The Wishing Process, and other short stories and poems.

The Wishing Process

Hands on the moss splotched stone walls, clutching the bits of copper for the last time. A few more breaths, accompanied by closed eyes and whispered hopes, until the hands reach out, hanging over the empty space that plunges into the earth and into darkness. One more breath until they open, and the coins are let go, twirling and gleaming in the last bits of light before falling into dark.

The copper shimmers faintly, their last lights reflecting off of the metallic surfaces when they're snatched back up, towards the rest of the light, leaving their dropping friends. Most people think that this is all that happens. The coins fall in the dark and land in the water, drifting to the bottom of he well far below where they'll stay. That's what most people think will happen. But these people don't know about the Wishing Process.

After a moment of falling, the coin begins to glow. The soft light grows, spreading out from its center, and it begins to change shape. Elegant fins sprout from it's new slightly spherical body. As they reach the water far below, they're no longer a coin plunging into darkness, but a hope, diving gracefully into the waters, glowing softly, although the light that comes from them is very hard to see from above, and a glimpse of a hope is rarely caught. The hopes live in the waters beneath the surface of the world, glowing brighter as they are kept alive by the children who first threw them in, believing in some sort of dream. However, those who forget their dreams, and give up on their hopes, their creatures, the hopes living far below, they grow dimmer, until the light flickers out. They turn back to lifeless coins, and the hopes return them to the surface, letting them rest in fields and sidewalk cracks, waiting for them to return one day. They're never gone forever, for there's always a chance that another child could come along and bring them to life.

Now you may think that all of this is silliness. That that's not what happens to coins when they're tossed down wells. And that might be true. But, you might believe this is not just a story, and that as well might be true. It all depends on what you think, because the reader is what makes a story come to life.