Collection of Short Stories

At All Costs

Night had fallen and the sky was bright with stars. Alyssa had been dragged away from studying by her best friend Sam, and the two were now laying on a blanket in Alyssa's backyard stargazing. Or rather, Sam was stargazing, but Alyssa kept glancing anxiously back to her house.

Sam sighed, "The point of coming out here was to stop worrying about the biology test tomorrow."

"It's worth half of our final grade Samuel," Alyssa huffed, and turned her head away. She only brought out that name when she was annoyed with him, but after eight years of friendship Sam had gotten used to it.

He reached over and pulled on one of her dark brown curls, shifting her attention back to him. "You know you'll do great Alyssa. You're not first in the class for nothing. Stop worrying so much about the future."

She smiled slightly, and finally seemed to relax. She knew she was a little too obsessed with the future, but college applications would be coming sooner than they thought. Junior year was a big year, and she needed to get into a good school, preferrably Yale. Then Sam could go to the University of New Haven right nearby so they could still see each other often.

"Look, a shooting star!" Sam exclaimed next to her, breaking Alyssa out of her thoughts. "Make a wish."

I wish that I get all As next year and then I can finally get into Yale, at all costs, Alyssa wished.

Sam stood up, reaching out his hands to pull Alyssa up as well. "Okay, now we can get back to your precious studying," he teased, leading them both back inside.

***********

In the middle of the night Alyssa was startled from her sleep, not knowing the cause. Suddenly she looked next to her bed and saw what looked like... a fairy next to her bed? Now Alyssa was confused, and thought she must still be dreaming.

"You're not still dreaming," a soft, melodic voice said. "And you're right, I am a fairy of some sorts. But you can just call me Seraphina."

The curtains in Alyssa's room shifted, giving Alyssa a better view of the fairy. She looked like a smaller than average woman, with long auburn hair and a glowing blue dress.

"Tonight you made a wish Alyssa, do you remember what that was?" Seraphina asked. Alyssa nodded, and Seraphina continued. "You wished to succeed at all costs, more or less. Usually each fairy grants wishes made by each person on a shooting star, but this was a very big wish and I wanted to make sure you would understand the severity of it."

Alyssa looked confused. "What do you mean? These wishes can actually come true?"

"Most wishes, yes," Seraphina answered. "But in your case we decided to make an exception. If you choose, you can see how this future will play out and decide if that's what you really want. If so, then we will change your future to your wish. If not, however, we will just pretend the wish never happened. Does that sound okay with you?"

"I guess so," Alyssa answered slowly. "So you're just going to show me my future, no problems?"

Seraphina nodded. "It will be like watching a movie. You will get to see everything happening, you just won't be able to change it or interact with anyone in that future. So are you ready?"

"Yes," Alyssa said after a few moments. "Let's do it."

All of a sudden there was a blinding white light, and then Alyssa was standing in the hallway at school. She looked around, trying to figure out what was there. Soon enough she saw Sam walking towards his locker, although he looked different. His short blonde hair had grown longer than he had ever allowed, and his normally bright green eyes seemed sad and lonely. Then she saw herself walk by, and she also looked different. Her dark curly hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and her dark brown eyes (really black, as Sam always said) looked cold and angry. Future Alyssa walked right past Sam, neither of them sparing the other a glance.