The Wishing Place

By Mindy Haig

Valerie Porter was a lonely little girl. Her world fell apart when Granny passed away and her parents troubled marriage ended in a bitter divorce. Her only solace lay in Granny's fairy tales and the secret Granny had shared with her alone - the secret of the Wishing Place.

Gifted with precognition, Granny was certain that what The Wishing Place showed was real and would happen. She promised Valerie that there was true love out in the world meant for her. But a promise wasn't much to hold on to when Valerie became an unwelcome stepchild.

One night, Valerie asked The Wishing Place to show her something special - something really important. What she got was an eight-year-old boy named Nickolas Rossi who was everything she could want in a friend. But was he just a dream or could he fulfill Granny's promise and make happily ever after a reality?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mindy Haig
• Release date: Mar 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301140367

Mindy Haig

I am a graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick New Jersey. I was born and raised in New Jersey so I am very much a city slicker. I moved to Florida to marry my sweetheart after college and marveled at how little there was to do and how much one had to drive to do it! But due to a job change and an abrupt move, we settled in Austin, Texas where the mottos is 'Keep Austin Weird' and I try my best to uphold it! I am the mother of 2 great kids and though writing has always been a pursuit I was interested in, being a Mommy got in the way for quite a few years. I decided I would give it a fair shake in 2009 and I haven't been able to quit since. I have 4 completed novels and I have 4 additional started novels plus 2 sequels all in various stages of gestation. I have a hard time stopping my ideas and when a seemingly great idea hits me - typically just as I am attempting to fall asleep - I am compelled to start an outline. My 2 great talents are: 1. My remarkable ablilty to remember names - which has served me well. 2. My ability to remember lyrics from every song I ever heard in the 70's and 80's - which has not helped me in the slightest. I have a quirky sense of humor and sometimes TV commercials crack me up. I like the notion of things being 'meant to be' or somehow touched by the unexplainable. I also like the effect music has on one's state of mind and the memories a song can recall.

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Breakwater Harbor Books

Presents:

The Wishing Place

By

Mindy Haig

Copyright © 2013 by Mindy Haig

Cover Image Courtesy of The Chicago Transit Authority

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents:

PART I: The Innocence of Youth

1. Nick: 8 Years Old

2. Valerie: 8 Years Old

3. Nick: 8 Years Old

4. Nick: 9 Years Old

5. Valerie: 9 Years Old

6. Nick: 9 Years Old

7. Valerie: 10 Years Old

8. Nick: 10 Years Old

9. Nick: 11 Years Old

10. Valerie: 10 Years Old

11. Valerie: 11 Years Old

PART II: Growing Pains

12. Valerie: 12 Years Old

13. Nick: 12 Years Old

14. Nick: 13 Years Old

15. Valerie: 12 Years Old

16. Valerie: 13 Years Old

17. Nick: 13 Years Old

18. Nick: 13 Years Old

19. Nick: 14 Years Old

20. Valerie: 14 Years Old

21. Nick 14 Years Old

22. Valerie: 14 Years Old

23. Valerie: 15 Years Old

24. Nick: 15 Years Old

25. Valerie: 15 Years Old

26. Nick: 16 Years Old

PART III: Expectations and Complications

27. Valerie: 17 Years Old

28. Nick: 17 Years Old

29. Valerie: 17 Years Old

30. Valerie: 17 Years Old

31. Nick: 17 Years Old

PART IV: Learning to Live

32. Valerie: 18 Years Old

33. Nick: 18 Years Old

34. Valerie: 18 Years Old

35. Nick: 18 Years Old

36. Valerie: 18 Years Old

37. Nick: 18 Years Old

38. Valerie: 18 Years Old

39. Valerie: 18 Years Old

40. Nick: 19 Years Old

41. Valerie: 19 Years Old

42. Nick: 19 Years Old

43. Nick: 19 Years Old

44. Nick: 20 Years Old

45. Valerie: 20 Years Old

46. Valerie: 20 Years Old

47. Valerie: 20 Years Old

48. Valerie: 20 Years Old

49. Nick: 21 Years Old

50. Valerie: 21 Years Old

51. Valerie: 21 Years Old

52. Valerie: 21 Years Old

53. Nick: 22 Years Old

PART V: The Train At Last

54. Nick: 23 Years Old

55. Valerie: 23 Years Old

56. Nick: 24 Years Old

57. Valerie: 23 Years Old

58. Nick: 24 Years Old

59. Valerie: 23 Years Old

PART VI: Afterward

60. Tommy: 18 Years Old

Connect with me

PART I: The Innocence of Youth

1. Nick: 8 Years Old

I was only eight the first time it happened.

