the wish that changed me

In the dark of the early morning, before the sunlight poured over the horizon, there was a little boy that sat alone, abandoned at an orphanage by his parents who could no longer afford to feed him or take care of him, let alone give him any kind of a future. In the cold, damp morning the boy's father had his heartbroken wife in one arm, crying into his shoulder, and in the other, he had and his precious little boy only two years old, who he loved with all his heart, comfortably wrapped in his blanket sleeping peacefully in his cradle. The boy's father gently placed his son at the foot of the orphanage door and the mourning couple kissed their little boy's beautiful sleeping head, said their last goodbye, rang the doorbell and left their two-year-old child alone at the door of the orphanage.

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7 years later

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"What, no, not again! You can't just leave me out there it's freezing cold!" The young boy now nine years old tried pleading with one of the matrons as she pushed him out the door.

"Well then, maybe next time you won't be so greedy and unappreciative of what you get," said the matron in her usual patronizing voice and then shut the door in my face. I then heard an audible click meaning she locked it like always.

I considered arguing with her but over the years I've learned that they'll just keep the doors locked longer if I talk back. To think I've learned this over years of experience is just sad. The worst part about it is I didn't even do anything wrong, I just complained to myself that they never feed us enough and I've heard several other people say that directly to one of the matrons and they got a slap on the wrist but if I voice any complaints, no matter how quietly, they'll just throw me outside for a few hours. That's just because I am the most disliked orphan there and it's mostly because I'm too smart for my age but it also doesn't help that I'm not that nice looking either.

I start walking down a few blocks to an electronics store to watch the T.V.'s in the storefront. I remember the way pretty easily because I go there most of the time I'm locked out of the orphanage. It's funny to think I know some of the streets better than the halls in the orphanage but that could be attributed to the fact that I'm only allowed in a few rooms such as our military like sleeping room, the cafeteria, the bathroom, and the auditorium where they just keep us most of the time to supposedly 'play' but everyone knows they put us there so they don't have to deal with us.

I'm about a block away from the electronics store when I step on something and crack some glass that was on it. I pick it up carefully to not cut myself and it's a small toy compass from a kids meal, I decide to pocket it because you never know when something like that might be helpful even though it looks broken. I get to the electronics store and sit on the cold concrete sidewalk and watch the T.V. for a few hours, it's playing some wilderness survival show. They seem to always play those shows, every now and then they would play a cartoon which I preferred but I still enjoyed the survival shows. Some of the things they say on the show have actually helped me in surviving the cold while locked outside and even helped me eat once when they locked me outside for the entire day, yeah the whole day!

A while back I stole a length of rope and a lighter from the orphanage because I knew they would come in handy. The lighter to start a fire if I needed one and I saw, on one of those wilderness shows, how to make a rope into a snare trap that ties up the animal above your head and so I took the rope in case the matrons ever decided to stop feeding me. They haven't yet but I used the rope to snare up a squirrel to eat the time they locked me out the whole day.

Honestly, I've noticed the punishments have been getting longer and that they've been more frequent, I'm starting to think that they're just locking me outside to see how long I'll survive and that they're hoping that I just drop dead somewhere on some doorstep because It's very clear none of them care for me. I never have liked this orphanage and I never really liked any of the orphans either, It's probably because I blame them all for what happened to me, I shouldn't be thinking like this, and I shouldn't be this smart I'm just nine and yet I'm focusing on how to survive and learning how to hunt and start fires. I could only imagine what else I could be doing right now If I ever had parents or If I would have just had a normal home.

When I was younger I couldn't do much and the first time they threw me out was when I was five, all I could do was cry until they eventually let me back in. When I was around seven they stopped letting me in when I cried so I learned to stop crying after a while and soon just stopped altogether. Soon after I stopped crying I went out to explore the streets, but never too far so I wouldn't get lost and when I was eight I stole the lighter and the rope and was punished heavily for it but I was used to it by then. I look up and notice how low the sun is and realize It's going to get dark soon, so I get up and head back to the orphanage, most likely they've unlocked it by now they usually do when it starts getting dark.

I get lost in thought on the way there. 'All of my sufferings could have been avoided if they would have let me get adopted. Years ago when I was like six, and before they got the idea to throw me out so I wouldn't get adopted, someone came to adopt an orphan and they saw me and talked to me for a while and then they said they wanted to adopt me. That was the happiest I've ever been in my life and one of a few happy memories in that place, but for some reason, the matrons wouldn't have it and they said I was already adopted by someone and that they were coming tomorrow to get me. The moment I heard that my heart shattered and it felt like my very soul had shattered and from then on I have always hated the matrons. I knew they were lying and I tried to say something but my mouth couldn't move, I was in a horrific shock. Later that night I cried until my eyes hurt and my mouth was dry as sand. Every adoption since then they threw me outside for the whole day to ensure I would never get adopted.'

