”Fuck I’m tired.” Jon thought as he rubbed his eyes. Looking down at the half eaten taco sitting in front of him Jon picked it up and took another bite. As Jon chewed the greasy Taco Bell taco, his eyes lingered on the coffee he had bought on his way to the mall. ”Twenty four years ago I make a wish so I can get some sleep and here I am twenty four years later sleep deprived...” Jon swallowed his mouthful of taco and took a drink of coffee. Unsurprisingly Jon had gotten very little sleep after rediscovering the wishing stone. His mind had been filled with a flurry of ideas as to what he could do with the stone. ”This shouldn’t taste as good as it does.” Jon took another drink of his coffee and snatched up the last bite of his taco.
As Jon chewed he looked around the mostly empty food court of the Lake Point Mall. ”I can't believe how empty this place is.” Jon’s eyes followed a couple mall walkers as they hustled past the food court. ”You would think there would be people in the mall today, but...” Jon looked down into the mall at the couple of people wandering the barren walk ways. ”There’s practically no one. Not even people returning gifts...” Jon shook his head and unwrapped taco number 3. Taking a drink of coffee Jon began rehash the ideas for wishes that he had come up with during his sleepless night. ”I don’t want to totally rewrite my life... I just want a change... Or a better life...” Jon thought as he shelved idea of wishing to become a lawyer. ”I just need purpose. Something more fulfilling than what I do now...” Jon briefly thought about wishing for a wife and kids. ”No... That’s too much... A wish that broad is too dangerous. If I start making wishes that reach too far back into my history there’s no telling what I might change about myself or my family.”
Still as conflicted as he had been when he sat down, Jon took another drink of coffee and tried to will his weary mind into coming up with a clever wish. ”Come on brain... Work.” Jon thought balling up the wrapper of his third taco. Leaning back in his chair to relieve some pressure on his full belly, Jon closed his eyes and tried to focus. ”I should wish for... I should wish for... Damn it.” Jon opened his eyes back up. ”I have no fricken clue what to wish for...” He thought shaking his head and getting up from his table. Snatching up his trash he tossed it into a nearby trashcan and headed off into the mostly uninhabited mall with his coffee in hand.
As Jon passed empty store after empty store a new idea for a wish began to form in his head. ”What if I wished to revive this place?” Jon pondered as he stopped in front of what used to be Hot Topic. ”What if I wished for all of the stores to come back?” Jon asked his reflection in the storefront glass. ”But that would be too big of a change...” Jon turned and continued on his way deeper into the mall as he considered the fallout from what would be a very expansive wish. ”I’m sure I’ll come up with something...” He told himself as he approached the JCPenney that was now a grocery store. ”Howard’s seems to be doing good.” Jon paused and starred into the grocery store that had plenty of people bustling about it. ”But that’s a grocery store, which is nothing like a clothing store, or a shoe store, or a... a video store...” Jon’s eyes focused in on his faint reflection in the window that he was peering through into Howard’s. ”I need to think out of the box... If they can make a grocery store in a mall work, then I can come up with an idea to save this place...” Jon shook his head and continued aimlessly walk through the mostly empty mall as ideas percolated through his brain.
Stepping out of the mall and into the cold December air Jon still didn’t know what his first wish was going to be, but he had decided that at some point he would use the wishing stone to help save the dying Lake Point Mall. Stopping halfway to his car Jon looked over his shoulder at the empty anchor store that had been occupied by Sears. The Sears sign had been removed from the building years ago, but Jon could still make out the stained outline of the Sears sign on the faded concrete wall. “Don’t worry old friend. The wishing stone is going to turn both of our lives around.”
