Link: The Wisher's Paradox Title Page and Description

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Pacing her exam room like a caged animal, Christina had a fist balled up and ready to strike out again at the next person to touch her, even as her other hand held up the loose-fitting pajama bottoms and boxer shorts. Her breath came in rapid intakes through her nostrils and out her mouth.

"Miss?" Doctor Ramsey tried to calm her down as he held his bruised cheek. "Please sit back down so we can continue the exam!"

"Next person that tries to touch me there eats my knuckles again, buster!" she growled. "Daddy taught me how to defend myself, so don't even think you can get away with anything without losing an eye you're fond of, doc!"

Looking at the two officers, he shrugged. "Patient is refusing treatment. It's not a medical emergency, I don't have consent from their guardian, and you don't have a court order, so... that's it. We're done here."

"Wait a minute!" Officer Raul Martinez told the doctor. "Let me talk to her!" Seeing the doctor hold up his hands in mock surrender, Raul turned to her and smiled kindly. "Hi! Remember me? I'm Raul! Officer Raul Martinez!"

Narrowing her eyes, she looked at him evilly. "Yeah, I remember you! You're the one that took me away from my mother! She was about to let me stay and listen to me!"

His friendly smile melted and he turned serious. "That's right. It's my job to protect kids like you! Now the doc here isn't going to hurt you, OK? He's just going to collect evidence from you in case you've been raped..."

"I think I'd know if I'd been raped... Raul!" she snarled. "The closest I've ever come to that is what handsy there was about to do to me! No!"

"You might not know, young lady!" he countered. "You lost consciousness!"

"For about ten seconds!" she snapped back. "Ten seconds alone with my mother!"

Loosing patience, he tried to be blunt and use scare tactics. "Look, kid! Those people aren't your parents! They admitted that and are accusing you of aiding in their son being missing! Now are you gonna be a good girl and cooperate or do I have to put you in handcuffs?"

Scoffing, Christina turned away from him. "You don't scare me, mister! I know you can't touch me for medical stuff without my parents' permission or a court order! Let me see it!"

"See what?"

"The piece of paper that lets Doctor Feelgood over there stick his hands up my yahoo against my will! Nobody's touched it yet and he certainly isn't going to be my first! I'm only eleven for crying out loud!"

Smiling, Officer Martinez took out his notebook. "There! You're eleven! One piece at a time! Why don't you just tell me your full name and who your parents are and I can take you home. Is that were Walt is? At your house?"

Rolling her eyes, she put a hand on her hip and struck that pose that women have been using for centuries that tells a man, 'Oh really? You think so?'

Stymied by her obstinate refusal to cooperate, Raul shook his head. "Alright! Fine! We'll skip the rape kit! The nurse there was going to make sure nothing bad was going to happen to you, but we'll do it your way, OK?"

Calming down, she slowly edged her way closer to the exam table.

Tiffany Downs had been a nurse for ten years and thought she'd seen it all. When this wisp of a girl was brought in for a full exam, they'd managed to do everything except the x-rays and rape kit without even so much as an acknowledgement of their existence from her. Tiffany knew a little of the girl's circumstances, but with her fully awake and combative she was sure of how to proceed.

"Doctor Ramsey? Officers? Would you step out for a moment so I can talk to her?" Seeing the policeman's hesitancy to leave his charge alone without police observation, she held up her hands. "Where can she go? The only way out is right by you if you wait outside!"

Seeing her point, Raul huffed and stormed out with his silent partner in tow. "Damn kids! We bust our butts trying to look out for them and..."

With just a withering stare at the attending physician, Tiffany made him go without a word. Turning at last to the obviously terrified little girl, she smiled warmly. "There! Now that there are no men around, why don't we have a chat! Hmm?" Sitting on the exam table, she patted the space next to her.

Still nervous that this was some sort of trick like the officer had tried to play on her, Christina slowly moved next to her and took a seat. "Thanks."

"Men are brutes." Tiffany stated with a chuckle. "They have the sensitivity of the average bulldozer!" Seeing that it made the girl smile slightly, she returned the grin. "So why don't you tell me what happened? How did you hit your head?"

Suddenly embarrassed, Christina bit her lower lip nervously. "I... I fell out of bed."

Nodding, the nurse looked at her wisely. "Whose bed?"

Shocked at the insinuation that even she could follow, Christina's jaw dropped. "Mine!" she insisted after a moment.

