The Moon For Christmas

Wishing Well

I was coming home from school. It was Friday, two weeks before Christmas. I was walking home with my friends, Autumn and Chase. The snow fell all around us, making the world a winter wonderland.
   “You going to the Well later today?” Autumn asked me.        
   “Yah, we do every year. Are you going?” I inquired.
   “I might be going, I’m not sure,” Autumn said thoughtfully.
   Autumn was a very nice girl with light brown, wavy hair that reached her shoulders. Her eyes were a warm chocolate brown and she had a fragile frame that would make you think she was a smart, sweet girl who wasn’t that athletic. The smart sweet part was true most of the time, but you don’t want to get her angry, because then her little ‘smart, sweet girl’ thing will go away. And she was one of the most athletic people in my class, so her ‘smart, sweet girl’ look didn’t really suit her.
   “What about you Chase?” Autumn asked, dusting the snow off her hair.
   “I’m not really sure…. I may or may not go,” Chase answered.
   Chase was a fun kid, always making jokes and things of the sort. He had short, curly, black hair and light blue eyes. He was the kind of student that teachers would think of as a trouble maker, and his smile didn’t help, it just made him look more mischievous.
   And me? I’m a normal looking kid, I guess. Short messed up brown hair, green eyes. People say that I look a lot like my little sister, Alice, who’s seven. I’m fifteen, along with Autumn and Chase.
   We chatted about really anything before we finally got to my home.  
   “See ya at school, David!” Autumn called to me as I walked to the front door of my house.
   “Yeah, see ya David!” Chase said.
  I turned around to see my friends slowly walking away from me and waving.
   “Bye guys! See you at school!” I yelled back.
   “You mean, ‘Bye guy and gal’!” Chase laughed.
   “Exactly!” I laughed with her. Autumn snorted.
   “Well, go to go, bye!” Autumn shouted and her and Chase disappeared around the corner.
  I turned around and entered my home to Alice jumping up and down all around me, just as I had expected. She was probably psyched about the visit to the Well tonight. No, not probably, definitely psyched about going to the Well.
   “David, David! Do you remember what today is!?!” Alice’s voice was almost as much as a blur as she was, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet.
   “Of course I do! You actually think I’d forget? With you reminding me every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day?” I laughed.
   “When are we going? Can we go now!?! Pllllleeeeeeaaasssse!” Alice pleaded.
   Suddenly, my mom walked into the room. She smiled at me and said, “Alice, give David time to breath. He’ll go as soon as he’s ready.”
   Alice stopped jumping around and said, “Okay.” She looked really sad.
   “Ah, it’s okay Mom. I’ll just put my stuff in my room and I’ll be coming on my way,” I said and left the main entrance, Alice bouncing on the balls of her feet again, my mom just shaking her head and laughing.
  “Okay, you go ahead, but don’t make a mess in your room!” She called after me as I climbed the stairs to go to my room. Moms, they’re all the same, I thought, shaking my head and laughing to myself.
  Alice was a small and sweet girl with always a good intention in her heart in whatever she did. She had long, wavy brown hair that reached her elbows and the same green eyes as me. Our mom had the same green eyes; however, her hair color was black and curly. That part of the genetics came from our dad. That’s all I really knew about my dad. He had died years ago. I didn’t think of him much, but when I did, it made me sad.
   I threw all my school stuff on my bed, grabbed twenty-five cents from my counter, or a quarter, if you prefer, and ran downstairs. Alice was waiting for me, already all bundled up to go to the well, holding a quarter in her gloved hand.
   “You ready Alice?” I asked while opening the door.
   She smiled at me like I was telling a joke, “Of course I’m ready!” She said as though she couldn’t believe me. She jumped out the front door, and I followed her.
   “Have fun guys!” My mom called after us. “David, you sure you don’t need a hat?”
   I looked back and said, “Mom, I’m fine! I’ll make sure we’re back before dinner! See you later!”
   My mom smiled at us and closed the door.
   Alice was already way in front of me. She turned around and shouted, “You coming?”
  I smiled and ran to her. I grabbed her hand and together we walked to the entrance of the woods that were right behind our house. Once we were in the woods, we both stuffed our quarters in our pockets and started to run. We knew the path really well.
   “Race you!” Alice shouted at me, and she speeded off.
   “Hey! No fair!” I called, laughing.
   The snow slowed us down, but it still was fun. We tripped and laughed and fell into snow banks, my pants got totally soaked, but it was fun. Finally, we saw the Wishing Well.
   The Wishing Well looked like any other well, except, there was something special about it. On a specific day before Christmas, you could come to the well with a quarter, and when you throw it in the Well, you make a wish. A Christmas wish, and it’s supposed to come true. Mine usually came true, but they were simple wishes and to my benefit. This year, I had a different idea in mind.
   “You ready?” I asked Alice, taking my quarter out of my pocket. Alice followed my example.
   “Ready,” she answered.
  “On the count of three. One…Two…Three!” At that moment we both flipped our coins into the Wishing Well.
   I heard the coins hit the water and I closed my and made a wish. Alice did the same. We seemed to have both opened our eyes at the same time. For a while, it was quiet, Alice had a thoughtful look on her face.
   “What did you wish for?” I asked, breaking the silence.
   “I can’t tell you,” she answered simply. If she didn’t tell me, then my wish couldn’t come true.
   “Oh, common, could you please tell me,” I begged.
   Alice just looked at me. “I’d rather not….”she said.
   “Pllleeeaaassseeee,” I begged, I knew I sounded like a real kid, but I also knew that it would work.
   “Oh, all right! But first you have to tell me what you wished for,” Alice said, giving in to me. I was good at that sort of stuff. But now I had to tell her my wish, which I really didn’t want to, but I had to if I wanted to know what her wish was.
  “Okay, I’ll tell you. I wished for a very happy Christmas and that we all stay in health, etc. And I wished, well, this is more like a promise, that I’d get you whatever you wanted,” I explained. The reason I had done this last wish is because Alice didn’t usually get the childhood Christmas with all the toys and merriness that she deserved, because are family wasn’t the richest, with my dad…gone, and all of that, we just had a quite simple Christmas. I thought she should get her wish for one year.
   “And what is your wish?” I inquired.
   “The moon,” Alice answered simply.