Be Careful What You Wish For

They say to be careful what you wish for because you may just get it. For one young man; his life was about to change in a way that he could have never imagined. There was this young man by the name of Noah Anderson. He had just turned 17 and the only thing he wished for his birthday was to be able to travel the world. That day; he spent the whole day celebrating with his friends and family. Along with his girlfriend whom he has been with since he started high school. That day they hung out late until the night when it was finally time for everyone to go home and for Noah to go to bed. He put away the last of his gifts, crawled into bed and turned off his lamp. He slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, his alarm went off. It was time for him to wake up. He thought about reaching over to shut off his alarm; however, for some reason, he could not feel his arms. Then, he tried to climb out of bed, but he could not feel his legs either. He tried to scream, but no sound was made. A few moments pass and his young sister Bonnie comes bouncing cheerfully into the room. “Bubby, Bubby, mom made pancakes this morning. Your favorite,” she said. She made her way over to his bed and sat down. She lowered the blankets from the top of his bed, but Noah was not there. Then, she looked over next to where she was sitting and saw a paper airplane. She reached down and picked it up as she pretended to be an airplane and flew it out of his room and down the hall to start to eat breakfast.

Bonnie got to the kitchen and started to cry. “Mommy, Daddy, I think Bubby ran away. I hope I did not do something to make him do this. He was not in his room when I went in to get him, but I found this as she kept pretending to be an airplane and fly around the table.” Puzzled, their parents went into Noah’s room and sure enough, he was not there. There were no signs of the window being opened. The puzzling thing of it all was that his shoes were where they belonged and everything. So, no matter what had happened he had no shoes on his feet. Their father went and grabbed the phone and called up Celeste. “Celeste Dear, have you seen Noah? He is not in his room so I thought I would call and see if he was with you.” his father said. Celeste let him know that she hadn’t seen him since his party the night before.

They get off the phone and he then calls up all of Noah’s friends. They all tell him the same thing Celeste had. His father begins to think that his son has to be playing some kind of trick on them. So, he brushes it off and lets little Bonnie know that her brother is probably up to his usual tricks. She sniffles and wipes the tears from her eyes. Then, she sits at the table and starts to eat her breakfast. During which, she kept glancing over at the paper airplane she had found in his room. With the exception of Noah being there; they carried on their day as usual. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson didn’t want to frighten their daughter, but Mrs. Anderson knew that this was very unusual for Noah to even miss out on his favorite breakfast. The unsettlement of her husband telling her that none of his friends or girlfriend even knew where he did not sit right with her at all. It did not help matters that whatever had happened that her son was not even wearing his favorite shoes.

That evening, as they sat down for dinner; there was still no sign of Noah. Not even as much as a phone call to let his family know that he was okay and not in any kind of danger. It was quiet at the dinner table as Bonnie barely touched any of her food because she was missing her big brother so much. After dinner, Mrs. Anderson picked up Bonnie and carried her into the bathroom to give her a bath like she normally does. After which, she dried her off and helped her into her pajamas. They were on their way to her bedroom when Bonnie wiggled excitedly. “Mommy, Mommy, let me down, please. Please Mommy let me down.” Bonnie said loudly almost screaming. Her mother slowly let her down as her daughter ran into the living room picked up her paper airplane and dashed as fast as she could with tears in her eyes into her brother’s bedroom. “Bubby, I am so sorry that I did something to make you disappear. I wish you would please come back so we can play together and you can read stories to me like you did every night before I went to bed.” Hearing this, Mrs. Anderson could not help but cry. She fought so hard to hide her sadness because of the disappearance of her son, but she could no longer hold it together. At that moment, Mr. Anderson walks into Noah’s room and picks up Bonnie. She leaves the paper airplane on her brother’s bed the way she found it that morning. Then, the three of them go into her bedroom and tuck her into bed for the night.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, lean down kissing Bonnie softly good night, and turn on her night light. Slowly, backing out of her room; they shut off her bedroom light. They make their way into their bedroom and get into bed themselves. They lay in bed worried for hours until their bodies finally gave out on them and they both passed out. Meanwhile, back in Bonnie’s room; young Bonnie had a really tough time falling asleep. She kept thinking about her brother and wondering what she could have done to chase him away. She wrapped her favorite stuffed animal into her arms. It’s the one that her brother got her for her birthday two months ago. She cried into it and slowly drifted off too. Right as she was about to fall asleep Bonnie whispered softly, “I wish you would please bring back my big brother. I love and miss him so very much.” At that moment, the lights in the whole house flickered off and on for a few seconds. Young Bonnie was out like a light and had fallen asleep.

The next morning, Noah’s alarm sounded off once again. He reached up to wipe the sleep from his eyes and shockingly he could once again feel his hands. He reached over and shut off his alarm clock. He leaped out of bed, put on his shoes, and ran down the hall. He ran into Bonnie’s room and picked her up and just covered her in kisses as he spun her around so happily. “Bubby, you’re back! I missed you so much!” she shouted. Wondering what was happening, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson made their way into Bonnie’s bedroom to see Noah standing there holding his sister in his arms. They rush over to their kids and hug them both so tightly. After the hug, their parents look over at Noah and his father says, “Never do that to us again Son. You had us worried sick.” They all lived happily ever after.

THE END

© Jöel J. Gerber. 2021 All rights reserved

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