A boy's biggest wish

The summer sun shines brightly above. Classmates are walking home from school, talking, laughing, having fun. I don't pay them any mind, I drift past them, brushing by, like air, nobody notices.

After a long walk, I reach my house, it's a moderately sized home. We got it a few years ago when my father got a better job. I climb the steps to the door and slide in my key to the lock. My hand hesitates, just for a second.

The voices of my family echo outside, the usual chatter about their days, what chores need to be done. But I don't hear my name mentioned a single time. I never do.

I turn the key and step inside. I don't greet them, just slip into my room and shut the door behind me.

My room is dark, safe, lonely. I set down my bag near the door and I collapse onto my bed. I don't bother taking off my shoes, it's too much effort. I pull the covers over my head and try to sleep, even if the sun is still out.

As soon as I start to drift off, I hear a familiar voice, the voice of a child, one that has plagued my mind for ages now. I don't bother getting up to properly them, they aren't real after all. They begin singing a popular tune, one meant for celebration, but it only makes me feel worse.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday my dear friend, happy birthday to you!"

They pause and smile, they sound excited. They seem to crouch down and whisper into my ear, their voice soft and filled with curiosity.

"Say...what do you wish for?...What do you want most in this world?"

I curl up into a ball, and I whisper under my steady breath.

"I want to disappear..."

The voice gives a small laugh, I feel a hand placed on my forehead as I finally close my eyes, the sleepiness overtaking me.

"Okay! But no takesies-backsies!"

---

Falling

I felt as if I were falling. I could feel the cold wind rushing past my face, the sound deafening, my stomach churning as if it could tell that something was wrong. My eyes flutter open, and I see the blue sky, the clouds seem to be getting further and further away. I quickly turn over and see the incoming ground, I really was falling. I scream at the top of my lungs.

"What the hell!?"

Panic surges through me. After all, I had been sleeping a few moments prior, and now I'm falling to my death. My arms and legs spread out in a desperate attempt to try to slow my fall. My eyes survey the ground, trying to find anything I could use to land on, anything would do. Eventually, my eyes land on a river.

"Water!"

My logical side screams at me, saying how landing in water would be dangerous at this high of a fall. The logical side almost immediately shuts up as soon as it sees I can't find a better alternative. My body adjusts itself to aim for the river. The ground quickly races closer as I brace for impact.

Cold.

The cold was all I could feel as I slammed down into the water, lungs instantly filling up with freezing water as my muffled screams wring out. My limbs flail frantically as I try to swim up for air.

Damn it! I thought to myself

I'm such an idiot! I don’t know how to swim! Now I’m going to drown! The words repeat in my mind as I gasp for air, only to be submerged again.

No! No! No! Not like this! Please! Please… My thoughts start to quiet as I feel myself start to lose consciousness.

As my mind starts to give up, my heart refuses to. It starts to beat faster, as if it were more determined. My limbs slow down and start to move again, this time not with desperation, but with purpose. My arms and legs start to copy what I’ve always seen on TV or in videos. My legs kick with a rhythm, and my hands scoop to try to keep myself above water.

After what felt like an eternity I managed to bring myself to shore. My lungs were burning as I coughed up all the water I inhaled. The cold breeze felt like daggers digging at my skin. I collapse onto the muddy grass, my vision blurred, as I try to catch my breath and not pass out.

In the forest I hear something getting closer, It sounds like a group of people. As the footsteps near, I hear their voices, they all seem to be women. One of them spots me and shouts in a panic.

“Look over there! It seems like someone's injured!”

The whole group rushes over to my side, and I hear them all gasp.

“A boy?...” One of them says, she sounds almost in disbelief.

“Woah, it looks like he’s unregistered! He has no identification whatsoever!” Another one says a little too excitedly.

“A stray?!...Can we keep him? You know boys are so rare! This might be our only chance to secure one!”

“He does appear to be unclaimed…And he has brown skin too…that's rare in this part of the kingdom…”

“Hang on! We can argue who gets to claim him after we heal him! Get the healing staff!”

One of the girls picks up a staff and points it at me, she starts to chant a spell. The other girls join in on the chanting too. A bright green circle appears around me, particles of mana appearing in the air. I'm astonished, It seems like in whatever place I ended up in magic is actually real.

After a few seconds of the girls chanting, I can feel my exhaustion slip away. My vision clears as I slowly sit up. I scan my surroundings, both in disbelief that I'm still alive, and in confusion as this looks like the earth I came from. I then turn to the girls, who seem to have stopped chanting as soon as I got up, they’re all staring at me in awe, like they were looking at an exotic animal. I blush a little from their staring, but despite my embarrassment I say to them.

“Thank you…You saved me…”

I give a small smile as I get up to properly thank them. Only when I do, I shiver from the cold, I’m still dripping wet from the river. One of the girls quickly takes off her coat and puts it over me. I then notice how foreign looking all of their clothes are. They seem to be wearing medieval peasant clothing, except for one girl in knights armor. The girl who put the coat over me says in a worried tone.

“Oh no, you’re going to catch a cold if you don’t warm up soon! Come with us to the village, we’ll get you warmed up, and into less…strange clothing… and you can tell us how you wound up in the river.”

The knight then intervenes.

“Wait! We have to get him registered as soon as possible. The law says that any unregistered boys must be immediately taken into a government office for registration!”

“Oh come on! They’ll just take him away! We saw him first! We all get the right to claim him! Not just some noblewoman!”

“Yeah! Boys are so uncommon that we might not get another chance to claim one! Besides, look at him! Don't tell me you don’t want to marry him on the spot and brag about him to all your friends!”

The knight sighs and gives in, she takes my arm with a blush.

“Fine. But as soon as he warms up to us we’re taking him to get registered”

The group of girls all nod in agreement, they then begin to lead me through the forest, seemingly taking me to the village.

Hearing them talk about me as if I were just a stray dog makes me feel uneasy, as I walk with them I think to myself.

Just what sort of place am I in?