Jon waited the rest of the afternoon in nervous anticipation. He had no reason to doubt the strange man's intentions; after all, Jon had basically wished for it. And he tried un-wishing it. But not only could he not reverse his ill-thought wish, it seemed that he couldn't make any other wishes. The stone seemed cold and dead, like any ordinary stone. It was as though that stranger had disabled it.
Jon kept peeking out the windows, trying to see if anything was happening to his neighbors. Mr. Peterson was washing his car, and Ms. Leighton jogged by. Everything seemed normal... so far. But it would only be a matter of time before something would happen, Jon reasoned.
He was relieved as, one by one, his family trickled in looking and acting as normal as ever. For once he was glad to see Zoe as her usual dark self. Maybe it was an idle threat, though Jon, just to scare me or something.
Jon returned to the living room and tried to relax on the couch once again. His father, Roger, passed by carrying the mail. An envelope fell from his hand, and as he bent down to pick it up, the back of his shirt rode up. That's when Jon saw something strange.
"Dad, what's that?"
"What's what?"
"On your lower back. What is that?"
"You mean my tattoo?"
"Tattoo?!"
"Yeah," Roger lifted his shirt and turned away from Jon. And sure enough, at the lowest part of his back, Jon saw a little purple butterfly surrounded by a pattern of lines and tiny pink flowers.
"Where did that come from?" Jon asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Oh, you know, I got it in college. My parents were pissed, but I love it. I'm surprised you haven't seen it before. What do you think?"
"Um... it's nice."
Jon's dad smiled, tucked his shirt back in, and left the room. Jon sighed. He knew things were probably going to get worse before they got better.
