Jon was rather surprised and disappointed when the following school day passed entirely without incident. Not that it was a bad day, but it was essentially just like any other school day. He hadn't even gotten to talk to Karyn; she was busy with a project for English. Jon figured that perhaps this wonderful event would happen that evening, but the lack of any big event still left him a little depressed. When Jon was depressed, he liked to take a walk, and if nothing else, it was a beautiful day for one. Jon left a message for his mom, letting her know that he'd be taking the long way home, then struck out on the scenic route to his house.
The weather was so gorgeous that he cheered up almost immediately. Spring was finally beginning to turn into summer, and the breeze was just cool enough to invigorate him without chilling the way it had a couple weeks before. The scenery along the way was as lovely as the weather; Jon and Karyn lived in a smaller town a little ways down the road from the town they went to school in, and much of the space in between was woodlands with a few dirt roads here and there. Jon had worked out a set of roads to follow that lead him fairly close to straight home and took him by some nice scenery as well, and that had quickly become his favorite route to take a walk on.
The breeze was gently blowing through the tall grass that lined the road he was on, and a little further ahead he could hear the rushing of the river that passed underneath the bridge on this road. He came up to the bridge and stopped, letting himself be carried away in the sounds. Jon was so caught up in the moment that when he heard the crunching of gravel underneath the tires of an approaching vehicle, it was just another noise to him.
By the time Jon had snapped back to reality, it was too late. He had just begun to move out of the way when the truck tore around the corner and onto the bridge. It clipped him pretty hard, and he was sent careening down the embankment and into the river, where he blacked out.
Jon awoke with a start from the worst nightmare he had ever experienced. It had started out so nicely, with a wish that couldn't go wrong, and then...he had died! Or, well, he didn't recall the actual dying, but that was pretty obviously where it had been going. It was strange; his nightmares were frightening sometimes, but they were never that gruesome. This, though...the pain from the impact was still fresh in his mind, even though his body seemed to be just fine. Everything was all right, and he was safe and sound in...
...not his bed. Not even really a bed, per se; it was more like a doctor's examination table. He had propped himself up about halfway to a sitting position, and could see that he was dressed in a hospital gown. But things didn't seem quite right. He wasn't getting any pain signals from his body, but it did feel...different, somehow, in a way he wasn't familiar with. And maybe it was just a large exam table, but he seemed...smaller? What was going on here? Where was he?
Jon was about to get up when a woman walked into the room. She looked to be in her late thirties to early forties, moderately attractive, with a light build, short brown hair, and glasses. She saw Jon and gasped. "Oh, you're up!" she said. "I was wondering how long it was going to take!" She regarded Jon for a moment, while he tried to think of something to say, then nodded to herself. "Well," she said, "I suppose we'd best get this over with." She moved to a large, covered object across the room from the exam table and pulled off the cloth.
It was a mirror. And what was reflected in it was not Jon.
