Wish For It

2: Name

Pak was forced to go to school again the day after.

On the way, he deliberately walked a longer path, not going along the path he normally used. Fortunately for him, he was not late for any of his lessons.

This time, Pak overheard his classmates talking again from the group of girls to his left. He looked over, none of the girls noticing him as they chatted. One girl said, "Weird things have been happening."

"Really? Like?" Another girl asked.

"Like, you know old man Hapta?" The first girl explained. "He said he saw a cat eat a dog."

"I heard some people jumped off the big bridge."

"Yeah, and a bird hit someone."

"That's scary!"

"Right?"

"Will we be okay?"

Pak looked away, feeling himself start to sweat as he stared at his desk. Whatever was going on, it sounded scary. Even if what those girls said was not true, he was still afraid. He overheard the guys on his right start talking again.

"My bro told me the ghost can grant wishes," The first boy said.

"What ghost?" The second one asked.

"The one from before?" The third added.

"Yeah, it's the one where you knock on the door three times," Confirmed the first one. "My bro told me the ghost can do anything you say."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah, cool! Anything I want?"

The first boy crossed his arms, smiling smugly. "If I could, I would wish for money! If I have money, I don't have to come to school anymore!"

"I would wish for food!" The second one laughed.

"I want superpowers!" The third one said, shadowboxing. "I wanna be really strong and beat up everyone."

Their rowdiness caught the attention of the girls, who approached them. One of them, the girl Pak liked, asked them nicely, "Are you guys talking about wishes?"

"Yeah!"

One of the girls clapped, her eyes shining. "If I could have any wish I wanted, I would want to live in a palace with a handsome and smart prince!"

"I would want to become a Queen!" Another girl added.

Soon enough, most of the class started talking about what they would wish for.

"I want to be grown up!"

"I want a dog!"

"I wanna be the smartest person in the world!"

"I want all the bad guys to disappear!"

"I want an invisible car!"

"I want to visit the city area!"

Eventually, it came down to just two people who had yet to announce their desires. Pak kept his head lowered as the class looked over him and at the girl to his left. One girl asked, "Rik, what would you wish for?"

Rik tapped her chin before smiling, saying, "Maybe a rich and handsome boyfriend?"

Pak kept his head lowered, his heart beating unusually fast. He felt several eyes on him, followed by the whispers, "Is Pak alright? Is he sick?"

"Dunno, he don't look fine."

He felt someone tap his shoulder, so he turned his head to see Rik smiling at him. His cheeks reddened as she asked him, "What about you, Pak?"

Pak's legs trembled as eyes stared at him. He said softly, "I... wanna have a more interesting life...?"

"That's cool," Rik said.

Pak made eye contact with her until people got between them, once again chattering. Pak calmed himself down and tried to hide his red cheeks. For just a moment, he had forgotten about what had haunted him since yesterday. Nothing should change, he could just live out the rest of his life like normal...

Grow up tending the field with his family... Stay in this town... See the same people around him every single day... Doing the same thing every single day...

"I wanna have a more interesting life"

Pak shook his head. That was false hope. He had to focus on reality, there was no time to play around with the thought of fantasy. He had no need to be in a world with dragons and magic. He just needed to do what his family needed him to do, nothing more, nothing less.

"What's the commotion today?" Their teacher asked as he walked into the classroom.

"Mr Bur, if you could make a wish, what would it be?" One of the students yelled.

There was some chattering as the students all stared at their teacher. Mr Bur let out a light laugh before replying, "Probably wish that all of you would settle down."

When school ended, Pak walked back home, taking the longer route. His friends did not question him, since it was more convenient for them anyway. However, on the way home, Pak stopped in his tracks, staring wide-eyed in front of him. He vaguely saw an old man with a walking stick, clouded by darkness. An owl perched atop his head, and a snake wrapped itself around his walking stick. Pak blinked, and there was nothing to be seen.

He rubbed his eyes, looking back at where he had seen the old man. No one. He continued walking warily before breaking into a run home. He should probably tell somebody that would understand. Whatever it was, no matter how hard he tried to forget, it kept on returning.

Pak went to his room and threw his blanket over himself. He closed his eyes, hoping that everything would just go away. Despite that, the words kept ringing in his head.

