13th Birthday Wish

Hi there! I thought it would be fun to post a short piece of fiction so you have something by me to read. You can decide at the end if it's a fun YA story or a piece of horror. It's less than 1500 words, so it won't take you long to read. I'd love to hear what you think of it. Let me know in the comments below! Enjoy the story!

13th Birthday Wish

My thirteenth birthday party started out innocently enough. Mom and Dad did a great job of setting everything up. All my friends were there, along with everyone in my family, including those relatives I only saw on special occasions. There was even a bounce house shaped like a haunted castle. At first, my friends and I thought it was a stupid, baby thing for the party, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you we got hours of entertainment out of it.

Everything went great until the end of present time. My family pretty much all gave me cash and gift cards, which was awesome, while my friends got me goofy little trinkets, which was almost as cool. (Most were way cooler, but, come on, money!) After I opened my last card, this from my great Aunt Helen and Uncle Roger, and fished out the twenty bucks, my great-grandfather, Grand Pop-Pop Bob, motioned for me to come over so he could give me his gift.

“Sure, Pop-Pop,” I said as I pushed myself to my feet. Something felt off as soon as I started towards him. He sat not far away on the other end of the picnic table, but it felt as if I walked through miles of mud to get to him. I was so focused on him and what his present might be that I didn’t notice everyone else in the party not just go silent, but freeze altogether. Not like they were being still on their own, but as if time stopped.

“Sit down, slugger.” Pop-Pop patted the bench next to him.

Once seated, I expected him to hand me a package or envelope or something, but instead he looked me dead in the eyes. He didn’t say anything, not at first, but I knew not to hurry him. Not that I thought he’d get mad or anything, but Pop-Pop wore an air of authority I didn’t want to test.

“Thirteen is an important age in our family,” he said at last.

I nodded, not knowing where he was going with this. I had never heard of anything different happening to anyone when they turned thirteen. I wanted to look over to Mom or Dad to see if they had anything to add, but I didn’t dare break eye contact with Pop-Pop.

“When you reach thirteen, you are bestowed with a wish. A single wish with no limits. It’ll work exactly as you ask with no tricks. Except for a big one, but I’ll get to that in a second.”

All the tension drained out of me, and I laughed. “A wish, Pop-Pop? Come on, I’m not a kid anymore.”

He nodded and chortled his little laugh, the same he used whether he was humoring someone or if he found something truly funny. I figured for a second that he was laughing because I caught his joke so quickly, but the humor never reached his eyes. No, those remained dead serious.

“You’re not a kid, which is why I’m giving you this today. In fact, you can’t get it any other time except for the day of your thirteenth birthday. It’s why I insisted there be a big party.”

“This was your idea?”

He nodded. “A wish. One with unlimited power. You can use it today, or you can horde it until you’re on your deathbed. Either way or any in between is up to you.”

“So I can wish for a billion dollars right now? Or an unlimited number of wishes?” I gave him a grin, but it faltered when he nodded.

“Yeah. Well, not until our conversation ends, but I hope you won’t. Which leads me to the big drawback of the wish.”

I tried to stifle an eye-roll and sigh. This had to be a joke, right? Or was Pop-Pop off his meds? I didn’t know then if Pop-Pop was actually on meds (he wasn’t), but I figured he had to be. I’d never heard any stories of him being a prankster, so unless this was a first, I knew something had to have eaten away his mind. What other explanation was there?

“The reason you don’t wish for something tangible is as soon as the wish comes true and is complete, you die. Just like that.”

“So you haven’t used yours?” I wasn’t sure if I was actually curious or just humoring Pop-Pop.

“No, I did. I followed the advice of my own Pop-Pop, which is what I hope you’ll do.”

I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to offend Pop-Pop, I really didn’t, despite how crazy he sounded.

He smiled and shook his head. Here it came, the big reveal that he was staging a big prank. Instead, Pop-Pop said, “I know you think I’m pulling your leg. I thought the same thing when I was in your shoes, but this is a legitimate thing. Legit, I think you kids say.”

“I don’t know, Pop-Pop,” I said, though I still bit. “How did you use your wish?”

Pop-Pop’s smile grew. “I wished for a long and happy life. Long enough to pass the family gift off to my youngest great-grandson. And here we are.”

“So are you going to kick the bucket right after this talk?” I still couldn’t take this seriously.

To his credit, Pop-Pop chortled. “Maybe I will, son, maybe I will. Thanks to my wish, though, I’ve never been sick a day in my life, at least after I wished it, so I may stick around another decade or two. You never know. I sure don’t.”

This was the first time I looked around and saw that everyone had indeed frozen. It freaked me out a little bit (or a lot), and I stood. Pop-Pop’s hand shot out and he gripped my upper arm with more strength than I thought he had in him.

“Don’t take this lightly,” he said, his voice low. “If you use it like I did, it’s a gift, but if you let it fester in your mind, you’ll soon see it can be a curse. Some in the family have found other ways to use it for good, but as my own Pop-Pop told me, this way is best. That’s all I’ll say on the subject. Happy birthday.”

I’m not ashamed to admit I was more than a little creeped out, so I murmured a thanks and backed away. I didn’t notice anything on the way back to my spot, but when I plopped down, everything around snapped back to normal. I looked over to Pop-Pop and saw him talking to Auntie Ruth as if our little conversation had never happened. He glanced over at me and smiled, but with nothing in it that spoke anything of the past couple of minutes. That was doubly weird. Either he was a great actor, or I might want to consider heading in to see the school psychiatrist.

Mom came up behind me and said, “Nice haul, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said. “How long was I talking to Pop-Pop?”

She frowned. “What do you mean? Other than when you said hello to him earlier, I haven’t seen you anywhere near Pop-Pop.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the look on her face proved I may not need to seek out the school’s psychiatrist; she and Dad might find one for me. Instead, I shrugged, not sure how to cover that up.

“Are you okay, Daniel?” she asked. “What is this about Pop-Pop?”

Without thinking, I said, “I wish I hadn’t said anything.”

Two things happened simultaneously. First, I watched Mom’s worry fade away. And second…well, that was it. Everything went blank, and then I hovered above my body and the party. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could see it all. Mom opened her mouth to scream, and everyone else turned, looked to see me slumped over, and panicked. Only Pop-Pop didn’t look at my body, but instead right at my spirit, my soul, my ghost. Or whatever. Though I couldn’t hear him, I didn’t need to be a lip reader to understand what he said.

“Dang fool idjut.”