The Sheet

Act Three

"Thomas! Thomas?"

He woke up a second time, almost blinded by the sunlight streaming in through the window. He had a headache.

"Tom?" The woman's voice continued. He turned and saw a young nurse leaning over him.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? I couldn't wake you up."

"Yes, I'm fine," he repeated, and then remembered. "Where is the doctor who came here last night?"

"What doctor?"

"He was old," he replied. "He even gave me an envelope, and..."

"Envelope? What envelope?" She repeated, a bit tense. She looked around and under the bed, between the sheets, and Tommaso tried to do the same, despite the pain.

"There's nothing here," she said, annoyed, after a few minutes of searching.

"But I'm sure I took it, and..."

"You must have just dreamed it," she said in a tone that didn't allow for further discussion.

After giving him his medication, she left the room. The child was still asleep, and his mother was not there.

"Well, maybe it was just a dream."

Before he could lie back under the covers, his hand began to grip and rub something that wasn't there before. Alarmed, he saw the envelope: it had suddenly appeared in his closed fist. A voice inside his head ordered his body to call the nurse and throw it away. But his curiosity about what it contained was too strong. Casting caution to the wind, he opened it with trembling hands and pulled out a sheet of paper folded in three parts. On top, there was a short text. He began to read quickly, not understanding a thing. He took a deep breath to calm down and started over from the beginning.

Greetings to you, my friend. I apologize for our previous encounter, but I don't like to stay in the same place for too long. However, I don't want to talk about myself, and you don't need to know my name; I prefer to be considered a simple benefactor.

The sheet on which I have written these words is very special; some would call it magical. All you need to do is write on it what you desire, and it will come true. You can make it fulfill all the dreams you can fit on the second page. But be careful not to waste your opportunities, so please keep these rules in mind:

- What you write cannot be erased, regardless of the means you use, along with the wish you have expressed.

- You cannot request to undo the previous wish with another one.

- You cannot make the same request twice.

- You cannot ask for impossible things: to fly like a superhero; to resurrect people; to become immortal; to fight an alien invasion, and anything else (I'm sure you'll understand) that is beyond human capability.

- Lastly, you cannot get rid of the sheet, destroy it, or give it to someone else. When the time comes, that is when you are about to die or have simply filled all the free space, I will come to find you again! Until then, I can only wish you good fun!

The sheet slipped through his hands, and he almost dropped it from the bed. His heart was pounding, while his mind tried to provide a reassuring and logical explanation for it all.