'Find her'

Who? Pak didn't understand who he was meant to find, what he was meant to do. Even if he wanted to, he had no lead on what he needed to do...

'Fifty years ago'

Why were these words ringing in his head? Pak clutched his head until it became unbearable. Despite being afraid, he believed that if he found the answer to whatever the old man was talking about, he could return to normal. At least, that was something he would assume would happen in fantasy stories.

Pak headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" His mother called out.

"Library...?" Pak replied timidly.

"Why?"

Pak turned to face his mother, lying, "I want to read about history..."

"You're not going there to read another one of your silly stories, are you?" His mother asked.

Pak shook his head.

His mother nodded and walked back to whatever she was doing at the time. "Be back before sundown, okay? If you come home any later, we'll be worried."

"Okay," Pak said, leaving soon after.

The town had a small library. It was small and had no air conditioning, just row after row of books. Because of that, not many people ever went to the library. Pak snuck his way in, avoiding the notice of the bored librarian who was too busy reading a book. He made his way towards the history section of the library, hoping what he was thinking of might exist.

The library was a mix of books from outside of town and locally produced literary content as well. Most of it was produced by townsfolk who were willing to donate their writings to the library for everyone to read. Pak snuck around, but soon realised he was much too short to reach the top shelf.

Despite that, he soon came to realise an issue. Even if he could reach the top shelf, even if he could access every book in the library, there was no way of telling whether he was looking for the right thing.

He walked around a little, passing up on the books of which he was unable to read the titles. There were many complicated words, too many words which Pak could not read or understand. Instead, he looked for the number '50' for anything related to fifty years ago. Unfortunately, his search soon came to an end when he realised nothing could be found.

On the way out of the library, the librarian stopped him with a stern yap. "What are you doing in here?"

Pak froze on the spot before turning his body to face the librarian. The librarian was an older woman, and she looked mad at him even though Pak had done nothing wrong. Pak swallowed his saliva before replying, "Looking at books."

She pointed at him, saying, "I know your type. Kids think I'll believe anything they say. What did you do? Did you hide something? Steal something?"

"No,' Pak told the scary librarian.

She squinted her eyes before pointing out of the library, saying, "Go. If I see you sneaking around without your parents again, I'll make sure you get punished."

Pak did not enjoy that experience. He ran back home, the sun already starting to set. He had not been searching through the library for that long, but somehow, it was already nighttime. In fact, it shouldn't have been night, Pak could have sworn that it was supposed to still be early evening.

Pak reached home just in time. His family was ready to start dinner, and he just had to join them at the table.

"So you read up on history?" His father asked over dinner.

Pak nodded quietly.

His father let out a good-natured laugh, telling him, "Son, not much happens in these parts. This town is so quiet that we barely have any history to read up on!"

"The most interesting thing that happened in the past was probably how the mayor tripped and broke his leg," Gil, the second brother, smirked.

The oldest brother, Raph, spoke up. "Wasn't there some news recently about things going on in town? I heard two people committed suicide at the West Bridge."

"Oh, a crazy young couple," Their father sighed. "Idiots, all of them."

Pak continued eating. Ken nudged Pak, making Pak look over. He whispered to Pak, "Yeah, and water rained upwards, am I right? What's next? Flying pigs?"

Pak nodded, too distracted to be humoured by Ken. Gil told his father, "Pops, I'll be heading out tomorrow."

"Why?"

"You know the Madri Family's daughter?" Gil explained to him. "She apparently took an interest in me, so I'm gonna go out and meet with her."

"Madri Family? The weird one?"

"Yeah. But she's actually pretty," Gil smirked. "She just likes wearing ribbons, apparently."

"Go Gil," Ken cheered monotonously.

Gil did a celebration akin to an olympiad winning a gold medal. After he settled down, Gil glanced over at Raph, asking him, "What about you? Gonna get married soon? Ma and Pops are waiting, you know?"

Raph swallowed his food before replying, "Not really. None of the girls here seem any good."

"What about the Wafger Family?" Gil suggested. "They're the richest family in town, and they have a daughter slightly younger than you."

Pak flinched, but no one caught on to him.