I got to the orphanage and tried the door and to my slight surprise, it was unlocked. I walked straight to the cafeteria where everyone was already eating at a table with their friends. Not one person so much as looked over at me, they all knew who I was and they all generally disliked me because the matrons would punish them if they even talked to me. I ate as much as they would give me for dinner which was pretty small and then went to my room. I just sat there, staring out the window, hoping to be taken away from this awful place.

While looking out the window I saw a shooting star go across the sky, normally I don't believe in that crap but really, why not? So I made a wish. "Almighty star, Almighty star, I wish on you tonight with my wish of might. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight," I said out loud and then in my head told my wish.

'No matter how far away it is I do not want to be trapped here any longer, I want to be free, away from this place, away from everybody here, and away from everybody that wants to hurt me. I want to be away from these people, put me somewhere nice, somewhere peaceful, anywhere really I just want to be out of this place. Anywhere that I can go and be far away from the darkness that holds me to the orphanage. I do not want to be here, I want to be free, free from this place, free from these people, free from the corruption, and free from the pollution of this city. Somewhere nice where I could make a friend, somewhere that has people with just a little bit of kindness, somewhere I'm not tossed around and thrown like a bean bag. Somewhere I'm not tossed out into the cold and rainy outside, somewhere I can just be and have someone that cares for me as a mother would.'

There it is and there it goes. That was the most perfect wish I have ever made. I made it from my heart and I threw it out the window. Wasted it on some stupid star. I know wishes don't come true, but, I just hope it does, because what else can I do? Who knows maybe wishes do come true? Who knows.

It was getting pretty late so I laid on my bed, closed my eyes, and everything went black. The next thing I know I start to wake up from the intense brightness of the sun but I don't get up. I just lie in bed with my eyes closed because I don't want to have to start another horrible day. However, the sun is relentless and continues to beat down on my eyelids screaming at me to wake. I remember waking up many times in my room before and the sun was never that bright and never directly on my face, so I finally get up because I know something is wrong. When I open my eyes I am momentarily blinded by the sun and instinctively close them again. I then wipe the sleep from my eyes with my shirt, sit up, and slowly open them up.

Instantly I know I'm not in the orphanage, but where am I? Once my eyes finally adjust I see that I'm in a forest. "What the-. How the heck did I get here."

I'm in a forest, a lush, green, and very bright forest. Wait, the air. I take a deep breath and to my surprise, it's very clean and refreshing, like nothing I've ever experienced before. There's no pollution, none at all, I guess I'm not in the city anymore. It feels really clean here even though I'm in the forest, It's so weird. I don't entirely know how to describe what it's like, it's just strange. Another thing is just how bright it was here, like imagine staring at the sun but it didn't burn as bad. Also why again am I in a forest? Like how did I get here, there wasn't a forest for miles back in the city and now all around me, in every direction, I see nothing but thick, lush, forestry. Maybe the matrons decided to get rid of me for good and dropped me in the middle of this forest while I was sleeping. Except there aren't any tire tracks or roads near here unless they dropped me out of a plane but that couldn't be because I would be dead or at least have a parachute. So then where exactly am I? Also, how the frick do I get out?

I stand up and walk around a little bit before finally accepting I'm completely lost without even an idea of where I was or which way the nearest civilization was.

I go through my pockets to see what I have to work with. I find my lighter and that broken compass. Sadly my lighter didn't have much fuel left in it, maybe enough to start three or four fires and that's it, I'll have to use it wisely. I play with the compass a little bit to see if it works but the fluid is mostly drained out and it doesn't spin anymore.

I decide to just start walking in a direction and see what happens, so I pick the path that looks the easiest to walk through and start my journey to who knows where for who knows how long. I stop when I realize I'm just going in circles and am not making any progress. I try to think of something from those wilderness shows to help me navigate this forest but nothing came to mind. Wait! I faintly remember something about moss on trees always growing … aghh. I don't know maybe west or south or north, I don't know. Uhh, why didn't I pay more attention to those shows. Man, this is so dumb. I'm nine years old, I shouldn't be trying to survive in the woods, I should be having fun playing with other kids. Once again I blame the matrons for making me this way, screw that orphanage for damning me to this fate.

Okay, Okay, Okay. Lets focus, I need to get somewhere better than here. Alright so I have two options, one, keep walking in circles and hope I find some sort of path or civilization, or two, I could follow this moss and travel in whatever direction It takes me.

I decided on the moss because I've been walking around in circles for a while and I'm getting tired of it. So I find a nearby tree with some moss on it and start walking in that direction. I follow the moss for what feels like hours, but I'm not really sure how long it was. I was starting to get pretty hungry and thirsty and the best I could do was hope I was going in the right direction.

