~~***~~
I sauntered down the stairs in an attempt to make as graceful an entrance as possible. I caught a glimpse of Morgan sitting at the table opposite from the stairs. He had really pulled out all the stops this time. The table was beautifully decorated with fresh bouquets of flowers and little flames danced on the tips of elegant candlesticks. As far as I could recall, this was the first time we’d be sitting down to a candlelit dinner at home.
Morgan stared at me slack jawed. His eyes were transfixed on me as I made my way down the stairs. To be honest I did feel a little bashful. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d put in so much effort into looking good for Morgan. I was even wearing the earrings he’d gotten me. I playfully turned my head as I let slip a coquettish grin. This was it. This was going to be our happily ever after. I was certain of it.
“Rawr,” Morgan said as he clawed the air with his palm. “You look ravishing.”
“Really?” I found myself suppressing bashfulness now. “You like it?”
“Like it?” he replied. “I’m finding it hard resisting ripping it off right now,” he laughed. I smiled. I loved it when he laughed. I sashayed over to his side of the table, giving him full view of my exaggerated hip swings. “Hey enough alright,” he put his hands up in mock defense. “Get me any more excited and you’ll have to pick me up off the floor,” he joked.
“Do these look good on me?” I turned my head to give him a glimpse of the elegant feather earrings hanging from my lobes.
“Wow you’re wearing them. God, I thought they were beautiful in the box,” he started. “They look exquisite on you,” he said to more blushing from me.
“This is nice,” I said. “Just the both of us at home. A quaint, candlelit dinner. I love this Morgan. Thank you,” I continued, still making my way down the stairs. We were here. We made it.
“My pleasure,” he replied. “Hey like I was saying earlier, I need your help with something in the kitchen. Do you think you could help me reach the corkscrew in the overhead cabinet? I’ve got a craving for some bubbly tonight.”
“Reach the overhead cabinet?” I asked. “Honey you’re 6 foot 2. You don’t need me for that.” Morgan suddenly looked crestfallen, as if what I’d said had struck a terrible nerve. He looked at me while suppressing anger.
“Babe, you know I don’t like to joke about that,” he said as he placed both his arms by his sides and strained to push his chair out.
At first it looked like he was just pushing out the dining table chair so he could take off in a huff. But then, I slowly realized what was happening. Morgan struggled to push the wheels of his wheelchair in reverse. I looked down at him, noticing that both his trouser legs conspicuously hung limply after the knees. I raised my hand to my mouth.
“No…no. Not this,” I said as I crumpled to the ground, my eyes starting to fill with tears. “Not this, not now!” I sobbed uncontrollably.
“Hey babe, it’s ok,” he said as he grasped my shoulders reassuringly. “I’m not mad. Maybe some time in the future I’ll finally be comfortable enough to joke about it. I’m not mad at you, you were just trying to make me feel better.”
“It’s not that,” I desperately reached for his legs, hoping it was all some cruel joke. Feeling nothing after his knees I started crying even more. “Your legs!!” I exclaimed between sobs.
“You act as if you haven’t seen these before,” he replied, reaching down and rolling up his pants leg. I cringed when the cloth rolled back and revealed the stump where the leg had been sawn off. “Are you having a mental breakdown or something?”
“It’s all my fault!” I cried, sobbing into his trousers and clutching at his shirt. “I did this to you!”
“Hey,” he pulled me up and looked into my eyes. “It’s not your fault,” he tried to console me. “This happened two years ago, Sam. I’ve learned to barely notice it,” I noticed his eyes start to well up as well. “And I honestly thought you had too.”
“No…no,” I shook my head. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen!” I got up from the floor.
“We survived the accident babe,” he looked up at me. “Doctors said it was a miracle I wasn’t dead. I shouldn’t even be here!”
“No…no!” I yelled. “Where are you? I know you’re out there just laughing at me right now!” I called out to her.
“Who are you talking about babe?” Morgan asked, concerned. “I think you’d better sit down for a while, just calm down a little,” he tugged at my dress.
“Come out you little bitch!” I yelled, picking up the bottle of champagne from the table and wielding it like a club. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen!”
“Babe, stop this!” Morgan yelled. I could see the confusion in his eyes. “You’re scaring me.”
A somber howl came from the yard as the front door was blown open. She jumped in.
“Surprise!” she yelled. She was clad in another Halloween outfit, a red devil with small, plastic wings. An orange, jack-o-lantern candy bowl hung from her elbow. “Not surprised?”
