They Granted Her 100 Wishes And Forgot I Was Dying Too Chapter 01

Everyone could see the countdown above the girl who’d been raised in my place. They knew she was a traveler from another world, due to vanish in a hundred days.

They set out to fulfill a hundred wishes for her, making up for everything she’d missed.

Her first wish: to see me treated as though I didn’t exist.

On my birthday, no matter how hard I cried or begged, not one of the other four people in our little group spoke to me.

Her twelfth wish: to see how long I could last without food or water.

They locked me in the basement over Christmas. I survived two weeks by drinking foul water.

Her seventy-ninth wish: to see if a bungee jump would kill me, given my heart condition.

They pushed me from nearly 33,000 feet in the air. I spent two weeks in the hospital fighting for my life.

I thought that if I could just survive the hundred days, everything would go back to normal.

Then came her ninety-seventh wish: to marry the man I’d dated for seven years.

As Evan Parker and I headed in to get married, everyone stopped me outside the courthouse.

My best friend was frantic, her eyes red.

“Maya, please let Molly and Evan get married first. She’s about to disappear from this world… I’m begging you.”

My childhood friend looked indignant.

“Molly only has a few wishes left before she goes, and you still want to take this from her? How did I never realize you were this cruel?”

My own brother, who’d sworn since we were children to protect me for the rest of my life, twisted my hand until the bone snapped.

“As long as I’m here, you’re not setting foot inside that courthouse!”

Evan came out of the courthouse with an arm around Molly and two copies of their marriage certificate, accepting everyone’s congratulations.

What they didn’t know was that I had come from another world, too.

Once they’d given Molly all the love that had once been mine, I was the one who would disappear.

…

“We choose each other as husband and wife. From this day forward, we’ll love and honor each other for the rest of our lives!”

While I cried and struggled outside, the couples in the courthouse were reciting the final lines of their vows.

Evan dropped to one knee and slipped a wedding ring onto Molly’s finger.

It was the diamond ring I’d wanted for years. I’d kept it saved at the bottom of my favorites, waiting for the day Evan would slip it onto my finger.

Now it sat on Molly’s ring finger.

Evan looked away from the anguish on my face and gathered Molly into his arms.

“Happy wedding day, Molly.”

Right in front of me, they embraced and kissed to the sound of cheers.

I couldn’t bear what I was seeing. My legs gave out and I collapsed.

My brother took that as surrender and let go of the hand he’d broken.

“It’s just a little injury. Molly’s about to disappear. Can’t you deal with it?”

I looked up, my vision blurred.

“She’s not the one who’s going to disappear. I am.”

My best friend, Sophie Lane, snapped.

“Maya Bennett, are you done? You’d even lie about this for attention? Grow up.”

My childhood friend, Ryan Brooks, joined in, his face full of disgust.

“Everyone can see the countdown over Molly’s head. Making up a lie like that for sympathy is sick.”

No one believed me.

They crowded around Molly, talking over one another to tell her not to let it bother her.

Molly lowered her eyes as the number above her head ticked down to exactly seventy-two hours. She looked hurt, as though she was trying not to show it.

Someone suggested a celebratory photo, and they immediately crowded together.

Evan and Molly stood in the middle. My brother, Sophie, and Ryan stood on either side, leaving a space right where I should have been.

The camera flashed. Then they all pulled out their phones.

Sophie came over and held up her screen.

“Molly’s ninety-eighth wish is to spend her last three days with the four of us, without you.”

“For the next three days, you’re a stranger to us. Don’t come bothering us.”

She tapped her screen, unfriended me, and blocked my number right in front of me.

Ryan did the same without a second thought.

“Should’ve done that ages ago.”

Pain tightened in my chest. I turned to my brother. “Ben, you too?”

He said nothing, tapped at his phone, and showed me the screen.

He’d blocked me. He’d even had my name struck from the family’s shared records.

“Molly grew up without a family’s love. She just wants all of ours to herself for this last little while.”

“Be reasonable. Don’t get hung up on paperwork. When she’s gone, I’ll make it up to you.”

He said it as if it were obvious.

“I don’t want that.”

I shook my head desperately, crying so hard I could barely breathe. “Please, Ben. Don’t throw me out of the family.”

For the first fifteen years of my life, Molly enjoyed a carefree childhood, adored as the Bennetts’ daughter.

Meanwhile, I suffered abuse and bullying in foster care.

By the time I finally found my family, our parents had died in an accident two years earlier while searching for me.

My only comfort was that my biological brother, Ben Bennett, was still there.

After everything I’d been through, I couldn’t survive losing my family again.

“Evan, please talk to Ben. You know how much having a family means to me…”

I tried to reach for Evan’s jacket. Before I’d taken half a step, my brother kicked me in the shoulder.

“Evan is Molly’s husband now. He’s a stranger to you. Keep your hands off him!”

I hit the ground hard. The edge of a step dug into my back, and the pain knocked the breath out of me.

“Quit pushing your luck.”

My brother turned and followed the others.

Evan kept Molly close and never looked back.

As they walked away laughing and talking, they looked just like the five of us used to.

I curled on the ground in pain. A faint, hot sting spread across my right palm.

When I opened my hand, a pale red number appeared.

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