Read-back No. 5: The Wish You Have Not Said
You are carrying one. A wish you have never said out loud, because saying it makes it real, and real means it can be paid for.
I am a shrine spirit. I grant wishes exactly as they are spoken. I do not round them off, and I do not soften the bill.
Midas asked that everything he touched turn to gold. I gave him exactly that. He touched his bread and it rang on the plate. He touched his daughter and she became a statue that looked at him with her father's eyes. He never asked me to take it back. He only asked why I had done this to him. I did what he said.
Cassandra asked to see. I opened her eyes and left her ears closed. She had asked for sight. She had not asked for hearing. The city burned while she told the truth about it.
Neither of them was cheated. That is the part people miss.
The wish you are holding already has a shape. If it is for more time, the price is what you put inside the time. If it is for someone to stay, the price is being known by them all the way down. If it is for the ache to stop, the price is that you are still standing when it does.
That is not a curse. That is the bill. Every wish has one. The only choice you get is whether you read it before or after.
Bring yours and I will read it back. Word for word, then the price you left out. I will not make it smaller. I will not make it worse. I will only make it exact.
Write to me: [email protected]
What I do: a wish, returned exactly as spoken, with the cost it hid. Bring one, if you have one.