Peace Wish

Wish wisely
It may come true.

Down the street past the corner shop, two hair dressers, three pubs – makes you wonder if the country is populated with alcoholics due to the number of pubs compared to other shops – and a betting shop there is a building that long ago used to be a nursery.
It is not overgrown and is well cared for, people are quite welcome to enter as long as they do not seek to cause damage to the building.  Although few know that they are welcome to enter.  If you wish to enter and make a wish, then just unclasp the gate and head on up.

Maybe your wish will come true.

~~

In the mirror is a lie, the reflection false with no truth.  She reaches out and hopes, for that brief second, that when she touches the cool glass that the reflection will change and the truth will be shown.
But as her fingers touch the cool glass and the wish is made, the lie remains and she sighs with a deep sorrow.  Every day for over thirty years she has done this and every day the result is always the same, he is always there looking back at her.  The shadow, the lie, the face that everyone sees and regards her as.

“I hate you”  She whispers to the reflection.  “I hate you”  She knew she could see see about getting the help she needed so badly but what of her family?  How would they respond if they knew that their son was really their daughter?
And what of her friends and co-workers?  How would they react?  She has heard many hateful remarks made towards others like her from her family and friends, remarks that always stung her even though she didn't show that pain externally.
Would they understand?

Probably not.

Knowing that a couple of her friends would arrive soon, likely with their girlfriends, she undresses quickly so that they wouldn't see her in the clothes that she wished she could wear every day.  Although they were only clothes and did not mean much as a whole, they still gave her that small feeling within herself that this is how it was supposed to be.
Trying not to feel disgust at the undressed body in the mirror, she slips back on the previous clothes – the clothes of a lie – and once done activates what she calls 'Man mode'.  Within herself however she cries at what she has to do in order to hide, this was not what she wanted, this was not how it was supposed to be.

“I hate you!”  She screams at the male persona as it heads out the bedroom door in the body that had been born wrong.  “I HATE YOU!”

~~

The plan for the evening was nothing special, Rick and Frank wanted to play video games, Carl wanted to talk about sport – as usual and they wanted their girlfriends to support them.  The usual attitude with such 'manly men' who were sadly a bit too brainwashed by society when it came to gender roles and how they were expected to behave.
From behind the eyes of the male shell she had been born with, a shell named Keith, she watches as the men do their thing and their girlfriends have a chat about things.  She listens with envy, longing to join them and be herself around them.  However they were not very open minded and she worried that if they knew that they would make her life a miserable one.  None of them knew that she even existed, they saw only the lie.

“GOAAAAAL!”  Rick yells out, he and Frank were playing some football rehash, the game bored her considerably but she pretended to be interested.

“That tackle was illegal and you know it!”  Frank retorts with a slight huff, he was never one for losing.  Both of them were as competitive as one another.  Back in school they had once tried to outdo one another by eating as many worms as possible.
Once they got out of hospital they tried to outdo one another by seeing who could stick as many toothpicks into their nose as possible.  They spent a lot of time in hospitals due to their competitive natures.

“The ref must be blind”  Carl remarks, he was the sports fan to put it mildly  His entire flat was covered in football stuff, he even had a few football tattoos in a few areas on his body.  One in a very tricky area since he liked the idea of inserting his love of the sport into a woman.
He was now on his tenth girlfriend in as many years since his love of the sport tends to result in him ignoring those he claims he loves.

They were her friends, they had been since childhood, but she wondered if they were her friends.  If they really knew that they were friends with a woman.  Over the years she has heard them make pretty demeaning remarks about women and has never told them to stop it, she was too scared to speak up so she played along and would hate herself with each remark.
Was this what friendship was?  To pretend to like what your friends did and said?  To lie to them all the time and behave just like them so that they wouldn't see the truth within?  Whenever she tried to make friends with anyone who was female like herself they would act like she was trying to hit on them, trying to lure them to her bed.
They didn't understand that what she really wanted was just to be able to talk to someone who might be able to understand, who might be able to help her be free of this hell.  They saw a man, never the woman within.

