In the middle of this small, secluded town, there lies a fountain, spewing forth water that when hit by the sun’s rays, shines in all colors of the rainbow. They also say that if you give a good enough offering, your deepest desire will be made into reality. Needless to say, when I first learned about this place from an old, dusty book in the library, I knew I would want to go there someday. It was in another country, so I spent months scraping together money so I could afford a plane ticket there. My parents thought I was getting a bit over-excited about something that was probably a myth, but I figured they just didn’t believe in magic like I did, so I ignored them. Eventually, I made enough money, boarded the first flight there, and now I’m at the top of the hill that leads right to the town. I’m practically skipping while I’m walking, absolutely giddy to see the idyllic, quaint town that I’m imagining in my mind...so you can imagine my disappointment when the town finally enters my field of vision and I’m met with a town in ruins, overrun by vines and other assorted flora.

The sight alone makes me want to turn back and forget any of this ever happened, but something draws me towards the ruins, whether it be curiosity or some unseen force guiding me. Also, I’d probably regret it if I didn’t at least investigate a little after coming all this way, so I think, “Why not? I’ll go and check it out.” Making it to the bottom of the hill is no easy task since I’m not exactly the most coordinated person out there, but after about an hour of walking (mostly tripping, I make it to the bottom of the hill, the town’s edge right in front of me.

I figured it would look better up close, but the exact opposite turned out to be true. The first buildings I saw were completely decimated, covered in what looked like soot and fire damage. At first, I thought that this town got hit by a volcanic eruption or something, but I checked the map about a thousand times before coming here, and there were no volcanoes within a thousand miles of this place. I then thought there was a bombing or something, but I couldn’t find any shrapnel either. My final thought was that it was a forest fire of some kind, but something about the damage seemed more...direct, in that the flames seemed like they were aimed straight at the buildings. 

Walking through, I finally stumbled upon the fountain I was looking for...or what was left of it anyway. Whatever ornate decorations it had sculpted into it before were completely worn away. Along with that, the fire damage was most extensive here, with most of it centered around the fountain itself. The pavement surrounding the fountain was completely black, and the surrounding buildings’ walls were black as well. Whatever destroyed the town seemed to start here, which gave me both a sense of fear and wonder. The fountain might actually work, but would I want whatever wish it would grant me?

I turned around ready to get as far away from this place as possible, but once again I was drawn to the fountain for some unknown reason. I walked towards it, the bottoms of my shoes becoming pitch black from the soot, and I came to a stop at the fountain, which had long since stopped flowing with water. From my pocket, I pulled out my offering, which was a shiny, silver coin. Some might think that this offering was pretty meager and unimpressive, but the reason I think it’s a good enough offering is that it belonged to my grandmother, who passed away just last year. We were always incredibly close, talking for hours and hours about what we were doing with our lives, but then one day, she just died out of nowhere. It was probably just from old age, but that didn’t stop me from bawling my eyes out that day. This coin is important because it was her prized possession, and I cherish it just as much as she did.

I held the coin in my hand, hesitant to throw it into the fountain. I then realized that if this didn’t work, I could just pick it back up without any problems, which definitely made me feel better. Taking one more step forward, my feet were flush with the edge of the fountain, and I began to make my wish.

“Hey, magic fountain, um...so basically, I’ve always been bullied for being short. It’s just a matter of genetics, but that doesn’t stop the jackasses at school from calling me shorty, pipsqueak, dwarf. My personal favorite insult is hobbit, which doesn’t even make any sense, like, I wear shoes all the time, even when it gets hot out I don’t wear flip-flops or sandals, so no one’s ever even seen my feet, so I don’t know how that got started, I just…” Realizing I was rambling, I stopped talking, took a deep breath, and said, “So basically, my wish is to be taller, if you could do that that would be cool.” With a swish of my wrist, the silver coin left my hand and landed with a hard clunk on the fountain’s stone floor.

Right before my fingers let go of the coin, my mind was telling me how stupid this was, and that there was no way this would work. Heck, I might as well wish to be the size of a mountain for how much difference that would make. That thought was the last one I had before I felt the coin leave my hand.

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Nothing, absolutely nothing is happening. Of course, nothing is happening, how stupid was I for thinking that this fountain would actually grant wishes? I should just get my coin and go home. My parents better not tell me “I told you so,” that would be worse than the long plane ride back all on its own. Figuring that my wish wouldn’t get granted, I leaned forward to grab my coin. Then, I saw a bright flash, and that was the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness.

Upon waking up, I stood up and wiped the sleepiness from my eyes, only to see a white sheet as far as the eye could see. The sky was blue, which I thought was weird since it was cloudy when I had thrown the coin into the fountain. I looked down at myself and noticed that not only was the white sheet up to my boobs, but I was completely naked! I instinctively covered my crotch with my hand and blushed in embarrassment, even though it seemed like no one was actually watching. I then inspected the sheet a bit closer and noticed that it went right through me. I waved my hand through it, and it offered no resistance at all, almost as if it (or I) was intangible. I couldn’t handle it anymore, I needed to see what was under this sheet.

Squatting down, I finally got a good look at what was at my feet. I was surrounded by very uneven land, varying wildly in color from spot to spot. One part was dark-green, while another part was grey and brown, with a lot of geometric patterns all around it. Curious about what I was looking at, I took a wad of the dark-green ground and held it in my hand for a closer look. My eye was not an inch from it as I tried to figure out what it was, and my heart almost stopped when I realized the truth. All of this dark-green stuff was trees! The tree trunks couldn’t have been thicker than the hairs on my head! Petrified, I looked over to the grey part of the ground, and I crawled towards it, my hands and knees on the ground as I inspected it. To my horror, it was definitely a city. I could see buildings, roads, and even the runway of the airport where I landed. It finally dawned on me that I was absolutely massive, and the humans that used to tower over me were now less than ants.

Oh shit, how was I going to explain this to my parents?