11:11 [make a wish]

[--------------------------]

❝ what do you wish for at night? ❞
 

Haven sighed, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear. The clock her mother had gifted her last christmas read "11:00 P.M" in bright, red letters. She had been studying hard for four hours straight, eyes glued to the textbook in front of her in hopes of learning something, anything. If you were to ask her if she really liked College, she would laugh softly and say of course I do, with the words sounding so meticulously prepared you wouldn't even doubt it. But she didn't. Oh, no, she didn't. Haven was roadtrips and blue skies and unknown countries and wanderlust, but she wasn't tiny classrooms or deadlines or finals or intricate words. She wasn't, but she tried to be. Not for her, she couldn't care less about having a career, but for her mother. The one who had raised her all on her own, with effort and pain and sweat and hard work. There was a debt to be paid, and if wasting four years of her life to get a shiny new diploma was the correct way, then so be it.


Moonlight shined inside her room, and she faintly remembered the meteor shower that was supposed to happen on that same night. She looked up at the window, and was greeted by a beautiful sight. Tiny little shiny lines, like raindrops falling, lit up the sky one after another, drawing simple figures here and there, making the sky seem like a giant canvas, where a stubborn artist painted the same design over and over again. Textbook forgotten aside, she got up from her chair and crept close to the window, until her forehead gently touched the glass. Haven really didn't know much about Astronomy and couldn't tell the difference between a meteor and a star, if there even was any, but if it shined and was up high in the sky, you could wish on it, right? However, would that wish come true, or would it join the countless other ones that were said just once and then forgotten about? She smiled at her own thought. Of course it wouldn't come true, it was just a wish, a string of words directed to a burning broken piece entering the Earth's atmosphere, doomed to die a in a way humans considered to be beautiful, artistic, unique.


She glanced back at the clock. This time, it read "11:11 P.M", and there was something in those four identical numbers that clicked inside her, a kind of invisible pull, if you will. Quickly, she adjusted her gaze to the falling particles and said, out loud, “ I want to travel the world ”. As soon as the words left her lips she felt dumb, and her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink, consequence of the embarrasment that was boiling inside of her. Wow, that was terribly stupid, even for me. At least she was alone in her room: had her mother been there, she would have died laughing and wouldn't let her daughter forget about the time she spoke actual words to shooting stars, Haven was sure. Sitting back in her comfortable chair, she bit her lower lip and realized that she really, truly did want to travel the world. It was in her thoughts day and night: the places, the possibilities, the food, the history, the people, the knowledge. Everything. However, College came first. It always came first. So she buried her dreams deep into her mind to let boring textbooks fill the empty space, and promptly forgot about them.


Nodding her head slowly, she got up and searched for a light jacket to put on. Studying was definitely done for the night, and so she decided a walk around her neighborhood was the best thing to do at the moment. Tying her hair up in a ponytail, she looked at the mirror and examined the purple bags that had started to appear under her chocolate eyes. She definitely needed more sleep, a ton more. However, that was impossible at the time, so she let out another sigh (she had lost count of them) and got out of her room. She found her mother in the kitched and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, and then she was gone. The night was warm and silent, and Haven smiled. Maybe there were more surprises coming her way. 


 


 

 

[pumpkinpatrcnus]

As always, the Wish Workshop was hectic. Anatole couldn't quite figure out why they called it a workshop when it was more like a bustling office. Wish Granters ran past Anatole's cubicle, carrying towers of papers past, making it a wonder how nothing fell. The young Granter was making it a point to try to avoid any of his bosses, resulting in avoided work. For some reason, all the wishes he had been assigned were very broad, and hard to grant. Of course, it didn't help that the wishers didn't know how to specify what they wanted. So no, granting wishes is not easy. Why Anatole wanted to be a Wish Granter as a child slipped his mind. Maybe his next assignment wouldn't be so bad, right? Maybe he would just get someone wish for a puppy.


His wishful thinking had been interrupted by the slap of a thin file folder hitting his desk. One of his bosses glared down at him (perhaps they knew he was avoiding work?), before walking away. With a groan and an eye roll,  he picked up the file and looked over the contents. On one side was a paper, listing out the information of the wisher. A college student wanting to travel the world? Wow, how original. Dark eyes roamed to the other side of the file, only to land on a Granter's Card. Huh, guess the office is taking this one seriously, or else I wouldn't have been given a card. Anatole pocketed the card, closed the file, and stood up from his seat. Might as well get it over with. 


He grabbed a backpack before making his way over to the elevator, which happened to be conveniently disguised as a classic blue mailbox. Of course, it was a tight fit, but it only took a second or two before he was spat out into a dark street, where supposedly the wisher lived. After getting his bearings straight, he looked over the file to double check on the wisher's name and what she looked like. Haven. That's odd, compared to the strings of Jessicas and Madisons I get.  With a sigh, he leaned against a nearby house, and waited for her to stroll by.

 

[--------------------------]

The cool air calmed her thoughts. Closing her eyes slowly, she granted herself permission to enjoy the moment, taking in everything she heard, felt or smelled. For one second, Haven let her mind be blank, worries put away. Nightime had already fallen long ago, and her neighborhood had become a quiet one. Only parked cars lined the streets, but for all that mattered, she was alone. The girl didn't mind it at all, in fact, she welcomed and enjoyed solitude. Not loneliness, never loneliness. But College could be hectic, and a moment by herself was always glorious. Letting her feet guide her in a steady pace, she focused on the gentle colors of the sky that seemed to line her path. Getting lost was not a possibility (she knew the town like the back of her hand; every single street and every single person living in it), and even if she did, so what? She pressed her lips together, stifling a laugh. Maybe it would even be funny to end up in an unkown place.


She didn't even notice time flying by. Too entranced on the little details, like how yellow leaves colored different spots or the way the wind softly kissed trees, making them dance slowly with excitement, she lost all concern about it and didn't even look at her watch once. By the time her journey had come to an end, messy ponytail and faintly painted pink cheeks a reminder of it, the moon was high on the sky, making darkness around it seem even more deep. Haven tried not to panic. Not for herself, she was sure nothing was going to happen, at least nothing as dramatic as movies liked to show, but her mother was surely terribly worried about her. She cursed under her breath when she realized she had let her phone at home, where it was probably ringing incessantly. It was now time to go back, and her little bubble of peace burst suddenly, leaving her with an empty feeling.


Already late as she was, she decided to cut the way home short and go through a shortcut. While on it, a million excuses raced through her mind. Maybe she could tell her mother that she had help an injured dog? Stayed out late because she was talking to a friend she ran into? Or, you know, just the truth: that she was having such a good time, lateness was the least of her concerns. Lost in her thoughts once again, she didn't even notice the figure standing before her before it was too late, bumping into each other with enough force to make her take a step back. For a moment her heart jumped, the possibility of the person being a serial killer materializing, but she calmed herself down, trying not to think of the worst possible case. She was close enough to home, her mother would definitely hear her scream. Right? She noticed then that the "figure" was a man whose face she hadn't seen before. Haven studied his eyes, the moonlight making them seem so shiny it was even surreal. 


❝ I'm sorry ❞, she said, words leaving her lips before she noticed. Polite as ever, Haven knew it was her fault that they had ended in that awkward situation.  ❝ I was just thinking about something else and, uh — are you okay? ❞ Not like her body could do much damage, but she wanted to make sure. Maybe he was in the middle of something when she bumped into him. Ah, well.