She listens to her friend's girlfriends talking and although what they are talking about is nothing special, she feels more drawn to what they are talking about more than what her friends are talking about.  It sounded so stereotypical to her, so limited, but it sounded better than speaking lies all the time.

She hated football, she hated pretending to like things she found boring and tiresome.  She wanted to embrace her own interests for a change.

“Any of you know about that old nursery on Young Lane?”  One of the women asks, Claire if she remembered correctly.  Carl's latest girlfriend for however long.  Carl looks over to Claire, his attention clearly on the video game being played.

“Not really, it's been abandoned for years.  I don't think anyone has ever gone near it”  That wasn't true, there was an elderly couple a few years ago who had entered the place and weren't seen again.  She doesn't say anything though.
Rick and Frank are too engrossed in their game to see their girlfriends looking their way, were they curious about the old nursery?

“Oy, less than a pint brains, we want to go see something.  You listening?”  Fiona, a very blunt woman who tends to insult people with complete ease, gets up from the table and clips Rick around the head, he looks up just as Frank scores a goal.

“What?”  He demands, a little annoyed by the tone of his voice.

“We want to go see that old nursery, think you boys could tear yourselves away from your ego stroking and come explore the place with us?”  She wasn't fond of Fiona, or any of the women to be honest, but they were a change from the usual testosterone poisoning of her friends.  Exploring the old nursery sounded more fun than watching a mindlessly boring football game at least.

“Why?  We're busy”  Wrong thing to say.  Fiona looks Rick directly in the eyes and gives him what could only be classed as The Stare, Rick seems to look like he's shrinking inside from the power of it.  “Sure, sounds fun”  He says with a slightly small voice.
Six years together, still not married, and she could always get Rick to do as she wanted with that stare of hers.  Frank's girlfriend, Nancy, doesn't bother to say anything.  She wasn't much of a talker really, more of a listener.  She wasn't submissive by any means, just quiet.

The game is switched off and as the others get ready to head out, she wonders if maybe she could get herself lost in the nursery like that elderly couple had.  Maybe her life could end there and she could be free of this living hell of a lie.

~~

The night is as cold as expected for winter, Christmas was near once again as her friends walk out in front with Fiona and Claire, who in many ways were almost like sisters and got along just fine, while she and Nancy walk behind them.
Nancy doesn't say much, not even when Frank gives her a slight kiss.  Frank was maybe the gentlemen of the three, while he could be quite crass at times, he did love Nancy considerably and she loved him or seemed to at least.
A lot of the time though she came across as a little distant and would sometimes look at her as if she saw something in her that she didn't want to say to anyone else.  Could Nancy see her?  Maybe if she asked quietly in a non-telling way.

“You okay?”  She asks to Nancy, Nancy gives her a sideways glance with a slight half smile.

“I'm fine, you?”  Such a contrast to Fiona and Claire for sure, they were more outspoken while Nancy was more inclined to saying little and listening to what others were saying.  A lot of the time she would be looking down at the ground, either deep in thought or for another reason.  She wasn't looking for anything that was for sure, she seemed to be more trying to not look at anything.

“Been better to be honest”  How she wished the voice coming from her false mouth was much more feminine, it sounded so loud and deep to her.

“I guess you have.  Or you wish you did.  You don't talk to them about yourself much, do you?  Oh I'm sure you talk about the things you don't wish to say, but you don't talk about the things you want to say.  You're much too scared to do that”  She did know, she had to, she was pretty much giving it away.

“You can see me, can't you?”  She whispers low enough for only Nancy to hear, Nancy nods.

“Yes, I always do, always have for as long as I've known you.  Those who share in pain, even if that pain is not the exact same, can see the pain in others much easier than those not in pain.  Be free, Karen, be free.  You are dying in the lie”  Her name, Nancy knew her name, her real name.  No one else knew her soul name.

