6

The day started with a heavy yawn and my eyes cracking open. I saw Felix sit up, stretch, and curl back around my legs. His white fur coated my navy quilt, making it look almost naturally cream-colored. Dusky moonlight seeped into every crevice of my apartment, illuminating the dust and abandoned webs that were no longer useful for even the sloppiest of spiders.

I rubbed my eyes and reopened them. The room now looked like a big blur of 2D browns and grays. Throwing my disgustingly ivory blanket off of my legs, I walked to my door to check the number. 783. I was in the right room. Somehow I didn’t recognize it. Was this really what I had been living in for 53 years? I touched the chipped, rusting 7-8-3 and noticed my hands. The wrinkles, the veins, the discoloration was gone. My hands had been wiped clean of age. I ran to my bathroom and saw my 20 year-old-self looking through the reflective glass of my mirror. My young hands brushed the smooth skin over my cheeks. Confused, I suddenly remembered my run-in with the strange, jolly man in the woods. And the wish he promised to grant. My deepest desire.

Suddenly my transformation made sense. He had given me the one thing I desperately wanted and dreamed about for years.

Leaving the bathroom to get dressed, I saw the bottle of depression pills I have been taking for the past who-knows-how-many years. Slowly lifted the bottle from my desk, I dropped it in a trashbin next to my bed.

Laughing, I grabbed my jacket and left my unfamiliar sanctuary. Starting to count my steps as usual, I realized that for once I didn’t have to. Making a list in my head of things and people I wanted to see (my recent dancing partner made the top of the list), I tripped down the last few steps of the Castle Apartments and exited the building.

What I found outside was slightly disappointing. The world’s colors failed to shine in the bright moonlight, so all I saw were whites and dull grays. Turning right, I strolled down Benson Street. I kept forgetting not to count my steps. All I could think about was numbers and how undreamlike this place seemed. I took another right and my feet lead me to the Roller Rink, a place I had never before visited. I walked into the Rink and climbed the stairs in the back. Finally reaching the roof, I walked over to the side and peered out over my little city. A high, short yelp broke my silence. In the alley between Walter’s Lanes and the Rink there was a struggle. Minutes later, someone in a dark jacket ran out of the alley, leaving a crumpled figure lying in the dark. Running out off the roof, and jumping down the stairs, I found the owner of the Roller Rink and told him what happened. Then I left the Rink and rushed home.

At home, I immediately ran to the trashbin containing my pills from this morning. Stealing the pill bottle from the bottom of the bin, I popped the top off and yanked out two blue pills.

Curling up in my covers with Felix below my feet, I shut my eyes, for once welcoming the familiarity of the darkness.