Wishing (Part 1)

Author's Note: This isn't related to the prompt. This is a story that Sophia Davidson and I work on weekly. (I know her in real life.) Sophia's Reedsy: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/sophia-davidson/

------------------------------------------------

“Come on, Ella!” I told my bestie.

“I’m coming!” she said as we hurried up the stairs. I told her to shut her eyes as I led her into my newly remodeled room. "Woah... that's pretty awesome." she said, her eyes wide.

“Okay, for the talent show, remember, I’m doing guitar and we’re both singing.” I told her.

“Yup. Let’s practice.” she told me.

“We will be singing Clouds, from the new Disney Plus movie, Clouds.” I said. I strummed my guitar to the tune.

“I fell down, down, down, into this dark and lonely hole, there was no one there to care about me anymore..." We sang to the song. After we were done practicing for the school talent show, we talked about school and stuff.

“Hey, do you ever feel like we’re supposed to do more with our lives?” Ella asked me.

“I guess.” I responded.

“I mean, I just want something interesting in my life.” Ella said, looking down at the floor.

“You have a twin brother, that's interesting!” I said, trying to come up with something.

“I don’t think Andrew is that exciting.” She muttered. “Mom! Is Andrew done with soccer practice yet?!” Ella ask-shouted.

“Yes honey, dad and him are on their way here right now.” Mrs. Matthews said.

“You ok, Ella? Why did you ask if Andrew was done with his game?”

“Huh? Oh, I just was wondering.” She seemed to be staring into nothing. I don’t think she was paying attention. I stared at her staring into nothing for a while, and then realized she was rubbing her wrist.

“Ella? Why are you rubbing yourself?” I asked her.

“Oh, ummmm, I don’t know, I guess-” The doorbell interrupted her.

“Oop, guess Andrew’s here!” We ran to the door and opened it, and when we did, Ella gasped. “Andrew! What happened!” I asked him as I stared at his wrist. 

“Oh, I, um, fractured my wrist during soccer practice. We were practicing kicks and the ground was still wet from last night’s rain storm. I kicked and my foot slipped and I landed on my wrist. The doctors said I’ll have to wear this cast for a few weeks.” Ok, this was getting a little weird. First Ella was rubbing her wrist, now we find out Andrew fractured his wrist?! This can NOT be a coincidence!

Ella stared at me, then she looked at Andrew. Andrew didn’t get it, but I did. I grabbed Andrews good wrist and pulled him into my room, with Ella following.

“What do you want, Maddy?” Andrew asked me. The look on his face told me he did not want to be in my room. I mean, it's not bright pink! It's cream colored! But whatever.

“What time did you fracture your wrist?”

“4:30, why?” he asked.

“Because, at 4:30, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. That be be coincidental!” Andrew and I stared at Ella, then I said,

“Lets try something!” I grabbed a pencil from my desk and poked Ella's leg with the pointy side.

“OW!” Ella and Andrew shouted in unison.

“Wait, why did I also feel that? You poked Ella, not me!” He said confusedly.

“That’s exactly my point! What is going on?!” Soon, Mr. and Mrs Matthews, Lilly, and Andrew had to leave. Luckily Ella got to stay for a sleepover with me. “So, El, what do you want to do while my mom cooks dinner?” I asked her as we sat on the couch in the living room.

“Um, I don’t know, we could play on the Switch?” Ella asked.

“Yeah, sure! What do you want to play?” We decided to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, while sort of impatiently waiting for my mom to cook dinner. We had fun playing on the family Nintendo Switch for a while and then my mom walked into the living room.

“Ella, Maddy, dinner should be ready soon, why don’t you guys get Ella’s stuff set up?”

“Ok mom!” So we followed my moms directions and opened up Ella’s suitcase. As we were setting up Ella’s sleeping bag we talked about earlier, and what we think it meant.

“It was weird, but I’m sure it’s nothing.” Ella reassured me. Even though she said it, I could tell she knew it wasn’t nothing.

“Girls! Come down and wash your hands! It’s dinner time!”

“Mmmm, I wonder what’s for dinner!” Ella said. “Oh, pizza! Thanks Mrs. Carter!”

“No problem, Ella!” I put a slice of pizza and a breadstick on my plate and sat down at the table.

“Mrs. Carter, can me and Maddy watch a movie after dinner?”

“Of course! Just make sure it’s appropriate! We don’t want Evelyn getting any ideas...” She looked at Evelyn.

“Can I watch the movie too, mommy? Pleeeease! I’ll be good!”

“Why don’t you ask Maddy and Ella? It’s their sleepover.” Evelyn asked and we said yes because we didn’t want her to have a big tantrum. We finished our dinner and picked out a movie.

“Do you wanna watch Soul, Eve?” I asked.

“Yes, yes yes!!” We put the disk in and me and Ella went into the kitchen to grab some snacks. I grabbed a platter of brownies and Ella grabbed a bag of popcorn. We all sat on the couch with some blankets and played the movie.

“Evelyn, it’s time for you to go to bed!” My mom said from the kitchen.

“Whyyyyyyy?!”

“Evelyn, the movie is over and it’s two hours past your bedtime. It’s time for you to go to bed.” My mom reasoned with her.

“Okaaaaay!” She stomped up the stairs as me and Ella took out the trash and put the dishes in the dishwasher. After we were done cleaning, we went upstairs and put our pajamas on. After we brush our teeth we turned off the lights and Ella got in her sleeping bag and I climbed up my ladder.

“Good night Maddy and Ella!” My dad shouted from downstairs. Ella got into her sleeping bag and I climbed up the ladder of my loft bed. The next morning Andrew, Mrs. Matthews, Mr. Matthews, and Lilly came over for breakfast.

