A collection of short stories

Upon a Star (A short story)

If you could have your biggest wish granted, what would you wish for? Would you wish for immortality, riches, beauty, popularity, success?

"The biggest decision of your life," they say it will be.

All any one ever talks about is what their wish is going to be. And now that most of us are approaching our 16th birthdays, or have already turned 16, everything has just been intensified. They seem to have it all figured out, my peers have. Everyone except for me.

***

The school hallway is filled with the buzz of excited students. Today's the day. The day 23 students, all whose 16th birthdays are this month, get to make the biggest decision they will ever have to make. I don't know whose idea this was, to let everyone have a wish granted when they are 16. Sixteen-year year olds are selfish. Not many people wish for good things; it's all for personal gain, or out of greed: to be rich, to be popular, to have a lot of luck, to be famous, to be good at everything, to never die. The list goes on and on.

No one really knows who or what started the wish granting. And know one knows how it's done either. Some say it's magic. Others say it's all just a deception. No one knows for sure, except for the Alms, the wish granters.

*       *       *

       "Cora!" Someone calls my name. I whirl around to see my best friend Annarah Blakely. She has her nose stuck in a book, and her wide rimmed glasses are slightly off center. "Aren't you just so excited for your wish? You're so lucky that you get your wish granted this month. I still have to wait another two months..." Annarah babbles on. This is how our friendship works. She talks and I listen. And even though I'm not technically 16, my birthday falls this month. I, along with everyone else with a 16th birthday in the month of November, get to make our wish today, November first.  

"I'm so excited!" I say these words when in truth I'm not excited one bit. I don't even have a small idea about what I'll wish for. Here this is, the biggest day of my life, and I still have no clue what I'm going to do about it. Only one thing I know for certain; I'm not going to use my wish greedily.

"What are you going to wish for, if you don't mind me asking?" Annarah's eyes contain a hopeful glint, like a child pleading for a new toy. I can feel my face fall for a moment. I quickly smile, to cover it up, but I know Annarah noticed.

I lower my voice to a whisper. "Annarah," I say guiltily, "I have to admit. I'm not really sure what I'm going to wish for." I'm not really sure why I had to admit this shamefully. I guess in the society we live in today, everyone knows who they are, who they will be, who they want to be. Anything else is unimaginable.

"Well, you better figure it out soon," Annarah says, seemingly unfazed, which relieves me. I nod my head in agreement. "Do you have any ideas?" she adds. No! I scream in my head. "You obviously don't need to wish to be pretty, because you already are. And you don't really seem to care about your popularity." Annarah saying these things makes my head scream. Why would she just assume I want to wish for something selfish like everybody else? Doesn't she realize I'm different?

"Thanks," I murmur, deciding to focus on the fact that she said I was pretty, and not the part where she said I was just as stuck up as every other 16 year old in our school. It was probably just an assumption though. I don't think she thinks I'm that vain. But how can she think I'm different when seemingly everyone else in the world acts like that? I suddenly feel a tight squeeze on my hand.

"Hey," Annarah says reassuringly, "Don't worry. You'll think of something." She smiles warmly at me. It's easy for her to say though. She's known what she wants to do with her life for years. Annarah loves science, so she wants to wish to be able to breathe carbon dioxide, instead of oxygen, so she can cut down on global warming.