The Wishing Fountain

• Jane Close, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2020

The sky was a sapphire marine canvas, studded with shimmering resplendent raindrops and a lustrous half moon gemstone. A park lay below, scattered with silhouetted trees, occasional lamp posts and cold concrete sidewalks. Overhead loomed an immense WatchTower with a blinding beam of light. It rotated periodically and illuminated the outlawed area. Everlyn vigilantly hid, crouching among the branches of a giant oakwood. She was concealed in the shadows and cloaked in the darkness of the night.

Her heartbeat was rapid and leery, her chestnut hair disarray, blowing mildly in the shrewd breeze. She tucked her hair back behind her ear and gingerly peered out from behind the oakwood. Pools of silver moonlight dripped from tree leaves and collected in shiny grey puddles on the ground. Nothing could be heard but the silent talk of stars, the urgent whisper of trees.

Everlyn took a deep breath in and attempted to calm her anxious, warily manner, but to no avail. If the WatchTower caught her, she would be beaten and condemned to death. All citizens are prohibited from being out past curfew and forbidden to be in the park. Every inch in Everlyn's body screamed at her to go back, back to safety, but she couldn't. She had to go on. For Owen.

Everlyn glanced once more around the deserted, eerily quiet park. She was anticipating the WatchTower adumbrated against the dark sky. Suddenly, an ominous clang rang out through the night. The massive spotlight flung around and the park became a piercing, blinding white. Amongst the tree branches, Everlyn apprehensively crouched lower, quivering in panic. She was terrified, waiting for deafening sirens to blare and guns to roar. But there was only prevailing silence; she was safe. The spotlight lingered and then moved on, the coast was clear. It was now or never.

Her heart was racing as she dashed out from behind the large tree. Everlyn sprinted across thick grass, sodden with cold dew. Shade and dappled moonlight flashed alongside her until she stopped at the centre of the park. There in the clearing stood a large, marble water fountain with jets of sprinkling water. Everlyn breathed a steady sigh of relief; it was a sacred wishing fountain, and she had risked her life to attain it. Carefully, she took out a coin from her pocket and tossed it high.

A flash of solid silver glinted in the moonlight and then fell like a falling star from the heavens, descending into a pool of crystal clear water. The coin splashed the glossy surface and sank to the bottom, a trail of dissipating bubbles chasing behind. Everlyn tightly crossed her fingers and watched the glittery silver come to rest on the hard stone bed. A deep longing stirred within her, and she made a wish, softly speaking her request;

Let me find Owen. Please let me find him.