magic

At dusk, a young woman walks hurriedly across the pedestrian bridge near the museum. Although she looks like she’s only sixteen, with her striking purple curls, red-rimmed glasses and colorful clothes, she is actually twice that age.
Halfway she stops at the railing, digs up a shiny black pebble from her jacket pocket, looks at it longingly one last time, and then resolutely throws it into the river. As soon as it hits the water, it bursts into a rainbow of colors, which disappear again a few seconds later, as she blinks away her tears.
Six months ago, her beloved grandmother – her last remaining family member – gave her the mysterious pebble on her deathbed. The precious little thing, grandma explained, could make dreams come true if she rubbed it with her fingers in the safety of a coat pocket or trouser pocket. Dreams of herself or of people dear to her.
But, Grandma Betty warned, the stone will always seek balance!
Before she could ask her for further explanation, grandma had sadly breathed her last.
She cries because she misses her grandmother, but especially because of the suffering she unintentionally caused. Although she has since fulfilled many beautiful dreams of herself and others, terrible things have happened in her neighborhood around those same times, such as sudden illnesses, storms, accidents and even deaths.
At first she had attributed it to chance, but now she understands that she caused all that misery herself! The balance of the pebble!
She wipes away her last tears, leaves the bridge with slumped shoulders and trudges through the darkening streets back home.