"Depends," Raph sighed. "It would be best if I could just get married and settle down with my wife somewhere else."

After dinner, Pak made his way back to his room, avoiding Gil this time. In his room, he heard his mother call out, "Pak! Take a shower!"

He did as he was told. He used a wet cloth and wiped his body with the cold water from a bucket. In his bed later that night, Pak stared at the ceiling. Going to the library had been useless. He could not read much of what was on display, and he just did not know what time frame the books were referring to.

Besides that, finding a single name seemed meaningless.

Unless...

There, on his bed, he made a wild guess. His mind had constantly been thinking about it, and it made a connection. The Myth that has been passed around town. Knock three times from the inside of a room and say a name. The name which no one knew. Maybe, if what he saw was real, then maybe the name of the person mentioned was the name of the ghost!

It sounded impossible, but to Pak, it made some sense.

All of a sudden, he felt more encouraged to pursue the name of this girl mentioned by the scary old man, snake and owl. As he lay in bed, he started having wild thoughts about what he could do if he knew the name. If he could have any wish of his granted, what would he want?

Definitely to get away from this boring and dull life of his, but what else?

He thought back to Rik and his face became hot. He wrapped the pillow around his face, rolling in bed. But what else could he wish for? Pak wondered who that old man was. Maybe, if he could have a wish, he could have the answer to that question. He stared at the ceiling, his mind continuously getting wilder. What if he could transport himself into a world of dragons and magic? A fantasy world full of fun and adventure.

He went to sleep with a somewhat full belly.

The day after, Pak staggered down the steps of his house, rubbing his eyes. There was no school that day, so Pak had as much time as he wanted for himself.

"Pak, what are you stalling for?" His mother asked, rushing him down the steps. "Eat breakfast now."

As Pak was having breakfast, he saw Gil leave the house without so much as a word. He then faced his father, who was the only other person at the table. Pak softly asked, "Uh... could you tell me history...?"

"Did you say something?" His father asked.

"Do you know history?" Pak said, louder this time.

"Sure I do, I've been around for quite a long time," His father chuckled. "So, what do you wanna know about our boring old town?"

The words echoed in his mind. Pak swallowed his saliva and asked, "Fifty years ago... did something happen to a girl...?"

"Fifty years ago..." His father rubbed his chin.

His father scratched his head, telling Pak, "Oh, this is tough. I was just a wee lad back then, but I think I heard some stories growing up. The only interesting thing about a girl... Where did you hear this from?"

"Friend."

His father ran his fingers through his beard before telling Pak, "I think I know what you're talking about, but I can't remember too clearly."

"Do you know the name of the girl?" Pak further pursued the topic.

"She was older than I was," His father nodded. "K-something. Kint or something. I can't remember what she did exactly, but everyone was talking about it when I was a child."

Pak's mother sat down at the table too, asking, "What are you two talking about?"

"Dear, remember that story about the girl when we were kids? The one about fifty years ago," His father asked.

Pak's mother furrowed her brows. She asked him, "The one where her family..."

She glanced at Pak before mouthing a word instead. His father's eyes widened as he nodded along, saying loudly, "Yes! That's the one! I remember now! How is your memory so good?"

Pak's mother smiled. "I just like keeping a memo on things. I have been keeping a diary since around that time."

"Great! Do you remember the name of the girl then?" His father asked. "Pak said he had heard from a friend and was wondering what the name of the girl was."

Pak's mother looked off to the side as she tried to remember. She eventually got off her seat, telling them, "I'll be right back after checking through my diaries from back then."

Pak tried to keep a calm composure. It was not guaranteed to happen, everything he had been told up to this point could have been a lie. It could be one giant prank by the entire town.

Not long later, his mother came back, telling Pak, "The girl's name was Kimly Ambers."

"Now I remember!" Pak's father exclaimed.

Pak kept his cool, there was no need to rush, he could take his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Late at night, his family was asleep. Pak had made sure to pretend to be asleep, his curiosity preventing him from getting any shuteye. Instead, he got onto his feet and stepped towards the door of his room.

He lifted his knuckles.

Knock Knock Knock

Quietly, he looked in front of him in the darkness. He whispered softly, so soft that it was almost inaudible to himself. "Kimly."