My thoughts were cut off by a rushing noise that I couldn't quite place at first, but I started walking towards it and soon realized it was a river. My dry mouth forced me to run towards it almost immediately and I soon came to, what was less of a river and more of a stream, but it was still flowing water and I was thankful. I was just about to dunk y head in to start gulping it down when I heard a faint little voice in my head ring out "While it may be tempting to want to just start drinking the water immediately, you have to stop and boil the water because you can never know what bacteria are in it." It was a memory from one of those wilderness survival shows and I remember that you did have to boil it first. I stopped my head from plunging into the water and just sat there staring at myself in the water

"Dang it! How am I supposed to boil this." I said to my reflection. I sat back on the ground while pondering ways to boil the water without something that won't burn, but I ultimately came up with nothing.

I decided to give up on the water for now and walk along the stream towards somewhere. Maybe there was a little town nearby that used the river to drink and farm. Where there are people there has to be water right? I don't know whether to walk upstream or downstream but then I realize that upstream means a higher elevation so I start to walk upstream to at least get a better view from some higher ground.

I walk a long time until my feet get tired. I missed a step because my feet were so tired and it caused me to trip and fall into the river, so now I was soaking wet. When I got out of the river and tried to dry myself off I saw some wolves. Except they weren't wolves because they were made out of what appeared to be logs of wood. So I duck into the river bed and cover myself with dirt and leaves. I hear them approach and sniff around. They start to sniff my pile of dirt and leaves. I feel myself start to sweat and I realize I'm holding my breath. My mind starts racing and I almost get up and make a run for it, but then I hear them continue to walk along the edge of the river and eventually out of earshot. I slowly get up out of the pile of dirt and leaves and start to wipe the dirt off of me but my soaked clothes only made it smear across them and made me appear completely covered in mud.

What the heck were those things! They were like mutated wolves but they were completely made out of wood! How is that possible? They looked like they were from some sort of book of a fairy tale. Ugh, I need to get out of here and back to some sort of civilization. I try to start walking again but my feet don't cooperate with me and I fall back into the river. While this helps wash away some of the mud, It also makes me freezing cold in the process and now I'm shivering. If I was ever going to fall asleep before, now I feel as awake and aware as ever.

After the long and tiring day without any food or water, I'm now starving and crazy thirsty. These have to be fixed now, so I collect firewood from around the forest while my mind races desperately to think of something to boil water in. When I get back from collecting my wood I think of something, of course, how could I be so dumb. I put down the firewood and break off the small branches and start the fire with my lighter. Then I feed the bigger branches until it can sustain itself. Then I dig up a bunch of clay from the river bed and ball it up until it's relatively held together and then I take a stone and press it into the ball to make a cavity in it to act as a makeshift cup made from clay. I make sure there are no cracks or leaks and I put it in the fire to harden.

I remembered them making pottery from clay on one of the survival shows to hold different things like food, spices, sugar, and to carry water. I figured that if I baked some clay that it would work relatively the same as long as it was sealed so water couldn't pour out.

While I let the clay pot harden in the fire I set out to look for some food. I looked around for a little while and found nothing but mushrooms which I knew better than to try eating because they were most likely poisonous. Sadly defeated by finding nothing to eat I started to head back to the fire when I saw a rabbit that had been impaled in the foot by a rather sharp looking root sticking out of the ground. I took out my compass and broke off as big a piece of glass as I could, Wrapped my shirt around one end, and slit the rabbit's throat with the pointed edge. I felt bad that I had to kill it but what else could I really do. I grab the rabbit and head back to the fire to clean up my kill. I got to the fire and fed it some more wood because it was looking low and then placed the rabbit against a big and flattish rock. I then proceed to de-fur it, gut it, and wash everything that doesn't look like meat down the river. I almost threw up from watching all that go down the river but I looked away and held it together. I washed my hands off in the river and removed the clay pot with a stick to cool down so I could boil some water. I created a makeshift spit and skewered the rabbit meat with it and set it over the fire to cook.

After a while, I guessed that the meat was done cooking and took it down from the spit to cool. I decided that the pot was cooled off enough and splashed water on it to make sure it wouldn't burn me. I filled it with water and let it boil for a while. I took it off the fire when it started to boil over the pot and let it cool off while I ate the rabbit meat which was a little burned but, oh well. When I finished with the meat I thirstily chugged all of the water and felt it's incredible refreshing and rehydrating qualities hit my extremely dry throat. I made several more pots and drank until I was thirsty no more. I went and collected a bunch of very big leaves to fashion into a bed and then laid down next to the fire, covered in leaves, and very quickly fell asleep.

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a mysterious creature was flying overhead when she saw a pillar of smoke rising from the forest. "Oh my, there's going to be a fire in the forest, I guess I should go tell someone else who can help. No it said, that fire needs to be put out now, no matter how scared you are. Just think of all the adorable little woodland creatures that could get hurt or worse if you don't stop that fire right now." So against it''s own will and scared nature to get as far away from the fire as possible, she went in to try and stop it, or at least get all the animals to safety