Wishing for hell, Page 2

turned the corner, she stopped running, walking at a more leisurely pace. She walked slowly to her locker then pulled out her phone. There was a small pendant on it, made out of colored glass beads. Camilla and Darcy had the same because they had made it on their first day of middle school. She tore it off, the beads clattering to the ground, making a nice tinkling noise, chimes to her new future.

  “Sorry, Darcy, Camilla, but I’ve outlived you.”

  She pulled out her phone. State your wish.

  “I wish Camilla and Darcy would disappear.”

  Your wish will be granted.

  “Don’t worry girls; I’ll take good care of your stuff.”

  The That girl with a black coat grasped her scythe firmly and reaped the two souls. That was excellent for a first day. She hadn’t made a mistake in choosing that girl. She would collect her hundred souls in no time at all.

  That girl showed no reaction to what she saw. She just pocketed the card again. This was a fun game. Let’s see who wins. Me? Or the World?

  Your move, World.

 

  What motivated the That girls to act that way is mostly a guessing game. The main reason is that not many people have ventured a theory. For all anyone knew, there was no That girl - so no theory to be ventured. Some of the few theories I have been able to collect are these: Perhaps the thought that the whole world was inferior to them. Or the fact that maybe to avoid their pointless lives there were two solutions: suicide or elimination of all the pointless people. Many have chosen suicide because they never met the Black-clad girls. But those who met them, how come the world doesn’t belong to them now? We shall find out. Perhaps. I mean, I’m just a narrator, how would I know what happens?

  That girl caught the train just on time. Throughout the way, she kept checking her watch, growing impatient as the train appeared to be a few minutes late. One thing that That girls hate is being late. Because being late means they attract attention. And a few minutes late on the train would mean she would miss the Muni. And the next Muni would then bring her to be late for school. Then again, there was always a high probability to be late if you took the Muni except if you have a thirty minute time margin that assures you that you’ll be on time wherever you are going. If you’re lucky.

  That girl boarded the Muni, now almost certain that she would be late but clinging to the slim hope that the Muni would actually manage to make it to her stop without messing up. Anger caused her lips to purse as she sat on her seat. The doors had been closed for ten minutes and the Muni still hadn’t left the stop in front of the Caltrain station.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the inconvenience but we seem to have a problem up ahead. We will be leaving shortly. Sorry again.”

  She took out the small card and a pencil. She really hadn’t meant any harm, really none that time. And the thought of what would happen did not even brush her mind as she imagined her wish, the pencil poised to write. Then she scribbled her wish quickly. I wish the Muni would be on time. Fairly harmless, right? Wrong. Dead wrong.

  The Muni suddenly jerked to life, sending the passengers that weren’t sitting to the ground. That girl held on to the bar next to her. The Muni picked up speed, going much quicker than the sardine-box was actually designed to go. A few people that were on side seats crashed against each other, which would have been quite comical if the situation hadn’t been so critical. That girl looked up ahead and managed to see through the driver’s window. Another Muni was up in front of them.

  There was a bone-jarring impact, the two Muni’s crashed into each other. For an instant, it looked like their Muni would stop but it picked up speed again, pushing the debris of the other Muni in front. Too horrified to do anything, That girl just stared with a slack jaw, the card useless in her hand as the Muni passed the ballpark, ruthlessly destroying two other Munis.

  Up ahead, the black-clad girl swung her Scythe, collecting the souls and giggling maniacally as she saw the destruction in the path of the demented Muni. This was her lucky day.

  That girl watched when the Muni entered the Tunnel. This would be the most destructive part of the trip. The Muni it would crash into would have nowhere to go except being pushed in front and the stations when they would pass one. Embarcadero took the worst hit. People who had been waited for the Muni were buried under debris. After three more bone-jarring impacts, the Muni looked like a satellite that had been wandering in the asteroid belt. For a few centuries. Finally they reached her stop, the Muni suddenly becoming a normal Muni again, tipping over in the Van Ness station onto bystanders.

  When everything stopped moving, it was eerily silent then there were moans of the harmed. Next to her was a girl about her age. She was still conscious, her eyes rolling madly around. Three of her ribs protruded out of her chest. She was wheezing and gasping so a rib had probably punctured a lung. As That girl watched, blood poured from her mouth. That girl reached out and touched her throat. There was no pulse. There’s a difference with seeing a death on screen and knowing it is next to you.

  Even when she watched the accomplishment of her first wish, she hadn’t seen Darcy and Lisa’s death. They had just faded away, disappeared. Now, faced with the reality of what she had done, she felt for the first time in her life, disgusted with herself. A sharp pain in her hand made her look down. A paper-cut from the card. She had created this mess and all she got from it was a paper-cut. No bruise or scars. No missing limb. There was no justice in the world. Blood stained the card. She looked around at the dead or dying people and made up her mind. She had lost her pencil in the accident. But as she held the card in her hand, it obeyed to her will. The blood from the cut took the shapes of letters, writing her wish.

  What will come to pass

  That girl scanned the newspaper. It was a sunny day so the white paper reflected back at her. She found the title she’d been looking for. Something in the lines of: Miracle After The Muni Accident. No casualties. She looked a little more and found the article about the reappearance of Darcy Keys and Camilla Hoppers, squeezed next to job offer section. She wondered how Lisa would react.

  The paper rustled when she closed it. A girl was coming up the street towards her. She had chestnut hair cut to her ears and glasses with a thin wire frame. A That girl. She put the paper in her right pocket, sticking out a bit. One good point with her new uniform: deep pockets. Then she took her scythe in her hands and put it horizontally. She sat on the handle and the scythe flew up in the air to the new That girl. Other advantage of her new state: flying. The time stopped and the girl kept moving.

  “I was right, you are one of us.”