I was just crossing the road, heading out of school when I crossed paths with another of my friends, Jake. As usual his head was buried in a trashy sci fi book.
I smiled as he walked up to me, then sensing me as an obstacle, he sidestepped without even lookinking up and kept on walking away. Jake. He lived in his own world. He seemed to be more happy in his science fiction world than in the real world. What a dreamer.
I fingered the box in my pocket. I could see if he liked his dream life or not.
I pulled out the wishing stone and made the wish... very carefully.
"I wish that Jake was in the story he is reading now and when the story came to it's end he was returned safe and whole."
At the completion of my wish Jake just disappeared. Him. His clothes. Everything vanished in a sudden poof. The only thing left was the book he'd been reading.
I walked over and picked it up. It was a trashy old dime store novel written in the fifties. On the cover was a barely naked woman strapped onto a mad scientis operating table. There were all kinds of weird machines and stuff about. Looking at the cover I knew that what was inside was hardly going to be as exciting as the lurid pulp trash cover.
"I wish that the story was as exciting as the cover made it look," then I carefully put the stone back and opened the cover and started reading...
