Harvest Moon, Wishes, and You

Be careful what you wish for. That was the warning that Duska had gotten from Grandma Meekam. The harvest moon sat in the sky, emanating a golden color. The moon around the canoe glistened with stars. Duska wrapped her blue cloak tightly around her yellow dress, shivering. The men around her didn’t say anything. They paddled towards the edge of the cave off of the time-frozen island. Olim. She shuddered. She had heard of frightening things about this island. The men carefully lifted her up and placed her on the rock. The leader gave Duska a hard look.

“Follow rocks. He awaits.” he growled.

  She watched in despair as they paddled away. She looked into the darkness of the grotto. It seemed to reach out for her, humming. Then she heard three voices humming an eerie tune. One at a time, all the rocks started to glow. She hopped from rock to rock. The further she hopped into the cave, the more it began to look like a house. The sound of music from a phonograph echoed through the halls. Photos of young girls appeared on the wall next to some sort of landscape. They all have looks of agony on their faces.

“The past victims.” Duska whispered.

  A sweet smell came from a red door at the end of the hallway. Duska looked down. Her blue slippers were on top of gray carpet. She took a deep breath.

“May I enter?” she asked the door.

  The door creaked open slightly.

“Have you come at your own will?” asked an icy voice.

“I came for the sake of someone else, I came for myself, and I came by my people.” She replied.

  Her grandmother had told her that saying this phrase will heighten her chance of survival. Slightly.

“Very well. Come in.” the voice replied, getting warmer.

  Duska took a deep breath, then went into the door. The room was unlike any she had ever seen. There were geometric shapes on the ceiling that constantly changed. The wallpaper looked like fog on a watery lake. The furniture was made out of animals who seemed to be frozen in fear. In the middle sat a man in a red and black suit with horizontal stripes. His face reminded Duska of a painted skull. It had brightly colored designs… but his empty eyes seemed to suck the life out of those designs. He was sitting in the only chair that was not a frozen animal.

“Duska… Is that right?” he asked.

  Duska nodded.

“You came because of your older sister? The one who is sick? Who trusts too easily?” he asked.

  Duska nodded again, legs trembling. He motioned to a large dog-like creature with green fur.

“Sit.” he told her.

  Duska walked over and sat down. Her grandmother told her it was best to listen to whatever the king of Olim had to say. Or else she’ll immediately get eaten.

“You need to do three tasks. I will not tell you what they are. You’ll have to figure it out yourself. You will find, however, that these tasks are oddly familiar.” he began. He pointed to the moon, which was a bright blue. “That moon will change color. When it turns orange, your tasks are over with. If you don’t complete the tasks by the time that the moon turns orange, you will be stuck in a time loop forever.”

  Duska froze. She nodded. The king of Olim stood up and lumbered over to a red horse. He knocked on the horse’s head three times. The mouth dropped open, startling Duska. A small bag fell out of its mouth. He grabbed the bag and dropped it into Duska’s hands.

“These three items should help you.” he explained as he sat back in his chair. “Use them only in dire moments. Your task begins now. Out that door.”

  He pointed at the same door that Duska came in.

“Thank you for your generosity my king.” she replied.

  She crept through the door, preparing her for whatever horrors awaited beyond it. She was absolutely baffled. She had walked into the kitchen from her childhood memory. Except the cupboards were cracked, and there was a tall woman in a strawberry dress washing dishes. She crept closer.

“Hello?” she whispered, afraid of drawing attention.

  The woman turned around. Duska held in a scream. The woman had no face, but a red thin line for the mouth.

“Duska! There you are! Help me with the dishes.” the strange woman told her. Her voice sounded eerily similar to her own mothers voice.

  This might be her first task. Duska quickly helped with the dishes, trying to ignore the woman’s creepy whistling. She jumped when the woman gasped.

“My ring! It’s gone!” cried the woman.