My mom tucked me in to bed and kissed my forehead like she always did. She said: ‘Good night, Nickolas, sweet dreams.’

I complained about going to bed so early.

Mom ruffled my hair and turned the light off. My brother, as usual, had some really bad, really loud music playing in his room. My sister was crying for another story. I pulled my pillow over my head to make the noise go away, but it was still hard to fall asleep.

I hated bedtime.

Ouch! Stop it Sophie. I grunted.

Hey, who are you? a soft voice whispered, as a small finger poked me hard in the arm again. What are you doing here?

I opened my eyes just a little. It was a girl, but not my sister. I sat up quickly and scooted backward away from her. Me? What are you doing in my room? I gasped, backing away from her a little more.

She slid near me again, and looked at me really closely. She was about my age. Her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail, one of her front teeth was missing, she was pretty and she was still poking me for no reason.

Why are you poking me like that?

Oh! Sorry, she said with a giggle as she pulled her hand away. Is this your room? Why haven’t I ever seen you here before?

I stopped staring at her and looked around. This definitely wasn’t my room. I was sitting on the floor in a place I’d never seen before. I was still in my pajamas though and that girl was still looking at me. I was glad I wasn’t wearing the pajamas with the dinosaurs on them that my mom liked, they might have been cool for a five-year-old, but I was eight now and they were just embarrassing. I was wearing the nice blue flannel pants and a thermal shirt. They looked like real clothes. But she was wearing pajamas too, and she didn’t seem embarrassed about it.

The place was pretty strange. I felt sort of like I was inside a cloud. Everything looked soft and white. It was empty, except for the girl. There were no windows or doors so I don't know why it seemed like a room, but it did. I got up to look around. She followed me. Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, but she was still looking at me like I had just done a magic trick or something really cool, and I sort of liked that she was looking at me, but it was embarrassing too.

So, is this your room? Do you get to come here whenever you want?

No, my room is just a regular bedroom, you know, with a bed and stuff. I answered, shaking my head. I’ve never been here before. Where is this anyway? How did I get here? I wondered out loud.

Hmm. That’s amazing! She was looking at me like I must be something better than just an eight-year-old boy, but she just couldn’t figure out what. I think I might have brought you here. I’m not sure.

How could you bring me here? You don’t even know me? I asked as I turned to face her again.

Well, maybe you should tell me who you are, and then I will know you, she laughed.

I’m Nickolas. Nickolas Rossi.

Nickolas, she repeated, smiling. Is that what every one calls you? She tilted her head to the side and looked at me like my teacher did when I answered that hard science question in class last week.

Almost everyone. My grandma calls me Nicky. I don’t like that, it sounds like a girl’s name. But my grandma is really nice and I don’t want to tell her and hurt her feelings.

She nodded. Grandmas are nice. It's good that you don't hurt her feelings. I would like to call you something different too, so you'll remember me. Can I call you Nick?

Yeah, I shrugged, that’s okay, I guess. What's your name?

I’m Valerie, she said swaying a little and stretching the word out in a singsong way.

Valerie?

Valerie Porter. She said it very matter-of-factly like she expected me to already know that about her. I felt a little dumb, like when you miss a day of school because you have a cold and when you go back, everyone else knows what’s going on but all you know is that you’re going to have extra homework.

Can I call you Val? I asked.

She bit her bottom lip for a moment and looked at me like it was a very hard decision she had to make, then she nodded. You can. Nobody else can, but you can, okay?

Okay. Val, do you know what this place is? Can you tell me? I asked for the second or third time.

