Jon Gibson
Gibson Residence
4:35 P.M. CT
I spent the rest of the day absolutely paranoid, fearful of the inevitable consequences of the unintended wish. Every vaguely unfamiliar person, every strange sight, every odd noise was enough to nearly put me into a nervous breakdown. As far as I knew, the stone could do anything. What could it possibly interpret as "Interesting?" School the next day was even worse, nearly driving me into a nervous wreck. By the time school ended and I went to go see Karyn, I felt like a paranoid conspiracy theorist.
"Are you okay?" Karyn asked as soon as she saw me. Vaulting over the stone wall, she pushed her hair, now tied into a ponytail, over her shoulder and walked up, concerned.
"Yeah, I think so." I replied. "Christ, this thing is driving me insane. I can't even think without worrying I'm going to change something."
"Well, here's something to take it off your mind." Karyn said, and reached into her bag. "Sorry I forgot to give it to you yesterday, but I forgot as soon as you brought up the stone." Pulling it out, I suddenly found myself staring into the beady eyes of a small stuffed tiger. "Isn't he cute?"Karyn asked sweetly, offering him to me.
"I guess so." I said, and gently took it. "Any particular reason?"
"Well, it was on sale a few weeks ago at the mall, and I thought it'd make a good Easter present. Sorry it took so long."
"Isn't a rabbit more traditional?" I asked sarcastically.
"Funnily enough, the rabbits were sold out. They had a lot of other stuff there as well, but I only had enough time to grab this one and one for myself." She said, shrugging. "Again, sorry. I haven't really had all that much time over the past month."
"Karyn, don't worry about it. He's great." I had to admit, the quality was much higher than the usual plush toy affair. And it was certainly better than the mittens I had given her for Christmas.
"Hey, it's a hell of a lot better than the mittens you got me for Christmas." She said sternly, causing me to wince. She was only able to hold her serious face for another second before we both burst out laughing.
"So, what do you think you'll do about the stone?" Karyn asked after we both recovered.
"I need to think about it more, but I think I'm just going to get rid of it. Honestly, there's just too much power at stake here." I said.
Karyn nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, I have to agree. What will you do to it?"
"I'm not really sure yet, but I'll figure out something." I frowned, noticing the look on Karyn's face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." She replied. "To be honest, they-"she pointed at her breasts-"Aren't that bad, and the hair I can get used to. It's a shame, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me."
"Yeah yeah." She waved dismissively.
We parted ways a few minutes later, leaving me in much higher spirits, almost enough to allow me to forget about yesterday's mistakes. Even though the stone was still a heavy lump in my pocket, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off my chest. Practically skipping into my house, I ran up to my room, dumped my bag into the corner and put the plush tiger on my desk.
Taking the stone, I thought for a minute, and then decided. "I wish that this stone be stored at an inaccessible location where no one, human, animal, alien, etcetera, can find or use it, unless I both want it back and have a great need for it."
The stone flared a brilliant white, and suddenly the solid weight was gone from my hand.
