Wish I May, Wish I Might

Chapter 1

I guess you could say things started to go bad when I kind of made it rain blood over the I-94 Freeway. It was also around five in the morning, which didn't really bode well for the rest of my day. Let me start off by saying that I didn't mean to make old people and Christian moms on their Web blogs start screaming about the apocalypse and the Second Coming. The whole raining blood thing was what I call a slip of a "bad wish".

Again, it was way too early to even be awake, and I hate quiet - and sunlight - when I'm getting ready for school. I like the sound of rain in the morning in late spring.

So, I said the magic words, which I thought were specific enough: "I wish for it to gently rain over the Midwest starting now."

The quiet pitter-patter on the roof followed soon after, and I mentally prepared myself before I got out of bed and went to get started on my day. I did everything from wash my face to put on my painstakingly picked outfit and all I heard was the rain. It wasn't until I was starting to apply my makeup that the screaming started. I didn't think anything of it, considering that the screaming was obviously coming from my nutjob of a neighbor, Tucker.

Now, there are many theories among the younger folks, as my grandparents would call us, in the town of Apple as to where Tucker came from. Some of us think he's actually the spawn of Satan. Others think he's a secret Russian spy that is just acting crazy. Others think he's a Vietnam War draft-dodger that is hiding out in this middle of nowhere town off the freeway to avoid the shame of his family.

Anyway.

I didn't think much of the screaming as I dabbed concealer on my spots and blemishes and other mishaps that all the wishes in the world can't get rid of, because the screaming was from Tucker, and Tucker screams a lot. But 5:45 in the morning is just excessively early for even nutjobs to be screaming. So I went over to my window, which thanks to the convenient placement of being on the second floor of the house and how it points at Tucker's house, has great acoustics for yelling at him. I had just slightly opened the window the night before to listen to the first frogs and cicadas of the season, even though the screen wasn't in yet, and I had just wished for the bugs to stay out. I threw open the window and stuck my head out.

"What are you yelling about already?!" I shouted over the sound of the rain.

"Carter, there's blood!" he screamed back.

I groaned. Had Tucker cut himself open on a jackknife or something? Or a can opener? I wasn't particularly fond of my strange neighbor, but I didn't want him to bleed to death and I especially didn't want to be the last person he ever talked to. Besides, while I will never, ever admit this ever again, it was kind of reassuring to know that there's someone out there in the world, and even in Apple, who is weirder than me.

"Okay, where is the blood coming from?" I asked slowly. God, I really hoped he said it was his hand or leg or something. There were way too many really, really gross mental images going through my head.

"The sky!"

Well, that was expected.

"You crazy old...." I muttered and trailed off, reaching a hand out to catch some rainwater in my palm. Then I jumped when what landed was warm.

I pulled my hand back in and did my best to not also scream when I saw the liquid was thick and red and smelled like metal.

"Ah, shit," I muttered.

Unfortunately, it seems that when I ask for rain, I need to specify that it is water that falls from the sky, not just any sort of liquid. I hoped the blood wasn't from an animal and was just procured out of thin air like the school lunch lasagna had been when I made my second wish ever.