I’m not sure what to tell you. This place is sort of magic. You can wish for things while you are here and they happen, but only in here. So, like, you can't wish you were famous and had a million dollars or that you didn't have any spelling homework. My granny brought me here the first time and she said I could see the future in here but I don’t actually know how to do that. I come here a lot, though, and when I am here, this place will give me almost anything I ask for so I can do anything.

Anything?

Val nodded. Anything. I just have to think about it.

Think about what?

Whatever it is I want! she answered emphatically.

I looked at her blankly.

She started to laugh. Then she waved her hands in front of me like she was erasing everything she’d just told me. You know what? It would be easier if I showed you. Just watch. Ready?

Yeah, I said slowly, though I had no idea what she was talking about.

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a big trampoline? Val yelled out enthusiastically.

I was not expecting that. I thought she was going to show me something. I was watching her, thinking she was going to explain. What are you… I started, but she laughed and pointed. I turned and a huge trampoline was there in the space that was empty a second ago. Oh! I gasped.

Val laughed out loud. She ran over to the trampoline. I followed her and we both climbed on to it. She bounced high then landed on her bottom. I jumped hard and made her bounce and fall over. We both started to laugh. Then she came over to me and held my hands in hers as we bounced together. I never held hands with a girl before, well, except for my mom and my little sister, but that was different. I liked when Val was holding my hands, she was nice and she smiled at me a lot. You said you might have brought me here. How did you do that?

She let go of my hands and she bounced away from me. I didn’t mean for that to happen.

When I got here I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. I was talking to myself, I guess, but the room listens and I said I wanted to see something important, something really special and then suddenly you were there, here, so you must be important.

I haven’t ever done anything important.

Maybe the important thing hasn’t happened yet. Maybe the important thing starts here! Val said excitedly. Tell me what you like to do.

I like riding my skateboard. I like to play basketball. I like to build stuff…

Like with Lego?

Yeah, I said a little sheepishly. I have a lot of Lego. But I like to build forts and tents and stuff like that too.

I like to do that too. Val was still bouncing. Her ponytail holder slid away and her long brown hair flew into the air and fell over her with every jump. I sat and watched her. She did a front flip and she could land a back handspring. She thought I was important.

Nick, what’s your favorite thing in the world?

In the whole world?

Yup, in the whole world.

I don’t know. I've never been to a magic place before. Right now my favorite thing is being here with you.

That’s a really nice thing to say, she smiled and she blushed a little. Tell me something else.

I like when my mom makes sugar cookies, she makes them big and puts rainbow sprinkles on them. They’re really good.

Ooh, ask for those. Val gasped.

Ask my mom?

No, silly, just ask out loud.

Um, okay, I wish I had some of my mom’s sugar cookies with sprinkles on top. I asked cautiously. I said please for good measure, I didn’t know if the magic room required good manners. But just like that, cookies appeared.

Val laughed and clapped her hands as she bounced over. It listens to you too, she said as she took a cookie off the plate. These are good, she smiled as she munched the cookie and the crumbly edges fell from her fingers and disappeared into the room.

We slid off the trampoline and finished the cookies. Val twirled around and did cartwheels, her face was pink, her hair was messy, her smile was missing some teeth, but I thought she was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. I mean, it was kind of weird to think that since I didn’t really like hanging around with girls. My little sister Sophie was an awful girl who kicked me all the time, and the girls in my class said boys had cooties and they just ran away screaming whenever a boy tried to ask them something. But Val was different.

She took my hand again and said, I wish we had a giant pillow big enough for both of us, she leaned backwards as though she would just fall to the floor, pulling me with her. I gasped a little as we fell, but a giant pillow caught us and swallowed us in its big fluffy softness.

Thank you! Val called out with a gleeful little laugh as she snuggled into the soft place and sighed. She closed her eyes for a minute and I thought maybe she was going to sleep but then she flung a pillow out from beside herself and whacked me good.

Hey! Where’d you get that one?

I asked for it, of course, she said with one hand on her hip like it was the most obvious answer in the world. Then she hit me again.

But there was a pillow beside me also, so we chased each other around, we swung and hit and laughed until suddenly Val stopped.

Oh no, she said wide-eyed.

What?

Wait! Nick wait! Promise you’ll come back. I want you to come back here again. Nick! she begged.