Shrugging, Tiffany looked away. "Listen. Christina, right?" Seeing the girl nod, she continued. "Christina, I can't help you if I don't have all the facts. So start at the beginning."

"You'd never believe me!" Christina moaned. "Nobody will believe me! Heck! It happened to me and I don't believe me!"

Laughing with the girl's self-deprecating sense of humor, Tiffany bumped shoulders with her. "Try me! You never know, right?"

Knowing that she had to tell the nurse something, she was about to try making something up when she noticed the fringes of a tattoo on the woman's left arm. "What's that?"

"Oh!" Tiffany smiled as she lifted her sleeve, exposing the full image. "That's Lisbeth, Angel of Lost Souls. It's said that when a person is suffering and is truly deserving she'll grant them their heart's desire. My mother used to tell me stories about her! When I went to nursing school, I had her put on my arm so that she'd always remind me to do whatever kindness I could in life."

Stunned once more, she looked into the woman's eyes. "I... I know she does. She... she did that for me. I couldn't remember her name, though."

Thinking the girl was having fun with her, Tiffany played along. "So then, what was your heart's desire? Don't worry! It's not like a birthday wish! When Lisbeth grants a wish, there's no way to lose it!"

With a hard swallow, Christina took a breath and trusted this strange woman with the image of her savior and tormenter on her arm. "I... I wished I could be a girl. I... I was born a boy. My legal name is Walter."

Tiffany's eyebrows shot up at that. Of all the things she'd expected her to say, that never would have even crossed her mind. "Um... OK! Well, you wanna tell me the whole thing? Just start at the beginning and go slow."

Twenty minutes later, Christina was nearly hysterical again. "And then they just wheeled me out and brought me here while my parents stood by and did nothing! They let the cops take their own daughter away! Then lots of stuff happened and the next thing I know that guy is trying to pull my boxers off!"

Listening intently, Tiffany looked away. "Well, if your story were true, I think I could understand why you freaked." Looking back at her, the nurse tried to see the child ever being a boy. "Lisbeth sure did a number on you!"

"What do you mean?"

With a low laugh, Tiffany looked at the girl. "Look at you! You don't look anything like a boy!" She wasn't sure if she believed the girl's story or not, after all, Tiffany did believe in angels, but it was a stretch even for her.

Nodding sadly, Christina sighed. "So now what can I do? I have no birth certificate, no parents, no school enrollment... Heck! I don't even have my shot records to prove I've had all my shots to go to school! They'll probably deport me for being an illegal alien!"

Grimacing, Tiffany looked away. "You might not be wrong. Though they'd have a hard time proving what country you do come from! Your accent is typical Southwestern and no one is going to believe a blonde-haired blue-eyed girl came from Guatemala!" Seeing that it made the glum girl perk up some, she thought for a moment.

"OK, so let's say I believe you." Tiffany began. "I'm not saying that I do, but just for the sake of argument, you say your mom was close to believing you?"

"Yeah." she nodded glumly. "But that greasy tyrant outside basically told them to mind their own business and shipped me here to have my virginity taken by a guy three times my age!"

Laughing gently to show understanding, Tiffany furrowed her brow after a moment. "So, we just need to make Officer Martinez drop his investigation and let you go back home." Tsking, she shook her head. "That's a tall order, girlfriend! See, Officer Martinez really is a good and dedicated cop. All he wants is to see you get home so he can know that you're safe and arrest the scumbag he thinks kidnapped you, did awful things that you can't remember, and dumped you at that house and took Walt."

"So... I'm basically dog-meat." Christina sighed. "A nobody that's gonna end up in a foster home 'till I'm thirty... living under the stairs and eating gruel. That what you're saying?"

"You watch too many movies." Tiffany smirked with a bump of her shoulder. With a mischievous grin, Tiffany put her arm around the girl. "Sorry, girl! You're gonna have to come up with a better story. That one will get you locked up!" Hugging Christina with one arm, she shook her gently. "Why don't you tell me what really happened? I promise, whatever it is, it has to be better than getting labeled as a nut!"

Seeing that even an adult that might believe her wouldn't, Christina shut down and refused to talk. When nearly ten minutes went by with no response, Nurse Downs shook her head and left. After a few minutes alone, Christina got up and moved a chair next to the door to look out the window. Seeing no one outside, she got down, replaced the chair, and slowly cracked the door open.

"What do you mean she's not in the system?" Officer Martinez shouted at the phone. "She has to be! I mean, she's got to be a runaway or something! She has to have a record! She's already a professional con artist!"

