Wish

by Janet MacLeod

  I gasped, trying to catch my breath, but it was like a disease ate at me. My skin. My lungs. My soul. Voices taunted me. Real or imagined, I didn’t know. My heart struggled to beat normally. I panted, trying to breathe, but it felt as if someone held their hands around my throat and squeezed hard. Harder.

  Just as everything started to fade, all my senses and consciousness fled; out of the blue the sensations were stripped away. I stumbled, struggled to breathe, as if I’d been held underwater against my will. By someone who wanted me gone.

  I bent over panting and glanced up. Keith had pried Jenny off of me. He held Jenny behind him. My gaze went to her face. It contorted with hatred. It oozed off of her. I inhaled a deep, quick breath, afraid to see such dark emotions emanating from normally syrupy, girlish features.

  He threw her aside and grabbed me, sticking his face close to mine, his nose pressed right up to my nose. He spoke but I couldn’t focus on his words. I struggled to shake off the blackness that had engulfed me.

  “Sydney?”

  I focused on Keith’s voice. “Are you okay?”

  He stood taller and kept Jenny back, away from me. I was afraid of more than her peppy cheers.

  “She has something I want,” Jenny said in a gravelly low voice.

  I pictured an army of angry black ants crawling out of her mouth when she spoke. Slowly I straightened, unable to take stop gawking at her.

  “She’s not interested in your stupid boyfriend,” Keith said, scowling at both of us.

  Jenny laughed an eerie, unnatural sound. “Mike? This isn’t about Mike, Keith. You know that. You and I want the same thing. You and I.”

  Keith pushed Jenny away again. She lurched on her heels, struggling to stand and landed on her butt. “You know you want it, Keith. You want the same thing I do.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Not princess-like at all. Her laugh would give Stephen King nightmares.

  Jenny Truman? Even though Stevie and I pledged not to date him, that didn’t mean he was free to hook up with her.

  I bent down so my mouth was inches from her face. “You are cold and mean. I wish you would go back inside the school. Right now. I wish you would take the long way around, walk around the entire school before you go inside.”

  Jenny growled, but scattered backwards on her hands and her butt, as if invisible strings pulled at her.

  Her eyes squinted close. “You little witch,” she said as she backed away. “Your Mom will pay for this. And your Nana, too.” She got up and marched unsteadily away from us.

  I turned to Keith. “Oh My God. You heard that. She called me a Witch! She’s more than an evil mean girl. She’s going to hurt Mom and Nana.”

  He grabbed my hand. “No. She’s just a stupid girl. She’s mad about Mike. She’s trying to scare you. People gossip. She knows your Mom is gone.”

  I shook my head. No way. There was more to it. He was trying to protect me from her murderous insanity. Or he was fooling around with her. All of the options made me want to vomit.

  “Come on,” Keith said. “Forget about her right now. We’ll worry about Jenny later. Let’s go. She’s going to squeal to the police soon as she reaches the school. We have to get going. We have to reach your Mom.”

  Keith grabbed his remote car starter from his pocket and sparked his engine as we ran through the parking lot. When we jumped inside, he shoved his key in the ignition and rammed the car into reverse so faster I worried for his transmission. We screeched out of the parking lot onto the main road leading out of the school.

  “Put on your seatbelt,” he said.

  I crossed my arms, glaring at him.

  He glanced at me. “Are you actually mad at me?” He put both hands on the wheel to make a sharp turn and we skidded around a corner. “Put your seat belt on Sydney. I’m not that good of a driver.”

  “You’re in love with Jenny Truman? Jenny Truman?” I snorted.

  “I am not in love with Jenny Truman.”

  “Well you ‘both want the same thing.’” I did my best imitation of Jenny’s crazy voice.

  Keith shook his head. “I don’t want anything that Jenny Truman has to offer.” A car horn honked at us as we sped towards Allendale, outside the city.

  He glanced over at me and then back at the road. “I took her out once a long time ago because she kept bugging me to. She asked me to sketch her. Nothing happened. We never went out again. She thinks I’m in love with her because she thinks all the boys are. She’s a big tease. She does that to everyone.”