I promise, Val! I yelled back, but she was gone and as I looked around I was sad to find myself in my own room again where my mom was shaking me gently and telling me it was time to get ready for school. I didn’t want to get up. I spent the night in a magic place and I just wanted to go back to sleep. I wanted to see her again. It was probably just a dream. But it didn’t seem like it was a dream. When she was holding my hand it felt as real as my mom waking me up felt.

And Val thought I was something important.

I had this journal. My teacher gave it to me at the end of the school year last year. She told me it would be good writing practice to keep a journal of things I liked to do. My mom thought that was a good idea too. I didn’t. I never wrote in it. I mean I liked skateboarding but writing about skateboarding was boring. Writing about really cool new tricks I could do on my skateboard made them seem boring too. So the pages were all still empty even though it had been seven months since I got it.

That morning, I needed it. I dug through my dresser drawer, I found a pencil on my floor and I wrote down everything I could remember about The Wishing Place and Valerie Porter. That was what I called it: The Wishing Place. I wanted to remember every single thing, like what her hair looked like all messy as she bounced on the trampoline and what color her eyes were. I could remember that her smile was missing some teeth, but only that her pajamas were purple. And I wanted to go back and see her again.

I wished that the day would fly by, but the awake world didn’t work like that. I was even ready for bed early and I didn’t fuss at all. My mother thought I might not be feeling too good. She checked my forehead because I always put up a fight at bedtime, but I was fine, I just wanted to get back to sleep. I lay there in the dark whispering please take me to The Wishing Place. Please take me to Val. And I fell asleep still saying her name in my head, but she never appeared. Maybe I wasn’t important anymore. Maybe the special thing was just that one time. Maybe she wasn’t even real, just a dream. But I didn’t want to believe that because she felt real, and for that little while, I felt special.

2. Valerie: 8 Years Old

I went back to The Dream Room the very next night.

I waited for Nick.

And waited.

And waited.

He didn’t come back.

Granny said you could show me the future, I shouted a little angrily. Show me. I want to see it. But nothing happened. I just stayed sitting in the plain white emptiness all alone. I guess I didn’t have the same kind of power my granny had. I probably could have asked nicer too, but I was mad and sad.

I thought about what happened all day the next day. My granny told me that whatever I saw in The Dream Room was real. She believed that. But this was different because except for the couple of times my granny brought me there The Dream Room was always empty. Maybe I was only dreaming about The Dream Room this time. So maybe Nick was just a dream. He seemed as real as I am, though. He felt real when I held his hand.

I didn’t know anything about riding a skateboard, so I couldn’t have made up the things he told me. I guess really I wanted to believe he was real. But he didn’t come back.

Maybe Nick thought it was just a dream.

Or maybe he couldn’t get back there unless I asked for him again.

Next time I was going to ask for him again.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even in school. He had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. He even said that being there with me was his favorite thing. No one else thought that, not since Granny died anyway, but he made me feel happy and I really wanted to see him again. Still, I was a little afraid to hope for that because even though I didn’t want to admit it, he was probably just a dream; real boys weren’t like Nick at all.

I couldn’t get back to The Dream Room for two whole weeks. I don’t know why. Sometimes it was just like that. Sometimes I went to bed and I just slept. Sometimes I really wanted to go there, especially when I went to my dad’s house and his horrible girlfriend would send me to bed early. Those nights were the worst, because I could hear them fighting in the other room, and I could never just shut my ears and fall asleep. But The Dream Room just wouldn’t take me away from there no matter how hard I wished to go somewhere, anywhere.

Finally, one night, I found myself in there again. I was so happy that I laughed out loud and I twirled around in a little happy dance. In my head I wished for Nick. I couldn’t say it out loud, because it would have been too disappointing if he didn’t come. But I was in my special place and my happiness could not be contained.

Quiet down, Sophie. Mom’s going to hear you, he mumbled.

I spun around quickly. He was sleeping on a pillow on the floor. I ran over and threw myself down beside him. You came back! I said happily.

He opened his eyes. They were so very blue.

What? he started, sitting up quickly. Val, I couldn’t get back here, it wouldn’t let me or I guess I didn’t know how. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.

