Be Careful What You Wish For

Kaari panicked when she was standing there alone. She heard a stir in the bushes beside her. "Nika? Is that you?" Her response was a swift blow to the back of the head, and her mind went to black. Nika dropped the tree branch and knelt down to her side. "I'm sorry, my friend." she whispered softly as she stroked her cheek.

"Kaari! Wait up!" Nika called, smiling and running after her blonde haired friend. She grabbed the cart and ran foolishly with it bouncing around behind her. It was early Saturday morning, and it was time for them to get firewood once again. The girls were assigned this job after they proved themselves unworthy of gathering, and could not cook even a fish without burning or ruining it.

"Do you think my grandfather will be mad if we decide to go down to the river instead?" Kaari asked her mischievously. "Of course he would. We did that last week. Remember?" Nika scolded. "Oh yes," she said disheartened, "I forgot." They joked and laughed, trying to make time pass by faster. It took about an hour and a half to walk to the forest, and it took even longer walking back with a cart full of wood.

Nika always pulled the cart, and did most of the work loading the wood into the cart. Kaari was a very delicate girl, and extremely beautiful. Her straight hair fell around her heart shaped face, framing it perfectly, and her green eyes revealed playfulness. Nika, on the other hand, was the rational one. Though both girls were a few years into adulthood, the people of Fianga treated them like children because of their inability to perform the simple tasks they were assigned.

"We should hurry," Nika suggested, "it looks like rain."

Their feet patted softly on the sandy trail. Nika closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as her dark hair waved in the wind. She loved the way everything outside smelled so fresh. Exhaling loudly, she opened her eyes. Her stomach plummeted before floating upwards, and her heart began racing.

Lufku was strolling out of the forest toward them with his ax slung across his shoulder. Nika was crazed with her love for him, and had been ever since childhood. She thought he was the most amazing creature to walk the earth. He was generous, caring, and a hard worker. For these traits, he was admired throughout the entire village, but no one adored him as much as Nika.

Her heart pounded faster and faster with each step they came closer to each other. When they were finally close enough to talk to him, she felt as though her heartbeat was cutting off the circulation to her brain, because she could not get herself to say anything. "Good morning." he greeted them both. Nika smiled brightly. "Good morning Lufku. How are you today?" asked Kaari. He removed the ax from his shoulder, resting it on the ground. "I am great. The forest is beautiful today." he commented, changing the topic. "The forest is beautiful every day." Nika piped. He smirked knowingly. "This is true."

Kaari looked annoyed. "Nika, we should really get going." She nodded at the request, and continued to stare into his eyes. She knew she loved him with her entire heart, and hoped that one day he would feel the same toward her. "I will see you both tonight." he said, picking up his ax and continuing his journey back to the village.

She was stuck in a daze thinking about Lufku for the rest of the day, and when she finally snapped out of it, she was sitting in her hut alone after the evening meal. It was pouring outside, and as she sat listening to the rain pound on the structure around her, Kaari hurried in the door, slamming it behind her.

"Nika! You will never believe this! Lufku has come to my grandfather to ask for my hand in marriage!" She couldn't believe her ears. "What?" she asked, confused. Nika's anger was growing by the second. "Are you okay?" Kaari asked, but Nika couldn't even stand to look at her anymore. She felt betrayed in the worst way. Kaari didn't love Lufku. She would never be a good bride to him. Nika was the only one who appreciated his every aspect. "You can't marry him." she demanded. "You just cannot." "Nika, it is already decided." she retorted. "You don't understand." Nika turned away from her. "You may think he loves you Nika, but he does not. Otherwise he would have asked you, and not me. You are just going to have to accept that. I will see you in the morning." Kaari said, bidding her farewell, and briskly leaving the hut.

Nika felt as though the room was spinning. All she could think to do was consult Hakima, the town elder. Surely she would have an answer.

She didn't even take the time to wrap a shawl around herself before running out into the sprinkle that the downpour had rapidly died down to. She swiftly made her way through the village, and up to the door of Hakima's hut.

She readied herself to knock, raising her hand, but heard a voice call, "come in" before her knuckles could rap against it.

She entered the hut cautiously. "Ah, young Nika." Hakima cooed lovingly. "Come. What do you seek?"

Nika gulped and sat in the chair she was directed to. Hakima had gotten up, and was rifling around through the assortment of strangely shaped bottles she had on the various shelves cut into the wall.

"It is Lufku. Is it not?" she inquired. The whole village of Fianga could feel the infatuation permeating the air. "I have heard Kaari is to be his bride though. Is this true?" "Yes." Nika fought back tears. She finally grabbed the bottle she seemed to be looking for. Returning to the table, she sat the bottle between them, pulled off the cap, and the aroma immediately wafted right into Nika's nose. She cringed, but remained silent.

After a minute or so Hakima laughed, replacing the cap and returning the bottle to it's appropriate spot on the cluttered shelf. She often used this test to know whether or not villagers could take her advice, for her guidance was just like the scent; most of the time very strange and sometimes made one uncomfortable.

"So what must I do?" Nika asked her.

