Twenty-four candles glisten throughout the dining room.
A warming tradition every year on my birthday is that my mother buys me a cake to celebrate.
Birthday time has always been special to me, with or without the dessert.
“Make a wish,” a voice cheers from across the table.
Why make a single wish, when I can make twenty-four—one by each candle?
It surely would be a waste to not use the essence of the magical glow.
First wish, cure all illness and disease in the universe.
Second wish, rid the universe of all evil and cruel intentions.
Those things plague our world with darkness.
Third wish, make all the hungry humans have free access to safe food and water.
There is too much space and hoarding to not be able to feed the mouths without.
Fourth wish, stop the destruction of our beautiful Mother Earth.
She is the only one we have to live on.
Fifth wish, take the bans off our books.
Literature is one of the most powerful tools of our society.
Sixth wish, stop wars—both ongoing and future conflicts.
It only ends in mass slaughter and violent disorder.
Seventh wish, protect all the growing children from any threat.
No child should live in fear.
Eighth wish, stop animal cruelty in its tracks.
Animals are a blessing to life itself.
Ninth wish, stop abuse on children and adults.
Abuse of any kind is wrong.
Tenth wish, protect our endangered species and plants.
Once again, we only have one Planet Earth.
Eleventh wish, lose the weight I gained from the birth control shot because it ruined my body.
Twelfth wish, give my parents everything their hearts desire and allow them to relax.
They work too hard and too much; they deserve better.
Thirteenth wish, give my sister the life she deserves and remove the pain from her heart.
I’d personally shield her from fire itself.
Fourteenth wish, remove the trauma and suffering from my own body because I deserve peace once and for all.
Fifteenth wish, give the love of my life all the love and happiness he deserves.
The light of my life only deserves the best.
Sixteenth wish, give my best friend all the peace and time she deserves to do the things and hobbies she enjoys.
She’s incredibly talented and brilliant minded.
Seventeenth wish, visit my loved ones in heaven because my heart yearns to hear their voices again.
Eighteenth wish, visit my childhood dogs because I miss them everyday.
Nineteenth wish, protect my kitties from pain and sickness.
Rascal needs to live forever by my side.
Twentieth wish, protect my current plant babies from harm.
They are my children for the time being.
Twenty-first wish, keep inspiration flowing through my bones and let writers block pass me by.
Writing is the only way life can process through this thick skull of mine.
Twenty-second wish, allow karma to strike those that harmed me.
For they know they were wrong by burning me.
Twenty-third wish, let the money I’m owed find its way back to me.
Breathing itself is expensive.
And my Twenty-fourth wish, let happiness and peace nestle in my veins and harbor there until the end of time.
The flames soothe into a thin line of smoke.
“What did you wish for?” A hand drops onto my shoulder.
You never announce your wishes,
or else they will never come true.
I smiled. “I wished to win the lottery.”
If they knew my dreams,
they’d insist I was foolish,
but a girl can dream.
If the wishes can’t come true,
That’s okay.
I will have twenty-five for next year.
Elyssa Latham (she/her) is a woman of words, and reader. Elyssa’s works express strong emotions that people go through and get the reader to feel those emotions alongside her. She wants readers to take away that it is okay to allow yourself to feel and that you can craft art out of pain.
Featured image by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash.
