A Wish On a Grassy Bank

The forest was quiet, and it was just them on the outskirts tonight. Everyone was probably sleeping, as they should be, and Rei could feel the toll of pulling an all-nighter catching up to her. No work tomorrow…

The dirt road extended outside of the forest, and she parked the bike on a grassy bank that led down to an open field, dotted with small flowers that would probably disappear the next day.

But the stars, there were so many stars, that Rei could hardly believe that they were real; they seemed more like crystals, falling from the sky.

Haze ran ahead of her, and found a nice spot on the grass and flopped right down, laying his head back on his arms. Rei joined him, and felt the stiffness of the dirt through her jacket, the long grass brushing up against her skin, the cool chill of the night air, and the distant humming of the insects…

The sky seemed so deep, so vast, that she felt like she was going to fall into it at any moment, and she wondered if this was what the ocean looked like from above. Perhaps that was why they were called astronauts, “star-sailors”…

“Did you make a wish?” Haze asked.

“I thought you could only wish on shooting stars. Or the first star of the night.”

“Well, these stars have been viewed so little, I think that they all deserve to be wished upon. Look! One million wishes, floating out there just for you…”

“If I had wishes, I would like them to be evenly dispersed throughout my life, not dumped into my lap all at once,” Rei replied. “Seems a bit more economical that way.”

She pictured herself sitting in a pile of stars, counting them, picking one up and making a wish, then tossing it to the side and picking up another one, admiring its shine and hue. They would all be silly, unimportant wishes: “I hope my ramen soup doesn’t spill today.” “I wish for my bike to never break down.” “I want today to be a good day.” And on and on, some for others, most of them selfish, until she had drowned herself in all the wishes and stars. Yes, that was probably how it would go, so she couldn’t bring herself to wish any now. If she were to pick one star and wish upon it, though, she would make sure to pick a wish that mattered, that was truly important, because it seemed only right to use something serious on such a silly thing.

“What did you wish for?” She glanced over at Haze, whose eye was whirring and clicking again.

“Don’t wishes have to be kept secret in order for them to come true?” He gave a little laugh, but burst into a coughing fit again, and Rei tried to wrap his coat tighter around him.

“I mean, how are they going to come true if you don’t tell? Who’s going to grant it for you, the universe?”

“Anything’s possible.” Haze wiped a spot of blood off his mouth. “You know, I’m getting mighty sick of this artificial eye. I’d rather see things how they are—”

Rei had to stop him from pulling the device out of his eye socket. “If you lose it, you can’t see at all. Come on now, it’s way past your bedtime, isn’t it? Let’s just, well, stay here for what we came out for…”

“You’re right.” He calmed, and Rei could hear his breathing through his machine lungs, soft but distinct, raspy and meditated. “You’re right. This is nice enough as it is.”

As they lay there, there came the sound of another motorbike in the distance, and soon someone stopped by where they were. Rei looked up, ready to pull out her arm, and saw that it was Boston, seeming slightly charred around the edges but otherwise okay.

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to find Haze,” Boston replied, taking a seat on the grass with them. “Everything’s under control. I thought you might want to know.”

“That’s…good. I’m glad you waited…before coming.” Haze’s voice was broken by a cough.

“Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Staying here…is enough. Though, if you would remove your mask…”

Boston fell silent, but after a moment undid his mask and pulled it off. Rei glanced at him, but his face was masked in shadow, so she couldn’t make anything out. But his eyes were calm and quiet, more so than she expected from a gang leader.

“And Rei…you don’t have to stay anymore. Your job tonight, it’s done. Twenty-thousand credits have been added to your account.”

“Maybe I want to stay,” she replied. “I still haven’t made my wish yet.”

The darkness, it was starting to lighten, ever so slightly. Dawn would be here soon, and then morning, and then the next day would start, and with it all its wears and worries would come. But that wasn’t till the light appeared.

If she could have one wish, just one wish, to wish for in this moment, this drunk, winded, sleep-deprived moment, what would she choose? What should she choose? But what would she want to choose?

She thought about the people she had met tonight, the things that she had been through, and everything that she had realized about the city and herself, everything in life that had brought her this far, and for some reason, her vision grew a little misty. But she didn’t want to wipe her eyes in front of Boston, so instead she just let her tears lie there and grow cold.

And so she made her wish, and kept it a secret, in case it should never come true, then she wouldn’t be ashamed to say that Fate had not granted her this one wish, and instead put it on some other reason, or forget that she made it in the first place. But if God was real, like some people said, maybe He would be listening to her tonight.

I wish…

“You know,” Haze said, “being able to see the stars like this, right before I go… It’s truly the most beautiful…last view…I could ask for.”

She found herself holding his hand, and gripped it tightly, trying to keep the warmth within from slipping away.