I found myself looking at the old stone and the slip of paper attached to it. Three wishes. Any three wishes. I could have almost anything in the world. My first though was unlimited wishes. But as soon as the words started to form on my lips, something stole my breath and they were whipped away into the mid-summer breeze. The writing on the paper changed. Same strange script, decipherable yet confusing, yet the words split and fused, forming a completely new sentence altogether. The text now read; don’t try anything cheeky. Three wishes and only three wishes. Fine, I thought to myself. I decided to start with something small. A cat, my mind thought. I’ve wanted a cat since I was a child. Now I could have one. I wished aloud. “I want to have a cat”. Silence. Great, I thought. I’m out here in the woods shouting to no one that I want a cat. If no one talks to me now, then I doubt they would anymore. But then I heard something, a trembling in the leaves. It got closer, closer. I stepped back, not a moment too soon. The thing sprang from the brush. I tripped and fell on my stomach. A gut wrenching pain ran from my foot up the back of my leg and into my spine. I stifled a scream. I turned to see what had jumped. I then faced the worst thing in my life. A full grown Bengal tiger was prowling the ground staring at me with his beady eyes almost daring me to get up. Looks like I found my cat. I tried to back away. Pain shot through my ankle. Of all times, this has to be the one where I get injured. The tiger seemed to sense my weakness. He started to advance. The throbbing of my ankle seemed almost dull next to the pounding of my heart. I scooted further but the tiger just advanced faster. I realized there was only one more option. I found the rock in my hand. The text had changed again. What are you waiting for? Wish now before it is too late! As the tiger came close enough to the point where I could see the blood in its matted mane, I made my wish. “I wish to get away from here”. Time froze. The tiger had a dazed look upon its face, as if someone had stung him with a tranquilizer dart. Even the plants did not move. In a rush it all came back. The wind blew a gust so large I was knocked strait onto my back. The last thing I saw was the tiger pouncing, before I was sucked into unconsciousness, bending with time itself.

I looked up into the leaves, the blue sky sparking off the crystal blue water, the sand in between my toes. Wait, what? Sand? I looked up into the leaves. I was relieved to see that they were green. But they were the wrong kind of green. I turned and saw water, nothing but water. Then the memories hit. I sat bolt upright and my ankle screamed. I wanted to shout. I had forgotten about my little injury. I turned to my left, where if I was still in New York, my bag with drawing supplies and first aid kit would have been located. But no such luck. I silently questioned the universe. If you can suck me into a black hole away from a tiger attack in New York, you can’t heel an ankle or bring me my stuff. I looked down and realized I was still clutching the stone. I realized the paper and the stone were wet. In fact, so was my hand. As I gazed down at myself, I realized that I was completely and utterly soaked. At least its warm out, I thought. I stood up leaning against a tree for support. Where was I? I looked around. Palm trees. “Really” I shouted to no one in particular. “Why a deserted island? Couldn’t you have just dropped me off in my room”? Suddenly I felt cold. “But that wouldn’t have been any fun for us now would it darling”? The voice was cold, harsh, like someone had recorded themselves 50 times and played it back all together. I turned still clutching onto my safety tree, the stone in my hand. What greeted me was by far the most hideous thing I’d ever seen. It was black, all black with eyes the size of plates and an armored what looked like a shell attached to its front and back. It had six arms, but kind of like the arms you would find on a lobster. But it had the body of a snail, small, low with a tail elongating behind it. When it spoke I realized that it had 5 mouths. “Now you must choose your path. Either become my prisoner and stay here forever or die a slow painful death here on the sand of my beach. We liaxvihomicans have quite a special poison you see. One lash of my tail or touch of my hand, and you would slowly crumble into dust. So now prisoner, you must choose”. The sound rang in my ear. I had to decide quickly. The fact that the liah-moracan or whatever it called itself was looming over her threatening to touch me with a fire claw was not helping. “Pick!” the slug dude cried. I thought. I felt my hand getting hotter, almost as if something was burning it. I thought the slug man had gotten impatient and touched it so I looked down. Instead what I saw was the rock glowing white hot in my palm. Then it dawned on me. I looked at the stone one last time. The writing on the piece of paper tied to it was smudged and wet but it looked as if it said well, duh. “Yeah, yeah” I mumbled as I extended my arm. “What are you doing? You need to make a choice” slug man hissed. He reached out to touch my arm, perhaps out of instinct or perhaps to vaporize the stupid girl who couldn’t make a decision. But he was to slow. I raised my hand and shouted “I wish to be back in my bed” and he screamed in anguish. I looked on, and it looked like the crab was dissolving. No, he was turning into grains of sand. Slug man colored grains of sand spilled everywhere. Then I noticed something else. The trees where transforming into sand, as well as the water along the shoreline. The rock in my palm was too, forming into the small grains. I looked down and saw something I did not expect. The sand was leaking through a hole that looked like it leads into the sky. The whole floor, all the different colored sands, where pouring into this reversed hole. For a moment, I was in awe. Then I realized what was going to happen. I was slipping even as I thought. I looked around for a tree to grab, but they had all dissolved. My ankle was dully throbbing under the pressure of all the sand. I was slipping, knee deep in sand leading to the endless hole. And then, I was falling, into the sky, and I couldn’t tell which way was up or down.

I was scared to open my eyes. What if I had not landed in my bed, but somewhere else, another unwanted adventure. But I seemed to be lying on something soft. I opened my eyes and everything was dark. I turned but found out I was in some kind of small space. I tried to move forward, but my feet hit the wall. And why did I have a small bunch of dead flowers in my hand. The whole place smelled of dirt. I felt like I was underground. Then it hit me. I started to panic. But there was no way out. I pressed against the top of the coffin. It gave, but not in the way I’d hoped. Tons of dirt came pouring in. it got harder and harder to breath. I felt the energy leave my body. I was back on my bed. I was on my death bed.