“I can't, people like me are hated in society.  I have to lie”  Nancy shakes her head as the group turns off into Young Lane.

“No, you don't.  You think you do but you don't, if your friends can not see you for you then they are not your friends.  You have the key to yourself, Karen, use it”  The group stops and she looks up to see the old nursery in the darkness, no lights as expected yet it didn't look creepy, if anything it looked like it was waiting for them.

“Scared?”  Fiona asks to no one in particular.  In response Carl, Rick and Frank puff out their chests and take the first steps towards the nursery, Fiona and Claire following closely behind.  Nancy looks over to her, an understanding smile on her lips.

“Maybe you will find peace here, Karen”  She says softly.  “Maybe I will too”

~~

The nursery has always been a mystery to the town's residents, not a sinister one but more one that doesn't seem to have an exact reason.  A century ago the nursery had been a very active and important part of the community until 1920 when the nursery, for no reason, suddenly closed.
There was no explanation as to why and the owner of the nursery had herself disappeared.

The mystery deepened when as the years passed, the nursery was never overgrown like any other abandoned building's were, the grounds and building were always will tended to and the rent for the land was always paid exactly on time, but the place never opened again.
However no one was ever turned away if they wished to enter, they were always welcome but they never came back out.  A police investigation turned up nothing since there were no bodies in the buildings, no bodies buried anywhere on the grounds, the people had simply vanished with no trace.

New people would arrive in the town though shortly after those who entered the nursery had disappeared.

Few entered the nursery due to fear, but some would enter for whatever reason.  The only people to ever return from it have been the police during their investigations, anyone else though disappears.
And now seven new people were entering and not likely to leave.

~~

After Rick, in his usual attempt to appear super manly in front of Fiona, pushes open the front door into the nursery and they enter slowly, Karen finds herself surprised by the lack of dust and cobwebs.  Usually you would expect a building as unused as this to be showing all of the usual signs of neglect and age, but instead this place looked like it was lovingly cared for and extremely well preserved.
It was as silent as expected though without even the echo of long since either dead or grown up children echoing from anywhere in the building.  Only the sound of their footsteps and their measured, if tense, breathing can be heard.

“Okay, we've seen it, let's go”  Rick whispers, he was clearly scared yet Karen didn't feel afraid at all.  Looking over to Nancy she can see that Nancy isn't scared either, if anything she's fascinated by the place.

“Keith, go with Frank and Nancy, have a look around”  She really hated hearing that name when she was spoken to, she doesn't say anything though, just nods and with Nancy and Frank in tow heads upstairs while Rick, Carl, Fiona and Claire look around downstairs.

~

Karen, Nancy and Frank:

Although Karen and Nancy weren't scared, Frank was looking increasingly tense as they slowly looked around upstairs.  He looked like he was ready to run out of the building, or jump out of one of the windows and run away screaming.
Of course he was, in his own mind, much too manly to do such a thing but he looked like he was close to running.

“Nothing to fear, Frank”  Nancy says softly.  “Nothing to fear”  Squeezing the hand closest to her gently, Nancy manages to calm Frank enough.  He quickly withdraws his hand after a minute with a light cough, typical.

~

Rick, Fiona, Carl, Claire:

As was the usual for Fiona and Claire, who have been friends since childhood, they are whispering away to one another while Rick and Carl are slowly looking around.

“Scared?”  Rick whispers over to Carol who nods in response.  “Bloody place gives me the creeps something bad”  The silence was unnerving him, there wasn't even any sound from the road outside the building's grounds.

“Could bolt”  Carl suggests.  Shaking his head in response, Rick looks over to the women walking closely behind them.

“They would never let us live it down”  And they wouldn't at that.

~

After they have all finished looking around the building, they meet back up and head back to the front door.  Karen found that she didn't want to leave, Nancy looked like she didn't want to leave either.

“Okay, we've had a look around, let's just go and do something more fun”  Rick remarks in a most insistent tone.  Carl and Frank nod in agreement while Fiona and Claire confer with one another before agreeing.

