Wishes

Wishes

By: Abdel-Hamid Musleh

Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to be special somehow. My parents always went on and on about how special I was and how proud of me they were. But every year since the first grade I brought back nothing but disappointment in the report cards. They used to say “well you’ll do better next year” and it turned out I didn’t. Every year after that was a repeat of the previous year, they were disappointed in me and I just wanted to try harder for them. They always wanted me to be better but never again said they loved me or how proud of me they were. Fast forward to Junior High and as a testament to my failure as a student I was sleeping in the back of pre-algebra with my book open and my face firmly planted in the middle of it, and as everything in my little nap was going so well, Mrs. McCullen, my pre-algebra teacher rudely awakened me with a slam of her freakishly large dictionary.

“MARCUS! NO SLEEPING IN CLASS!” As I jumped the first thing I saw was this large, portly, freckled woman staring at me with a huge book by her foot

How would she like it if I were interrupting her dreams of turkey and gravy? I immediately repented that thought and apologized to her, in my head, for my thoughtless accusation of her eating habits.

“I’m sorry Mrs. McCullen.”

“There’s no excuse for sleeping in class Marcus, no excuse and no apologies. Extra homework for you”

Unfair “But Mrs. McCullen, I was up all night studying!”

“MARCUS! I’ve had it with that mouth of yours, and those lies, there is no excuse for this type of behavior, you’re getting a referral to the principal’s office and I’m recommending detention.”

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF G...” I still felt the sting of the ruler on my hand, she was a large woman, but oddly quick. I didn’t mean to blaspheme but I was a bit miffed that she accused me of lying, how did she know I was lying. But then again I’m pretty sure she could tell because of the pop quiz I had failed that day. She graded it right after we took it. Looking back, I always wondered why she graded the pop quiz in class. The only thing I could be sure of is that I officially hated Catholic School. But that day is when I began my tale of adventure.

Detention for a week, you could call the detention they gave in that school ‘manual labor’, the kind they gave to prisoners. They had me clean up the fields and walk through the forests surrounding the campus picking up garbage. I hated the work, it was arduous, just a garbage bag and thick gloves. The only saving grace of that detention was that I enjoyed the wilderness. The outside world was the reason I most likely failed miserably in school, when I was supposed to be studying something at home I was climbing something tall and dangerous. It was that way since I was six, a born again monkey. So naturally I was able to lose the student teacher left in charge of me on multiple occasions. The woods were my domain and during those little expeditions I gained days onto my sentence but that meant more days outside, something my parents didn’t like since they had me in tutoring since I was seven. My parents always trying to make their little boy special and it turned out that I was. I was quite the talented garbage collector! I found that out during the detention. I went home, told them of class, class work, lectures, garbage collecting. It was a fantastic time for me, they couldn’t be any more crestfallen. I used to go to my room and try to regret getting detention because of the way it made my parents feel. But I could never feel guilty; the woods were just too much fun! I did want to please them, I did truly want to be special but I was twelve years old I just wanted to have fun.

As days past and I was put to work in the woods, I appreciated the beauty of it all. The underbrush of the forest was comprised of ferns, pine cones, pine needles, oak tree leaves, twigs and types of foliage too numerous to count. It was relatively easy to walk through and gave a nice satisfying crunch once in a while because of the pine cones. Even though it was autumn the different kinds of bushes were still green and would stay that way until winter, the ferns were starting to change and the pine trees were green but enough needles layered the ground to give a nice feeling underneath, like I was walking on thin carpet. The nearby oak trees in the forest littered the ground with brown leaves that reminded me it was autumn. The only bad memories I have of the forest are the briar patches, they were thorny bushes that were so thick that I could almost lay on top of them without falling in, or more realistically fall on top of one and hope you don’t go in. There were more than a few times I stumbled into briar patches that left me with more scraps and scratches than I care to remember, painful experience, I fall in with whole cloth’s, and come out with holes in my clothes. I earned my mother’s wrath more than a few times after falling into the briars. Aside from them though I felt at ease, I loved this forest, I was more attuned to my surroundings, I felt that nothing in the world mattered to me and I was part of world. That’s when I discovered something unique about me. One chilly autumn day with the wind blowing and my navy blue autumn jacket pulled close to me, a ferret no bigger than my forearm came prancing up to me.

“Hello, I’m Frank, happen to have a grub?”

There was a ferret talking to me. Besides the horrible feeling I had to run away screaming, curiosity nagged at me and I just had to reply to him.

“I..dont have any grubs.”

“Are you sure? I promise to make it worth your trouble. Find me a grub.”

