Wishes
Updated: Apr 9
Prose - 2024 Alumni Creative Writing Contest Winner - First Place
Ten bottles wash up on the shore. The waves cradle them and tuck them safely in the soft pink sand of an island. For a time, it seems that the bottles are all alone, with only an occasional baby turtle--the bravest little pilgrim--making his maiden voyage to the sea. Then, a girl appears on the beach and carefully plucks each bottle from the shore. She gathers them all in a net she’s tied around her waist. The girl is not stranded or lost; this is her island. It lies far beyond every other land, where no other foot has tread. It is unknown to sailor, explorer, pirate, and conqueror, but it is her home.
The girl has been on the island all of her life. Her hair is golden hair and falls down her back like the flowing kelp that dances on the ocean floor. Her skin is as white as seafoam and her lips are as pink as the inside of a conch. Her mother is the sea and her father is the sky. They love one another deeply for they meet together, in perfect union at the horizon. She knows how much they love her as well. When a new day comes, her father hovers over her, the warmth of his bright eye always upon her. And every night her mother sings her an ancient lullaby, with the surf lapping tenderly on the shore. The girl is happy with her mother and father on her island. She loves this place and the wild and beautiful creatures it holds, from the timid white tern to the regal leatherback turtle. They all live together in harmony with her, the sky, and the sea.
The bottles are the only newcomers, and a mystery to the girl. Every day, her mother brings her the strange glass vessels, bobbing up and down in her waters. She thanks her mother for the gifts as she collects them. She counts the newest bottles as she puts the tenth one into her net. Then she brings them to the center of the beach, and plops down on the sand with her gifts beside her. This is her favorite part. For as intriguing as the little bottles are, the true treasure is what they hold inside. Wishes. It is her special task to read every wish that comes across the sea because this is the place where all wishes eventually go.
Her father flushes with excitement, sending a mixture of coral shades across the afternoon sky, as the girl pops the lid off the first bottle and pulls out the wish. She reads it, and then another and another. The girl is fascinated by the little messages. Each one is unique, written in its own language of letters. Some make her want to smile and laugh, like the one that reads:
I wish I could fly with the birds.
Or
I wish my new puppy would never grow up.
Others bewilder her, such as:
I wish rain tasted like chocolate milk.
But there are some that fill her with impossible sadness...
I wish I could bring my baby back.
I wish I had gotten to say goodbye.
I wish I wasn’t so lonely.
I wish someone loved me.
The girl has learned that though wishes are different, they are all equally valuable, and she stores each one deep in her heart. But she also knows that she must read them quickly; she still has one more important job to do. She scoops up the ten wishes in her arms and races to the highest point on her island, the top of dormant volcano, now crowned with lush vegetation and exoctic flowers. She must get there before the sun dips beneath the horizon. When the girl reaches the volcano’s summit, she stands in a bed of flowers and lifts the wishes up to the open sky.
She holds her breath in anticipation. At twilight, as day and night melt together and the sea and sky join in a special embrace, something miraculous begins. The first wish--a small slip of paper tied with a red ribbon--floats away from the girl’s outstretched hands. The light ocean breeze carries it higher and higher until it is no more than a speck in her sight. Suddenly, the wish vanishes with a brilliant flash. The girl shields her eyes for a moment, but when she is able to look up again, she smiles. In the place of the wish, a gem of light appears, sparkling in the purple expanse--the first star in the night sky. The other wishes follow after, soaring upward until ten stars twinkle above her.
As the girl watches with delight, she asks her mother why this miracle occurs. In the whispers of the tide, she hears the answer. “Every wish, no matter what it is, is precious. Do you know why, darling? It is because wishes embody hope...in its faintest form. When a little boy wishes to fly, he has sparked his hope for flight. It is a small flame, and there is no possibility to feed it yet, but it still burns. It is the same for the mother who wishes her baby back to life; she’s convinced it is impossible, but her heart still hopes for it.”
“This is why you must collect the wishes and give them a voice. Sometimes, it is a burden to know so many people’s hopes, and not be able to fulfill them. It is true that we are powerless to grant wishes...but they deserve to be known and remembered. So, the sky and I chose long ago to honor each one by transforming it into a star. Now, every wish that finds its way to our island rises above the earth in eternal memory as night falls. And the hope that they keep is everlasting.”
The girl lifts her gaze to her father once more. He has turned indigo with the night, and his eye still shines down on her with a pale, pure glow. His face is now freckled with billions of tiny lights as the wishes of millenia blink into view, joining their newest companions in the sky. The girl looks on in wonder at the magnificent sight as she listens to her mother’s soothing waves rock gently around her dear island.
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