My jaw dropped in disbelief, Steven’s smile stretched so that you can see all of his gleaming teeth. Rolling his eyes, he murmured, “Always wit da non- believers. Have’ta see somethin’ to believe it,” then with a snap of his fingers and a wave of his hand, the pain in my knees vanished.
Swallowing nervously, I plucked up the courage to ask “Sooooo, you’re an……umm……. Angel?”
“Yea”
“Then what were you doing in a coke can?”
“Well, da big fella upstairs wanted to teach me a lesson cuz I beat His precious Son in 1-on-1 basketbawl. So He was like, ‘Hey, Steven! Wanna be a Senior wishgranter?’ and I was like, ‘Heck yea!’ Den He was like ‘If you can finish this can of coke down to the last drop, you’ll get the promotion.’”
Steven paused “If only I was more careful……..” he said wistfully. “I chugged da whole can in second, but dere was dis last little drop dat refuse to come out. So den He was like ‘Thou Shalt Spend Eternity Finishing the Coke from the Inside!!’ So he stuffed me in da can and threw me down to dis trashcan for a coupla decades”
“Since you freed da last drop of coke from da can, I am forever indebt to you. Tell ya what, I’ll give ya one wish, cuz dats kinda my specialty. Just one though, so think carefully.”
At the end of this little speech, I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do or say. Here was a real live angel ready to give me a wish, and I was just standing there. I quickly thought of all the things that trouble me, and the most obvious one came to mind.
“I wanna be young forever.”
“Not a bad choice. Just hope ya made the righ’ one.” Then with a wave of his hand and a snap of his fingers, he somehow changed the fabrics of the world.
It was suddenly daytime; the world looked much bigger than I was used to. I walked to a puddle of water on the ground and gave a gasp. I was young again! Judging from the collection of stubble and acne, I was around 16-17 years old again.
I ran and ran, all the way to my old house. Mom was making dinner on the stove. My old room was just like I remembered it, every crack, dent, hole on the plaster wall was there. I suddenly jumped and gave a great big yell of excitement, which in turn made my mom yell at me for being noisy. But I didn’t care! I was given a new chance at life! Everything will be wonderful from now on.
Not.
As I soon learned, there was no way of changing the past. Every effort of trying to avoid past mistakes was just made it worse. I ended up making the same mistakes that I thought I avoided. But this repetition of my life was not the only thing that was wrong; every time I had my 26th birthday, time would reset and I would be back to my 16 year old self again. I am stuck in an endless cycle of misery.
After endless times of reliving my “youth” I had had enough. I ran to the church I stumbled in ages ago, headed straight for the row of candles in front of the sculpture.
“What the heck, man?!” I yelled at the wooden stature “All I wanted was to be young again! Not to relive this endless hell! I knew from the very start that this was too good to—“
“Dank you fuh prayin’ to da big man, He s’not here at da moment, so leave ya message afta da beep.” Droned a familiar voice. “Hang on a sec, you’re da fella from da park!”
Sure enough, the flames on the candle shaped themselves into a faintly humanoid shape. “Hehe, I guess you’re ‘ere cuz my little wish didn’ work out da way it did, did it?” the flames gave a weak chuckle.
“Are you kidding me, Steven? I’ve been living for god knows how long, for the same bloody 10 years, forever! Do you know how I feel, living every horrible memory of my childhood, teen years and adult life? Do you know that I can’t change an—“
“Look, s’not my fault, you asked for eternal youth, and you got it. Plus, did it occur to you dat deres a reason Ima junia’ wishgranta? Im still new at dis.”
I was still breathing hard from my rant, so it took me a bit before I managed to hiss through my teeth, “Is there any way to fix this?”
The flame man gave a little shrug, “Yea, but you wont ever be young again, you know dat righ’?”
I looked down at myself, looking at my 20 year old body. At first I had relished the strength I felt in me, but now I realize this is not the natural way. “I guess so……. Alright, lay it on me, chief.”
“Just to let you know,” he said while waving his fiery hands, “I’m goin’ to add da first wish I learned.”
“Wai-wait, wait, wait! You’re gonna put another hocus pocus thing on me?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Its da easiest one eva’, but no one nowadays wishes for it. But I think it’ll do ya some good”
“No, no, no, no, no, no! I don’t want another thing on me! Noooooo—
Snap!
The whole world spun, mixing with bright, sparkling lights. A jumble of sweet musical notes filled the air. And I suddenly was 16 years old again.
With a sigh, I wandered back to my house again. “Stupid Steven musta got the wishy thing wrong again.”
But wasn’t the same. Everything was slightly brighter, and the colors more vivid. For once in my long existence, I found myself at ease. Every fiber of my being felt great, it was almost like when I first discovered I was young again. Except this time, the feeling lasted all throughout my life. Ever since then, it was like my life was charged with a positive energy. Not only that, but all of my past mistakes never happened. My wife stayed with me and together we had created many great memories with our family.
After a long, full life, I finally went upstairs to meet up with Steven. He greeted me with a high-five and a man hug and laughed, “Took ya long enough.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, “What was that wish that you did? That really works!”
He smiled.
“Happiness.”