Love in All the Wrong Places

A Whole New Casper

Being so close to Casper made it hard for Amy to think, and by the time she processed what he had said, he'd already taken a step away from her. She stumbled from the sudden lack of support and paled at what he'd wished for. Quickly regaining her balance, she looked at the boy in front of her, who'd  become a complete stranger once again.

“How did you know?” she choked out, tears filling her eyes as she felt her magic slipping away. “Who told you?” she demanded in a louder voice, shaking with anger and sudden mortality.

Casper slid a hand into his pocket, and smirked in a way that was anything but appealing.

“Doesn't matter, gorgeous. Jig's up.”

Her heart gripped with a pain she hadn't felt in years, as everything she had in the world was squeezed from her blood. Amy felt her hands clenching and releasing as her heart accelerated and a nervous energy filled her body.

“Now Nala, there's no need to get all worked up,” he said patronizingly, and the nickname he used made her gasp in shock as the fury built inside her to the point of explosion.

“Don't you dare call me that,” she spat, as the welling tears finally openly escaped down her face. “I don't know who you think you are, but you have no right to say that name.”

“Just trying to help,” he said, holding his hands up in defense and taking a step back. “No need to bite my head off.”

Was this guy for real? He had just stripped her of her only reason for existing, and now he was actually mocking her? Whoever she thought Casper was went up in smoke, and she was furious at herself for falling for his trap. As angry and confused as she was though, she couldn't let him leave without figuring out some answers. Amy didn't care much to learn anything about Casper's past, but maybe there was a way to reverse all this. Maybe all wasn't lost, and she could regain her gift.

Amy closed her eyes, and took a deep calming breath. She opened them, hastily wiped away her tears and cleared her throat.

“How can I get them back?” she asked him, trying to sound determined, but her voice betrayed her with a heart wrenching crack.

He laughed once, short and bitter. “You can't.” he said, with a finality that filled her with dread.

“Of course I can,” she retorted, feeling her temper rise again. “Everything can be undone in my world.”

And it was true. People made some stupid wishes sometimes, and the WA couldn't just let them get away with destroying the world. They had the free choice to make the wish, but if it was dangerous, or it changed things for the worse, it would be canceled. For example, you couldn't wish for an entire country to disappear, or for the queen of England to drop dead. On a less drastic note, you couldn't get away with unlimited money or someone magically dissapearing, either. Smilers were generally kind hearted people, and the Granters didn't have many cases that needed undoing, but it was always good to have a back up plan.

“Not this one, beautiful,” his obviously sarcastic terms of endearment for her were making Amy's teeth grind. “I was sent by the Prez herself.”

“Mrs. Pennley?” she asked in horror, refusing to let herself believe it.

“That very one. Consider yourself officially out of the business.”

“I signed a contract,” Amy said hotly, remembering the day in the orphanage. “A completely legal, binding contract.” she added for emphasis.

“That's right. And according to page eight, paragraph three, lines one through five, the only way you can be “fired” is if a Smiler wishes for you to resign,” he rattled off, while she tried to keep up. “That happened about five minutes ago. Need a recap?” Casper asked, one eyebrow raised.

“No thank you,” she muttered, stalking away from him. “I'll figure it out on my own.”

“Good luck with that!” He called cheeringly, and she mentally stabbed him with a pitchfork and lit him on fire.

Boys.

Amy didn't allow herself to properly break down until she got back to the apartment. She hadn't gotten to where she was in life by allowing others to see her weaknesses. People were conniving and manipulative, like Casper had just proved. They would use her disorder against her in a second, and only feel guilty about it in the afterlife. She crumbled into fetal position, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. There was no one else to do it for her.

As Amy slowly rocked, the pain spread from her heart to her stomach. It gurgled and clenched, making her scream out in agony. She grabbed a pillow from the bed and stuffed it in between her chest and knees, trying to make the pain bearable. The anxiety quickly grabbed hold of her head, and a splitting pain burst through her temples. She closed her eyes hard and tried not to sob, because she knew crying would only make it worse. Breathe, she told herself. It's just a panic attack. You've survived them before. It's nothing you can't handle.

But it was different this time, because she'd lost her cure. Amy could no longer go outside and grant a few wishes to make herself feel better. She was once again completely useless to both herself and the world around her. Without the magic, no one would ever love her. How could they? There was no beauty to her, no talent, no personality. Amy was nothing but a cover of stories, thrown and patched together to create a person. She didn't know who she was if she wasn't a Granter.

With her present torn away, she had no where to go but the past. She heard the names crashing together in her brain, making it pound even harder. Orphan. Ugly. Unwanted. Pathetic. The past wasn't a place she wanted to revisit, but there was no way for Amy to rebuild. In twenty four hours, this apartment would no longer be available to her, and she was out of a job. That meant not only did she have no one to take care of her, but she didn't have a source of income either. If Amy couldn't go forward or backward, she'd have to find a way to get her present back. She needed a way to retake what was rightfully hers. 

She carefully uncurled herself, and took a couple of slow, therapeutic breaths. The nervous energy gradually dissipated, and Amy felt herself returning back to her normal state of mind. This is who you really are, she tried to convince herself. You aren't the disorder. That's what Mrs. Pennely had told her repeatedly, back when she was still considered family. Amy didn't know what to call her now that she'd abandoned her.

The WA worked in sensible ways. The only way you could get in was through a wish, and the way out was the same. Logically, all she needed to do was find a Granter and flash a smile in their direction. They would then ask her for her wish, and Amy's powers would be restored. Simple as that. The only problem was, Amy didn't know how many Granters there were in the world, let alone New York City. It was classified information, but she knew there couldn't be too many.

It was clear that Casper wasn't one of them. Granters didn't get wishes from other Granters. They didn't get wishes from anyone at all. It was part of the price. Besides, she wouldn't be smiling at that boy ever again, let alone seeing him. As probably per instruction, he would disappear without a trace and that was perfectly fine with Amy. Just thinking of his name made her feel sick, and she swallowed the taste of pure disgust down her throat.

It'd all been a ploy, one giant scam to steal her granting powers away. If he was just doing as he was told, she would understand. It would be painful, but she wouldn't hate him. Amy knew how important jobs could be to people. It was the conceited person he suddenly transformed into that made her loathe him. Casper's newly developed smug smile, condescending tone and arrogant confidence made her seethe with an anger she'd never felt towards someone before.

He'd taken her temper to a whole new level. Before him, Amy had never considered herself an angry person. She was calm most of the time, with the exception of being overly anxious, but rarely was she ever angry. Casper had just added a new layer to her, and she wasn't sure she liked it. She rationalized it away quickly though.

If he could be a completely new person, so could she.