Mortal Wish Read Free

she’s here. You know, for the hot spring.”
    He nodded, shocked at the revelation. No wonder Claire had looked so pale. Had he sensed her illness? Was that why he’d had the feeling that she needed protection? “She’s come to wish for a cure.”
    A sad smile played around Mrs. Adams’ lips. “Several times a day, she goes there. She’s there now. And on the way back she stops at the bar and drowns her sorrows. And tomorrow she’ll do the same thing again. It’s so sad to watch.”
    “So the hot spring doesn’t have any real power, does it?”
    “Oh, it does, but sometimes we’re not wishing for the right thing. Sometimes we don’t know what our heart’s true desire is. And the spring only grants those desires that are pure and true.”
    “What could be purer than wanting a cure for her cancer?” he wondered.
    “I’m not saying that her desires are not pure. But sometimes the spring just needs a sacrifice to work,” she answered cryptically.
    Visions of slaughtered animals popped into his head. But he was sure that Mrs. Adams was talking about other kinds of sacrifices.
    “Maybe you just want to tell Miss Culver that you found the pill bottle yourself. There’s no need for her to think that I know what’s going on. I’m sure she values her privacy.”
    Without waiting for her response, he left the house and turned toward the main road on his search for the Tiki bar. After the information Mrs. Adams had shared with him, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to visit the spring right now.

3
     
    Claire cast one last look back at the hot spring. When she’d arrived over an hour earlier, she’d captured some fresh water from where it poured out of the rocks with her cupped palms and swallowed it. At the same time she’d prayed for a miracle. Just like she’d done in the past five days since she’d come to the island. So far, nothing had changed. Her headaches were as painful as ever and were only subdued by the strong painkillers her oncologist had prescribed. But even those didn’t dull the pain for long. So she’d started drinking in the evenings to drown out the pounding in her head.
    With each day that passed, hope faded further into the background as reality pushed to the forefront. Science had given up on her long ago, and the miracle she was hoping for by making the same wish at the spring over and over again wasn’t happening. In a few days the pain would be so excruciating and the seizures so severe that she would most likely fall into a coma from which she would never wake. Her time was up.
    As she walked back on the dirt path that led into the village, she reflected on her life. But looking back on it made what lay ahead of her even harder to bear. She wasn’t ready to die. There was so much she hadn’t done, hadn’t seen, hadn’t experienced. It just wasn’t fair. She’d been a good person, honest, reliable, decent through and through. She’d never hurt anybody.
    Like the other nights before, she headed for the Tiki bar. Some alcohol would numb her mind and stop her from speculating whether things would have turned out differently if only she’d gone to the doctor earlier when her headaches had started. She didn’t want to think about things she couldn’t change.
    When she approached the bar, she already saw that it was half full like the night before: there were no walls. A bar stood in the middle of a hut without walls, its shutters, which protected the liquor from theft during the day, lifted and secured to the ceiling during opening hours. Soft music came from the speakers. One couple, embracing, danced slowly on the tiny makeshift dance floor. Others sat at the tables or at the bar, drinking and talking. Laughing. She steered for the bar and took the only vacant bar stool next to a tall dark haired man whose back was turned to her as he watched a football game on the muted TV that hung from the ceiling.
    Claire motioned to the owner. He’d introduced himself the first