“Okay..just wait here..” As I scrambled around the fallen logs around the oak trees looking for grubs for a talking ferret I realized that feeling of horror I had earlier was excitement. For the first time in my life I was actually special for once. Who else has met a talking ferret? I found him some grubs underneath a rotted out oak tree, after I fed them to him everything fell into place, me and Frank became friends. He told me of the place he came from, a place so filled with magic it was hard to believe. A place that was just around the corner, but I could never see it, he kept telling me only his kind could see it and allow others to see it. After a bit of coercion I got him to take me to it, but only for a little bit. The forest was majestic, filled with giant redwoods bushes covering the ground, ferns and moss covering the bottom of the trees. I saw a wild buck staring at me and Frank, I started walking towards it to pet it but Frank stopped me.

“What?” I asked him “What’s the matter?”

“That’s the protector of this Forest, he’s the champion of our kingdom, a very strong being. He’s not kind to outsiders, avoid him.”

Going through the forest was a marble white path that led to the mountain kingdom that Frank described to me in words I can’t remember. I was never able to see it but I felt the warmth radiating from the magic that extruded from the area. During those times I felt that I was the special boy my parents wanted me to be, that if I were to tell them this I would be loved. That’s why I got Frank to tell me more about his kingdom, so I could know enough so that my parents would believe me.

Near the end of my detention when winter was setting in and autumn was quickly becoming a memory I ran into Frank in the woods.

”Hello Frank!” I winked at him to let him know I had something special in my pockets for him. I rummaged through them so he could squirm a bit more.

“Hello Marcus.” He was twitching nervously that day staring at my pockets waiting for the morsels he so loved

“Ditch your trainer again?”

I did ditch the teaching assistant that was watching me that day, I hadn’t for those past few days but for some reason that specific day I felt I needed a little adventure.

“Why yes I did Frank.”

“HAH! Excellent, got any more of those juicy things I like”

As Frank eyed my pockets, I remember my hands went into my jacket pockets to feel out the grubs, they were small, fat, and utterly repulsive but Frank loved them.

“Yea I do Frank but you know the deal, you get grubs, I get information.” As I pulled out the fat grubs from my pocket Frank’s eyes lit up. And I knew I had him right there and then.

“Marcus, that’s unfair, you know I’d get in trouble if anyone found out what I was telling you.” He was whining nervously as I dangled the grubs over his little head.

“Come ooon Frank, you know you want this…” I was laughing a little as I was dangling the grubs over him. It was pretty amusing to watch him think of what to do.

“So what do you wanna know this time.”

“Well first of all I didn’t get what you meant by a kingdom underneath this world but at the same time living in it.”

“Well, it’s easy, we’re here with the rest of the world, some of us can interact with you, like me, but most of us can’t be seen by regular people, except you, I think you’re the first human in a few centuries to be able to see our people.” Frank chewed on his grub focused on devouring it completely.

“So I’m special?”I asked as hope and despair balanced on my heart at his next reply.

“Yes, I would say so.” I felt my heart flutter at his answer.

“A human being able to see us is quite a special thing indeed, I had someone explain to me once why Humans aren’t suppose to see us, but I forgot that a long time ago.” And as Frank was telling me this it seemed like he hesitated a little.

“Wait, you said a few centuries, how long is that and how old are you?” I had shot them off in rapid succession hoping to get more information from him but he was smarter than that.

“That’s two questions, two grubs please”

I yielded two more grubs to him, he was smart.

“We-ll” Between each bite he continued “See, you’re twelve, I’m twenty times twelve and still considered not quite an adult.” He was finished with the second grub that I laid out for him. There was only one more grub left and I had to get him to tell me more.

“Hrmm so you’re two hundred and fourty years old?” I had asked him that because I was never good at math and I thought it would keep him talking.

“Yep, and still got 400 years ahead of me, the thing is we live long but don’t have as many children as you folk, we’re lucky to have a birth once every hundred years or so.” After he told me this I noticed I was sitting in moss, my mother was going to be furious with me. But she would forgive me once she found out that I’m special. So I continued my interrogation of the little ferret.

“But you said there are other types of you guys, you’re not all just ferrets”

“Yep that’s right. There are other creatures that stand up on two long legs just like your folk. The only difference between them and you is the magic they wield and their eyes. Their eyes have rings of yellow around them at night, some think it’s because of the magic in the forest; others think it’s to help them see at night. Night in our forest is pitch black and becomes very dangerous. They’re the only ones that can see at night. Them and the protector of the forest, the buck with the antlers, you remember him?