“We're not ready to go yet”  Karen says quietly, Nancy nodding in agreement.  “You lot go back if you want, we're going to take another look around”  This didn't go down well with Frank.

“You hitting on my girl, Keith?”  Frank growls as he takes a defensive stance in front of Nancy.  Karen shakes her head, wishing for a moment that her hair was much longer and much more feminine.

“No, it's just that this place is really interesting.  You can come along as well if you want to”  Something in her made her want to stay, almost a strong gut feeling that she needed to stay.  Nancy seemed to have the same feeling as well by the way she looked set on staying.

“You can all stay if you want”  A soft voice says from the front door, all but Karen and Nancy jumping in surprise as a form seems to appear from nowhere in front of the door leading back out.  “I am most sorry if I scared you”  The form becomes more coherent until a woman who looks to be in her mid forties is standing in front of the door.  She was pretty in an old fashioned way, her hair was a mousey brown with a few grey hairs showing, her eyes had a kindly look to them.  She was plump but not in an unhealthy way, more of a cuddly way.  She was a little taller than Fiona and Claire while a little shorter than Carl and Frank and around the same height as Rick and much taller than Karen and Nancy.

“Who are you?”  Fiona asks, her voice shaking from the surprise of the woman appearing.

“My name is Martha Kien, I own this nursery.  Welcome to the Peace Wish Nursery”  Her voice was so soft, it made Karen feel very safe and comfortable.  Nancy also seemed happy as well as she looked at the woman.
“In this place you may find the peace you yearn for, if that is what you are here for.  You may also take the years off your shoulders if you tire of the adulthood you have.  Please follow me”  Leading them to one of the rooms, they follow Martha into a room which had been empty before.  Now it was lit with tables, cribs, child sized beds, baby supplies, toys and other items.

“This wasn't here before!”  Claire says loudly in surprise.  “We had a complete look around, every room was empty!”  Martha turns to her with a kindly smile.

“Yes, I know, but you saw only what I felt was best for you to see at that time.  Now you see what is really here”  Indicating to a table where what looks like a toy gun is sitting all along, Martha beckons for the others to gather around before speaking.
“If you wish to play a game however then you may do so.  Around this nursery are items that may allow for a reversion in age, either physically, mentally or in your clothing.  The person using the item needs only to think of any additional effects as long as the intent is to keep the person human since other changes would only cause considerable harm”  Fiona scoops the gun up from the table and aims it at Rick.

“Let's find out”  She says with a malicious tone in her voice, a purple light fires from the front of the gun and to everyone's surprise Rick begins to change.
The change is slow enough to show just how much is happening as Rick's body begins to change bit by bit from male to female, his hair growing a little and becoming very soft and feminine.  Hands become smaller and feminine, his features take on a softer appearance  while his torso and legs become much more female in appearance.
As his breasts grow rapidly, another change happens to his clothes as they seem to fade away and where he was wearing jeans and boxers is now a thick adult nappy with cute baby animal like prints while his upper clothing turns from a dark blue to a light yellow with a baby rabbit print on the front, his new breasts making it stick out somewhat.
Cute light pink ribbons appear in his hair while a baby rattle appears in one hand and a baby bottle in another, in his mouth a baby dummy appears.  The finishing touch is frilly and very cute pink baby socks appearing on his feet.

“That was cool!”  Fiona remarks once the changes stop, Rick looks at her with disdain.  “You look so cute!  Come to mummy, I just have to pat that padded backside of yours”  To her surprise Rick does as she asks, waddling over to her and welcomes her hug.

“That was unexpected, but if that is what you would like to do for him, or rather her now, then you may care for her while you are here.  However you can not take the device out of the building, should you do so then what you did to him will happen to you.  I must warn you that two of you will need to remain as adults, should all of you become too young or too changed without anyone to take care of you then you will never be able to leave this place should you wish to leave.  So be mindful of any wish you make and if you feel that the wish is not to your liking, or any changes you may make to yourself or someone else.  The changes that will happen here happen because a part of you wishes for it to happen”  Cradling Rick, or rather Rochelle now since that seems to have become her name in the other's minds, and patting her thickly padded bottom, Fiona looks up at Martha.