  I slapped his leg and hoped I left an imprint of my hand. “You took her out and you sketched her and you didn’t even tell me or Stevie.”

  Keith kept his eyes on the road and his lips pressed together. “I don’t have to tell you two everything.”

  “Well. You’re supposed to,” I shouted. “You’ve never even asked to sketch me.” I pouted, angrier than I should have been.

  He didn’t answer. “Put your seat belt on, okay Sydney. You’re getting a little hysterical, which under the circumstances is probably normal. But I’m driving like a maniac so why’re we even talking about this now?”

  I pulled on the seatbelt and checked the road behind us for cars. “Well. No one is following, so slow down.” I had to bite my lip not to use my newfound powers to make a wish about Keith. A mean one.

  Something moved in my peripheral vision.

  “Oh my GOD?” I yelled.

  “What?” Keith yelled back sounding panicked.

  Magic lay on the floor in the backseat of the car, curled up in a ball, licking his paws. He looked up at me and blinked as his little pink tongue flicked in and out.

  “My cat is in your back seat.”

  Keith whipped his head around. “Oh, No. My mom is going to kill me,” he mumbled before looking back at the road.

  “What does your mom have to do with this?” I shouted at him as he turned down a back road I’d never been down before.

  “She’s allergic to cats. She doesn’t want any dander around the twins, in case they’re allergic too.”

  “Keith. It’s your car. And your mother being mad at us is the least of our worries right now,” I reminded him.

  He pressed his lips into a straight line. “Your Mom may be gone but my mom is sleep deprived. Believe me, it’s not pretty either. Besides, I drive the twins around when they won’t go to sleep sometimes, so it does matter.”

  I stared at him. “You do? You drive the twins around? Aww. Keith, that’s so sweet.”

  “Sydney! It’s not sweet. We listen to tunes and they fall asleep.” He frowned at me. “This is completely beside the point.”

  “Okay, okay. I just didn’t know you did that.” Inside I giggled. “How about this? I wish Keith’s mom won’t get mad at him if she finds out he had a cat in his back seat.” I clapped my hands together. ”There. Witch stuff. Done.”

  He didn’t say anything, but pushed out his lips thoughtfully.

  “You know what’s bizarre,” I asked.

  He didn’t answer.

  “I can’t even tell if my wishes are working or not. I don’t get a sign or anything. They just do. Don’t you think they should come with directions? My powers?”

  Magic jumped up to the top of the seat back and leapt into my lap. “And then there’s this cat. He walks through doors, he appears in cars. This is not a normal cat.”

  “You are not a normal girl.”

  “Hey.”

  I was about to defend myself, but Keith interrupted.

  “Sydney. We’re here.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  I’d been so distracted I barely noticed the changed scenery. But now my eyes were wide open. Keith pulled his car into a clearing. A clearing that led to a forest. A forest of trees. Big, tall branchy trees.

  “Ouch.” Magic kneaded my skin with his claws. “What are we doing here?” I demanded.

  Keith cut the engine. “This is where we’re supposed to be.”

  “What are yo
u psychic? I’m the witch here; you’re supposed to be the sidekick. How come you knew and I didn’t?” He undid his seat belt. “I can’t explain it any more than anything else that’s happening. It’s a feeling. Very strong, Sydney. This is where your Mom is.” His chin stiffened as if he were grating his teeth together.

  “My Mom’s here?”

  I didn’t move, but Keith opened his door to get out of the car.

  “Where are we? Where are you going?” I didn’t want to get out of the car. My mind clouded over and seemed to slow with fear.

  My shoulder throbbed and I lifted up the sleeve of my t-shirt. The whorls on the Celtic knot tattoo seemed to be shifting around.

  “We have to go in, Sydney.”

  “You go ahead. I’m good.”

  “No. You have to go with me. I can’t do it alone.”

  “Why?” I demanded.

  He looked around as if someone were going to call out an answer for him. “I’m not sure, exactly.”

