A Wish Gone Wrong

Her mind still half asleep, Penny creaked open her eyes, expecting to look upon a plain white ceiling when instead, it was yellow with pink flowers. Penny, thinking that she was still dreaming, closed her eyes for a second before opening them again. The ceiling hadn’t changed.

“What the heck?!” Penny cried as she sat up, her mind fully awake now as she looked around in bewilderment. Everything she saw, was completely unfamiliar and couldn’t be more different than her bedroom. All the furniture, from the small table with the lamp on it to the big writing desk facing a small vanity mirror, was all fancy unlike her old furniture back in her apartment. She looked down and saw instead of a twin-size bed with simple blue-and-white blankets, a queen-size one with a green-and-blue floral design. The blankets were even softer than her ones back home.

Which begged the important question, where was she? How did she get here? The last thing she remembered she had been walking to the YMCA along with her brother-

“Justin!” Penny exclaimed as she threw the blankets off of her and jumped out of the bed. Whatever happened, she had clearly been kidnapped which meant that her brother might have been too. Justin was probably worried sick about her, the over-protective and kind brother that he was.

She had to find him.

Then she heard the unmistakable sound of a train whistle. Penny turned her head and found a window, with its yellow curtains dotted with pink flowers like the wallpaper surrounding her. Penny rushed to it, hoping that she would have a better clue as to where she was. When she got there, Penny threw open the curtains, expecting to see a train or train tracks nearby. However, what she saw instead made her eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

She was in space. There was no other explanation for the dark vastness that was right outside her window, nor for the white specks of light that dotted the black. Though now Penny noticed that the stars were blurred like…

Then the ground slightly rumbled beneath her. Realizing that her suspicions were becoming real, Penny ran to the door, praying that it wasn’t locked. She turned the doorknob and felt relief when she met no resistance. Without any further thought, Penny rushed out of the room.

She found herself in a narrow hallway that was lined with doors on both sides. On both ends of the hall were sliding doors with small windows. Penny gulped as she turned to her right and headed down the hallway. When she reached the door and looked through the window, seeing a similar door a few inches up ahead, Penny couldn’t deny it anymore.

There wasn’t a train nearby, she was on the train. A space train no less. Did she somehow travel into the future where humanity had trains in space?

Honestly, it didn’t really matter. Penny had to find her way back to her brother, whether he was on the train or not. And nothing was going to stop her.

So with a deep breath, Penny entered the next compartment, which looked exactly like the one she had just come from. Penny had the thought that she should probably look into the cabins so she picked the one closest to her and opened it. One glance was enough to tell her that it was just a supply closet, with buckets, a mop, and anything else to help with cleaning. Penny started to close the door in slight disappointment only to stop when the head of the mop suddenly lifted itself before slamming against the wall.

“Oh come on, take me out, please! I’m so bored!” Penny blinked twice as the mop rattled from the hook that it was currently hanging from. “Please?”

Penny closed the door without a second thought and continued on her way. So...she was on a magic space train with talking mops. Okay. Moving on.

She sighed as she looked at all the doors in the compartment. How many would she have to open to get some clues about her brother’s whereabouts? There were also the doors behind her, what if she had already passed Justin?

Perhaps she should just call his name.

“Justin!” Penny yelled with all her might. She waited a moment for an answer only to receive none. Penny sighed and resigned herself to her fate of opening all the doors.

Then, she faintly heard a panicked squeal.

“Justin?!” she cried as she ran further into the corridor. “Where are you?!”

Another squeal answered her question; if her ears were correct, it was coming from one of the doors on her left. She rushed to the door and placed her ear on the door and sure enough, she heard more of the squeals, each one full of fear. Her teeth clenched in anger, Penny slammed the door open.

“Wha-” Penny stopped when instead of her brother, she saw two green bipedal creatures with webbed fingers and toes, beaks, and with shells on their backs. One of them was currently on a rock and was trying to reach for its friend, who was currently stuck in a tar pit. However, they couldn’t reach each other, much to their dismay and fear.

Penny, who took a mythology class in college, instantly knew what these creatures were. They were kappas, a Japanese yokai who, while some were amicable to humans, could drown their victims by wrestling with them. They could also literally remove humans’ souls through their-

She shuddered as she placed a hand on her behind. Penny couldn’t help them, she couldn’t afford the risk, and she had to find her brother.

Then the kappa cried in anguish as their friend sank deeper into the tar, just below its beak.

Penny clenched the doorknob tightly before she yelled in frustration as she ran back down the hall and opened the door leading to the supply closet.

