Miyu's Wish (4 page)

The final class of the day was uneventful, and a little disappointing. Mr. Skyzey promptly placed us into assigned
seating, leaving me paired up with a plump kid named Clarence toward the back of class. I stared glumly at Marlene and her partner playing with their microscope as Clarence prattled on about the differences between bacterial and viral infections—or something like that.

“This is streptococcal pharyngitis, otherwise known as strep throat,” he explained, sliding the microscope over to me.

I peered into the eyepiece, observing what looked like a string of fuzzy oranges.

“Strep is a bacterial infection,” he continued earnestly. “Have you ever contracted it? It makes for a bad weekend, I’ll tell you that.”

His enthusiasm was funny, and I smiled at him. He was kind of cute in a weird sort of way.

The bell rang. The day was over.

I left the classroom with Marlene, feeling contemplative as we walked the crowded halls.

“I see you got placed with Clarence,” she teased. “Has he driven you mad yet with all that encyclopedic knowledge of his?”

“Aw, he’s not so bad,” I said, smiling softly.

“Anywho,” she continued undaunted. “Tamara and I are joining a few friends for a bite to eat a little later. Care to join us?”

I shook my head. “I wish I could, but my aunt is picking me up today. She’s probably waiting outside for me now.”

Marlene shrugged. “That’s too bad, but we’ll do it again soon.” She turned down an adjacent corridor, but then spun around with a smile. “Stay out of trouble now.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, but giggled. Then, steeling my resolve, I turned and proceeded toward my locker, my bulky bag bending me forward like a tiny hunchback. Thad was nowhere to be found, and I quickly reached for the lock.

“Twenty-five…ten…forty-three,” I said as if reciting an incantation. Nothing. “Twenty-five…ten…forty-three,” I tried again. Nothing. I began pleading with it. “Twenty-five…ten… forty-three, twenty-five…ten…forty-three,” I implored again and again. After ten more useless attempts, tears were in my eyes.

As my eyes bored into that lock, I felt a hand touch my shoulder and gently push me to the side.

“Hey—” I began to complain, but Thad cut me off.

“It’s easy,” he said diffidently. “Start at zero, then turn clockwise three times before reaching twenty-five.” He motioned me to watch his hand movements. “Now you go the other way, passing ten the first time and then stopping on it for the second. Finally, you go right again, stopping on forty-three.” And in an instant, the door swung open.

“How did you know my combination?” I asked stubbornly, staring up at him. He was tall and well built, with sandy-blond hair and broad shoulders. I was practically a dwarf by comparison.

“I’m sure the whole school knows it by now, the way you were chanting it to the world,” he replied dryly.

I looked away with an indignant, “hmmph.”

He sighed. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier, OK? Really, really sorry. Believe it or not, I don’t enjoy knocking over little girls.”

I peered back at him from the corner of my eyes.

“I’m not little, I’m in the eighth grade,” I said simply, turning to face him all the way. “
And
, you should be more careful walking around with those giant arms and legs of yours.”

He nodded with a slight grin. “I promise I will be more careful.”

“Good,” I said simply, allowing him a small smile in return.

He seemed satisfied. “Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As I watched him stroll away, my heart gave a little jump.

All in all, it had been a good day.

Chapter Six

“S
o, how did it go?” Aunt Mari asked enthusiastically as we drove home, this time at a much more reasonable speed.

Taking a deep breath, I recounted the day’s bumpy course of events, her face like a kaleidoscope of expressions as my story zipped from success to tragedy to success again.

“Well, I’m glad you made some friends, at least,” she said as I finished the tale. She was smiling, but it seemed a little forced.

“I’m choosing to be optimistic,” I said as we drove up our long driveway.

As Auntie parked the car in the garage, I slipped out and entered the house. I screamed; a vicious white blur suddenly darted toward me, causing me to nearly fall over backward in the doorway.

“Honey? What’s wrong? What happened?” Aunt Mari called from behind.

“I saw…something,” I began, my eyes focusing on a wide-eyed, Persian cat looking up at me.

“You mean Oogles?!” she asked, looking between me and the cat in disbelief. She patted me on the shoulder. “You
have
had a long day.”

“Oh, yeah, just Oogles,” I laughed uneasily, tentatively bending down to pet the animal. The cat regarded me peculiarly.

“I’m going to get dinner started, sweetie,” Aunt Mari said as she continued inside. “Why not go upstairs and, um, relax for a bit? It’ll do you good.”

“Yes, Auntie,” I answered, waiting for her to leave the room. My face then darkened as I glanced back down at the cat.

I had completely forgotten about him.

I crawled atop my bed and sighed. I had intended to paint my toenails, but instead I leaned back on my pillows and idly watched the ceiling fan spin round and round. A moment later, Oogles—my rediscovered friend—came to join me. I scratched the top of his head and under his chin, and soon had him purring next to me.

I closed my eyes for a moment, recalling the strange boy I had seen that morning. He was calling out to me, as if wanting
to warn me of something, but I could only shudder and turn violently away.

“Miyu, dinner!” Aunt Mari called. I opened my eyes, realizing I had dozed off. His face was already fading from my mind like a dimming bulb, and my eyes crept toward the mirror. Only my tired face stared back. Relieved, I trudged downstairs.

The teriyaki dish my aunt had prepared sizzled yummily in my mouth, but I mostly poked at my food. She continued to glance at me tentatively—her eyes tense with curiosity—but I was grateful she left me alone. We eventually cleared the table, and I returned to my room, grabbing a pink remote and switching on the television.