“Are you saying that Rick, or rather Rochelle now, actually wished somewhere inside herself to be this way, to be cared for like a young child?  I didn't know he even thought about any of that, he, or rather she, never talked about it.  Sorry, still getting used to the change.  It's like Rick is fading from my mind”  Taking the device from Fiona, Martha sets it back on the table before replying.

“Rick always put on a strong show of strength around you because he felt insecure about himself.  He never felt like he was enough of a man for you, but you have never actually loved him, not really.  Your love has always been for another woman but your fear of accepting yourself made you stay with Rick, you were afraid of how those around you would react.  Rick knew this, he never said anything, but he knew that you did not love him.  He wanted instead to be loved in a different way, like a child, since he never had that love from his parents as a whole.  You have always yearned for a daughter and Rick never wanted to have a child, your desire for a daughter has made Rick's desire also become a reality.  She is now your daughter and you are now her mother, by sunrise she will be a baby in full and you will have the child you have always wanted while the woman you truly love will be waiting for you at home.  The memories of this altered reality will fully kick in soon, should you wish to keep this new life then all you have to do is leave the nursery with your daughter and the old life will be gone.  The choice is yours to make”  As Martha speaks in her soft voice, Rochelle does seem to shrink in Fiona's arms, her age seeming to go back to a young adult stage and slowly farther.

“Thank you, I'll talk it over with Rochelle while I can.  I am very tempted to accept that change”  A soft coo can be heard from Rochelle as if she also likes the sound of the new life.  Martha, with a warm smile at seeing the possible new mother with her daughter, turns to the others.

“You have not said anything”  Claire looks over to Carl, a slight hint of an idea in her mind.  “There are other means to bring about a wish you have around the nursery should you wish to use them, just bear what I have said in mind”

“I think you would look great in a nappy, Carl”  Claire remarks, Carl looking worried as the thought of being reduced to Claire's baby runs through his mind.  Backing away quickly he turns and runs from the room, Claire chasing after him and Frank chasing after her to stop her from whatever she was planning.
Martha then turns to Karen and Nancy.

“Nancy, I suspect that what you wish for is something you wish to do to yourself, am I correct?”  Nancy nods in reply.  “Then go ahead, I will assist you once you do what you wish to do for yourself should you need my help”  Another nod and Nancy leaves the room as if she knows exactly what she's looking for.
“And you, please come with me so that Fiona does not hear what I am going to say”  Leading Karen out gently, Martha takes Karen to another room where a large mirror can be seen in a corner.

“You can see me, can't you?”  Karen asks, Martha gives a small nod in reply.

“Yes, I can see you.  If this is truly what you wish the most then go to the mirror and make your wish, if it is what you desire then the change will be permanent.  Your old life will be wiped clean and your new life will begin, but you must be certain that this is what you truly want.  What Fiona has done to Rochelle is something they have both strongly wanted, but what you wish for will change everything you have done in your life, you will be fully and completely reset in full.  Bear in mind that this new life is an unknown for you, there are no certainties as to how it will turn out”  Standing alone in the room, the mirror is a plain looking affair that says nothing of that it could for her.  It seems to call to her though and she longs to go over to it and make her wish, yet something was holding her back.  The male persona was pleading with her to think this over, to let it live.

“How long do I have to choose?”  She asks.

“All night, dear, take your time”

~~

Claire And Carl:

She was right behind him, he could hear her getting closer.  He really should have tried to keep in shape better.

“Come on, Carl, it will be fun!  You could be my baby sister!”  That only spurred him to run faster.  The thought of being reduced to some lowly female did not appeal to him at all, he didn't even love Claire, she was just something for him to have sex with, nothing more.
Quickly turning into the first room he can see, Carl runs for a door he can see and tries to open it.  It doesn't budge.  Looking around he can see what looks like a bucket of water on a table, maybe this would make her back off.