“Yes.” I was in awe, Frank was spilling out all this information to me and I didn’t think I was going to get any of it. I was so excited.

“Other than that the same thing pertains to them as to me, they live long, have few children. And that’s why it’s important for us not to interact with your kind, if one of us died it’d be a big loss. Oh I think that’s why you aren’t suppose to see us…or was it something else.” Frank said while staring at me trying to remember what it was he was told.

“Oh…so you’re afraid of us?” I quickly tried to change the subject before he remembered that I owed him more grubs

“Well we’re not afraid since we’re not easily killed but we sure wouldn’t want to risk it. Plus there are our own dangers to worry about; choosing not to interact with your kind just removes one more risk.” He finished the last grub

“Well, three grubs, three questions even though I answered a bit more then I would’ve liked” stubbornly Frank tried to move away from me before he spoke more. I had a better plan then he did.

“Wait wait wait!!” as I tried to get him to stop I pulled out five more grubs

“Here, five more questions”

Frank eyed them and cleaned his face with his paws, but then grabbed one, sat on the moss across from me and started eating it.

“OK, so what other dangers do you guys have if you made it so humans can’t see you, theirs gotta be something out there that’s scary right?” I asked him with the bright eyes of naïve youth, I thought I could help out his kingdom if they could just help me get my parents to love me. But Frank stopped eating the grub and looked at me with very serious eyes.

“Marcus, you’re too young to worry about monsters in another world, especially these type of monsters” But I wasn’t too young, I could help him, if he would only give me a chance.

“But Frank! I can see you! Doesn’t that mean I can see them too?!” I flailed my arms about in frustration, I knew I could help him, I was awful at school but I just knew I could help him, I wasn’t useless.

But Frank warned me

“That’s true but if you see one you can’t do anything to let them know you see them, if you do they’ll come after you.” I didn’t know exactly what he meant but I just desperately wanted to know more.

“Ok Ok! I promise I promise!”

“Marcus I’m serious, this is dangerous, the only reason you can see them is because you’re connected with this world and your world.” Franks expression made me doubt that I wanted to know more, I never knew a ferret could look so angry.

“Well, first of all these things are hard to miss, they’re the size of oak trees but they only hang around buildings made of concrete and are impossible to kill. We call them the Titans.” Frank finished by eating the grubs and prepared to run off again into the wooded morass but I stopped him, I needed to know more

“Wait! Do you guys fight them or something?”

Frustrated at my attempts to keep him from escaping my questioning he turns back and growled a small ferret growl and scowled at me.

“Sometimes they get together and try to break into the kingdom, the kingdom, the Titans come from our mountain but were thrown out when they decided to try to overthrow the king and retake the mountain a millennia ago.” As he was telling me this, his scowl never left his face. I wondered if I should try my luck by asking him more, and I did.

“So why doesn’t the king, like, kill them or something” At the time I was scratching my head a bit confused, Frank told me the Mountain King was a powerful magician so what he told me a few moments before didn’t register.

“Because Marcus, I said it earlier don’t you listen? They’re impossible to kill, last time they attacked us we lost a lot of people but were able to bind them to YOUR kingdom”

“My kingdom? You mean the city?”

“Yes.”

“So maybe, since I live there, there’s some way I can help?”

“NO!, Absolutely not Marcus! These things can kill you in an instant, we’re able to do things you’re not, it’s a fluke that you’re even able to see us, if you see one, act like it’s not there and avoid getting near it in case it accidently crushes you. I’ll be back here tomorrow; I have to go talk to someone. Make sure to lose your trainer and come here tomorrow Marcus, I’ll have something to show you.” And with that Frank ran off into the wooded morass of the forest leaving me behind in a world of my own imagination.

Later that night I went home and told my parents of everything that had happened to me, I went into detail about the kingdom, the Titans, Frank and the meeting he had set for the following day. They’ll see that I’m special for sure. A whole new world would be opened to me, now they knew I was special, they would tell me how much they loved me and how proud of me they were again. I was ecstatic, I felt happy again, I felt loved again as they listened to me.

The next day my parents took me to a hospital waiting room.

“I have to go to detention to meet up with FRANK! I don’t feel sick why are we here?”

I didn’t understand what my parents were doing. I was upset and stomping around the waiting room with people staring at me. I felt ashamed that I was embarrassing my parents but Frank was expecting me to show up. The doctor called me my parents into his office and explained things to them that I didn’t understand. After a few weeks of no school, no detention, and getting poked and prodded by doctors they ended up putting me in the hospital. One of the doctors came up to me in his long white jacket and stethoscope around his neck and sat down next to my bed.

