Wish

When I wake up, I'm lying in a crimson pool of cells, platelets and plasma.

The once-white sheets I'm rested on are stained with burgundy. My blood. 

Lots and lots of it.

I try to get up, but I can't get my body to move. Every single bit of me, with the exception of my face, seems to have been turned to stone. There's an overpowering feeling of numbness in my body, and it frightens me.

What's going on?

I feel lethargic and sluggish. My breathing is weak and strained. My eyes struggle to keep themselves open, my eyelids seeming to weigh tons.

I'm vaguely aware of something warm and sticky trickling down my temples. I catch its scent: Metallic. More blood.

I struggle to move, but to no avail. A fruitless attempt. From the sterile smell in the air, and an IV in my arm, I can tell I'm in the hospital. What happened?

My brain feels different. Despite my other body parts' refusal to function, it seems to work perfectly fine. More than fine. It feels strange, like a supercomputer. Everything in my brain is crystal clear and easy to process. It's beautiful, and I feel intelligent. Very intelligent.

Huh. Intelligent? The girl who flunked every single one of her examinations, intelligent? I think bitterly.

But still, my mind feels powerful. And it's too tempting. So I try.

17778 times 19873.

Almost instantly, the answer flashes clear in my mind.

353302194.

Wait, what?

Here I am, a stupid thirteen-year-old who can't even do her twelve times table, multiplying 17778 times 19873 in a second? What the heck?

Something's off. Very off.

My mind is clear. I try to recall what happened earlier.

And it rushes back.

I asked a witch for a wish.

Dark, raven-black hair, that cascaded down to her shoulders. Her face shrouded in shadows, the only thing visible being her eyes. Large, deep violet, almost seeming to glow. A beautiful violet, but a malevolent one.

She was wearing a cloak. One that covered her lower body completely, its hood covering part of her face.

She was a witch.

I saw her on the streets, and she intrigued me. I followed her into a dark alley, like an idiot.

And she offered me a wish.

She warned me that there'd be a price. But of course, I'd still get my wish, and if I wished carefully, it'd be worth it.

I'd been failing exams all my life. I'd just came back from school with a test score in Math of 12/100, and I was simply dreading going home.

It didn't seem legitimate to me, because, well, I didn't believe in witches, and no one can grant wishes.

But something about her gaze told me that she was telling the truth.

The price? Pshhh. It didn't matter. As long as I got my wish, well, whatever.

So, I wished to be the smartest human being on Earth.

She nodded.

And then her lips curled upward, ever so slightly, into the most evil, horrific smile I'd ever seen.

That was when I knew I shouldn't have wished.

But it was too late.

I only remember that excruciating agony had ripped right through me, as though a billion knives were stabbing through me from the inside, and blood started flying everywhere. I'd screamed and screamed, while her body seemed to turn to dust, and she vanished.

Then I'd blacked out, and darkness was all that there was.

My eyes are wide, and I'm frozen with the memories.

I wished for this.

And the price? Now I'm paralysed from the neck-down.

***

Ever since I was seven, I've dreamed about being a professional runner, the kind that takes part in competitions and goes to the Olympics to win medals and stuff.

And I might even have been good enough. I ran like the wind, the fastest in my school, people telling me that I had superhuman speed, and that maybe my dream could one day be real.

I trained like mad for it. I represented my school in track competitions, and brought back medals and trophies. I loved running. It was my dream, and my life.

And that's when realisation hits me. 

I'll never be able to run again.

Anguish, horror and shock consumes me. It's an extremely unpleasant feeling, so many horrible feelings overwhelming you at once. I feel warm liquid trickling down my cheeks. Hydrogen and oxygen combined, my brain supplies. Plus a tad of sodium.

SHUT UP! I wish I could yell, but my voice doesn't work. I don't freaking care!

So this is the price of black magic. It's definitely not worth it.

What's the point of being the most intelligent human being on Earth, if it means that everything you care for is taken away from you?

What's the point?

You get to be the most intelligent human being in the world, but at the loss of what means the most to you. So this is balance.

Cruel world. Cruel, cruel world.

So nothing's worth it in the end.