“Oh, smells good, Dad! Whatcha making?” I asked.

“Cinnamon rolls, and you can have a banana or some fruit with it.”

“Mmmm!” We sat down and ate our breakfast at the table. We soon finished, and Ella’s mom and dad and my parents called us over to the basement.

“What's up, mom?”

“Get Andrew and Ella and follow us.” Okaaay... well, this was... weird.

“So why did you need to bring us down here?” I asked.

“Have you guys noticed anything odd lately?”

“Well, me and Andrew have been able to feel each others pain?” Ella said.

“Is that a question or a statement?” Mrs. Matthews asked.

"Statement." Ella mumbled.

“Ok, the pool. I need you two," Mrs. Matthews pointed at Ella and Andrew, "to go into it.”

“What? Why?” Andrew asked, just as confused as Ella looked.

“Just do it, you’ll understand in a few minutes. Now, when you step into the pool, think about mermaids.” They followed her directions and walked into the pool.

“Why do we need to think about mermaids? They’re not real. I mean, I would love for them to be, but we all know..." Ella trailed off. "Maddy, why are you staring at us like that?”

“Um, uh,” I stuttered. I pointed at her and Andrew’s 'legs.'

“What??” Then she looked down. “Andrew! We have tails!”

“What?! There is no way we have-” he looked down and just stared.

“WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!” Ella and Andrew shouted at the same time. Then their mom started to explain EVERYTHING!

“Wait, that’s not fair!!!” I said, after Mrs. Matthews was done explaining.

“What isn’t?” My mom asked.

“They’re mermaids-”

“Mermaid, and merman. Wait, is it merman or merboy?” Andrew remarked. Mrs. Matthews glared at him.

“Go on, Maddy,” she said.

“As I was saying, it’s not fair that they’re mermaids and I’m… well… NOTHING!”

“You’re a human.” Andrew snorted. I scowled at him.

“Yes, you are something. Something special.” my mom told me. “Aiden, can you go get the…” she trailed off.

“Yep.” Dad said. “Liam? I’m gonna need your help.” When he came back with Mr. Matthews, they were lugging a mirror behind them.

“Did I ever tell you that wishes have great power?” I nodded. “Well, in some cases, wishes can be magical.” Mom said.

“Oh, yeah, and girls, go get a nice outfit on.” Ella’s mom told us.

"Yep, I remember the PJ incident..." Mom smirked. We were curious, but didn’t question.

“Here, you can use one of my dresses.” I told Ella. I held out a nice light colored beach dress that went well with Ella’s blonde hair and freckles. I put on a pretty pink one that also matched my blonde hair. We changed, put on shoes and came back downstairs.

“So, what are we doing?” Ella asked.

“We’re walking through the mirror.” My mom said confidently. Me and Ella had questions -lots of them- but we just followed their directions. I stuck my hand out to Ella. She grabbed it and we walked into the mirror behind my parents and Mrs. and Mr. Matthews.

“Woah, what is this place?” I asked my mom as I looked around me. “Ella, Maddy, Andrew, welcome to the Enchanted Forest!” mom gestured.

“Are you serious?! We’re in the Enchanted Forest?!” Ella squealed.

“So, what powers do I have?” I asked.

“Well, you should have the power of wishing. You can wish for anything, but sometimes your wishes might be too big and you’ll need some help.” mom explained. Then Andrew blurted out,

“Wait, WHAT?! Maddy gets to wish for anything, and all we get it to swim fast and breath underwater?! NOT fair!”

“Yeah, that’s all you get.” Mrs. Matthews said sarcastically. After finding out my powers, we went to our castles. I know, right! I have a castle! This was the BEST DAY EVER! So, it turns out my grandparents are Queen Cinderella, and King Kit! And, Ella’s grandparents are Queen Ariel and King Eric! AWESOME! I feel kinda bad that I get more power than El and Andrew, but mom said that there was only one thing my wishes can’t do. Give, take, or strengthen powers. After we explored the castle, mom said we were going over to Ella’s castle to train. She said we had to train in case anything bad happened. So, I changed into something suitable for training- a t-shirt and leggings- and we started walking to Ella’s castle. Once we got there, we were about to knock on the door when Ella opened it.

“I could see you from the window.” She explained. She let us inside and we walked down to their basement. As soon as a got down there, my jaw dropped. Their basement had a whole training area! There was a simulator, a workout station, and even a pool! (I'm sure ours had that too, but I haven't explored the basement yet. Ours also probably had more, because our castle is a bit bigger than Ella and Andrew's.) Mrs. Matthews and my mom walked down behind us.

“Well then, shall we get started?” Mom asked.

"Yeah." Andrew said, still in marvel of everything.

“Can I swim with Ella and Andrew?” I asked.

“Sure. You can use this time to learn your power.” Mrs. Carter said.

“So, I just say… I wish for me and Ella to have cute bathing suits.” I giggled. Mrs. Carter rolled her eyes, but then, me and Ella had really cute bathing suits on. We giggled.

“Ok kids, you’re going to learn what to do if your attacked in the water. You can’t wish your way out of everything.” Mom said as she looked at me. My dad got into the water and used some stuff to simulate an attack. One of the gadgets made a big blast and we got a little scared.

“Ahhh!” Ella and Andrew screamed at the same time. They put their hands out in front of them trying to protect themselves, and I plummeted underwater before the wave could splash onto me.

Suddenly the big wave splashed onto their dad and knocked the gadget out of his hands.

“Um, what just happened?” Ella and Andrew asked as we all stared at them in shock.

“I don’t know.”