No Strings Attached

When Wishes Come True

"That's it for the show today, kids! Come back next week to see what happens to Amir and Annaliese!" The loud noise of excited children began to die down as all of the girls and boys filed out of the small library room and over to their parents, who had been waiting irritatedly for an hour listening to the obnoxious puppet show that they were dragged to week after week.

"Well guys, that was a pretty good show today. Wasn't it?" Louis Wheeler the puppeteer said, carefully putting his prized possessions into their boxes. Day after day, they were put in the dark. They didn't have feelings as they were puppets, but if they were alive, they would hate it.

"Well well well, if it isn't Mr. Louis Wheeler." A man with medium platinum blond hair and ice blue eyes stood in the doorway. Louis picked up the boxes and turned around to face the man.

"Jacob. What are you doing here?" Louis grumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. Jacob Lewinsky had been his enemy ever since he had an interest in puppetry. Jacob did puppet shows for an older audience. They were much darker than Louis's lighthearted tales. Jacob took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Just wanted to see how my old pal was doing." Jacob said coolly, after blowing smoke out of his mouth. 

"You really shouldn't be doing that in here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get home." Louis said, pushing past Jacob and heading towards the library entrance.

"I'll see you later.Or, maybe not." Jacob said as he passed, smirking. Louis went outside to his car and put the two boxes carefully on the passenger seat. He buckled his seatbelt, started the ignition and drove to his apartment. Once he arrived, he took the stairs to apartment 6B, which is where he lived. He reached into his pocket for his keys and unlocked the door while balancing the boxes in his other hand.

"I don't know what to do about Jacob, guys." Louis sighed, plopping down on his bed. He picked up one of the boxes and opened it. He picked up the marionette and held onto the handle on the top, being careful not to tangle the strings.

"Oh, Annaliese. I don't know how I would survive without you." He carefully set Annaliese down next to him and took Amir out of his box.

"Don't think I forgot about you." Louis said, smiling. He held both of them by the handles, Annaliese in his left hand and Amir in his right. 

"Stupid Jacob with his stupid puppets... one of them isn't even a marionette. It's like a little robot. And his shows are completely morbid... oh, I'm crazy. I wish you guys could come alive so I could finally not be lonely. My wife cheated on me so we got divorced, my parents are dead, and the rest of my family ignores me. You two are all I have." He put Amir and Annaliese back into their boxes. He went out for the rest of the night, leaving his puppets behind.

Louis came back at 11:47 P.M. as exhausted as could be. He got into his bed and fell asleep almost immediately. After he drifted off into dreamland, something strange began to happen. The boxes started to shake. The cover was pushed off of the box on the right and a small man with hair of varying shades of green sat up. He climbed out of the box, adjusted his top hat, and jumped onto the floor from the dresser. He grew into a5'6" tall man upon contact with the ground. The other box opened and a puppet sized woman with her purple hued hair in pigtails jumped out. Her twin picked her up and set her on the ground where she grew as tall as him.

"I'll go look for a knife in the kitchen." Annaliese whispered to her brother. "You look for the gun." Amir found the gun in the drawer of the table next to Louis's bed. Annaliese came back a few moments later with a large chef's knife.

"I'll keep this for later." She smiled, sliding the knife into a pocket in her skirt. "How are we going to do this?"

"I'm going to shoot him in the heart. There won't be any evidence of fingerprints because we're just living puppets."

"Got it." Amir walked over to Louis's bed, where he was sound asleep. All of a sudden, his eyes shot open.

"Amir? Annaliese? You're... you're alive?" he managed to get out before Annaliese covered his mouth. Amir held up the gun. The only thing that could be heard before Amir pulled the trigger was the muffled sounds of Louis's screams through Annaliese's hand. Life drained from his grass green eyes. Blood blossomed from his chest and stained the white bed sheets. The bullet went straight through his heart.

"Amir, let's cut off these strings." Annaliese suggested, pulling the knife back out. She cut off the strings connected to Amir's hands, elbows, knees and feet. After she was done, he did the same to her. Annaliese put the knife back in her pocket. 

"Ok, Annaliese. Next thing we do: run." Amir responded, putting the handgun in his pocket. They ran out of the door of Louis's apartment and quietly closed the door. They rushed down to the first floor, ran out the door and just kept going.