I threw my arms around him. I don’t really know why, but he just seemed so serious about wanting to be with me and he made me feel so happy. He was back, and that was special. I can’t get here every night either. Sometimes I can come here four or five times in a row, but then sometimes, like this time, I couldn’t get here for two whole weeks.

How do you get here?

I just go to sleep and then I'm here.

Yeah, that’s what happened to me too.

Let’s do something fun, Nick. The time goes by really fast here.

How did you know I was about to leave last time?

I would like a giant Lego maze, please! I shouted. We can play Hide and Seek all night long, I said, squeezing his hand excitedly. Giant walls of huge colored plastic blocks sprung up all around us. There were openings into other colored passages; some were tall enough to walk through, others we had to crawl through or over.

Val, last time...

You just started to fade away. I told him. It was like you were becoming invisible, I said as I skipped down a red corridor and turned a corner.

He ran after me. I think he caught a glimpse of my feet as I crawled through another passage. I could hear him running and I laughed and ran too.

The maze was really cool, and it just went on and on. I wanted to see all of it so I asked for a lookout tower. Well, I thought it in my head actually, but it appeared a little ways down the passage and I ran toward it.

Val? Where are you? Wait for me, please! I don’t want you to fade away!

I climbed the tower and looked out over the maze. It went as far as my eyes could see, but Nick was standing two rows away, waiting, and listening for me.

I’m up here. I called.

He spun around and looked up. I didn’t see that before, he laughed.

I just made it. I told him. You aren’t really getting the hang of this place yet, are you, Nick? If you want something, just ask for it.

He ran toward the tower and he kept his eyes on me so I wouldn’t run or hide from him again. He looked up and down the blue corridor he was in, and finally he shrugged. Door, please, he said cautiously. The blocks in front of him disappeared and he came up into the tower. Stay with me, he said as he reached the top. You said the time goes fast, and I want you to tell me about you before we have to go.

I don’t know what to tell you, really. I don’t do cool things like ride a skateboard or play basketball. Some people are building a new house on my street, and there’s a big pile of dirt and a front loader that I would really like to go climb on, but my mom won’t let me. I said dropping to sitting and frowning. She likes me to stay clean all the time. She’s like, completely crazy about that. She always has hand wipes and stuff like that. Clean and pretty are all that matter to her, so she never lets me do anything that I think would be fun. I answered grumpily. Do you think being pretty is the most important thing?

Well, no one has ever told me I was pretty. Nick said.

I burst out laughing. I meant, do think the most important thing about a girl is if she’s pretty?

I know that’s what you meant. I just wanted you to laugh. I like when you laugh. No, I don’t think being pretty is too important, he said and then he stopped. Wait, I mean, I think you are pretty, probably the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, but I think you’re nice too. I like being here with you because you’re fun and you make me feel happy. He blushed a little. Being pretty is just one thing, Val. But you are a lot of things, he finished as he looked down at his feet.

Nick was special. This place was right about him being something important. I squeezed his hand a little and he looked at me again. So, if we had a huge pile of dirt, and we climbed on it and my face and hands got all filthy, you wouldn’t think it was gross?

I would climb with you, you know. I would roll in the dirt if that was what you wanted to do, he laughed.

Dirt Please! I yelled out happily. And there we were, right on my street by that super big pile of dirt where soon there would be a new house with a new family, but tonight it was a perfect play place. Our feet were bare, it was freezing outside and there was some snow still on the grass. But we ran up and down the mountain of soft brown dirt. Nick and I were king and queen. Our hands were black and our faces were smudged, but it didn’t matter. Nick was the best friend I could possibly imagine, and just then I knew he was probably exactly that because I did imagine him, and it was all just a dream. But he started to fade away and I yelled out, ‘I wish we were clean’ so he wouldn’t get in trouble just in case he was real.

3. Nick: 8 Years Old

Sometimes I woke up in the morning and I had a weird feeling like I had a dream that I just couldn’t remember. I would try really hard to think about it but nothing was left of it in my head, it was just a feeling like something happened and I missed it. I never felt like that with Val. I couldn’t get to The Wishing Place very often, but if I was lucky enough to get to there at night, in the morning, I could remember almost everything we did and said. Some things I didn’t pay too much attention to; like it didn’t matter if her hair was in a ponytail or if it was messy and it didn’t matter what she was wearing. But when she told me things, I could remember them. Val liked chocolate milk and Pop Tarts. Her favorite color was purple. She liked to sing and to draw.