“You said you were bored right?!” She shouted as she ran into the closet and tore the mop off the wall.

“Yes!” the mop exclaimed happily as Penny raced out of the supply closet and back to the tar pit room. The trapped kappa was still keeping its beak above the tar but it looked really tired and ready to give up. Penny gritted her teeth as she reached to the very edge of the tar pit and held the handle out, stretching until the mop handle was only an inch away from the kappa.

“Grab on!” The trapped kappa didn’t hesitate to reach out and grab hold of the mop. Penny instantly pulled and out of the corner of her eye, saw the kappa on the rock jump safely back to shore and get behind her. Right as Penny started to be afraid for her soul, she felt the kappa helping her pull its friend to safety. Penny sighed in relief and with a few more massive tugs, they were able to tug the trapped kappa out of the tar and back onto shore.

The kappa behind her instantly ran forward to check on its friend and the saved kappa made some clicking noises that sounded tired but assuring. The first kappa whined as it wiped its eyes in relief. Penny’s heart warmed at the scene, making her smile.

Then the kappas turned their attention to her and bowed.

“Oh, and that’s a deep bow too,” the mop said as the kappas stayed bent at the waist. “These guys are really mischievous, they rarely give respect to anyone.”

“Uh...you’re welcome,” Penny accepted as she felt her face grow hot. When the kappas straightened up, Penny had an idea. “Though...have you seen my brother recently? His name is Justin and he’s got light brown hair like mine but cut much shorter, blue eyes darker than mine, and pretty tan skin. He’s also a few inches taller than me.”

The kappas looked at each other before they turned to her and shook their heads.

“I haven’t seen him either,” the mop added, causing Penny to frown. “But maybe the conductor has.”

“The conductor? Of course, he would know!” Penny exclaimed. “But where is he?”

“Probably at the head of the train. Ever since he arrived a day ago he’s been spending most of his time near the engine,” the mop answered with a hint of disapproval. “Which is his lost I guess, this train has a lot to offer, it’s not our fault that he’s not taking advantage of it.”

Penny opened her mouth to ask him to elaborate on that but after some thought, she shook her head. She didn’t have the time, she had to find the conductor and hope he knew where Justin was. As well as hope that the conductor didn’t happen to be the kidnapper.

But the mop and the kappas turned out to be decent, maybe he would too.

“Well, thank you, I’m going to go now,” Penny said with a bow of her head before she turned to the mop. “I guess I should put you back in the closet?”

“Heck no!” the mop cried in protest. “Do you not see that dirty kappa? I got to clean him!”

“Oh right. Here,” Penny said as she handed the mop over to the kappa that had been on the rock. The kappa chirped in gratitude before he started to clean the tar-covered kappa with the mop. Penny wasn’t sure if the tar was going to come off that easily, but she left the room anyway, trusting that they knew what they were doing.

She then headed her way to the head of the train, freshly determined. She did open a few of the doors just in case Justin or a clue to his whereabouts was in them, but all she found were a giant fountain, a bunch of unrecognizable gadgets, a table covered with a magnificent feast, and what looked like the training grounds for hang-gliding. Penny had to tear herself away from the third one.

After about ten cars or so of walking, Penny felt herself become impatient, wondering just how many cars this train had. Then she thought about Justin, about how he always used to hold her hand whenever they crossed the street as little kids, how he helped her with her homework, and how he helped her move to her apartment after she graduated from college. He always took care of her but tried as she might, Penny had never been really able to take care of him. Even when he came to her apartment with a black eye a few days ago, he just ignored her questions and grabbed an ice pack from her freezer himself.

Well, that was gonna change now. With that in mind, Penny took a deep breath and continued onto the next car.

As soon as she did, she heard an incessant banging.

Hopeful but wary, Penny headed towards the noise and soon found herself in front of a door with the word bathroom in gold letters on it. Penny quietly opened the door and after bracing herself, peeked inside.

At the back of the tiled floor, was a toilet that was banging its porcelain lid up and down without stopping. Though now that she had opened the door, Penny could hear some gurgling. Hanging on a dim hope and worried that Justin was somehow the cause of the gurgling, Penny walked closer to the toilet. When the lid was up, she saw that someone had dumped a massive load of toilet paper into the bowl, thus clogging the toilet.

Penny turned around, because not only did she not have time for this, but the idea of unclogging the toilet did not appeal to her. However, on her way out, she saw a plunger, a bucket, and a pair of long, yellow plastic gloves.

