part time cupid

five- wishing well

i bumped into alicia when i got home, and she seemed to sense something was wrong. she wordlessly grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out of the house and down to the park. i stayed silent the entire time, never trying to get out of her grasp, even when we passed by the park and went into the bundle of trees behind it.

finally she stopped walking and let me go. i looked around. we had seemed to reach some sort of clearing in the trees. the sun was shining through the leaves, creating a scattered pattern of sunlight on the ground. 

and then it caught my eye. i followed alicia as she walked towards it. at first i thought it was just a big rock covered in vines, but it was actually a well. it looked like it hadn't been used in centuries.

"i used to come here a lot as a kid." alicia told me. "i would find acorns on the ground and toss them down the well and make wishes. of course they were stupid wishes though, like i wish for a pony. i wish for more christmasses." she scoffed at her foolish younger self, but she had a nostalgic smile on her face. "so they never came true."

she circled around the well, running her hand over the weathered away stones and tangled vines.

"i stopped coming for a while, until one day in middle school. i fell totally head over heels for a some guy. like a complete idiot"

"so what did you do?" i asked, sitting down on a big rock and resting my elbows on my knees.

she hummed, lost in thought. she traced the sunlight patterns on the floor with the tip of her old battered boots.

"i came here, looked around until i found an acorn, and made my wish."

it sounded so romantic. i smiled. "and then?"

she laughed. "i went to school the next day, hopes high, confident that the well wouldn't let me down. i told him i liked him."

i listened in anticipation.

"he told me i wasn't pretty enough for him and his friends laughed at me."

i frowned. "so the well didn't work."

"technically it did. because later that day, a girl found me crying in the bathroom. she asked me what was wrong and i told her about the guy. she thought he was an asshole and that made me laugh. she spent the rest of the year making sure i wasn't hurt by another stupid guy again. basically, we became best friends."

"but didn't you wish for the guy to like you back?"

she looked down and chuckled as she fiddled with the bracelets around her wrist.

she shook her head. "i wished for love."

i smiled, but then my smile faded as she held out an acorn to me.

"alicia, it won't work-" i began to protest.

"come on. at least try." she sighed, "i know, i know. it's stupid and probably won't work. but bear with me and my silly childish fantasy. just once. if it doesn't work, then fine. whatever. good joke. but if it does, i admit i'll be really surprised, but hey. what do ya know?"

the wind blew. the leaves crinkled. the trees whispered. i reached out and took the acorn.