Writing Prompt #7 Wishing Well

As a child you found a wishing well. It was a silly wish, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The coin got stuck on something halfway down. It never reached the bottom, and thus your wish went unfulfilled, until one fateful day 30 years later when something jostled it free. 

They were bullying my daughter Angie again. I could see them from the window of her homeroom class. My daughter had been struggling with bullies lately. That was the reason for me standing here in her class, listening to her teacher assure me that they take this kind of thing seriously. There was a strict anti-bully program at the school. Angie had done the right thing. She told the teacher what was going on, hoping that it would take care of the problem. I knew better though. 

My mind wandered back to when I was her age. I had the same problems she does now. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t care as much about those kinds of things back then. I was left to figure out how to deal with it on my own. It was a miserable time for me. I remember being desperate for help. I even took to making wishes. Any fountain I passed, I always stopped to make a wish. There was this one wishing well that was known to grant wishes. It wasn’t close to us either, but I found a way to get there. After two busses and two miles of walking, I finally made it there. I had only one coin left to use my wish on. I needed the rest of the money to get home. My hopes were lost as my coin got stuck halfway down the well. I was hit with crushing disappointment. I knew I’d have to figure things out without the help of Telekinesis. As an adult now, thinking back, I’m not sure what I planned to do once I obtained this power. I had some vague memories of my plans; pulling down their pants in public, hiding other student’s things in their desks to get them in trouble…but I guess it didn’t matter. I had to find other ways to deal with my problems. I was forced to become stronger. I figured out ways to always be two steps ahead of them.  I begged my parents for boxing lessons so that I could defend myself. It was then and only then that I was able to put a stop to the bullying. Once they realized I wasn’t scared anymore and pushed back they’d stopped bullying me. It was a valuable life lesson. I shook my head out of my past and brought myself back to the here and now. 

Angie wasn’t like me. She was stronger. Not to mention that I put her in MMA lessons three years ago. I’m pretty sure that if she wanted, she could knock those bullies out, but my Angie was a strait-laced girl. She followed the rules obsessively and didn’t like to rock the boat. She was trying to solve this little problem within the school rules. I commended her for it. That’s why I was here even though I thought this was a waste of time. I knew eventually she’d have to push back on these bullies, but until then, I was here for her in whatever way she needed. As I signed off on the teacher parent conference paperwork she came running into the room and gave me the biggest bear hug. We left shortly after and spent the night talking and going through our usual routine. By 9:00 she was in bed, and I was so spent, I passed out not long after. 

The next morning the alarm blared, and I struggled against the pull of sleep, not wanting to leave my cocoon of warmth to shut off the alarm. On impulse I pushed out a mental thought to shut the thing off and It cut off abruptly. In my sleepy stupor I thought that was odd, but I didn’t question it further as I fell back asleep. An hour later Angie came barreling into my room. 

“Mom! Why are you still sleeping? We’re gonna to be late!”  She yelled at me from the doorway before she stomped off mumbling under her breath. I shot up out of bed and looked at the clock on the nightstand. Shit! I was supposed to be up an hour ago. Why didn’t the alarm go off? I had a strange dream where I shut it off mentally, but that was a dream. I rushed around my bedroom trying to get dressed as fast as possible. I needed to get out of there within the next five minutes in order to get her to school on time. She hated being late. It was putting me in a frenzy because I hated being the reason, she was late. I ran into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee for the road. After pouring it into my travel mug, I dumped in the cream and sugar as I desperately searched for a spoon. I gave it a quick stir when I heard Angie screech at me for being late. I dropped the spoon on the counter and realized with a start I left the fridge open. I swiped my hand to close it realizing that even though I was close, I didn’t actually touch it, and it closed anyway. My brow furrowed at this momentarily, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. It must’ve closed on its own due to gravity or something else explainable. 

Coffee in hand, I ran out into the living room area where Angie was waiting by the door tapping her foot impatiently. Keys? Where the hell are my keys? I searched frantically because I had no idea where I left them last night. I looked through my purse but nothing. I got down on my hands and knees wondering if they fell when Angie called me again. 

“I’m trying Angie! Please be patient.” I said with a little more anger than I intended. I looked up at her face and saw hurt. “I’m sorry sweetie.” I said as I sat back on my rear. “I don’t know what happened this morning. You know I don’t like to be the reason you’re late. If I could just find those damn keys!” I said as I closed my eyes and concentrated. I was trying to remember where I left them, focusing so hard on the keys. Suddenly, there was a scraping noise. The keys were being pulled from under the dining room table scraping against the hardwood floor as they were dragged to my open hand. Did I just do that? I shook my head as I squeezed the keys hard in my hand and felt the metal bite into my palm. Yep, they were really in my hand and I wasn’t hallucinating. Wincing a bit, I looked up at Angie. Her face pale, eyes as big as saucers. 

“Mom, did you do that?” Angie asked tentatively. 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I wanted the keys in my hand so badly and then there they were.” How could this be?  

“Try something else.” She suggested with a bit of trepidation. 

I sighed audibly and wished I had my coffee in my hands. I needed that boost of caffeine to help me make sense of all this. I looked up and there it was floating in front of my face just waiting for me to grab it. I heard Angie gasp, as she realized that I had indeed pulled it there with my mind. 

“How is this possible mom? Have you been holding out on me all these years?” She asked with the attitude that only a preteen could muster at something so ridiculous. 

Without meaning to I snapped right back at her. “Why yes Angie! All these years I’ve been able to move things with my mind while hiding it behind your back. Even denying my powers when they would’ve been so helpful to us in our situation.” I took a giant gulp of my coffee as I stared her down.

“Sorry mom. I’m just a little shocked. That’s all.” She said as she slumped down against the door joining me on the floor. “I know you wouldn’t do that to me, but how did this happen?” 

Then it hit me like a freight train. I was just thinking about this yesterday. The wishing well. I wished for the ability to move things with my mind when I was ten years old, but the wish never came true because my coin got stuck. Now, 30 years later, my wish was finally granted. Did the coin finally get dislodged from its spot therefore granting my wish? I needed to test my theory. I stood up abruptly and set my keys and coffee on the counter. I picked up Angie’s backpack with my mind and made it float in front of her. She stood and gaped at me but didn’t move. I made her arms extend out and slipped it on her back using my newly found powers. Then I walked back through the house and turned all the lights off and closed every open door with my mind.  When I came back to the front of the house Angie was just staring at me in shock. 

“Let’s get you to school. You might be a little late but within your five-minute window before you get a tardy.” I said as I opened the front door without moving from my spot. “I know why I have these powers now. I’ll explain on the way to school. 

“You see Angie, there was this one wishing well that was known for granting wishes…”