Warrior Cats: The Four Clans

   When Jane, a thirteen-year-old girl, discovers an extroardinary machine that can give her whatever she wishes for, she knows she can change her life forever in ways she once only dreamed of.  As she wishes and wishes for more things, though, she discovers that maybe what she wants is something she had all along.  






 

Monday

   

   As I walked home from the bus stop that Monday, I wondered if Mondays could get any worse.  I mean, first of all, Mondays were bad just because they were, well, Mondays.  The start of the school week, the first day after an all too short weekend that you have to wake up early and lug around a backpack that weighs as much as you.  There's endless lists of what makes Mondays so bad, but to sum it up simply, they were Mondays.  
    To make it worse, the heat was incredible.  I loved rain and cold weather, that I didn't mind, but heat was just horrible.  In the cold, at least you can wear a bunch of layers and keep warm, but in the warmth, all you could do, at the most, was wear a shirt and some shorts.  Plus, heat was blinding,  made your throat ache, and in the warm air, all you wanted to do was jump into an ice cold pool and stay there forever. 
     So as I walked home on a Monday, in the heat, my backpack weighing me down, I wondered, can days, especially Mondays, get any worse?  I thought through possibilities, and came to my conclusion that no, they couldn't.  I didn't think so.  I wondered if something good would ever happen on a Monday.  Really, can something good ever happen on a Monday? 
     Then I saw it.  In the sun, it's shiny white coating that never seemed to dull shone bright, grasping my attention.  It was round in shape, just like a ball, and what I thought was odd was that it was just like a ball. It had no creases or cracks indicating that it opened up or was anything besides a heavy, shiny, glass-like ball.  But, still, it's coating was so shiny, it looked like some sort of high-tech machine or robot, yet it couldn't be anything other than some sort of shiny toy.  It lay still in the dirt beside the sidewalk, and it looked quite heavy, because, though the dirt was soft, it was about an inch or two deep into it, looking as if it was very slowly sinking into the earth's crust, hidden forever. 
     I walked up to it and picked it up.  I was surprised that it was so light, it weighed probably a pound at most, yet it looked so heavy.  I was also surprised when I touched it, and it made a sort of bubble noise, and formed a blue circle around my hand. When I moved it away it remained a moment longer, a blue print where my hand had been, then vanished. I sat down, and touched the orb-like thing again with my hand that wasn't holding it, in a different spot, and the same thing happened. It was as if it was showing my handprints or something, yet I looked closely at it, and it still was completely clean and smooth, with no prints at all.  I wondered how it's shiny coating didn't pick up fingerprints at all. 
     I touched it all over, watching as the same thing happened, as if the whole ball was touch-sensitive, like a touch screen or something.  Then, suddenly, when I put my hand directly on top of the orb, though I was still sure there were no lines showing this was nothing other than a touch-sensitive odd ball, the top half of it flipped open, stopping halfway up like a laptop, just with a rounded back and bottom.  There was a screen on it, and it was completely flat, also not picking up fingerprints.  I looked down into the bottom half, but I could not see the bottom of it. It was just dark, as if stretching down into nothingness. I reached my hand down, but I felt my hand stretching down as far as I could, and still reaching nothing.
    The screen flicked on.  It was blue, and in the center was white. It began to talk, and as it did so, it also wrote what it said on the screen.
    "Hello, my name is Wish," it said in light, sweet female voice.  It was casual, not even robotic, it was as if someone was really talking. "What's yours?"
    Then the screen changed to say "Name:" and then had empty spaces, ready to get my name as soon as I said it.  Then I remembered I still had to get home, and I couldn't be sitting near the sidewalk talking to a strange orb-like thing. I closed the open top easily and put Wish into my backpack, then continued walking home. 
   
    When I arrived, I went up to my room, as I usually did to do my homework(though, luckily, I'd finished it at school during my whole lunch, so I was hungry), and took Wish out.  I touched the top of it, as I did last time to open it, and, as I thought, it opened right up. 
   "Hello, again," Wish said in that same casual voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Wish." 
   "Hello, Wish," I said, a little nervous. How was I supposed to talk to a strange robot orb?  "My name is Jane Richards.  What exactly are you?"
   "I'm just what my name says," Wish responded. "I am a super extroardinary orb with unknown capabilities." 
   "Unknown capabilities?" I asked, confused. 
   "I can make an unlimited amount of wishes come true, even those you thought impossible. As you get to know me better, you'll see more of what I mean," Wish replied. 
   "Can you just give me a guided tour, since you don't have an instruction manual?" I asked hopefully. 
   "I'm sorry, I don't have a guided tour," Wish said kindly, "But you can start learning more by just wishing for something. The first thing that comes to your mind."
   "Sure," I said, a smiled spreading across my face. "I wish tomorrow would be Saturday.  And I wish that it's the perfect temperature; not too cold, not too hot." 
   "Okay, no problem, Jane," Wish said brightly.  We'd wait until tomorrow, then.  But even I was starting to wonder what I'd find when I woke up.