...The gurgling did sound kind of painful…

She sighed in resignation as she put on the gloves and grabbed the plunger and bucket and went back to the toilet. Penny vaguely noted that the toilet’s gurgling strangely sounded a bit hopeful. Then with a deep breath, she put up the seat and gathered up the toilet paper, and dumped it into the bucket. It was a very wet process but luckily, it was just damp and it didn’t take long before she got most of the toilet paper out. She then used the plunger to break up the remaining toilet paper and unclog it further before flushing. As the water went down successfully, it sounded like the toilet was taking a deep breath.

“Oh thank you so much! I could barely breathe and honestly felt like I was dying!” the toilet cried in gratitude.

...And of course, the toilet talked. Was everything on this train sentient? It made her glad that she decided to help out though.

“No problem,” Penny said a bit tiredly as she put the gloves on the full bucket. She looked at the bucket and decided to just leave that be since she had no idea what to do with that.

“Seriously, the conductor was so mean! Out of all the conductors the wishing train has had, he just might be one of the worst!” the toilet ranted. “And all I did was direct him to the hair salon a few cars down. I mean, his hair was in his eyes for crying out loud!”

“You probably shouldn’t have mentioned the hair salon at all,” Penny suggested though she understood the toilet’s pain. She had a neighbor that moved in a few weeks ago with the same trait, and every time she walked by him, which wasn’t often, she felt the urge to grab her scissors and just cut. It just did not look good and it also looked uncomfortable. But it was his hair. His choice, not hers.

She then opened her mouth to ask what he meant by wishing train.

“I guess,” the toilet reluctantly agreed. “I feel bad for whoever he dragged with him…”

“He dragged someone with him?” Penny asked, her previous fatigue completely gone.

“Yeah, the door was closed so I didn’t see the poor person, but I could tell that he was dragging them across the floor,” the toilet explained.

“When? Where? Which direction?” Penny questioned as she felt her anxiety begin to rise.

“Um, ten, twenty minutes ago maybe? To the engine. It’s at the end of the next car-”

“Thank you!” Penny cried as she raced out of the room. The toilet called her to wait but she didn’t stay, she couldn’t stay, she had to get to the engine. Because the poor person the conductor was dragging was probably Justin, and she had to save him. There was no doubt now that the conductor was their kidnapper and though she had no idea why he had brought them to this wishing train, she almost didn’t care. She just wanted to save her big brother, before it was too late.

Please, please let it not be too late.

Then finally, she saw the door to the engine. With a burst of speed and forgoing the need for stealth, slammed the door open. Despite herself, she stopped in her tracks as she stared at the scene with confused and fearful eyes.

Her brother was on the ground, black and blue all over with specks of bright red blood here and there. And standing over him, was her neighbor with the bangs that partly covered his eyes, like a dark curtain.

“Patrick?” Penny asked.

He...He was the conductor? How-

“Penny! Don-”

“Oh, my darling Penny! You came just in time!” Patrick interrupted Justin with a smile that set Penny immediately on edge. Then he took out a gadget that looked like a remote, though it only had one button.

“What are you-” Penny started to say as she stepped into the room, her anger at seeing her brother so injured and uneasiness about the remote finally overcoming her confusion.

“Run Penny! Forget abou-”

Patrick then pointed the remote at him and pushed the button. Justin instantly glowed red and to Penny’s shock and horror, he turned into a bright red ruby that fell to the floor with a clatter.

“What...what did you do?” Penny asked, her voice low and trembling as she stared at the gem that used to be her brother.

“What I did to all the people who messed with me,” Patrick answered as he picked up the gem and put it in a drawstring pouch that was filled with rubies.

“Messed...what in the world did Justin do to mess with you?!” Penny cried as she grabbed her head in her hands, remembering how nice Justin was, not just to her but to everyone. “He-”

“He got in the way of our relationship.” Penny blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Ah, I see, you thought that I didn’t love you back, did you? My poor dear, I’m so sorry that your despicable brother made you feel that way. But I swear, your feelings for me are not unrequited. I loved you ever since you came to my door with brownies, and I know that’s when you fell in love with me too.”

She...She made treats for all her new neighbors. It was just a welcome gift, nothing more…he wasn't special.

“But your brother,” Patrick continued, his face contorting with rage at the mention of Justin as he rubbed a gold bracelet on his wrist with his thumb. “When I was studying you and taking notes of all your likes and dislikes so I could treat you like the queen you are, he stopped me. He threatened to call the police on me if I ever showed my face around you again.”

Great Scott, she was being stalked. How could she have not noticed? Was Patrick just that sneaky or was she just that oblivious?

