12 Chapter 11: My Wish…

Jessica opened her eyes. She was lying in bed in her room, a pink blanket on her. She turned around. Next to the window her eyes fell on the calender on the wall. "10th of March". That meant it was just 2 weeks until her 9th birthday. Happily she jumped out of her bed, and opened the window. The sun was shining and few cars were crossing the highway, between the big farms of Oklahoma. Jessica got into her slippers and stepped into the kitchen. When she saw what awaited her in the kitchen her eyes got wide open and she got a great smile. On the table in the middle of the room, there was a plate for her with 2 pieces of toast, scrambled eggs and bacon. But that wasn't the only thing that thrilled her so much. At the other site of the table the little girl saw her mother, giving her a lovely smile.

"Good morning, Jessica."

Happily Jessica jumped to her and hugged her as she was singing.

"Good morning, mama! Don't you have work this week? That's great! Oh, where's papa?"

Jessica's mother put her hand on the girl's head and moved it to the other direction, so Jessica's view would fall on her father. The kid wanted to run to him right away but her mother held her off.

"Before I let you go...where is the other man of the house?"

Jessica thought a moment.

"Jason? He's staying with friends 'till tomorrow."

"I see..."

Jessica's mother nodded and let her daughter go greet her father as she spoke up again with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"We won't be able to see him then, eh..?"

Jessica ,who was still cuddling her dad, turned her head around with a confused expression.

"Huh? Aren't you staying? But i wanted to play a new game with you."

Her father looked down to her with a smile.

"Buuut, since it's your birthday soon, we decided to get us some vacation on the 24th of March of course. And we will play all day with you."

Jessica's first sad face now changed and harbored a big smile.

"Thank you, mama! Thank you papa!"

Her mother smiled and pointed in the direction of the table.

"And now enjoy your breakfast."

Jessica nodded, sat down and started eating, so did her parents. The girl was glad, it was rare to have her parents play with her. Most of the time they spend travelling for their business and even when they were home, they used most of the time to work. Sometimes Jessica felt like she hated them for this, but she knew she loved both her parents anyways.

"Ahh, delicious!"

Jessica finished up eating, for the girl it tasted better when her parents were eating together with her.

"Well then, we should be going, Caty..."

Her father stood up and nodded in Caty's direction. She went to hug Jessica and said goodbye.

"Berta will be here in an hour, watch out, love you."

After a kiss on her daughter's forehead, she left the house together with her husband. Jessica's sadness got droven away by her anticipation. She wanted to tell Berta the good news. Berta was her aunt who ran the household for her parents and played with Jessica and her brother, she was like a second mother for them. Happily humming the young girl went to her room and changed her clothes to a pink dress. She was so happy she wanted to go to Jason's friends and tell him right away, but as she went through the door she bumped into a young woman with shoulder long brown hair. The woman looked down to her with a kind and amused smile.

"Oh my, where are you going, little lady?"

Jessica jumped and hugged her aunt with a big smile.

"Aunt Berta!! Guess what, mama and papa are taking a day free for my birthday and will play with me all day! I will go and tell Jason."

Berta held her off.

"You can't do that, he is having fun with his friends right now. You can tell him when he is back."

The little girl grumped.

"Yes, yes ma'am."

She looked out of the window and saw the clear sky with almost no clouds.

"It's great weather can we go to the playground aunt Berta?"

The woman nodded her head, still harboring her lovely smile.

"You are right. Just let me clean up and we can go."

Pleased with the answer Jessica danced singing through the room.

"Pla-y-gro-und, Pla-y-gro-und, Pla-y-gro-und lalalaaa."

After about 30 minutes, Berta finished cleaning and went to the playground with Jessica. She met some of her friends there and they played until evening. That lead to Jessica being very tired of course so Berta had to carry her dozing niece, who was still smiling, on her back to get home where Jason was already waiting.

"Aunt Berta, hello."

The 12-year old boy, who was sitting on the big black couch, greeted her with a smile, and the woman quietly responding his greeting while she put Jessica on the couch.

"She didn't eat much yet but I don't want to wake her up, what shall I do.."

Even though she was just mumbling unclearly, Jason understood her and amused raised his voice.

Just make the food and she will wake up from herself, you know her haha."

Berta thought he would be right and went to the kitchen to cook something. She thought of what the children liked. The conclusion was Ramen¹. They loved japanese food, and making the noodle soup wasn't really hard and it didn't take too long. And like Jason said before, the smell woke up Jessica, who had a tired but still excited expression when she started to eat and rose her voice to tell Jason about before.

"And when I got to the kitchen I was so surprised that mama and papa were here, but that's not all! They promised me to take free on my birthday and play with me aaaalllll day long. It's so sad, you weren't here this morning."

Jason didn't seem to really care and with a cold expression he just shook his head and mumbled to himself.

"Sad? Ah, whatever.."

Jessica knew he didn't like their parents, because they were never home, although she tried over and over to change Jason's mind but there wasn't ever a big successs with that.

Jason stood up and with a slight smile turned to his aunt.

"Thanks for the meal, it was delicious like always."

Then he turned to Jessica and put his hand on her head.

"Well, good for you if it makes you happy. I just hope they don't hurt your feelings again."

Jessica felt a bit bad. Did he not like their parents because they were never there for him or was it her fault because she was always sad when they were gone again? Berta's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Jessica, your food will get cold."

The girl just nodded and continued eating her noodles. After she finished she stood up to hug her aunt and say goodnight, and then she went to her room, got into a bright pink pyjama and lied down in her bed. Before turning off the lights, the child looked at the calender.