“Hello Marcus, I’m Dr. Francis but you can call me Jon”

“Why am I here Jon.”

“Well to be honest with you, I don’t know. You seem to be fine but, well you remember that big machine we put you in that popped and whizzed when you were inside it, the one weren’t allowed to move.”

I remembered that machine because of the sheer terror it brought me to be inside of it, it was dark and loud.

“Yes…I don’t have to go back in there do I?” I said to him visibly shaken up simply by the mention of the machine.

“No, no, no of course not, that machine was called an MRI and it takes pictures of your brain, and Marcus don’t be afraid but we found something that worried us, you have a unique case of a disease we barely know anything about. It’s rare enough that we’ve never seen it before in this hospital, we’re going to tell your parents to take you to California to see a special doctor who’ll help you get better.”

And that’s when I couldn’t take it anymore, my twelve year old mind and body just couldn’t stand being taken away from Frank for a few weeks now they want to send me halfway across the country to see some doctor, I started crying heavily as Doctor Francis tried to console me.

“There there, it’s okay, you’ll be fine”

“I want to see Frank again, I have to see him again. If I go to California I’ll NEVER see him again please don’t send me there. I’ll be good I promise I’ll be good.”

“Marcus, Frank was imaginary, he wasn’t real, you need help from a real doctor, you’re very sick. You have to go see him.” Doctor Francis ruffled the hair on my head and walked out into the hallway where I heard my parents concerned voices asking about me.

A few days later I was in the front seat of my father’s car while he was driving me to the airport pointing out to my mother the Titans to ask her if she sees them.

“MOM! Right THERE do you see it?!” Every time I showed her one, she started crying even more. My father eventually told me to be quiet, that I was upsetting my mother. I was upsetting them again, I was no longer loved.

“But dad, you wanted me to be special, I’m special now aren’t I.”

“No son, you aren’t, you’re sick and there’s nothing special about it, now please, just rest a little we’re almost at the airport.” During that car ride my mother kept crying and it was like my heart was twisting and being pulled out of my chest. I balled up my fists to stop myself from crying. When we got to the airport we boarded a plane to California, a non-stop flight to Los Angeles. After we landed my father drove us straight to the hospital. I was to be admitted to the children’s cancer ward at Cedar-Sinai. As they were filling out the paper work at the desk a Doctor with silver hair, in a white medical jacket walked up to us and asked

“Are you the family sent by Doctor Francis?” Before my father could answer him I went up to him and shot out

“Yes, Doctor Francis said you can make me better” As I said this my father patted me on the head

“Yes, you must be Doctor Steinbach, Doctor Francis told us you were the leading authority on brain cancer.”

“Well I’m one of the best, and I’ll try my hardest to take care of you folks.”

A year and a half later, I was lying down on a hospital bed in my own room at the hospital, the sound of an EKG machine beeping, constantly beeping it was my only longtime companion for those six months that I had my own room. My parents had come to visit me every so often but they had the law firm back home to take care of. I was completely bald from the intensive chemo therapy and skinnier then I’ve ever was in my entire life, I hadn’t seen the outside world in such a long time and I missed it so much, and I missed Frank even more. As I laid there looking out my window I heard something scrabbling at the base of my bed, I leaned over and saw him there

“Frank…” I barely was able to crackle his name out.

“Marcus! Nice to see you again, Got any grubs?” peevishly he asked me for his one weakness

“Sorry, not this time Frank, Frank they keep saying you’re not real, that I’m sick and that’s why I see you.” It exhausted me to say that to him, it was on my mind for so long.

“Marcus, that’s what I wanted to tell you that day, the reason you’re sick is because of the magic we put on your kind to prevent them from seeing us. But I talked to the Mountain King and they told me we can reverse it but you won’t be able to see us again.” As he told me this, all of the excitement I felt back then crept back into me, but then the words he told me sank in and crushed all my hope.

“But Frank, I’m going to Miss you…” I said to him, still the same twelve year old boy I was, even though my thirteenth birthday had passed in the hospital.

“Marcus, you did fine for so long without me, you’ll be fine, and I’ll still be around.” I picked him up and hugged him close to my face tears flowing onto his furry coat.

“I just wanted to be special Frank.”

“You are Marcus. Now go to sleep, I’ll fix you right up!” He gave me a wink and curled up on my chest with his red eyes looking at me I closed my eyes and heard people walk into the room as I was falling asleep. I heard someone close the curtains around me with Frank sleeping on top of my chest, his furry body moving up and down with the breathing of my chest. I thought I heard my parents in the room with me but soon there voices faded away.