I opened the box and pulled the stone out. Holding it in my hand was a massive relief. Horrible paranoia had been gripping me all day. Thoughts of the stone disappearing, someone stealing it, so on. It was foolish, of course. I had made wishes the night before to protect the stone from theft. But still, as I held it, I smiled.
"Time for this nightmare to end." I said, squeezing the stone tightly in my hand. "I wish that, instead of being assigned high class prostitute as my job, I had been assigned to be a doctor, and as a result, no physical changes would need to be done to me."
I held my breath as I awaited the glow that accompanied a granted wish. After about thirty seconds though, I began to worry.
"I wish to know why that last wish didn't work..." I said, and gasped as knowledge was suddenly forced upon me. In my initial wish that had caused all of this, I wished that nothing could interfere with the program, and that apparently included the stone.
I stumbled back and sat on my bed, shaking my head. "This can't be happening..." I said to myself. "I wish that no physical changes accompanied my job." I said, but the stone still did nothing. A quick wish told me that reversing my changes would count as interfering with the program.
I couldn't believe it. I had completely screwed myself over with that one wish. I had thought it was flawless, but now...it was obvious how badly I had messed up.
I could feel tears stinging my eyes as I realized the full gravity of my situation. I was stuck. There was no way out of this. I was going to be stuck as...a hooker for the rest of my life. I heard the front door of my house opening, and Lindsay yelling up to me. "Jon, everything alright in here?"
I slowly stood up and walked over to my dresser, placing the stone back in it's box, not wanting to explain to the woman what it was. I walked back over to my bed and sat down again, then cradled my head on my hands. I had completely destroyed my life, and even with a wishing stone, there was no way to fix it.
How would I face my family? Or Karyn, or anyone at my school? My entire life, completely ruined by one wish. One little wish that I thought would give me a bright future, had given me a bleak and horrible future.
I heard the sound of someone coming up the stairs, but still remained silent. I wiped away some of the tears on my face and looked up as Lindsay entered my room. The look she was giving me was sympathetic.
"Oh, Jon. I figured this would be tough for you." she said. "I've heard it usually hits people when they get home how drastic their changes are."
I said nothing. She didn't understand. How could she? My life had gone down the shitter, and it was all my fault. I could blame no one but myself.
"I know this must be tough for you, but sitting around wallowing won't help you." she said, looking around my room. Her eyes landed on my dresser and she walked over to it. She picked up an envelope and waved it toward me. "Here's the check. So, we can get going and get you back here faster."
I looked up at her, my expression obviously showing that I had no intention of going anywhere right now. At that, my mentor's expression changed. It was still full of sympathy, but also had a tinge of annoyance to it. "Jon, come on. This is ridiculous. You can't just sit here and wallow in pity. Now would you kindly cheer up a bit and come shopping with me?"
I gasped as I felt my mood change. I no longer felt the crushing sorrow I had mere seconds before. Actually, I felt pretty good, all things considered. Still not really happy, but definitely not horrible. It was then that I realized I should have fixed that part of this mess before putting the stone back. If I even could... But now, it was too late, because I could feel the other part of Lindsay's command overtaking me.
"I guess you're right." I said. "Let's get going."
"Great, there's a bank at the mall where we can cash this, so we don't even need to make another stop. Let's get moving."
I sighed as I followed Lindsay out of my room, stealing a quick glance at the box containing the stone.
Later. I thought. If I was stuck like this, it was going to be on my own terms. I wouldn't be someone's plaything.