  He held out his hand to help me out of the car. I glared at it. “And suddenly you’re Mr. Chivalrous?”

  “Sydney. It’ll be okay.” He put his hand down and sighed.

  “And I’m supposed to believe you because?”

  “I’m on your side, Sydney. You know you can trust me. I’m going to help you get your Mom out.”

  I undid my seatbelt but I didn’t budge. “You know. Nana is with Mom and she failed to mention anything being in a forest. And I think she would have mentioned that. And you know how tough Nana is. I bet she can handle Mom just fine on her own. She did say she’d bring her home.”

  “Well. How come she’s not home then?”

  I didn’t answer since I pretty much wondered the same thing myself. Something had stopped Nana from getting Mom out and I didn’t have any idea what it was.

  Keith held out his hand again. I held tight to Magic, ignored Keith’s hand and stepped out of the car. As soon as my foot hit the ground, Magic shrieked and leapt from my arms. An agonizing pain tore at my insides threatening to rip my stomach through my bellybutton. I sank to my knees, clutching my gut.

  “Sydney, are you okay? Sydney?” Keith huddled over me, his features swooshing all together. He bent down and his body blocked out the sun. For a moment as his outline hovered above me he looked sinister, as if he were going to attack me. I shrank back and closed my eyes.

  He touched my forehead. “Hey, you okay?” The sudden contractions disappeared as fast as they’d come.

  I snuck a peek. He looked like Keith again.

  I frowned. “I am now. God. That hurt.” He helped me to sit up and then plunked down on his butt beside me.

  “Is it, your er, uh… you know, your girl stuff, your crampy things?”

  I wanted to laugh. I didn’t, but I wanted to. We were hanging out at the edge of a forest. I wanted to go in there like I wanted to dance solo in the boy’s locker room. Naked.

  “No. Not my crampy things. I think I have nervous stomach. I’m stressing out.” I half laughed and cried and it came out of my throat like a belly fart. “I wished the girl cramps thing away. Ha. How about that for witch power?”

  Keith blushed and turned away from me, staring into the evil shrubbery. “Maybe just a weird reaction to this place.” His voice changed. The forest looked dark and ominous, thick with green leaves and sprawling branches.

  “I never went in last time I was here,” he whispered.

  “Last time you were here?”

  He nodded. I began to suspect Keith was pretty good at hiding things from me.

  “I had a feeling. Not as strong as this one. But I checked this place out the night of your birthday. It was late when I got here. Dark. So I didn’t go in.”

  I didn’t bother commenting on that. At least the boy still had some good sense in him.

  “You think you could have a feeling about a place less icky?” I finally asked.

  He glanced at me and raised a shoulder and let it drop.

  “Remember when you and Stevie wanted to watch that old horror movie, The Blair Witch thing?” I asked.

  He frowned. “You mean The Blair Witch Project.”

  “Whatever. Do you remember how I left Stevie’s house because even the thought of watching a scary movie about a forest was enough to give me nightmares until I turn 60?”

  “That whole movie was just a hoax. You know that. A movie that was supposed to scare people. Pretend.”

  “You’re right. And this is real life. But let’s think for a moment, shall we. Hmm. Fact number one. I have witch powers. Not so normal, right? Fact number two. A teenage boy has disappeared. Fact number three. A teenage girl is hating on the witch. All the trappings of a good horror movie, don’t you suppose. I mean, come on. It’s a scary looking forest, dude. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to go traipsing into forests? That’s how teenagers disappear. Never to be heard from again. The Sydney Witch Project.”

  “Yeah, but you’re a teenager with powers.”

  Hmm. He did have a point there. My powers were real. Not special effects for a movie. I reached up and touched my necklace. I lifted my t-shirt to peer at the tattoo. It buzzed on my shoulder but the swirls moved slower.

  I looked around. “Hey. Where’s Magic?”

  “Your cat?” Keith asked.

  We both looked toward the forest.

  “Magic,” I called.

  Nothing.

  “Here kitty, kitty,” I yelled, but the cat didn’t respond.

  “He must have gone inside,” Keith said. “We’ll look for him. Come on. Let’s go.”