And I liked her.

I would have liked to go there every single night, but The Wishing Place wouldn’t let me and every time I woke up from just a regular sleep it was a little disappointing.

I wondered how Val felt. I wondered if she remembered me when she was in the awake world. I wondered if she cared if my hair was messy or what my clothes looked like. She didn’t care that I was all dirty when we played in the dirt pile, so probably she didn’t care about stuff like that. I wondered if she still thought I was special. She made me feel like I was, and when she laughed it was the happiest sound in the whole world. I wondered if we could go anywhere we wanted as easily as we could get anything we asked for.

I wanted to go back.

I always wanted that.

4. Nick: 9 Years Old

Crying. I heard it and I jumped to my feet. I was back in The Wishing Place. But I couldn’t see her. Val? I called out, but the sobbing was so fierce and wrenching I don’t think she could hear me. Where are you, Val? I called again. She stopped for a second I could hear her sniffling, but she didn’t say anything. Please come out! I called, but she stayed quiet for a long time. It was always hard for me to get here, I never knew when it would happen, but now I was here and she was crying and hiding from me. I was afraid she was going to leave. Are you still here?

Yes, she said quietly.

Please let me see you.

Not this time, she said and her voice was choked and sad. It hurt to hear it. I didn’t feel this way when I heard my sister cry, or even girls in my class, but it was different with Val.

Please come out.

I don’t want you to see me, she said and the sobbing started all over again.

Val! I yelled, Tell me what happened. You are scaring me. Please! But she still didn’t. She just cried harder.

Did someone hurt you? Please answer me! I was pacing all over the place but I couldn’t seem to get closer to the place her voice was. Show her to me! I shouted into the nothingness of the room. And there she was curled on the floor in a ball more miserable than I had ever seen anyone in my life. I knelt down next to her and rubbed my hand on her back Her long hair was all gone. Her purple pajamas had a hole in the leg and somewhere her life was falling apart. Please tell me.

I just want to be invisible. I want to disappear forever. No one would care.

I would care. Don’t disappear from me, you’re the one person I always want to see.

But you won’t now. I’m just ugly and you won’t care about me anymore. You’ll leave and you’ll never want to come back.

That will never happen.

Look at me, Nick, she gasped, and choked on her tears. Nobody cares anymore. Look what she did to me, she whispered and tears streamed down her face.

Who? Your Mom? I asked.

Valerie nodded.

Sunshine. We need some sunshine and the beach.

No. I just want to hide. Val whispered through her tears.

The beach, please. I yelled again. And Val needs the most beautiful dress in the world. And that’s what happened. We were on the beach. I was still in my pajamas, but Valerie was wearing a pretty pink twirly summer dress. Only she still wasn’t happy. Is it just your hair, or is it other things too? I asked as I held her hand and we walked along the water.

It’s everything, she whispered. Her face and her eyes were red. She was trying hard not to look at me. And it felt weird. It was like I could feel how she hurt, how sad she was.

You can tell me everything. I’ll listen. I’ll help if I can.

She looked at me then. Her brown eyes were so sad looking and I didn’t like that she looked that way. I didn’t like whoever made her look that way. I wanted to be able to make that look go away.

My mother is getting remarried.

Oh. Are your parents divorced or is your dad…

They’re divorced. That happened when I was six.

Wow. I’m sorry.

No, it was okay, they were always fighting anyway, and when my granny died that was the end of it. But still, they both wanted to spend time with me then. Now they don’t anymore.

No, that can’t be true. They’re your parents.

It is true, she said sadly. My mom is getting married. She’s having another baby too. That’s all she cares about. She told me my hair needed to be trimmed. Just a trim. Val said, her voice flat and far away. Then she made them cut it all off. And now I look like this because she said it was too much work. My pajamas have a hole in them and she can’t even find the time to get me a new pair. She just wants to spend all her time with Stuart and talking about the new baby. I was never too much work before. But she sends me to my dad’s house all the time now and his girlfriend hates me.