 

   I woke up as light began to trickle into my bedroom window. It wasn't a lot of light, just a bit brighter than a winter sun. I sat up and blinked, adjusting my eyes to the bright light. I noticed there was a light fog, and the weather in the house was perfect. The day before it had been scorching hot, because the air conditioner was too expensive to run, though it could get quite hot in Southern California. Suddenly, I realized I was allready late for school, and wondered why my cell phone alarm hadn't gone off, or why I didn't hear my mom or brother get up. I jumped up and looked at my alarm. I had set it to go off on weekdays, so why hadn't it rung?
   Then I remembered what had happened just the night before.
   "Wish," I whispered, in an almost accusing, but shocked, way.
   Apparently hearing my faint whisper, the mysterious orb-like ball rolled out from under my bed, heading straight toward me. It came to an abrupt stop a little less than a foot away.
   "Yes, Jane?" Wish said brightly, opening up the screen again. I still could not figure out how it did that. One moment it was perfectly sealed, without a trace of an open seal, and the next it nearly was completely split in two!
I still didn't believe it. I ran to my phone again, which I always had nearby because of my alarm and so my mom could always check on me to see if I was okay while I walked home from school.
It said it was Saturday, and I stood there for a moment longer in disbelief. I let out a small gasp.
   "How?" I said, still shocked. "How did you do that? I did show up to school all week, right? I did my homework?"
   I didn't want to get in trouble for something I didn't even experience.
   "Of course, don't you remember?" Wish asked.
   How could I remember? I wanted to snap. I was growing frantic, mostly with myself, because I had no idea what I had stumbled across. I dug through my mind, and then I remembered. Tuesday I had homework in math and language arts, Wednesday I just had a science paper, Thursday I had Math, and Friday I had a Math worksheet on what we had learned that week. I remembered it so clearly, yet I did not have to go through the hassle of it.
   "How did you do that?" I repeated in awe.
   "I told you I had capabilities unknown to you," Wish said simply.
   "But how can you exist? Who made you? And why were you just in a patch of grass?" I asked.
   Computer graphic images, like computer diagrams, began to show on Wish's screen.
   "I was created with new materials that few know about. Those who made me were challenged to make me both robotic yet human. With features beyond imaginable, yet have feelings. They wanted to make me into like the ultimate reliable friend. But that's not exactly what I am. I can understand you, and talk to you, but I can also grant wishes you never knew could be granted. I am not a robot. I am not a hallucination. I am a Dream-maker. I am Wish," Wish explained in her casual, gentle voice.
I thought about this for a moment. Now, anything I could ever want, was right here in front of me. Me, Jane Richards, who lived in a poor family and was the black sheep of her school, could now have anything, and everything, in the world. No, more, the universe, and any and every other universe. It was all I, well, anyone, really, ever wanted, and yet, now that I had this magnificent power, I had no idea what to do next. 
   "But, Wish, how will I take you anywhere?" I finally asked. Wish was about the size of a volleyball or basketball, but still, she was too big.
   "Well, you don't have to tell me your wish. When you know what you want, just touch me at anytime, and then, as long as your touching me, I'll know your wish," Wish said. "And as for my size, that's no problem, either."


   When I went to school on Monday, I felt confident. I could've skipped over the whole week again, but now that I had Wish, I knew I could make sure this wasn't another bad Monday.
   Wish was now in my jacket pocket(I had made the weather cool and rainy today). She had shrunk herself down to be a bit larger than an M&M, maybe two M&Ms. The possibilities for today were endless, and many of them were absolutely amazing. 

   "Can you go get my backpack?" Sarah, one of my friends asked as I passed by her. She always asked me that, because in Science we had to put our backpacks in the back of the class, even though Sarah sat in the second-to-last row of the class, closer to the backpacks than me, who sat in the very first row.  Plus, though my backpack was nice and light because I only kept the papers and binders I needed in there, Sarah's was heavier than if she kept bricks in it.  It had been centuries, I guessed, that she had cleaned her backpack. 
   I wish she would get her own backpack, I thought as I touched Wish inside my pocket. Suddenly, Sarah looked at me again. 
   "Never mind," she said kindly. "I'll go get it."
   Wow, this was better than I thought.  I walked to the back and got my light backpack, for once walking out of science without my shoulders and back just about to collapse. 
   I could allready tell Wish was going to change my life forever.





