The house was empty by the time Jon got home, but that was to be expected. Both of his parents worked and his sister Zoe was doing who knows what with those goth friends of hers, and as for his little brother Mikey, he was probably at a friend's house. That meant that Jon was on his own, which he actually preferred. He dropped his backpack by the door, took off his shoes and then headed upstairs to his room. Even though he was home alone, Jon closed the door behind him, just in case.
Throwing himself onto his bed, Jon got comfortable before taking out the box that held the wishing stone and placing it on the bed in front of him. Lifting the lid, Jon stared at the stone. It seemed so small and insignificant, yet it held so much power. With the stone, Jon could do anything or go anywhere, but he would have to be careful. The events with Karyn proved that. He just needed to think of his wish carefully and say the right words.
As Jon pondered the potential of his inheritance, he glanced around the room looking for inspiration. It was a fairly typical room for a teenage boy. Jon, after all, was an average guy. He wasn’t blessed with good looks but he wasn’t ugly either, he wasn’t physically gifted in any way but he wasn’t a nerd and the room reflected that.
Blue paint lined the walls of his small bedroom, which was filled with things that you would expect a teenage boy to have: a wall-mounted TV hung opposite his bed, and underneath sat a video game console next to which a pile of video games were stacked conveniently. In a corner of the room sat a bookshelf where there was an assortment of books and Blu-rays. Adorning the walls were a number of vacation photos followed by a couple of movie posters from Jon’s favorite films and finally, where Jon laid his eyes on, was a small pile of comics on top of which, the latest issue of Marvel’s What If…? lay.
Raising his eyebrows, Jon reached over and picked it up, flicking through the pages. Jon wasn’t a huge comic book fan, but with the recent popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jon had gained enough interest to pick up the occasional comic, particularly when a movie or a series intrigued him enough to dive into the back story; with the recent announcement of a TV series based on the comics, he was indeed intrigued.
This particular issue was exploring a reality where the gender roles had been reversed. Spider-Man was now Spider-Woman, Captain America was a woman, and instead of She-Hulk, there was He-Hulk.
Jon glanced at the stone sitting in its box and then back at the comic. An idea was starting to form in his mind. Instead of reading about these alternate realities, he could actually live them! Thinking carefully about his wish, Jon took the stone out of its box.
“I wish that when I say the words what if followed by a statement, such as “what if women ruled the world?”, then an alternate reality would be created like in the comics and that I would be able to explore that reality. And then when I say “Marvel” I will return to my bedroom and everything will be back to normal.”
Jon was forced to look away as the stone granted his wish.