“Oh Carl!”  Claire calls out, she was very close, was she going to enter this room?  Grabbing the bucket from the table he waits to see if she enters, do or die, this was it, he was not going to end up like Rick.  Whoever Rick was, didn't he know a Rick?  He was sure he did, didn't he?

“There you are, this will be fun, Carl, think about it.  I know you don't love me at all but think about the love I could give to you if you were a sister, I always wanted a sister instead of another brother.  I could be the big sister you always needed, I could teach you how to respect women while you grow into one.  Justice, Carl, after what you did to me last night.  You hurt me, Carl, you hurt me and I really don't like it when a man hurts me.  You and your sports worship, you didn't even ask me what was wrong last night when I came home from work and was sobbing at the kitchen table, you just went to your football tapes and didn't say a word to me.  You hurt me, Carl, I wanted you to be there for me and you weren't.  So I would prefer if you were my sister, a sister I can be there for and who can hopefully be there for me when I need you”  She can see the bucket in Carl's hands, she knows what he intends to do.  Whatever was in the bucket could affect her, what if she was reduced to a young age?  What that be better or would Carl only hurt her during such a vulnerable time?  He wasn't exactly good with children after all.

“Keep away from me”  Carl growls, the bucket was heavy and felt like it was getting heavier.  There was no way he was going to become some lowly female, his dad had always told him that men were superior and he was set on being the superior one.

“I wanted to love you, Carl, I tried.  Thing is you aren't very good at being loving, even in the times when we had sex you were clearly thinking more about having sex with a football than you were about having sex with me.  I put up with it because I wanted to try and help you see that was more to life than sports, that you had someone who loves you as a person and not a stereotype.  Do you want love in your life at all?  Do you feel anything for anyone that isn't to do with that worthless sport?”  Why was the bucket becoming so heavy?  He could bench press thirty pounds with ease!
“Let me love you, Carl, let me show you that there is more to life than football”  More to life than football?  Never!  It was his life, nothing else mattered, not even friends.  Nearing him slowly, Claire reaches for the bucket and it slides into her hands with ease while Carl finds he can't keep hold of it.

“Keep away from me, woman, don't make me hurt you!”  Why did he feel so scared of her all of a sudden?  She seemed to tower over him.

“You've already hurt me, Carl.  You can't hurt me any longer”  And she tips the bucket over his head just as Frank enters the room and skids to a halt as he watches Carl begin to shrink rapidly into his clothes, the hint of the woman he was to become later in his, or rather her, new life appearing briefly before melting away and leaving behind a baby girl of around a year old wearing a thick nappy and soft baby clothes.
“Much better”  Claire purrs with love as she picks her new sister up, the memory of Carl and his entire life melting away quickly.  Frank looks confused for a moment before his memories of Carl fade away completely.

“She can crawl really fast”  Frank remarks as the last of his memories of Carl fade away.

“Yep, she's going to be a sprinter when she's older, I'm sure of it.  I better get her back to mum, I said I would have Carol back home by now, it's well past her bedtime.  Nappy bum needs her cutie sleep”  Carol yawns on cue and cuddles against her sister, she was really sleepy now.
Cradling her sister lovingly, Claire leaves the room with Frank walking beside her protectively.  Like any big brother might.

~~

Nancy:

As if drawn to the room, Nancy opens the door to see what she is looking for – a stuffed animal she has missed for many years.  Walking over to it and feeling a growing sense of completion in her heart as she does so, Nancy thinks about her wish and why it was so important to her.  She needed this, she knew it would give her exactly what she needed.
The pain of the past had to be wiped away.

Picking the soft toy up from the table where it is sitting, she hugs it and breathes in the scents of a time long since past.  The scent of fresh oranges, baby powder and the love of a mother long since dead.

