On the surface, Carrie looked pretty relaxed as she threw a coin in the famous wishing fountain; however, moments earlier, there was a storm of emotions in her head. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to come up with a perfect wish — a wish that would make her truly happy. Somehow, she could never figure it out. Now, 27 years old, she knew that she could wait no longer to come up with a “perfect wish.” She had enough. There have been so many heartbreaks that she felt suffocated. “This time around, any wish would improve my life by million times,” she thought to herself. As she reached near the famous wishing fountain, she knew that she would be wishing only this one time. She remembered her friend’s words very clearly. She told her, “Apparently, this fountain fulfills only first wish and no future wish ever come true. This is what made this fountain famous among everyone.” This thought made Carrie’s wishing task ten times harder than it actually was.

Standing with a coin in her hand, she began reminiscing that one specific time when she felt betrayed by a guy whom she wished to marry. It had been more than three years and yet, she remembered the heartache quite distinctly.

Carrie had met John when she had been desperate to find someone to love. There was something about John that attracted her towards him. She thought he felt the same until her sister told the moves that John made on her. She told Carrie that he had proposed to her. When she told him that she knew about him and Carrie, he simply denied the whole thing. Carrie was shattered but acted as if nothing happened. She told her sister that she was free to be in a relationship with John, if she liked him. Her sister didn’t like John and said that she didn’t want anything with that man.

Remembering the number of tears she had shed for John, Carrie wondered whether wishing for true love is the way to go. Just when she thought this to be her perfect wish, another memory crossed her mind. She remembered how many times her friends had used her to befriend her sister.

Carrie’s long time boyfriend, Chris, was moving to another country and they both decided that the logical thing was to break up. When has a logical thing been easy on the heart? This case was no exception, and Carrie was in a really dark place. She wanted to scream and break things. She decided to turn to Yahoo answers to find some comfort or like-minded people. There, she answered a girl’s query about heartache. Her name was Ahana. She, like Carrie, was going through a breakup and was looking for some way to find comfort. Soon, they became very good online friends. She introduced Carrie to her best friend, Ashu. They were all in different countries, so meeting was not an option. And yet, Carrie, Ahana and Ashu became very close online friends. They shared their deepest desires, dreams and hopes. With Ahana being the youngest in the group, she had different priorities and soon, she became a little less available. Nonetheless, Carrie and Ashu continued their friendship. Soon, they became best buds. They promised to be best friends till the end of time. Carrie found a new hope in Ashu. Her sister and Ashu were also becoming good friends, but that didn’t bother Carrie until one day, she got to know that Ashu has moved to her country through his FB update. He, however, had made plans of meeting with her sister. On knowing this, once again, Carrie felt used and betrayed.

Just when she thought that she was over this loss, she got to know that one of her best friends and her sister made out. She trusted both of them and yet, they decided to keep her in the dark and start a relationship without letting her know. When she got to know about it, she lost faith in the idea of friendship and family, both.

Thinking back to this memory, Carrie wondered whether a better wish would be to ask the wishing fountain to give her one best friend who wouldn’t use her to get to her sister or to ask for an ability to take a sneak peek into another person’s true motives. “Would this really make me happy?” she asked herself. “Sure, a wish like this would prevent the possibility of being hurt again, but what good would this wish do in a long run? Of course, she was hurt and betrayed but these incidents helped her in learning a really important lesson. Trusting someone just because they are good to you can never be a good idea. People have ulterior motives and one can never be too guarded to avoid becoming their prey. I have been overlooking my sister’s love for secrets thinking that she is a secretive person. So what? She loves me. However, sometimes, we must know where to draw a line. Her secrets have taught me that I cannot expect her to be honest with me. She would not open up to me — no matter what I do. If I go ahead and wish for her to not to be secretive to me, then again, I would be stealing her real character, which can never be good. So, what should I wish for?”

She looked around to see a wide variety of people. They all had coins in their hands and most of them had hope in their eyes — hope for a better future. She knew exactly what she wanted to wish for.

“I wish for a future filled with happiness and peace for every human being.” Suddenly, all her painful memories evaporated from her heart and the only thing that remained in there was the warmth of compassion.

P.S.  This post is in response to the Friday Reflections prompt – “Write a story or poem that begins with a character throwing a coin into a fountain.”