Either way, she didn’t feel great about this revelation.

“When I refused, he beat me up like I was some hooligan on the streets, and called the cops on me. He didn’t even get arrested for beating me up, all because he claimed that it was ‘self-defense.’ I swear Penny, I tried to tell the cops the truth but they wouldn’t listen, they just took me to jail like some lowly criminal and said I was also guilty of resisting and attacking the police. Which was total bull! And even if it wasn’t, it was justified!”

Penny recalled the night Justin came to her front door with a black eye. That must have been right after his confrontation with Patrick, which would also explain why he ignored her questions. Not for being guilty of beating Patrick up, because Patrick was a stalker and Penny real doubted Justin threw the first punch, but because he didn’t want Penny finding out.

Why...why couldn’t he just tell her?

“But it’s okay now because that night in jail, I happened to see a shooting star. Even now I don’t know why, but I guess that I was so desperate to be with you without anyone to bother us that I wished out loud for that. The next thing I knew, I was on this train.”

“The wishing train…” Penny whispered in realization, causing Patrick to nod as he walked to a table close to the control panel.

“Exactly!” Patrick exclaimed proudly as he grabbed a notebook off the table. “Apparently, the first person to make a wish on a shooting star gets teleported to this train, whose very purpose is to make your wish and other dreams come true. Whether that be to play with mythical creatures, eat a never-ending feast, or just have a room with gadgets that perfectly fit your needs.”

Patrick then patted the remote that turned Justin into a ruby, right as Penny recalled the room of gadgets she passed by on the way here.

“Or, it can be almost like a regular train and take you wherever you want to go.”

“So let me guess, you used the train to kidnap me and Justin right?” Penny asked as she eyed the room for anything she could use as a weapon. But the only possible weapon she could see was the gem-maker gadget, and Patrick was currently holding that.

Was she strong enough to wrestle that away from him?

“Kidnap Justin, yes, but not you. You, I was rescuing,” Patrick reasoned. “Sorry that I took so long to reunite us, I had to deal with anyone, and I mean anyone, who could have given us trouble first.”

Penny looked at the full bag and wondered what Patrick’s definition of trouble was.

“But we’re together now,” Patrick said, his words having a desperate edge to them as he walked closer to Penny. “And don’t worry, we don’t have to stay on this train anymore. Because I admit, while this train is very useful, its inhabitants...are less than desirable. I took care of some of the more troublesome ones but still.”

The memory of the toilet mercilessly clogged with toilet paper swam through her mind, along with the memory of the poor kappa trapped in the tar. All the toilet did was suggest a haircut, he didn’t deserve that. And the kappas, Penny wasn’t sure if Patrick was responsible for what happened to them, but she wouldn’t put it past him.

Then Patrick, only a foot or so away from her now, held his hand out.

“So my dear love, where do you want to go? I am the conductor, and being the only one who can operate the train right now, am quite happy to take you anywhere in the world.” Penny didn’t answer as she stared at his hand. Even if she had liked Patrick, even if he wasn’t a stalker, even if he hadn’t hurt her brother, she still wouldn’t love him.

Patrick was just too cruel and entitled.

So there was only one answer.

“I would like to go,” Penny began as she reached out her hand. However, to his surprise, she grabbed his wrist. “Anywhere far away from you.”

And with that, she pulled him close and kneed him in the groin.

Patrick yelled in both shock and pain as he crumpled to the ground, finally letting go of the gem-maker gadget as he did so. Penny quickly used this chance to snatch up the remote and with slightly fumbling fingers, pointed the gadget at him and pushed the button.

Nothing happened.

“What, did you expect that I wouldn’t have some device that could protect me from turning into a gem?” Patrick said coldly as he held up the wrist with the bracelet on it. Then he stood up, much too quickly and smoothly for a man who just got his groin attacked. “Or not have been drinking from the fountain of regeneration constantly for the last few days?”

Fountain of regeneration? So...so any attack that she could make would be ultimately useless? Because he would just heal in a few seconds?

That would explain why Justin had been so beaten up while Patrick didn't a single scratch on him.

“Oh Penny,” Patrick moaned as he shook his head. “Why did you betray me so? Wait...have you been brainwashed by your-”

Tired of his delusions and excuses, Penny jumped onto Patrick with a war cry, and since Patrick thankfully hadn’t been expecting it, they fell to the ground hard with her on top. Adrenaline now pumping through her system, Penny grabbed Patrick’s head with both hands, lifted it, and before Patrick could fight back, slammed it to the ground with as much force she could give.