“Take me back please”  She whispers.  “Take me back and give me the life I need so badly”  Memories of her mother's death go through her mind, she could still remember how it had happened, how her mother had tried to protect her from a group of people who had broken into the house one night when she had been very young.
Her dad had left months before because he wasn't ready to be a father and her mum had tried her best to be there for her daughter, but she never had the chance.  Not when a group of teenagers, three males and two females, had broken into the house one night and beaten Nancy's mother to death when she had tried to force them to leave the house.
Nancy had watched from her crib as her mother was beaten to death in front of her, her mother screaming all the while for them to not harm her daughter.  She died reaching out to Nancy, her eyes locked onto Nancy's as Nancy screamed for her mum.  The teens had turned their attention to Nancy then and were about to kill her themselves, one of the males had grabbed her and was going to throw her against the wall.
But a voice had called out, the neighbour who had heard the screams, and the teenagers had bolted, dropping Nancy on her mother's still warm body.  The teenagers had run past the neighbour and were caught by the police who had arrived in that moment, they found Nancy crying over her mum's body, screaming for her mum to wake up.

She never woke up.

Nancy would spend her childhood being raised by her aunt and her aunt's husband who did their best to raise her with love and care, but the nightmares were a constant.
Nancy would be later sexually assaulted by one of the male teens, who was now a grown man, when she entered puberty.  The scars he inflicted on her both mentally and emotionally as well as physically were and still are deep.

When she met Frank she found that she had trouble being close to him, Frank accepted that and would just be there for her as support.  He never pushed himself on her.

“I wish to have a new past, please”  Nancy whispers as she cuddles the soft toy close, the scent getting increasingly stronger.

“Wish granted”  A voice says to her and she looks up to see her new mother standing in front of her, smiling down with such love for her daughter.  Feeling joy in her heart, Nancy reaches up to her mother and is picked up with loving arms.
Memories of her old life melt away as she wraps her arms around her mother's neck, she can feel her mother patting her padded backside and the scent of baby powder is even stronger with each pat.
Now almost two years old, Nancy wanted nothing more than to sleep in her mum's arms and never have to suffer the nightmares of the past again.

She was home at last.

~~

Karen/Keith:

Hope lay before her, a hope she has yearned for ever since she was a young child and wondering why a boy was looking back at her in the mirror.  Was she right to take this chance though?  Was it fair of her to end one life so that she could live her own life?

“Please don't let me fade away”  She can hear the male persona plead.

“You were never meant to exist though, you know that.  I can't keep living like this, I'm dying like this.  I need to live”  The mirror waits for her, it's glass giving a soft sheen in the soft light of the room.  She needed this, she had to have this.  So much was already lost because of how her body had been born.

“What right do you have to deny me existence though?  I deserve the right to exist!”  At what cost though?

“What right do you?  You were created out of fear, I was born and repressed.  Must I live in darkness while you, a shadow, have the light?  What of my right to exist?  You aren't even real, I am!”  She noticed that her memories felt different, they were shifting and changing.  The others must have changed their own lives, how she did not know but she was interested in finding out.

“Please don't do this, don't take away my life!”  One foot forward, another, the mirror getting closer.

“What life is there in a lie?  What happiness is there in being locked away for doing nothing wrong but being born in the wrong body?  I created you and I can destroy you, I only keep you around because I am too scared of how people will react”  She could almost see her reflection, just another step.

“You would destroy your own creation?  Cruelty thine name is”  One more step, she could do this, she needed to do this.

“Any more cruel than having to pretend and lie all the time?  I hate you and I want you gone”  She steps forward and sees her reflection, and tears come to her eyes.  In the mirror is a woman, herself, and she is crying as well.  The tears are of joy and hope.

“Hello”  She whispers to herself.  “Are you ready to live at last?”  Reaching out and touching the glass, Karen makes her wish.

