I Made a Wish

 

At 7:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for a pink kitchen set. I did well in school and my Dad got it for me as a gift. It was beautiful, so delicately beautiful. The tiny cups with their tiny handles, the cute little forks and spoons. One fateful evening, when I got home from school, my brother had dumped them in a stream. With tears in my eyes, I managed to save one tiny fork.

At 8:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for white shoes. You remember the ones we used to put on with white socks? Exactly. During our neighbor's wedding, my Mum got me the exact pair I had wished for. They were so pretty. I was over the moon. One Sunday as I was playing in church, I broke a heel. I went to get it fixed but for some reason, the cobbler was never seen again. I never got my shoe back. I managed to save the heel of my once favorite shoe, a painful reminder of what once was.

At 9:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for an eye-shadow palette. My older sister gave me a hand-me-down and let me tell you, happiness is an understatement. The next Sunday, I used 3 colors on my eyes and borrowed my Mum's lipstick. I probably looked like a clown but my heart was so full. One evening, when I woke up from a nap my youngest sister, who was then 3, in her experimenting phase, had broken the palette, smeared the colors on the floor, and was almost breaking the mirror that comes with the palette. I managed to salvage the mirror and the kasmall brush.

At 10:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for a phone. I passed my end of primary exam and my Dad got me one. It was black with a pink phone case cover. Finally, I would be part of the 'cool' gang. 3 days after I got the phone, we had quests over, unfortunately, one of them accidentally knocked it over. It fell on the hard floor. Dead. With a heavy heart, I managed to save the pink phone case cover.

At 11:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for you. You came into my life and everything became colorful, the darkness was not dark anymore, it was navy white. I sang to the wind,  laughed with the birds, hugged the trees, and kissed the flowers with newfound tenderness. I was happy. You made me happy.

At 12:00, I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and wished for healing. This time was different, no one gave it to me. Not even my Mum. By the time I realized no one had the capacity to give such a precious gift, my wound had run deep. My time was up. The heart I gladly gave to you was beautiful, so full of life, and hope. You shoved it back to me ugly, dead, and broken. This time...this time I did not manage to save anything, not even the tiny pieces of my once beating heart.