She can’t hate you, you’re so nice.

"Whenever my dad is not in the room or she’s talking on the phone, she calls me ‘the little pain in the ass’ but she’s nice to me when my dad is around, so he doesn’t believe me. They don’t want me there, and I know it. I can’t sleep when I am there either, so I can’t even get here," she said quietly and she was shaking and twisting her fingers into the short hair by her ear.

It’s just hair, I know you don’t think that right now, but it will grow back. And your hair is not the thing that makes you special to me. I told her. But tears were running down her cheeks again and I could not find a way to make her happy. Please show Val the future. Show her that she’s going to be happy again. I said. And the room changed. The beach was gone. A train pulled into the station. I didn’t know what that meant.

But she smiled a little then. Do you think we can get on? Maybe it means I’ll leave them all behind one day. Yes, one day I’ll find a place that’s happy.

Yes, you will, we will.

Do you think you’ll still be with me then? she asked as we climbed aboard.

Of course, I do. One day, I’m going to find you when I’m awake. And we’ll go to real places and do real things.

I wish that was true.

Why wouldn’t it be?

Because you’re just my dream. You’re not real, she said sadly.

I stood up and looked at her as the train lurched forward. No, I am real. I have a mom and a dad. They are still married though. I have an older brother named Michael who is a teenager and he’s awful all the time, so it would be okay if he was not actually real. I also have a little sister named Sophie who kicks me when she’s mad, and it hurts so I know that she’s real. And when I hold your hand you're warm and soft I know you’re real too, so I’ll be able to find you someday. But I go to school, I ride my skateboard, sometimes I fall and hurt myself. I told her pulling up my pant leg and showing her my latest scab. I get hungry, and tired. I try every night to get to this place and when I don’t, I feel disappointed.

Where do you live, Nick? she asked.

I live in… But that was all I got out, then I was outside the train and it was speeding away from me. I could still see Val at the window, but she was different, grown up, I was looking at her in the future. NO! I screamed. BRING HER BACK! But the train was gone and I was awake in the middle of the night with tears in my eyes. I closed my door and turned on my light. I dug the journal out of my bottom drawer and wrote every single thing I could remember down.

And I realized that The Wishing Place would not let us tell where we were in the awake world.

I was awake when my mom came in to get me up for school. I already put the journal away when I finished writing, but I still just lay there thinking about Val and how sad she was.

I wondered where the train took her.

I couldn’t make her happy. I didn’t know how. I wanted another chance really badly.

You’re awake early. Are you alright, Nickolas? My mom asked as she felt my forehead.

My eyes were probably red because I was really upset when I wound up in my bed, and I might have even cried just a little when I was writing. I’d also been up a long time already. Mom? Are you and Dad ever going to get a divorce?

No, of course not. Why? Are you worried that we might?

Well, not really, but a friend of mine, her parents got divorced and she’s really sad. Her mom is getting remarried and she’s going to have a baby too, and she doesn’t really take care of Valerie anymore. And not only that, but her dad has a girlfriend who calls her mean things when her dad isn’t around.

That’s terrible.

It is terrible. I don’t understand. She’s really nice. They’re still her parents. I shook my head. I don’t know how to make her feel happy, Mom.

My mom stroked my hair and she looked at me like I made a great shot at basketball.

It’s really sweet of you to try, Baby. Sometimes just being a good friend is enough.

Maybe. I said doubtfully. Mom? What makes you happy? I mean if you get sad what makes you feel happy again?

That’s a hard question. I am happy when I am around the people that make me feel special. Do you think it would help if I talked to your friend’s mom?

No. I don’t think so.

My mom nodded, got up and left to make breakfast. I got ready for school, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine my mom not wanting me or Sophie anymore just because of a stupid divorce. I was pretty sure she’d even still want Michael. Val was so nice. It made me mad to think of someone calling her mean names like that.

I couldn’t get back there that night. And I lay in my bed afraid that the train had taken Val so far away she might never come back. I wondered if there was a way to prove to her that I was real. I got yelled at by my teacher two times at school the next day for not paying attention. That felt pretty real. My lunch gave me a stomachache too. I hated when my Mom packed bologna, it made my lunch box smell bad and I never felt