  Duska blinked. Two weeks ago her cousins came to visit and thought it would be funny to put her mother’s wedding ring on a carrot. Her grandmother didn’t notice and tossed the ring adorned carrot into the sink to be washed. So all she needed to do was find a carrot. She searched the sink. She was overjoyed. She had found the ring around the carrot. She quickly pulled off and gave it to the woman. The woman’s face changed. There were eyes, nose and a mouth. Not a slit mouth either. She smiled at her.

“Thank you, but the task isn’t over yet. You still have to escape.” she told her.

  She let go of the carrot.

“Escape?” she asked.

  A hand snatched her. Before she could even scream she was dragged into the sink and was face to face with a carrot monster with the head of a horse. She kicked violently as it dragged her deep into the depths. She reached into her pocket for the pouch. The carrot monster dragged her down a lot more violently. She pulled a dagger out of her pouch and stabbed the monster with it. It shrieked and let go. Duska put the dagger between her teeth and swam to the surface. She spotted an island in the distance. Land. She didn’t stop swimming until she was on that island. She laid down on the sand, catching her breath.

“Excuse me? Have you seen my mommy?” squeeked a little voice.

  Duska looked up to see a little boy with pitch black eyes. She looked around. The beach was covered in clams. They looked like the shells that her and her little brother picked up. She knitted her eyebrows together.

“Do you think she’s in one of these shells?” she asked.

  The boy shrugged.

“Probably.” He replied.

  Duska looked at the moon. It was purple.

“Okay. Let’s find her. Quickly.” she told him.

  They scoured the beach. There was no sign of the boy’s mother. Duska put her hands in her pocket. She felt something. A spyglass. She pulled it out and looked at the shelves. Everything was purple. One shell, however, was glowing. She ran over to it, picked it up, and opened it. A woman with black eyes ran out of the shell and grabbed the boy.

“Run!” She shouted.

  A huge gust of wind blew out of the shell. Sand blinded Duska as she flew away. Debris flew around her. She blacked out.

  She woke up in a village. The smell of lavender and spices hit her nose. The buildings were all in different colors.

“I’m… home?” she whispered.

  This didn’t make sense. She only did two tasks… A dragon flew past her head. No one but her noticed. She pulled out the remaining object. It was a slip of paper. Find the thing that doesn’t belong, and you get to go home. She read. She shook her head. The dragon doesn’t belong… She pulled out her spyglass and looked at the dragon. Red. Like the rest of the landscape. She caught something glowing in the distance. It was coming from her house. She ran towards the house as fast as she could. The village faded behind her. She climbed over the wall to her grandmother’s garden. She tripped over something. To her horror she saw vines wrapping around her legs. She grabbed the dagger and chopped at the vines. When she was loose enough to get up, she ran to the house and slammed the door. She wandered the house for a short time until she heard something…

“I wish I was special.” It was her own voice.

  She walked towards it. She came to the stairs.

“I wish I was special.”

  She crept up the stairs and came to her room.

“I wish I was special.”

  That one wish. She had made it on a star three nights before her older sister had gotten picked. That wish… maybe it was the reason that her sister got picked! It knew that Duska wouldn’t hesitate to volunteer for the sake of her sister! It all made sense!

“I wish I was special.” 

  In her bed was a withered hand coming out from under her covers. Something glowed between the long and gnarled fingers. She held her breath.

“I wish I was special.”

  She uncurled the fingers. A glowing yellow star. She grabbed the star. The hand snatched her wrist. She screamed. The rest of the body came out of her bed, screaming in rage. Duska screamed louder. The body looked just like her, but meaner and scarier. Duska used her free hand to grab her dagger and stabbed the girl in the shoulder. The girl let go and she ran. She ran down the stairs. Then she stopped. Her house was disappearing. She tried to turn around and run upstairs again but the stair disappeared from under her.

    She gasped awake. She was on the rock that the men had dropped her off on. The star was shattered all over the rock. She looked up and saw the men coming back with grandma Meekam. Grandma Meekam smiled as they lifted her back into the boat.

“I knew you could do it. You are a special girl, Duska. You don’t need that wish.” she told her.

  Duska smiled at her. She looked back at Olim. She was glad she wasn’t feeling trapped anymore. To everyone reading this story… Be careful what you wish for.