Seeing no one directly watching, she quietly slid out of the exam room and down a short hall. Seeing a sign that said, Hospital Staff Only, she pulled the door open and slipped inside.

The room was dark, smelled of sweat and hand sanitizer, and she heard the sound of slow breathing from somewhere off to her left. After her eyes adjusted she saw a resident lying on a couch, light snores coming from the man who'd been at the hospital for thirty hours. Creeping slowly by him, she made her way around a corner until she saw a number of lockers. At the back of the room she saw her one chance at freedom.

There was a door with an exit sign above it.

Gently opening it, she saw daylight beyond and quietly sneaked out. Looking down at herself, she knew she had to find different clothes fast or she'd be right back where she started. Where can I get clothes without money? she wondered. If I just had my cell phone I could at least pawn it, but I have nothing! Even as she considered her problem, she came around a corner and spotted her salvation.

There at the corner of the employee parking lot was a clothing donation bin that was open. Moving quickly, she grabbed the first things she could get before ducking behind the dumpster-sized bin to hide as she changed. Luck was with her when she found she'd grabbed a pair of girl's jeans and a sweater. Changing quickly, she left the pajama bottoms on the ground.

The jeans were too long and loose, but the belt they had with them solved one problem and a few minutes rolling up the cuffs solved the other. The sweater was too hot for the high temperature, but it was enough to give her more time searching through the donations without looking so conspicuous.

Within twenty minutes she had found a pair of girl's shoes, socks, and a pink top that fit. Not long after that she was well on her way down the street and trying to look as nonchalant as possible, even as the hospital was being turned upside down trying to find her.

It took her hours to walk back to her own neighborhood. At first, she wasn't sure where she was going to go, but she figured that starting with her own neighborhood was the best place to begin. As she walked, she kept her eyes open and managed to find some lost change in a gutter. Eventually she began to see a familiar sight; the only payphone within ten miles of her house. She had seen it before, but never had need of it. I'm not even sure how to use it!

Looking around, it was an odd sensation. She knew this gas station. She walked by it on the way to school every day and sometimes even bought gum, sweets, or soda on the way. Now though, the building seemed huge, and the payphone seemed too impossibly tall to use. Her former five-foot-two height would have made it a breeze, but now at a hair under four-foot-five, reaching the coin slot was impossible.

Looking around, she saw a wooden pallet and thought it just tall enough to stand on and use the phone. Trying to pick it up, she nearly jerked her arms out of their sockets. It couldn't weigh more than twenty or thirty pounds, but to her it might was well have been five hundred. The upper body strength that came so easily to her before was simply gone. For the first time in her short life, Christina felt vulnerable.

Being big for her age, at the upper end of height for eleven-year-old boys, she was never picked on, despite her gentle nature. Now at the lower end of size range for eleven-year-old girls, she was pitifully weak by comparison. I hadn't counted on that part. she pondered. Maybe that was one of the questions Lisbeth thought I should ask. She tried reaching the coin slot on tiptoes, but it was just barely out of her reach. She needed help.

It was then that Christina noticed the kids walking home from school. She hadn't realized until just that moment how long she must have been walking, nor how hungry she was, having never gotten breakfast. Holding her stomach, she started looking for anyone who might help her. Spotting Kathy, Lindsey, and Beth walking home together, before she even thought, she heard herself yell out, "Kathy!"

Instantly she realized what she'd done wrong. Kathy and her other friends at school knew nothing about Christina and certainly would never believe that their giant protector who kept the bullies away could become a girl so small she couldn't use a payphone. Her smile evaporated like an ice cube at noon as the three girls turned toward her.

Kathy was especially incensed. Not only was it her that this strange girl had called out to, she'd interrupted the story she was telling about Walt not just being absent, but actually missing. Her eyes narrowed and she turned toward the small girl, storming up to her angrily. "Just who are you that you know my name, little girl? Did I used to baby-sit you?"

Hurt that her best friend was being so mean to her, she tried to hold back the tears, but they came anyway. The stress of the day was just too much and she collapsed onto the pavement, an emotional mess.

"Way to go, Kathy! Wanna take her money, too?" Lindsey admonished her as Kathy just stared with her mouth hanging open at the sobbing girl.

Unable to stem the tide, words just started falling out of Christina's mouth unbidden. "How could you be so mean?" she sobbed. "You were my best friend! I protected you from Jim Sullivan last summer! Now you yell at me when my whole life is falling apart!"

