Two Wish

Chapter 1: Your Ride is Here

Two wishes: that's what everyone gets. Make one at twelve, one at twenty-four, and at twenty-five, one of them would finally be granted.

But what did a twelve-year-old know about wishing for a twenty-five-year-old?

Noelle just wanted to fly.

So, as she neared twelve and it was soon time to make her first wish, that was her simple request. Others her age planned to ask for far more fantastical things, like super strength or the ability to manipulate plant life, so Noelle often felt like her wish was inadequate. Her parents and other adults didn't help in this regard with their gentle advice to ask for something practical; something that might secure her future, like mathematical genius.

But wishes had to be genuine or they'd be rejected, and for Noelle nothing was more honest than her desire for flight.

The entire wish making process was difficult, scary, and exciting. Or, at least, everything leading up to it was. It comprised a lot of playground talk, and older children would tell younger ones stories of the monster that hears your wishes. Others said it was a ghost, some said alien, her own grandmother once told her it was probably god. It's name varies from place to place, but its most common one is The Avis. You only speak to this being to make your wishes; twice you'd be in its presence and no more. Wars had been fought and religions had been formed in The Avis's name. 

Noelle thought she'd know for sure what it was once she'd made her first wish, but instead she only came to understand why it was so undefinable.

At the exact hour of the start of her twelfth year, it happens. At 9:13AM she was sitting in the backseat of her parents car on the way to a birthday camping trip, a new scarf her mother had crocheted sitting in her lap. It had one big, light blue stripe, another yellow one, and a smaller white one separating them. It reminded her of a sunny day. She'd only had it since her mother completed it at 9:02, and handed it to her from the front of the car, but already it was her most favorite possession. Her hands were still lovingly petting it when at 9:14  she falls into a trance.

It's dark and there's nothing around her, but she knows someone - or something - is there. However, this isn't terrifying, but rather, comforting. A voice somehow speaks to her without making a sound. She can't tell if it's male or female, or if it's even human. It's familiar, yet strange. It's everywhere, but nowhere, and still there is nothing to see but darkness.

It's time. What is your first wish? The Avis asks.

Noelle hesitates. This is her last chance to change her mind. What else could she ask for? She'd once heard that someone had wished to go back in time to see their dog that had suddenly passed away. A boy in the grade above her told her that time requests were rarely granted, but possible. Should she ask for that? Her grandmother died last year. Surely even at twenty-five she'd want to see her grandmother again.

No. You cannot wish for that. The voice says, reading her thoughts.

Another lie the older kids had told her then. Panic is starting to creep in as Noelle scrambles for more ideas. She'd finally come to terms with what she wanted, but now that she was in the moment, her doubts are overbearing.

What were the rules? Because, of course, there must be rules; to wish for anything at all would be chaos. Could she remember all the rules? Which ones were even true? Which ones could be bent? You can't wish harm, you can't wish to rule, you can't change the course of history, you could wish for something for someone else but those were truly rare, you can't wish to-

You know what you want. The Avis interrupts her thoughts. Say it.

"I wanna fly!" Noelle blurts out. And it's true. She doesn't care how it happens, be it wings, levitation, floating, a jetpack, anything. This wish was the truth and it was the one she'd come back to time and time again, so how could she ever say anything else?