Sitting down in the opposing chair, Hakima's face grew very serious. "You know why Lufku will have Kaari's hand, do you not?" she said eerily. "I do." replied Nika. "Then surely you must know how to stop the marriage." She paused. "You must possess her beauty.

Nika was confused. "But how would I do that?"

"I am afraid that I cannot tell you that. That is for you to figure out." Hakima grabbed her wrist. "You must be careful, for once you do what will be done, I know of no magic able to reverse such a deed, and you might just find yourself…" she paused, searching for the proper word, "trapped." Standing up, she offered her last piece of advice. "Now go, Nika, but remember; Be careful what you wish for."

"Thank you Hakima." Nika said gratefully as she left the hut. She was still confused, and wasn't sure of what to do. She stayed awake almost the whole night, trying to decide what should be done. When she finally realized what it would come down to, she could not sleep.

The next day, Nika promptly apologized to her friend, and although neither girl mentioned Lufku, he was on both of their minds. She invited Kaari to spend the night with her. Kaari was excited to have her friend back. They spent the day playing childish games and talking about life outside of Fianga, for neither had been outside of the village other than to go to the forest.

It was extremely late at night, and they were both wide awake. "Do you want to go get the wood now? Then we could sleep in later tomorrow." Nika suggested. Kaari was hesitant at first, but finally gave in. As the girls made the long journey to the forest, Nika could feel herself tensing up. Kaari was so oblivious and relaxed, and that made things even worse. "It is so nice out here at night. We should do this more often." Kaari smiled. "Of course," lied Nika, her voice quivering.

Upon reaching the forest, Nika began to plan things out in her head. It was tremendously dark, and she knew it would be hard to see if she slipped away for just a moment. When Kaari looked the other way, she took off, as silent as night. She searched for something, anything to use; When she found it, she felt a chill run down her spine. This is what it came down to. She crept back to where she could keep an eye on Kaari. Nika often took walks at night, and could adapt her eyesight much better than her foolish friend.

She could sense that Kaari was worried, and tried to creep out of the bushes slowly, but they rustled behind her. "Nika? Is that you?" Kaari trembled. Nika ran toward her, swinging the branch to strike her in the back of the head. Kaari dropped to the ground, and Nika released the tree branch. She knelt down beside her, stroking her cheek. "I'm sorry, my friend." she whispered.

The wolves standing by were watching intently, waiting for the proper moment to strike. They saw as the dark haired creature bent down to the lighter haired one, as if to embrace her gently on the cheek. Quietly, they came slinking toward them, when they realized she was not embracing her at all, but was consuming the flesh right off her face. They had never seen a creature eat the face of their own kind, and were repulsed. Turning around, they left the forest to return to their pack.

When daylight was beginning to creep upon Fianga, the buzzards had reached the lifeless girl. Instead of having the same blonde hair as the night before though, this so literally defaced body now possessed hair as dark as soil.

Nika woke up and immediately washed the crusty blood off her face. She felt a pang of remorse that soon disappeared, because after all, she had completed the task. Lufku was sure to be hers now. As she stepped out of her hut, Kaari's grandfather approached her. "There you are! I had no idea where you were. You were late getting the wood this morning Kaari. You must realize you cannot keep doing this. Everyone in this tribe plays an important part in ensuring everything remains in harmony. We have many to take care of, and cannot always pick up your shortcomings. Do you understand?" he reprimanded her, then sighed. "Come now, we have your wedding to plan."

Finally she would be marrying Lufku. Now that the day had finally come, she no longer cared about how long she had waited for it. As she passed by the wash bin across from her hut, she bent down to make sure all the blood was off her face. She looked in horror, because the face looking back at her from the water, was none other than Kaari's.

There was nothing else for her to do but go along with things. She helped Kaari's grandfather plan Kaari's wedding, or rather, her wedding now.

She was holding Kaari's gown, that she would be wearing in just one week, when Hakima stopped in to visit with her grandfather. "Kaari, you do look ever so beautiful. You will make a fine bride. I can think of no other person in all of Fianga more deserving of Lufku than you." she glanced, knowingly, and smiled at her just as she did a few days prior. Nika could hear her voice ringing through her head. Be careful what you wish for.

The village went crazy when they found Nika's body at the entrance of the forest that same day. Of course, it was her precious Lufku who found her faceless corpse. Nika had planned that the animals would have taken the body for food, but no creature had bothered to consume the cursed carcass.

One week after the discovery of the corpse, Nika was climbing into bed after a long day of celebrating her marriage to Lufku. She had finally gotten what she wanted, but was still nervous about what Hakima had told her.

The first thing she did when she awoke in the morning, was run to the bucket of water she had fetched the night before. She examined her face, wanting to make sure that this was all real, and that nothing had changed. Although the person she saw was the same, it was trapped in a strange bottle that looked just like those she had seen in Hakima's hut. No matter how hard she tried to smash her encasing, it seemed to be impenetrable.

She ran as fast as she could to Hakima's hut, hoping no one would see her, and without even knocking, burst right in. The old woman was sitting in a chair, facing the door as if she had been waiting for Nika to enter.

"Be careful what you wish for." she said, smirking.