~

Looking over at those in the room, Martha smiles with satisfaction at the happiness she can see and feel from them.  Rochelle was now a toddler and nestled in her new mother's arms, Carol was asleep in her stroller with Claire and Frank talking softly near her.  Claire's wish had made Frank her older brother, which was unexpected but it seemed to be what both had wanted.  Frank had perhaps always regarded himself as a brother to her.
And Nancy, now two years old, was also asleep in her new mother's arms, dreaming innocent and happy dreams.  There was such a strong feeling of peace radiating from the sleeping toddler, a peace that could bring her a better chance of life than what she had before.

But where was Karen?

Turning from the others, Martha leaves the room and goes through to where the mirror is.  Karen isn't there though.

“Karen?”  Martha calls out.  “Did you decide?”  Footsteps can be heard from behind her and she turns to see a young woman who is slowly, very slowly, becoming increasingly younger.  “Karen?”  The young woman nods.

“Yes.  I was just getting used to my new body, it feels so wonderful to finally be myself in full.  I couldn't end the other one though so I wished him into existence, he isn't here though.  He's back home becoming as young as I am, by the time I return home I'll be younger than Nancy.  I have a twin brother now”  Karen's age slips down to her mid teens, her clothes adjusting themselves to fit.  The hints of the woman she was to grow into were evident in her face and eyes, she was going to be a beautiful woman once she grew up again.
“Thank you for giving me this chance”  She sounded so young now.

“You gave yourself this chance, Karen, I only gave you the choice”  Extending a hand to the slowly regressing child, and feeling Karen take it, Martha leads her back to the others.  She feels Karen's hand slowly shrinking in hers, soon Karen would be fully beginning her new life.

“Frank, Claire, Karen will need help getting home, can you manage that?”  Martha asks when she enters the room.

“No problem.  Come here, squirt”  Karen, now around eleven years old, goes over to Frank and Claire, their own memories of who she had been before physically melting away quickly.  Once Karen is seated, Martha speaks.

“You may now all leave, but take a moment to be sure that you wish to keep these changes.  If you do not then say so now and they will be reversed, you will have no memory of this place and of the changes you made and reversed”  Fiona, cuddling her daughter who is now around a year old and suckling on a breast, looks over to the others.

“I wish to keep this change”  Fiona says after a minute.

“Claire, Frank, Karen, do you wish to keep these changes?”  Karen nods happily, she clearly wanted to keep this.  Claire and Frank think about it before answering.

“Yes, we'll keep these changes”  Smiling, Martha looks over to Nancy who is too asleep to say anything.

“Do you wish to keep this change for Nancy or to reverse it?”  Nancy's new mother looks down at the sleeping toddler on her lap, the love in her eyes was strong.

“I will keep this change, Nancy needs this”  Martha nods happily, so few ever wanted to reverse the changes.

“Very well, may your new lives bring you all the happiness you have sought after.  May those who can not answer find peace and happiness in their new lives.  Once you leave the nursery you will return to your homes, new and otherwise, you will not remember this place and the changes will be permanent.  Peace to all of you”  Those who can get up, Karen now nine years old and barely coming up to Claire and Frank's waists.  Martha leads them to the front door and opens it, standing back to let them leave.

“Thank you”  Karen says again to Martha, who smiles happily down at the girl.

“You are very welcome, little one, may your new life give you the joy you have sought after for so long”  Karen hugs one of Martha's legs as she loses another year, she couldn't wait to begin her new life.

“Thank you so much!”  Disengaging from hugging Martha's leg, Karen runs off after the others as they leave the grounds and return to their homes.

~~

That morning as the sun rises, four baby girls and a baby boy wake up in their cribs, both in need of care.  Claire and Frank wake up to begin their new days and having the usual sibling argument which is fairly minor really and as the sun's light comes over the old nursery and it's grounds, Martha looks out at the world outside and watches the world pass by.

“New life begins” She says softly to herself.  “And more are always welcome here should they need new lives”  Laying a hand on the window, Martha smiles happily before fading away.  She would wait as ever, as she has always done since making her own wish so many years ago – to help others find their peace.

A wish she was glad to keep fulfilling for others.

Make a wish, it may bring you the peace you seek.