A crack resounded throughout the air, and Patrick’s eyes rolled back but Penny didn’t wait to see if it would stay that way. Instead, she tore the drawstring pouch holding her brother and all of Patrick’s other victims away from his jeans with a satisfying snap. Still holding the gem-maker gadget, Penny climbed off Patrick and rushed out of the engine.

She slammed the door behind her and ran down the first train car, though she had no idea where she was going to go. Penny couldn’t operate the train to go back home, she wasn’t the conductor. She could hide, but this train could only be so big.

Patrick would find her eventually.

“Hey! In here!” Penny, who had exited the first car and was currently running through the second, stopped in her tracks and saw that the door to the talking toilet was wide open.

“Penny!”

“Quick!” The toilet urged as he waved his toilet seat back and forth. Desperate to get away from that rage-filled voice, Penny needed no further prompting to run into the bathroom and lock the door behind her.

“Oh, toilet, what am I gonna do?” she whispered with her back pressed against the door. Then she heard the compartment door slam open, causing her to freeze. Penny heard racing footsteps and she held her breath.

A few seconds later, she heard Patrick race past them and out of the train car.

“He’s been drinking from some fountain of regeneration, I can’t beat him,” Penny continued when she got her breath back. “And even if I somehow did, I can’t operate the train.”

“You don’t need to,” the toilet said with a determined voice. “There’s an emergency brake at the very end of the train. Pull it, and you will be teleported to wherever you were when you got taken. And that also goes for the conductor and any other sentient being from your world too.”

“Really?” Penny asked hopefully before she thought of another problem. “Wait, he ran past us, how-”

“Use me, I’m connected to another toilet further down the train,” the toilet explained as he lifted both lid and seat. “Unfortunately it’s not at the very end of the train but if you hurry, you could get to the emergency brake before he catches up to you. Now get in! Hurry!”

Desperate, Penny quickly ran to the toilet and climbed onto the seat. She didn’t even flinch when she stepped into the toilet bowl.

“Now flush and hold your breath!” the toilet instructed her. “It’ll be quick!”

“Okay,” Penny said as she reached for the silver lever. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” Then Penny flushed the toilet, and the next thing she knew she was sliding down a porcelain water slide. She held her breath as the toilet suggested and when it became a bit too fast for her, she also closed her eyes.

Before even a minute passed, however, Penny found herself standing in a toilet in a different bathroom.

“Oh hello!” the new toilet said cheerfully with a feminine voice, unlike the other one.

“Hello, goodbye and thank you!” Penny cried as she jumped out of the toilet and raced out of the bathroom and towards the end of the train. Minutes passed as she ran, and even though her legs and lungs began to feel the strain, Penny did not stop.

Then she entered the compartment where she met the kappas and the mop. She was almost back where she began, and hopefully-

“Stop Penny!” Despite herself, Penny turned her head and saw Patrick leaping towards her. Penny tried to run faster but at that moment the train rumbled and along with the surprise of seeing Patrick jumping at her out of nowhere, she lost her balance. Penny tumbled to the ground and closed her eyes, bracing herself to get tackled by her stalker.

However, instead of pain and a great weight upon her, Penny heard an angry clicking and a loud smack, followed by a thud. Penny opened her eyes and saw a kappa with bits of tar on his green skin holding the mop.

“Go! We got this in the bag!” The mop exclaimed, its head soaking wet.

“No! Don’t get in our way, we’re meant to be!” Patrick yelled as he got up only to get headbutted in the stomach by the other kappa. Penny didn’t stay to see anymore as she picked herself up and ran.

“Thank you!” she managed to remember just before she left the train car. She didn’t hear a reply but she heard Patrick cry out in agony, making her wonder if his soul was being eaten. Not sure how she exactly felt about that, Penny ran past the room she woke up without a second glance and in another few seconds, she had entered the next car. She quickly noticed the starry scenery through the window on the door at the end.

But even better, she saw the red emergency brake right beside it.

With a final push, Penny rushed to it and without hesitation, pulled it.

There was a loud whistle and with a blink of her eyes, Penny found herself in the middle of the sidewalk, near where the YMCA was. Her body shaking, she looked around and found an alley. She darted into it and with trembling fingers, opened the bag and took out the ruby on top. Carefully placing it on the ground and hoping that this worked, she pointed the remote at it and pushed the button.

There was a red puff of smoke and after the wind blew it away, Penny saw Justin looking up at her, dazed.

Feeling a rush of relief, Penny smiled.

“Next time there’s a stalker, tell me okay?”