“This isn’t what I wanted to happen,” I replied. For a moment, I was concerned Morgan would be wondering what was going on. When I looked at him, I was assured that wouldn’t be the case.
All around me it seemed like time had slowed to an absolute crawl. The flames on the candlesticks slowly gyrated like some Middle Eastern belly dancer as the rest of the room flickered in harmony with the dancing light.
“Hey, like I said,” she playfully leaned against the coatrack, resting against it as it tumbled to the ground in slow motion. “I grant exactly what you wish for.”
“He’s in a wheelchair,” I pointed to the bemused Morgan, who were it not for the seriousness of the situation would have actually looked amusing in his confused, slowed down state. “I didn’t wish for that.”
“And?” she asked. “Did you not think there would be consequences to surviving the accident?”
“That’s the point of the wish, right?” I brandished the bottle.
“Oh, you people and your escaping consequences,” she appeared defeated. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“No,” I replied. “You can interpret the wish any way you want. It works exactly that way. You’ve been messing around just to get me to use up my wishes so you could get your jollies by watching how screwed up you made my life.”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. But you have your happily ever after. Your marriage is working and you’re both happy. You survived the accident. What more could you want?”
“It’s not…perfect,” I replied tersely. “He’s in a wheelchair. He’ll suffer the rest of his life because of me.”
“It doesn’t look like he is,” she said, sauntering up to Morgan. “Are you suffering little baby?” she asked in baby talk again. She then proceeded to grab Morgan’s chin, forcefully shaking his head from side to side. “See? He’s fine.”
I swatted her hand away, disgusted at her handling of Morgan. “Get away from him.”
She backed away, hands up in mock surrender. “Fine. Be that way. You have one more chance anyway. I guess this was almost perfect. Tweak your wish a little, and perhaps you’ll get the happily ever after that you’re after.”
“How can I trust you?” I said, tossing the bottle on the floor where it broke into a billion tiny glass pieces, each spreading across the floor in slow motion like rafts on a sea of champagne.
She pretended to be upset. “I’m hurt,” she said, raising a hand to her heart. “After all we’ve been through together.”
“You’ll manipulate my wish again. And I only have one last chance.”
“For the perfect ending,” she paused, examining her nails. “Wouldn’t you take that chance?”
“No, I’ve had it with you and your moving goalposts. I’ll play this my way. I’ll beat you.” I pointed directly at her eyes. “I will beat you.”
“Oh, do try,” she smiled her Cheshire Cat smile again, human ey
es reverting to animalistic serpentine eyes. “Won’t be the first time anyone’s tried that.” Her mouth was a bear-trap of sharpened teeth. “Besides, I’m just trying to help you.”
“I wish,” I started, pausing again like I had with each of my prior wishes. I glanced at Morgan once more. He wore a puzzled look on his face, still in the midst of turning in extreme slow motion towards me. He was oblivious to what was going on, and was probably questioning why I was talking to the coatrack. A tear started rolling down my cheek. I had come full circle. I found myself back at the first accident, wondering if what I was doing was right. I knew if I did what I was about to do, I might never see him again. But it was better than this. I had to beat her. It was the only way. The only way that I could make sure that we weren’t at her mercy. The only way we could escape this and seek our happily ever after together. At this point, no part of me had realized that perhaps we’d already found our happily ever after. All I could think about now was beating her. I had to beat her. “I wish I had never crossed paths with you!” I yelled.
“You…what?” she asked.
“You heard me bitch. I wish I had never crossed paths with you.” She stepped back, a look of contempt on her face. I was sure she’d have to reset everything. It was a loophole. It had to be. Had I never crossed paths with her…the accident wouldn’t have happened, would it?
“Well, well,” she said as she slowly clapped. “I can’t think of any way around this one.”
“Yeah,” I gloated. “It’s ironclad.” She smiled despite her defeat.
“You’ve got potential,” she said. “Selfish, manipulative. Oo…if only I’d met you a few millennia ago.” She pursed her lips and let out a sigh. “I sincerely wish you the best and I hope you get every happiness that’s coming to you.”
“Get the hell out of my life.”
“Your wish, is my command,” she mockingly bowed.
The sizzling white pain returned as I felt my insides burning up. I started to feel faint, a sensation I don’t remember feeling before. My sight was blinded by bright white light as I felt myself being lifted up, beyond the roof into the clouds. The wind around my face and body enveloped me as I was transported to my final fate. I prayed that somehow it would involve Morgan.