The next two days leading up to Christmas were a bit of a blur to Jon, but not because he was out catching up with old friends or wandering around Lake Point reminiscing about his youth like his sister Zoe had been doing since she arrived back in Lake Point with her partner Jamie and their dog Magdelina. No, Jon had spent those two days alternating between the kitchen and living room as he helped his mother prepare for Christmas and watched meaningless college football bowl games with his father. As mind numbing as it had been, his mother did seem to appreciate his help around the house and he had won a few bucks betting on games with his father.
”Thank god Christmas is over.” Jon thought as he wearily began his ascent up the stairs to his childhood bedroom that was now a generic guest room. The sound of his family gleefully chatting in the living room masked the pitter patter of Magdelina’s footsteps, but Jon knew she was following him up the stairs. “Maggie you know you can’t sleep in my room.” Jon said looking back at the happy German shorthaired pointer whose stubby tail was wagging furiously. “Fine...” Jon gave her a couple scritches behind the ears, and the two continued up the stairs to Jon’s childhood bedroom. Pushing open the bedroom door Jon headed over to his duffle bag and grabbed his tooth brush out. “You want me to brush your teeth too?” Jon asked Magdelina as he headed out of his bedroom to the upstairs bathroom.
”I shouldn’t have done gift cards...” Jon internally groaned as he thought about how the gift cards had went over like lead balloons. ”But I just... I... Ugh... I just don’t know how Zoe and Jamie do it...” Jon spit into the sink and rinsed his mouth out. “How do they do it Maggie?” Jon asked Magdelina causing her ears to perk up. Letting out a sigh Jon shooed Magdelina out into the hallway so that he could use the bathroom. A minute later he opened the bathroom door to see Magdelina’s wagging tail once again. “You know Zoe and Jamie are going to want you sleeping with them right?” Jon said giving Magdelina a couple more scritches as she walked with Jon back to his bedroom. “Maggie.” Jon knelt down to face level with Magdelina. “Where’s Zoe? Where’s Jamie?” Magdelina’s ears perked up. “Go find them! GO GO GO!” Maggie shot off down the hallway and then down the stairs in search of Zoe and Jamie.
Stepping into his old bedroom Jon closed the door and let out a deep sigh. ”Christmas is officially over.” Jon closed his eyes and exhaled as a wave of relief washed over his body. Taking another deep breath Jon opened his tired eyes and looked longingly at the uncomfortable bed he would be spending one more night on. “Wait...” Jon’s eyes focused in on the skull statue that his grandfather had given to him many years ago that was now sitting atop his pillow. “What the hell is going on...” Jon mumbled as he began to internally freak out. “I left that at home...” Jon pictured the skull sitting in its display case above Jon’s PC in his little apartment. “What the fuck... How?..” Jon’s eyes studied fancy red ribbon that was intricately wrapped around the skull statue. “Is this a prank? What the fuck is going on?”
Jon rushed across the room and snatched the skull statue off his pillow. Inspecting the fancy name tag that hung on the ribbon Jon read, “Merry Christmas Jon. Love, Jon.” Jon fought the urge to throw the skull statue back onto the bed. ”NO! Don’t fucking throw it.” His internal monologue yelled. ”Don’t be a fucking moron this has to be a prank.” He told himself as he ripped the tag off the ribbon and began to undo the fancy red ribbon. “There!” Jon tossed the ribbon onto his bed and began to inspect the statue. “This looks completely normal...” Jon continued scouring the skull for any clue as to why and how the skull had made it to his childhood bedroom. “Nothing...” Jon mumbled as he held up the skull in both hands in front of his face. “What the hell is going on?” Jon asked.
As if on cue, a hairline fracture appeared at the top of the skull. Jon watched as the fracture quickly bisected the skull. “Shit!” Jon gasped as the skull began to split in half. A hemisphere fell into each of Jon’s hands, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the wishing stone embedded in the left hemisphere of the skull statue like an avocado seed. “The wishing stone...” Jon gasped as all of memories that had been magically wiped from Jon’s brain began to flood back into his mind. “O... my... god...” The words fell out of Jon's mouth as he stared wide eyed at the wishing stone as everything began to make sense. “My wish... It worked! Holy shit it worked!!! O my god! I have a fucking wishing stone!!!” Jon exclaimed to the empty room.