Unable to follow what the girl was saying, even the few words she did catch didn't make any sense to Kathy. "Look, I'm sorry, OK? It's just... my best friend is missing, so I'm really uptight right now! Please don't cry!"

Bringing her tears under control after a moment, she understood Kathy's concern as Beth helped her up off the ground. "I... I'm sorry! I just... I don't have my cell phone and I can't reach the coin slot to use the payphone! Could you guys help me move that wooden pallet over to the phone so I can use it? Please?"

"Here." Kathy offered as she reached into her backpack and retrieved her cell phone. "You can just use mine. Just... be quick OK? I'm hoping to hear back from my friend to know if he's OK!"

Nodding, she looked at her friend's phone that she'd seen a thousand times before. It was eerie looking the Amber alert with her old name on it. "Um... it's kind of an embarrassing call. Can... can I use your phone in the gas station bathroom? That way I can have some privacy?"

Understanding the girl's position, Kathy nodded as the four headed toward the vacant bathroom. "Sure. By the way, I don't remember your name."

"Um... it's Christina. I don't think you know me, but I know you though... through Walt. He... he and I are sort of related."

The three girls immediately brought Christina to a halt, Kathy physically taking the girl by the shoulders to make Christina face her.

"You're related to Walt?" she cried. "Where is he! IS he OK? Please!"

Seeing the near panic and desperation in her best friend's eyes, Christina couldn't let her worry. "He... he's OK. They found him. He... he'll have to go away for a while though. Maybe a long time. He kinda got hurt when someone got in his house last night. I can't say how. He won't let me." She was trying to pick her words carefully so as to not lie to her friends.

"Oh, God!" Kathy nearly broke down herself. "My Walt? Hurt? No!"

Seeing her even more distraught, Christina tried to lessen it. "It's OK! He'll be fine! He just... he needs time to heal is all! He had to go to the hospital, then he went someplace else, but I promise he'll be OK! Please don't cry, Kathy!" Her friend's tears were threatening to make Christina's return. Why am I crying so much! I never used to cry this much before!

Getting herself under control, Kathy nodded. "OK. If you say so, Christina. Go ahead and use the bathroom. I'll wait out here." Turning to her other two friends, she sniffed back her tears. "Why don't you guys go on home. I... I'll call you later, OK?"

As Beth and Lindsey left the two alone, waving goodbye, Christina entered the filthy bathroom and locked the door behind her. Dialing her mother's cell phone number, she waited anxiously as it rang. She jumped when the line picked up, she was so nervous.

"Kathy?" Ruth answered desperately. "Kathy, do you know where Walt is? I promise he's not in trouble! I... I just need to know he's OK!"

Lowering her voice as low as it would go, Christina did her best imitation of her old voice. "Mother?"

"Walt!" she screamed into the phone. "Walt, baby! Where are you? Are you with Kathy?"

"Um... yeah." Christina growled. "I... um... I'm sorry I worried you, Mother. I didn't mean to."

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she begged. "You sound sick! Why won't you come home? Who was that girl in your room? Talk to me baby!"

"Um... I can't come home Mother. I was... changed."

More confused than ever, Ruth could only listen as words utterly failed her.

"Mother? That girl was me." Slowly, she let her voice shift up to her new normal tone. "When I was five, you asked me if I was a girl and I said no. Then I told you that boys were stupid and one of them pushed Kathy over at recess and I told on him and got him in trouble. When I was seven, you asked me if I liked boys and I told you boys were gross and I couldn't marry a boy because I was one." Pausing a moment, she waited for a reply.

Slowly lowering herself into the chair at the dining room table, Ruth still couldn't answer. Logic defied what she was hearing, but still she was starting to have a hard time letting it make sense any other way.

"Mother? Are you still there?" Christina begged. "Mother, I want to come home! I... I ran away from the police. Can... can I come home, Mother? Please?"

Unable to handle what she was hearing, that 'Walt' was somewhere with Kathy and that Christina girl and her 'son' was feeding the girl things to say that would convince her that the impossible was true, she hung up. Ruth was stunned that the child she knew and loved was trying to pull off such a cruel trick. Why is he doing this to us? she wondered. What did we do? Where did we go wrong?

"Bye, Mother. I love you." she said to dead air. Noticing that her cheeks were wet, she used some toilet paper to dry them before opening the door to return Kathy's cell phone. When she looked up at Kathy, she saw the astonished look on the bigger girl's face.

"C... Christina?" she asked in astonishment. "Is... is that really you Walt?"