In a flash, the universe was back, but it wasn't the same one that had been destroyed by Jon's careless remark. It had many similarities though....There was still a Jon, in a manner of speaking...still a Karyn, and still a Sarah...but...everything was different.
Sarah was working at the desk in her bedroom, getting her homework done. Sarah didn't consider herself a real brain, although she certainly was intelligent. But she worked hard because she didn't want to end up like her mother, Susan.
Susan had been a cheerleader and queen bee in high school, and had graduated with little chance of a good future. Her grades had been good enough only for a junior college, which she'd dropped out of to pursue her dreams of being a model. However, she'd never been able to make a full go of it. She'd had a few jobs, but eventually the bottom had fallen out of her career.
Sarah was just as beautiful as her mother, but she didn't want to be. The more her mother pushed her to be all the things she had failed to be, the more she rebelled against being a life-size Barbie doll.
Other girls rebelled by getting piercings, dying their hair black, and rejecting authority. Sarah thought those girls were shooting themselves in the foot. Acting like a freak wasn't the solution.
She had to admit she did a little of the same thing. Her mother had wanted her to get contacts, but she'd stuck with her glasses. They made her look more serious. She played down her assets, but not to the point of looking ugly. She tried to go for the wholesome, normal girl look. She thought it helped her to be taken seriously.
The pressure got to some girls. Kyla Leeson had vanished for a while during the summer and reappeared with new breasts. She was still lightly built, but the surgery, along with a new wardrobe, had made her popular. It had shocked Sarah greatly, who never suspected anything like that of the formerly shy girl.
She was musing about this when a large blue vortex opened up in her bedroom, a powerful wind blowing out of it, revealing an infinite nothingness behind it. Then, suddenly, out of it blew a stone. Then it closed. Nervously, Sarah picked it up. "What the hell? I wish I knew what this was."
It glowed, and then she did know. It was a wishing stone. It had a range of a few miles...or a large section of her town, and wishes could not be reversed once made.
She held it in awe, wondering what to do about it.
