"Cordelia.."
"It's a lovely name," I complimented her. She seemed kinda nice.
"Why thank you," Cordelia said with a sweet smile.
"Are you single?" Alex asked Cordelia and the rest of us abruptly stared at him in shock.
"She's a guardian princess and you're a high school student. You're not in the same league with her, man," Miles scolded Alex.
"Yeah, yeah, doesn't matter," Alex said and rolled his eyes.
"Nevermind him, he loses his senses now and then," I turned to Cordelia and said.
"What the..." Alex began.
"So you were saying something about a river of wishes," I said to Cordelia not letting him finish.
"Yes." Cordelia nodded. "The river before you is a river of wishes. You all get to make a wish before you proceed to the cave of regrets."
"Cave of regrets?!"
"Yes, the one behind me," Cordelia said shifting a bit to reveal a cave at the other side of the river.
"I didn't see that before," Monica said.
"Just one wish," I said.
"Just one. You have to wish for it now else you can't cross over," Cordelia warned.
I thought deep within me what I wanted to wish. The rest already looked like they were making their wishes. There was so much to wish for but then you only get one wish? My eyes darted from each person to another, then to Cordelia who seemed to look at me with keen interest and what looked like pity and finally, my eyes settled at the river. Time was running out. What would I...
"Woah." I heard myself yell. A gust of wind swept me over my feet and dived me straight into the water. My balance was completely lost and before long, I felt myself in the embrace of the humid clutches of the water. I kept going deeper and deeper and..
"Avril," was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed shut and darkness took over.
________
"Avril!!" Kyle yelled and made to jump into the water but was held back by Miles and Alex.
"Kyle calm down." It was Miles who spoke. He was completely in a state of shock as well as Alex.
"Let me go! She just fell into the water. How can you just let her go like that?" Kyle yelled at the top of his voice.
"Why didn't you save her?" Miles asked Cordelia. His mouth wide agape trying to take in whatever had just happened less than a minute ago.
"I'm sorry but one of you made the wish. I can't avert it," Cordelia said with concerned filled eyes.
"What do you mean a wish?" Kyle yelled in disbelief.
"Please save her. She can't swim," Monica said. She had already broken down in tears.
"You hear that she can't swim." Kyle yelled and made straight for the river again but was still held back by the two males besides him.
"Please don't attempt to go into the river. Otherwise it'll turn into ice and that might be your last," the guardian princess bluntly stated.
"I'm sorry, but like I said it was a wish and it was granted," Cordelia said apologetically and descended down the river, out of sight and a bridge magically appeared.
"Oh God," Kyle mused and sat on the ground.
They were shocked and confused at the same time. Before long, Kyle stood up looking very stern as a detective would when interrogating a suspect.
"She clearly said someone among us here wished for Avril to go down that river. I wished for all of us to get out of here safely," Kyle said.
"I wished for a basketball," Alex said showing them a ball in his hands. "It was getting boring around here."
"I wished for a mouth wash," Monica said admidst her sobs and revealed the bottle in her hands.
"It's over 24 hours since we brushed. This was an opportunity," she quickly added when she saw the stares she was receiving.
"Miles," Kyle called.
"I.. I wished for..for Monica to like me," Miles slowly voiced out the words.
"Dummy, I already like you," Monica said, her voice barely heard as a result of the amount of years she had she'd.
"Then that leaves..." Alex began.
"Olivia," Kyle completed.
All turned to look at Olivia who had guilt written all over her face. Kyle slowly walked up to Olivia, Miles and Alex following suite.
"Olivia did you...?" Miles left the question half finished.
"I only wished for her to go away, to disappear. I didn't know she would end up falling in the river," Olivia shamelessly said.
"And for what?" Kyle yelled on top of his voice, his anger at his throat.
"I just wanted her to leave the love story between us," Olivia timidly said.
Kyle grabbed her and pinned her to the nearby wall. All hell had been let loose. Rage filled Kyle to the core and not just him but also his associates.
"There was never a love story between us and there never will be. You are the most stupid person I've ever met in my life. I thought I disliked you before but now I despise you. You just made an innocent girl go down a river and bet me, if she doesn't come back I'll kill you," Kyle said in a fit of rage. His eyes burning with visible fury.
"Kyle let her be," Miles said to Kyle then turned to Olivia, "action speaks far louder than words. I do believe it and I'll make you believe it but not here on Earth and neither in Heaven but on your first class plane to hell after I must have strangled you to death... C'mon Kyle."
After shooting one scary glare at frightened Olivia, Miles and Kyle proceeded to the bridge. At this point, Monica sprang up from where she sat and headed straight for the culprit with blood shot eyes. Less than a metre away from her, she stopped.
"Now I finally belief that you're delusional. Because of a guy, someone who doesn't like you, you almost murdered my best friend. She's not dead, I firmly believe but if not, Olivia you won't like what I'll do to you," Monica let out the words, meaning every bit.
"Monica please I'm sorry..." Olivia began.
"Save it," Monica cut. "What you should be doing now is to pray that nothing and I mean nothing, happens to Avril else, you'll be sorry."
With that Monica left, joining Kyle and Miles at the other side of the river.
"You see what you've gotten yourself into? If you didn't have anything reasonable to wish for, you should have wished for an attitude control book, that ought to have keep you in check," Alex said disappointed.
"Don't waste your time on her. She's the devil's incarnate," Miles yelled from the other side of the bridge.
"And she really is such," were Alex's words before he crossed the bridge.
Olivia wept, regretful of her actions;
"What have I done?"