The Wish REL2018

Sunday mornings were my favorite mornings. I had my own routine for every single one, didn’t matter if it was cold or warm, rain or sunshine I always did the same thing, going to the Sunday market. Besides the pastry for breakfast for me and my eight years old son, there was always something to look at, something interesting, and every now and then something worth to buy. My son usually slept until 10 which gave me a good hour to go up and down between the stalls, look at stuff, and think of my late wife who while was alive, came with me to this very market on every Sunday morning.

We’ve lost her to a car accident a few years back, and since, there was only me and our son. I did the very best I could to raise him, but we both missed her greatly. I was just thinking about her again, when I noticed the old lady, sitting on a cheap plastic chair, seemingly not selling anything, but staring at me. Our eyes connected for a second, and before I could look away she waved to me to come closer. I couldn’t help but came up to her. She was old. Deep wrinkles on her face, and as she smiled at me I noticed she hadn’t have any teeth anymore. Her hair was a mess, dirty grey that hasn’t been washed for a long time. Her body was covered in all black clothing and I noticed she did not wear any shoes which was weird as we were slowly going into colder months.

‘ Come closer ‘ she said finally. There was nothing I liked about this woman, yet my curiosity pushed me over to her. She reached into her pocket, pulled her hand out and on her palm, there was a gold ring.
‘ I want you to have this ring’ she said, simply.

‘I’m sorry ‘, I said, ‘ I don’t have enough money for a gold ring, and to be honest, I don’t need one.

‘ You look like you need this one ‘ she answered. ‘This is a very special ring, some says its thousand years old, but I know it’s much older than that. It will make one wish to come through, any wish, could be anything ‘she said.

‘ Why do you think I need this? ‘ I asked.

‘ I can tell, you lost someone you loved, I can tell, you miss that person a lot, I also can tell you, this ring might worth a try ‘ she explained. Her voice was not better than her looks, in fact it matched so perfectly I thought she could be a great character in a horror movie. What she said though, gave me goosebumps. Like she knew me, or at least she could look into my thoughts.

‘ Besides ‘ , she continued, ‘ it will not cost you anything right now, you can have it for free. Just make a wish and return the ring to me next Sunday and you will make the payment later. But be aware I will collect what is due!’ she smiled with her toothless smile.

I thought why not, and took the ring from her, told her I will make a wish and I will bring the ring back to her next Sunday. I turned around to head home, but after a few steps I turned around to look at her one more time as the whole conversation started to bother me a bit, causing a change of heart, wanting to give the ring back straight away. She was not there. I quickly looked around but could not see her. Shaking my head, I went home. My son was still in bed, so I went to my bedroom, put the ring on my ring finger, fitted perfectly, and made the only wish I could think of. I wished I could see my wife one more time.

Hours passed, then days and quickly it was Sunday again. I never saw my wife not even for a second, not like I believed the whole story, still I felt a bit disappointed. I couldn’t wait to give back the ring, which I did, after to my surprise, I found the old lady exactly where I left her last Sunday. I told her I made a wish but nothing happened, and asked her what do I owe her for this, but she didn’t even talked to me, not one word, she just took the ring and turned away from me. Fuming, I bought the breakfast pastries and I went home.

Weeks turned into months and I’ve forget about the whole thing, until one afternoon, when I was driving to the school to pick up my son. As I was waiting at a red light I looked to the sidewalk where there was a woman with a kid, just standing there staring at me. I could not believe my eyes, but the woman looked just like my wife, the similarity was to the extreme. I started to remember my wish, but I just passed the idea as a bad joke that has been made on me and I looked at the kid. He or she wore long black lapel and a mask of some sort, I could only see the kid’s eyes. They were full of tears like someone’s who must do something one doesn’t want to, being forced into wearing a mask while standing on the sidewalk maybe. I felt sorry for the kid. Both were still staring at me, and now both were waving to me, the woman calmly, the kid more frantically. I suddenly looked away as a bad feeling swept through my mind. That woman looked like my wife, as impossible it was, I had no doubt about it. It was straight scary. I had to force myself to look again just to see the woman leading the kid away, sort of pulling the child walking faster and faster until suddenly they were gone.

Fortunately, the light changed to green and I drove away to my son’s school. Still thinking about what I just saw I walked into my son’s class, looked around but couldn’t find him. I walked up to the teacher and asked where he was. She looked at me with a weird expression on her face.

‘ Your wife picked him up about ten minutes ago, she left you a note as well.’ she said and handed me over a piece of a folded paper. I unfolded the note with shaking hands and read the only sentence written on it in all capital letters.

I WARNED YOU ABOUT THE PAYMENT


The End

a reply to: szino9

Absolutely bone chilling, and masterfully written.

This is a really great story szino!

a reply to: szino9

Beaut story telling mate. Enjoyed that.

a reply to: szino9

Very nice. My kind of story.

a reply to: zosimov bally001 tinymind

thank you, made me happy you all liked it

a reply to: szino9

Great story and dark too.
The modern setting and the fairytale nature are a brilliant mix

a reply to: SprocketUK

Thank you for your time

Great story. Absolutely chilling.a reply to: szino9