  Keith got to his feet and pulled me up beside him.

  “I really, really don’t want to go in there,” I told him. “ Keith slipped his hand into mine. When he applied pressure my stomach swooped in a completely inappropriate way. Way to crush on my best friend in the middle of danger.

  “Come on, Sydney. We’ll be okay. We have to go.”

  He stared down at me and his voice became urgent, almost panicking. “We have to get to your Mom.”

  “You know. She did leave me for a whole year. And she kind of lied about where she was. Maybe I should just let her and Nana find their way out.”

  Keith didn’t appear amused.

  “This isn’t a joke. This is serious.” He pulled my hand, but I pulled back just as hard and dug my heels down.

  “I don’t think it’s a joke. She didn’t leave you.” An unexpected sob caught in my throat and I blinked quickly to keep from bawling.

  “No. She didn’t. But she loves you, Sydney. There had to be a good reason why she left. God. I only wish my mom cared about me as much as yours does.”

  “Your Mom is at home.”

  “Yes. With her new husband. And her twin babies. I’m a leftover kid from an old life she’d rather forget.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not true.

  “No? Well. We’ll debate this later. You don’t jam on your Mom when she needs you because you’re mad at her. You have to get her out. You’re the only one who can.”

  “Again. Your source of information would be?”

  He laughed a short, quick sputter that evaporated into the air as soon as it left his mouth. “Don’t ask, I have no idea. But trust me, okay? They’re getting closer.”

  “They?” I asked.

  He shrugged.

  “Don’t tell me. A feeling.” My fear became so tangible I tasted it in my mouth. Sour and vile. The forest loomed in front of me, taunting me, branches reaching for me, wanting to suffocate, strangle me. “I don’t want to go in.”

  I glanced at Keith to catch sight of his disappointment in my weakness. Something unusual passed behind his eyes. For a brief moment his features changed. His brown eyes sparked some serious voltage.

  I pulled my hand out of his and stepped back. My stomach flip-flopped like a fish out of water. I re-planted my feet into the dirt and turned to stare longingly at his car.

  “You can’t go home and pretend none of this
is happening. You’re a witch. You can make wishes come true, for God’s sake. You can deal. You dealt with Jenny Truman, you stood up to her.”

  “Jenny’s a stupid girl. This is a forest.” I tried not to peek at the dark greenery mocking me.

  I twisted away from him, pressing my eyes shut. “I wish none of this was happening.”

  I opened my eyes again. I looked around. Nada. No change.

  Keith glanced around too and then lifted his hands in the air. “I guess it doesn’t work all the time. Maybe it’s temporary, or maybe you only have a certain amount of wishes or something. You know, like three or whatever?”

  “I have no idea. My mom obviously took the rulebook with her when she split for the nut farm.”

  “Institute,” Keith corrected, sounding just like Nana. I frowned, remembering something else. “Cody mumbled something to me about wish protocol, but he didn’t remember what he said two seconds after it left his mouth. Too bad he didn’t tell me all the rules. Like how to stop you from convincing me I have to go in the forest to help out my mom.”

  His cheeks got spotty “Don’t sound so suspicious. It’s me. Keith. Remember? I’m helping you.”

  I glared at him. “Yeah. How do I even know you’re even on my side? What if you’re a bad guy?”

  He didn’t grace me with an answer. His features froze. Guilt washed color up my neck and over my face.

  I studied my shoes. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m just scared.”

  “I know. Me too.” Keith sighed. “Come on. We have to go in there, Sydney.”

  “Promise you won’t leave me.

  “I promise.”

  I rubbed the necklace around my neck and my shoulder still buzzed under the tattoo. I took a deep breath, and blew it out. “Okay. I trust you. Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed tight. He moved forward and I followed on his heels.

  As soon as we stepped inside the trees, I started coughing. Choking. One second we were in a clearing, and steps later we were immersed in serious shrubbery. My lungs compressed, craving fresh oxygen. Weeds sprung up from the ground. Our feet crunched over dead leaves and fallen branches.