smiled. My friend Meredith worked there and was full of praise. We might be colleagues if I got the job.

I applied as soon as I was home, keeping my fingers crossed when I pressed the send button on my laptop. Later, I sat on my balcony with a glass of red wine, watching the sky. The shooting stars were active, as always in August, but I didn't wish upon them anymore. At least not until a spectacular one crossed the sky, and I spoke without thinking. "Let me get this job."

The invitation to the interview arrived two days later, and confirmation I got the job a week from then. Meredith was the first person I called.

"Hey Jeanie, what's up?"

"Meredith, how are you? I have amazing news for you. Guess who will start with Barrow's next month?"

There was no answer. I frowned, unsure how to read my friend's silence. "Meredith? Do you hear me?"

"You applied for the job as a junior assistant manager?"

"Yes, and can you believe I got it?"

She cut the call without another word. I learned only later that Meredith had hoped to get the job herself. She resigned and left the company even before I started with them—and never spoke to me again.

☄️

I loved the new job, but for years, I dreaded my thirty-seventh birthday. What would go wrong this time? Well, things got out of hand before.

When mother received her diagnosis of peritoneal cancer, I was shocked, but the doctor insisted there was hope if she started immunotherapy immediately. At first, it went well. Mum adjusted to the treatment and led an almost normal life until the relapse.

Things deteriorated fast from there.

When I stood at the window of her hospital room on my birthday, listening to her laboured breathing, I had only one wish for the lone shooting star glowing its life out over the city.

May she go in grace and peace.

We buried her three weeks later.

☄️

And now, on my forty-seventh birthday, I'm sitting on top of the highest peak of the range with a clear view of the August sky, waiting for the night to fall and the Perseid meteors to appear. I still don't know if my wishes can change anything.

But this time, I'm prepared.