 




    When I came home from school, I went up to my room and took out my homework, as always. As I did my homework and took Wish out of my pocket, I thought something I almost always think after school. I thought about how I, like most people, wished I didn't have homework. But I didn't just want someone else to do it for me, I wanted to do it, to learn from it, I just didn't like the hassle of the process of doing my homework. I wished I could stop time and go on some autopilot mode, or use a time machine or something.
   But I had Wish now. I could have anything.
   "Wish, can you pass time?" I asked, unable to hide the smile on her face.
   "I can grant any of your wishes," Wish said, opening up the top of her to reveal her screen again.
   "Can you skip to the time I'm done with doing my homework, and I'll do it very fast and neatly, please, Wish?" I asked.
   "No problem!" Wish replied brightly. Suddenly I had my hands on my binder and was sitting near my backpack, about to pack away my homework.
   "Unbelievable," I whispered in awe, still not believing what Wish was capable of.
    I threw open my binder, looking through my complete, neat homework, nicely organized and put away in each class's folder. A smile spread across my face, and once again all the possibilities of Wish overwhelmingly flashed through my mind.
   "Unbelievable," I said again, nearly shouting the word with joy.
   "You're pleased," Wish said with joy, not asking a question.
   "How could I not be? This is incredible!" I said. I looked at my watch. My homework had only taken a minute. "Thank you, Wish!"
   "No problem," Wish said.
   I went downstairs, unsure what to do with my extra time, now that my homework was finished. I decided I'd watch some TV with my mom while I waited until it was time to eat.

   When it was time for dinner, I moaned inwardly as I remembered tonight, like any night, would just be another frozen dinner. Wish was still in my pocket, I soon realized, though. I touched her, wishing silently that we could go to my favorite restaurant with my family for free. Suddenly, when I pulled my hand out of my pocket, I had a gift card in my hand. I stood gaping for a moment, then turned to my mom.
   "Wait, let's go to that restaurant we all like," I suggested, then added, "I have a gift card there that my friend gave me for Christmas. I forgot I had it, I just found it again."
   "Yeah!" my two younger brothers agreed, and my family soon was at the restaurant. I took Wish in the pocket of one of my jackets and ordered a Medium-well steak with mashed potatoes and a cup of root beer. Then, for dessert, we ordered a family sized chocolate-y dessert that tasted delicious. I was afraid, though, that maybe our gift card would be too little for our dinner. My mom and dad were getting ready to pay, assuming my gift card didn't have much on it.
   The waitress came back with the gift card and, handing it back to me, said cheerfully,"It has $248.27 left."
   "Rich friend," my mom muttered on the way out in shock.
   "Yeah, you have no idea," I murmured beside her. And she didn't, and really, neither did I. Wish was amazing. Like a miracle worker.


   The next night, I came home and saw my mom's second job's uniform was hanging up, like it always was a few hours before my mom went to work. My backpack suddenly felt very heavy on my back as I remembered Mom was working her second job every night for the rest of this week. I reached for Wish in my jean pocket, but decided it was too late. Mom would be going to work in a few hours, I'd let her work tonight.
The next day, though, I asked Wish if she could get my mom's second job cleared for the rest of this week. Wish cheerfully agreed, as always, and my mom soon got a phone call saying they had enough workers this week, and if she wanted to still work. They'd even pay her if she didn't work this week, and she, of course, agreed.
    I realized by the end of the week, though, that Mom wasn't so cheerful about it. It was actually stirring worry in her.
   "I mean, are they gonna lay me off soon? If they had enough workers and didn't even call me in? I can't believe this is happening, I worked so hard! To get into that job and working in it. Sure it's my second job, but I work just as hard as in my other one," she said, in a sort of nervous, whiny tone.
   "Mom, I think they're rewarding you!" I said. "I mean, most people probably don't actually want to work, they think they're rewarding your good work. Don't worry so much." 
   She still seemed skeptical, but sighed.  I realized I needed something more. Something better, for all of us.  And Wish's words echoed in my mind. I can grant any of your wishes.



-- Edited by Tabbystripe at 22:25, 2009-01-18

-- Edited by Tabbystripe at 22:27, 2009-01-18