I did a belly flop on my bed and, resting my head on my palms, lazily flipped through the channels. I had a feeling one of my favorite shows was on, but I couldn’t quite remember what it was. I cycled past a flurry of news programs, sitcoms, and gossip shows, eventually stopping on a quirky Japanese cartoon about a girl who travels back in time and meets her reincarnated, former self. It was both silly and implausible, and I spent the next hour watching the back-to-back episodes.

Inspired, I flipped off the TV and went to my computer. I paused for a moment, scratching my chin thoughtfully, and then simply tapped out “reincarnation” into the web browser’s search engine. I bit my lip as a litany of peculiar links materialized before me: My Life as Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun, Uncover Your Past Lives in Five Easy Steps!, Is Reincarnation
Compatible With Our Understanding of God?, Reincarnation and Buddhism: From Rat to Man, and Past Life Regression is Useful and Fun! The list went on, page after page.

I tried again, this time typing “reincarnation and time travel.” As before, I received a lot of weird links. I clicked on one: Time, Space, and the Migrating Soul. A man appeared, standing atop the planet Earth, which itself sat on an enormous timeline that stretched endlessly into the distance. Various little people sat on the line—a scientist, a princess, a pirate—and moving the cursor over them revealed different facts about the nature of time and existence. I read a few of them.
Time is simultaneous. Time links every soul. Every action has a consequence.

I yawned and glanced over at Oogles, curled on my bed in a warm, little ball. Suddenly a hot bath seemed very appealing.

I abandoned my research and spent the next hour soaking in the tub, smelling of lilac and lavender as I emerged. I washed up, kissed my aunt good night, and then nestled into bed. I sank gingerly within my pillows, convinced I had simply been suffering from first-day jitters, and fell asleep with a soft smile.

Chapter Seven

I
 
was surrounded. The silhouettes of heartless things swirled around like noxious gas, laughing and hissing.

A vile melody filled the air, and it mocked me, stirring faces out of the gloom—faces of familiar people. Thad? Kimberly? Tamara? I couldn’t tell, but they seemed to sneer at me, as if I were an abomination.

I didn’t understand.
Why did they despise me?

As if in reply, the shadows split apart like separating curtains, and I beheld myself. My hands were monstrous, my teeth jagged and twisted. My hair was red and coarse like sandpaper, my face gaunt and lean. My entire body was contorted and malformed. I was hideous.

“Go away!” I screeched at it.

The being’s eyes turned black and sorrowful. “Remember,” it said distantly. “Remember…”

I awoke, my phone blurting out a tune about forgotten friends. My eyes stung as the sunlight hit them, and I dazedly slid out of bed. I looked in the mirror; my gentle face stared back. I bared my teeth; they were straight and perfect. I looked at my hands; they were light and delicate and manicured to perfection.
Just a dream, just a dream…

I dressed quickly—opting for white, denim shorts and a pink, sleeveless top—and then headed downstairs. There was plenty of time for breakfast today.

“You still seem a little frazzled this morning,” Aunt Mari said as she slid a plate of food in front of me.

“Oh no, I’m fine,” I replied, nibbling a piece of toast. The truth was just the opposite, of course—I was either going crazy, or something outright bizarre was happening to me. But I couldn’t tell her that.

I finished eating, cleaned up, and then let my aunt cart me off to school. We were soon in the school parking lot.

“You have your…” she began, motioning to my chest.

“Yes, Aunt Mari,” I replied touchily.

She gave me a reassuring smile. “It’ll go better today.”

I kissed her on the cheek. “I know.”

I waved good-bye and entered the school, but remembering Thad, stopped to peek at my locker from a distant corner.

“What’re you doing?”

I spun around to see Tamara and Marlene watching me.

“Nothing,” I said, staring down at myself and playing with my fingers. “I guess we can go to class, if you want.”

“Don’t you need to stop at your locker first?” Tamara asked, glancing down the hall curiously. “What has you so spooked, anyway?”

“Nothing!” I said, maybe a little too emphatically. I looked at Marlene. “Could you, maybe, share your book with me in class today?”

She looked at me quizzically. “You still have time to grab your own. We’ll wait for you.”

My gaze shifted between the two of them, knowing I didn’t have a choice.

I quickly trotted down to my locker and, recalling what Thad had told me, worked on opening the door. After two false starts, it indeed swung open. I bounced in delight, feeling like I had just performed some wondrous task.

“Nicely done,” came a smooth voice.

It was Thad, of course, and I blushed slightly as I gave him a partway glance. “Hi, Thad.”

I turned my attention back to the Literature and Math books in my locker and placed them in my bag.

“So you know my name,” he said affably. “I’m honored.”

“Do you know mine?” I asked simply.

His face went blank. “Well, no, I haven’t had the chance…yet. But I, ah, would like to know it.” He smiled uncomfortably.

I laughed, feeling a little guilty I had trampled his mojo so easily. But I was also relieved, as it meant my misadventures from yesterday hadn’t made me as notorious as I had feared. I glanced at my friends.

“I have to go, but my name is Miyu. Don’t forget it!”

“Nice to meet you, Miyu,” Thad replied, his confidence already back. “And I won’t.”

I smiled and then waved good-bye, rejoining Tamara and Marlene down the hall.

“Is that why you were afraid to go to your locker? Because of a
boy
?” Tamara asked incredulously as we hurried to class.