( a journal found in an old school library. Written by Collen Robert, 2013)
We were just two stupid boys chasing after the idea of something better.
It started behind the school garden fence.
We had lost a bet and had to clean the trash behind the school.
That's where we found it.
A vending machine. Old and rusty.
Its glass was fogged over from the inside, like someone had breathed on it and never stopped.
There was no power code, no snacks, just one blinking red light above a slot.
And a sign, a fresh piece of paper taped crookedly across the top:
"MAKE A WISH.GET WHAT YOU ASK FOR"
We laughed.
You would have laughed too, i mean, what kind of vending machine grants wishes?
But my friend Laim- God. I should've stopped him.
" can we try it?" He asked, grinning, already pulling a coin from his pocket.
I scoffed, " you really believe it?"
He smirked, " still, just imagine "
He slipped in the coin and the machine whirred, the red light blinked faster.
Liam learned close and whispered,
" i wish my dad would disappear"
I didn't say anything, because i know what he meant.
His dad always beat him and his mother. I have seen the bruises, the fear.
He said it like a joke, but his cracked voice gave it away.
We waited.
Then, something dropped into the tray, it was a folded note.
Liam picked it up and read it.
Then i saw his face turned pale.
I asked what it says but he didn't answer, he just grabbed my arm and we left the school.
We ran to his house and there were met a few officers.
They told us that his father had fell off a bridge and drowned.
I saw his face grew paler, i sat him down and ask if he was alright.
Then he handed me the note.
" He will drown. You will dream it"
Two days later, Liam didn't come to school so i decided to go visit him.
I found him curled in the corner of his room.
I rush in and asked him what happened.
He whispered, " i watched him scream"
Then, he looked up at me, " in my dream, he was not drowning, he was burning ".
He started laughing like a mad man.
" Collen, i killed my own father" he shouted.
I called his mom and we rushed him in the hospital .
The next day, i went to pay him a visit,
And they told me the news.
He was dead.
They found him laying on his bed, his eyes open, his face frozen in laughter.
His fingernails torn off like he had been scratching off something.
The doctor said his mouth wouldn't close, the jaw was locked in a grin that looked more like he was screaming.
Just like that, i lost my best friend.
I couldn't cry, i couldn't breathe.
I ran out of the hospital going straight to the school, to the machine.
It was still there, the same red light.
I should've called someone, burned it.
Warned thw others. But i didn't.
Because right there on top of the machine,
....was a coin.
I swear to God- it was never there.
I hesitated, but i wanted answers so i inserted it.
" i want to know.... what happened to Liam "
The machine shook a little then paused.
Instead of a paper, i saw the fogged glass turned black, then it flickered like a screen with a video.
I saw Liam. Alone in his ward.
He was staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, laughing.
Then he stopped and started screaming.
His spine arched backward, his jaw spilt too wide and his tongue was black.
He was screaming, begging at something i couldn't see to stop.
I just stood there trembling, with tears in my eyes.
Then the screen cut off and i saw something on the tray.
It was his fingernails. Ten of them.
Still fresh.
I collapsed and threw up on the ground.
Beside them was a note.
" LIAM'S PAYMENT ACCEPTED. THANK YOU FOR WISHING "
His death was the payment.
I was enraged, i wanted to destroy it.
But i couldn't no matter how i tried.
When i looked up at it, i saw my name on the screen.
USER: COLLEN. PAYMENT PENDING.
I set the machine on fire... nothing.
I tried smashing it with a baseball bat.
Still nothing, not even a dent on the sides.
Days went by and i began losing things.
Small at first.
Our family cat disappeared. My grandma forgot who i was.
Then my elder sister.... started sleepwalking and whispering words i didn't understand.
One night i found her standing in the corner of the living room facing a wall saying:
" who will trade their soul?"
She didn't remember saying it the next morning.
I'm writing this down because I've started dreaming of it.
The red botton. Our cat's purring. My grandma's laughter.
Sometimes i could hear the sound of coins dropping.
Sometimes when i opened my eyes, i see Liam standing at the foot of the bed.
His skin so white, he had no eyes , his fingertips bleeding.
He kept saying the same phrase:
" your turn"
The machine is still there. Waiting.
I tried to tell people, but no one believed me.
When i took them to see it.
It was gone.
But when i go alone, it was there.
Someone else used it last week.
A girl wished for her father to come back from the dead.
And he did. Sort of.
They found her the next day in her kitchen.
Her whole body was bloated, eyes missing and a note on her side.
" PAYMENT ACCEPTED. THANK YOU FOR WISHING "
It happened over and over and over , i even lost count.
Even the teachers don't act normal anymore.
The school nows feels empty, like there is no life in it.
So I've come to a conclusion:
The machine doesn't grant anything, it just trades.
And we were too stupid to ask the price.
Too human to resist the temptation.
I don't know were it came from, or what it wants.
So please, if something ever said it would grant your wish..
Don't listen to it. Don't even ask what it takes.
Just run and never look back.
Because wishes are never free.
And human stupidity is the easiest currency to spend.
[Kia returns]
" they always ask what they can get but never what they will lose"
"Haa, humans never read the fine print"
(Paused)
" and that, my little audience, brings us to tonight's event"
( snaps his fingers) " take it away ladies "
[@Oviesix: 🎶 put a penny in the slot, make a wish and take your shot.Don't ask why, don't check the price. Because flesh is cheap and blood is nice 🎶]
[@Jaija: 🎶 wish for gold, wish for fame, wish to play the devil's game, pray your soul is out of reach because humans only learned in the hardest way🎶]
[@Oviesix: 🎶one boy wished away his pain. Another danced in freezing rain. Both forgot the golden rule- 'when you wish, you play the fool']
[@Jaija:🎶 humans will never ask why and how. They would see glow and their logic shirks. No deals sighed, no warning read, 'just give me this' until they are dead]
[@Oviesix:🎶push that botton, hear the whirr, forget the scream beneath the stir. Wish for riches, wish for fame, feed the beast, forget your life]
[@Jaija and @Oviesix: 🎶wish, wish, stupid wish. Saying goodbye with every dish. Give it blood, give it bone. Then face your wish.....all alone~🎶]
(Clapping) bravo, ladies.
You make mockery sound like lullabies "
(He points at the screen. At you)
" wishing isn't wrong".
" but thinking there's no cost?"
" that's the real stupidity "