"~Just 2 weeks, until the best day of my life heheee.~"

With a huge smile on her face, Jessica turned off the lamp and happily buried herself under her blanket. It didn't take long until she fell into a calm sleep...

-2 weeks later…-

"Fuaaah~"

Jessica tired stretched in the bed. Her eyes fell on the calender next to it. A big red circle marked today, the 24th of March, her 9th birthday. The girl felt happiness from head 'till feet. Even her parents, who were always busy with work, took free for that special day. Surprisingly when she looked outside, the weather wasn't as good as the weather forecaat predicted or as it was the days before. The sky was covered with gray clouds and the sun didn't reach the ground, moreover the wind was bending the tall grass. It made her a bit of sad to see this on that day but she was happy enough that her parents were there for her. Excited she stood up, got into her slippers and moved to the kitchen, where her family already awaited her. Colourful garlands were hanging on the windows, and the room was enlightened by candles everywhere. On the big oak table in the middle of the room, there was a big, pink cake with a candle in the form of the number 9. Jessica's eye were wide open as she ran to hug her relatives one after another with a huge smile on her face.

"C'mon, blow out the candle and make a wish."

With a happy smile, Jason pointed at the cake. The birthday girl turned to her parents and was squeezing excited.

"Can I, can I really?"

With a smile her parents nodded and Jessica stared at the candle.

"Hmm, what shall i wish? Ah! I know!"

While blowing out the candle she made a wish.

"~My wish? My wish is that mama and papa don't have to work so much in the future. That's it…My Wish!~"

Happiness was to see in her face already, she was sure that her wish would come true.

"So? What did you wish for? More food for you?"

Jessica knew that her big brother was just joking around. She sticked out her tongue and answered.

"It is something even better and if i tell it, the wish will not come true!"

Jason just looked at her with a smile and then their mother showed at something big, in wrapping paper on the ground.

"Don't you wanna open your present, dear?"

The young girl was overflowing with happiness and went to open it right away.

"It's a bicycle! And its pink!"

Happily she jumped in the arms of her mother and father.

"Thank you so much!! But…I can't drive a bycicle, yet!"

Her father answered with a kind expression.

"But, remember, we are here and can practice with you all day today."

Jessica nodded happily.

"~And you will have lots of more time soon.~"

These words, she didn't speak out loudly to make sure her wish would really come true. While the girls' mother started cutting the cake, the radio switched from playing pop songs, to the news.

"Heavy storm and tornado warning, in Oklahoma, be sure to watch out, if it comes to a tornado get to a safe location like a basement."

The birthday girl looked at the floor with a dissapointed face.

"Then I can't learn how to drive bycicle…? And we can't even play outside like you promised…"

Her father approached her with a confident smile.

"Who said, we need to play outside? As long as we dont see a tornado we can just play in all of our house, right?"

When the child was changing her expression more happy, she was interrupted by a loud thunder. Even her mother was shocked and let the knife fall down. The rain was suddenly getting heavier, loudly splashing against the window, the wind was blowing and lightnings were striking without a break outside. Jessica ran to the window and looked outside. What she saw made her feel astonished. A huge cone of clouds was forming in the sky, it was almost at the ground. The girl was shocked, unable to move her feet. Her father stepped next to her and watched the outside, with wide-open eyes. Then he lifted up Jessica and ran in direction of the basement. He shouted at the others with a look over his shoulder.

"It's there! Get to the basement now!"

The family had to go down the narrow stairs one after another to get into the small basement. Inside, Jessica was just looking at the wall with a depressed, dissapointed expression, a few tears coming out of her eyes.

"Mama…papa…I wanna go outside…and play…you promised."

Her parents looked at each other, it was her father who answered.

"We can't go outside now. It's too dangerous you know that. Forgive us, we didn't see that coming either."

Jessica felt sad and angry, she understood the situation but she didn't want to understand it.

"Forgive you!? You promised and…and you didn't keep your promise. You are never there…never…and now i thought we can finally spend some time together. I will never forgive you, you liers!!"

Crying the girl ran up the stairs and through the door.

"JESSICA!!! NO!!"

Her brother and parents followed her. In the house Jason was stopped by his dad and Jessica by her mom. Both of the children resisted their parents who were trying to get them to the basement again. Jessica just wanted to run away and her brother wanted to reach her. Through the window they could see the tornado coming nearer and nearer. One house was breaking down in the whirlwind. Jessica got rid of the grip of her dad. Another house broke. Her dad reached her again and held her tight. Just 2 houses and the tornado would reach theirs. 1 left. The children were now in strong hold of their parents. The last house was ripped apart. Just a moment before it reached, the adults could push their children down the stairs into the basement. The door closed and Jessica's mother and father, who were still on the other side, didn't open it again. The girl was screaming as she heard how her home got ripped apart in the raging wind. Now unable to make any loud sound, she was just silently crying in the arms of her big brother who held her tight and stroked her long brown hair. The siblings stayed like that for a while, until it got silent outside. They dared to go upstairs and open the door. What they found when they went through it, was a destroyed home and in the middle of the rubbish the dead bodies of their parents. The kids didn't make any sound. Jason just stood there and watched at his dead mom and dad with a disturbed expression. Next to him, his sister fell on her knees and crawled to the dead bodies and only a weak whispering made it out of her mouth.

"I promise you, I will forgive from now on…so please…please forgive me too…mama…papa…"

But in her head she thought she heard a voice.

"Your wish came true, didn't it? No work for them anymore…it's like you wanted right. It's your fault…Jessica…"

To be continued…