Fifteen year-old Jenna Styles walked towards the door as the door bell rang. She looked at the grandfather clock standing in the living room and frowned. It was one in the morning. Who would be visiting at this time? Jenna's parents were out of town and her ninety year-old grandmother was fast asleep in her room.
Jenna silently marched towards the door and unlocked it. She turned the door knob and slowly opened the door. Jenna looked around but she could not see anyone. Strange! She thought. She took a step outside. Her foot knocked on something hard on the ground. Jenna looked down to see a black box, lying at her feet. It had a silver ribbon running around it with a big bow right on the top. Someone had left a gift.
Jenna picked it up. It was a little heavy. She looked around one more time to see if the person who left the parcel was still around. She couldn't see anyone. Jenna walked back into the house and locked the door behind her. What could this possibly be? Who was it for? Jenna turned the box around, looking for a name. There was no name.
Jenna walked into the living room and switched on the television. She didn't want to go back to sleep. She was awake at 1 am simply because she wasn't in the mood to sleep. Just couple of days back she had found her boyfriend, Will, cheating on her. What was even worse was that he had been cheating on her with none other than her own best friend, Katie. She wasn't even that pretty but clearly, Will found her more attractive. But right now Jenna was distracted from all of that. Clearly this mystery box was far more interesting than her sloppy love life.
Jenna increased the volume of the TV and jumped onto the sofa with the mystery box on her lap. "Ok, now let's see what you are." She calmly removed the silver bow and started unpacking the box. She opened the lid of the box which revealed a glass ball. A crystal ball? She wondered. Nah! That's a myth! Jenna didn't believe in magic. However the crystal ball sure was amazing. It had a nice bronze stand and the glass was simply shinning. It was so beautiful to look at. She looked hard at the ball leaning closer towards it. Closer... closer... closer... The tip of her nose was now almost touching the surface.
'You have one wish!' Jenna jumped back as the words flashed across the crystal ball. "Wow, interesting effect!" The surface must have some kind of heat sensor inside it. That's why it flashed just as she went closer, she thought. "Ok," Jenna said, as if she was challenging the crystal ball. "Since I don't believe in magic I'll make one wish! Let's see if it works!" Jenna smiled. Only one face appeared in her mind as she thought about what she wanted. How many times had she wished for Katie to disappear? Nothing had happened before, and she was sure nothing will happen now. But she wanted to try it anyway. "I wish that Katie Simpson will disappear forever!" She looked around, half expecting something to happen. Flickering lights? Earthquake? Nothing! Oh how stupid! She thought, laughing at herself. She looked at the TV to watch the last ten minutes of Fright Night, and turned it off. Horror movies are stupid, she thought as che put the crystal ball back into the box and carried it into her bedroom. An hour had passed since she had opened the door. It was now time to sleep.
Jenna had had a peaceful morning the following day. She had forgotten all about the crystal ball, and hadn't seen Katie or Will the entire day. She followed her normal routine of classes and had a normal lunch. During the first lecture after lunch her principal, Mr Matthews had come running into the classroom and had said something to her class teacher, Mrs Smith. Mrs Smith had immediately cancelled the lecture and rushed out with Mr Matthews.
"I wonder what that was about," Jenna said to Mary, the girl who sat beside her.
"Oh dint you hear?" Mary asked.
"Hear what?"
"Katie is missing," Jenna's heart stopped as she looked at Mary.
"Missing?" Jenna muttered.
"Yeah!" Mary continued. "No one has seen her since last night. Her parents say she went to bed but in the morning when her mom went into her room she wasn't there! No one has heard from her and none of her friends know where she is!"
"Oh!" Was it her fault? Jenna wondered. She had wished for Katie to disappear! "I gotta go."
Jenna picked up her books and ran out of the classroom. She couldn't stay for another lecture. She packed her bag and ran home, straight into her room and shut the door behind her. She threw the bag onto her bed and picked up the mystery box off her dresser. If the crystal ball had really done it maybe she could reverse it back. She didn't have any intention of actually hurting Katie. Where was she? Was she ok? Could she be... dead?
Jenna opened the box to pick up the crystal ball. No! The box was empty! Where was it? Jenna looked around, trying to think if maybe she did not put the crystal ball into the box last night. As she searched the dresser she suddenly spotted something that wasn't there before. A glass doll stood on her dresser. It had long blonde hair, wore a stripped pyjama and had dark eyes. Katie! Jenna picked up the doll. She felt tears curling up in her eyes. She wanted the spell reversed! "I wish for this spell to reverse!" She screamed. She looked at the doll as she suddenly felt her hand become stiff. She dropped the doll onto the bed as she felt herself shrink. No! This wasn't happening! "Noooo!" Jenna screamed.
Katie opened her eyes and looked around. Was this Jenna's room? How did she get here? She wondered. Where was Jenna? She stood up and sported a doll lying on the ground. She picked it up. This doll looked so much like Jenna! It was even wearing a cheerleader costume! How stupid of Jenna to keep a doll of herself! Katie thought, laughing. She picked the doll up and put it into a black box she had spotted on the side of the dresser.
"Jenna!" Katie called out. "Wherever you are, I'm going home!" Katie walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.
