Sitting in the car, I looked into the distance, as my brother Harry drove us deeper into the countryside. We were driving to our grandparents' house set far, far away from the rest of civilization, for a simple visit. But where was it? For miles and miles, all I could see was dry grass waving in the light breeze. We had left the city two hours ago, and I still couldn't see anything.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" I asked, turning to look at him. He shook his head. "Just following my trusty GPS," he said, nodding at his phone. I picked it up and looked at the map - no sign of humanity anywhere near us. "You can't just keep driving like this, you know," I stated, placing the phone back next to him. "We'll be fine, don't worry," he replied in an exasperated voice.

I sighed and sat back. Just then, my phone rang. We both jumped in our seats from the sudden noise. I fumbled in my handbag for the phone, found it, and aggressively hit the Answer button before the call was cut. "Hello?" I mumbled, still a bit shocked.

"Where are you?" A masculine voice floated through the phone. "Dave!" I exclaimed, looking at Harry. He whipped his head around and looked at me, shock written all over his face. "We're on our way to our grandma's house." He huffed. "Fine. Bye," he said abruptly. "Wait, what-" he cut the phone before I could finish my sentence. I took the phone away from my ear. "What?" Harry asked. "He just cut the phone," I said.

"Huh," he said simply, letting out his breath. He looked back at the road. I put my phone into my bag and set my eyes on the road. I still couldn't spot any kind of settlement nearby. As I stared at the road, my mind drifted off, and old memories of Harry and me playing with my grandparents began coming to my head. I remembered one incident when Harry and I were playing in their backyard and he accidentally cut his hand on a bush, and I cut my hand trying to help him. We both started crying heavily, and our grandfather bandaged our hands, and our grandmother made cookies.

I started smiling at the memory and Harry looked at me like I was retarded. "Why are you suddenly smiling?" he asked. "Just thinking," I replied. He shook his head and looked back at the road.

After another hour of what seemed like infinity, we finally spotted a brown mansion in the distance, which we reached after 15 minutes. It seemed empty from the outside, surrounded by dusty land in all directions. Harry parked the car in front of the house, and we both stepped out to survey it. "Oh, goodie," I grinned, and walked up to the front door. Harry joined me on the porch as I knocked on the door.

Harry pushed me slightly to the side, pulling out a bunch of keys from his pocket. "You have keys?" I asked, puzzled. "Since when did you have keys?" "Since a long time ago," he claimed. He rattled one of the keys around in the lock and opened the door. A cloud of dust came out. "It's so dusty," I stated, coughing. "Yeah," he said. "And where are they?" I asked. "How am I to know?" he snapped. I raised my eyebrows and stepped past him into the house. But he does know, a small voice whispered in my mind. I shook my head.

"They've probably just gone out," he said, sighing. I nodded. "Anyway," I continued. "I'm stepping out into the garden. You can wait for them here all alone." I looked back at him to see his reaction. He waved his hand. "Go ahead," he said. I turned front and walked up to the back door. "Bye, Harold!" I said, and chuckled at the sound of him wincing. He had always hated being called by his full name.

I reached the back door and carefully pulled it open, scared it would tear off its hinges. It felt like nobody had used it for years. I stepped out, shutting the door behind me, and my jaw dropped. I was facing a garden, filled with trees and bushes and flowers, so green and beautiful. I walked into it, smelling the sweet air, enjoying the slight breeze blowing.

I noticed that the garden was quite long, and as I kept walking, I reached a well in what I presumed to be the middle of the garden. I stopped next to it, and gazed into the well.

"There's a legend about this well, you know," I heard a voice out of nowhere. I almost fell into the well out of shock. I whipped around, and saw a tall man, dressed in a neat blue shirt and a pair of black trousers, and a black coat. He had a contemplative look on his face. He was staring into the distance, and slowly turned his gaze on me. "Well, do you?" he questioned. I blinked, still in a stupor. He waved his hand in my face. "Hello? Can you see, hear, talk...?" I snapped out of my trance. "Yes, I can." I quickly composed myself. Who was this man? He looked about my age, but had this look of experience and wisdom in his eyes.

"Well, you still didn't answer my question," he stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Do you?" "Do I what?" I asked, confused. "Do you know that there's a legend about this well?" he enquired. "I... No," I declared. I had no idea what he was talking about. A frown appeared on his face. "Well, there's a legend that says that if you throw a coin into this well and make a wish, then your wish will come true. You haven't heard of that?" He interrogated. "I have, but I didn't know it applied to this well," I said.

"Do you believe it?" he questioned again. I shrugged. "Never really thought about it," I answered honestly. Liar, the voice whispered again. I shook my head. "Ah," he grinned. "But, what you don't know is that legend is true. Well, not exactly." "You say 'Well' a lot," I observed. He was facing the well, correcting his tie, and the next second, he's...not a he. There was a girl in a beautiful white gown, fingering a blue necklace hanging around her neck. I stepped back in shock. "What ARE you?" I asked in a voice a few octaves higher than normal. I was scared.

The girl turned to face me. "Well, we have many names, all of which I'm pretty sure you don't know. We're quite a secret race," the girl addressed me in a regal tone. "Race? So, you're not human?" I asked dumbly. My brain wasn't working after what I had just seen. "Have you ever seen a human who can change his form?" She asked in a bored voice. "NO, we are NOT human." "Th-th-that's not p-possible," I stammered.

"Oh, darling, we can look however we want to look." She changed back into the man in the coat. "I like this better, though. I look smart," he said.

"Who are you?" I asked. Oh, you know. The voice again. I clenched my fist. "You can call me Dave," he said, sticking out his hand. I ignored it, trying to figure out what was happening. "I'm the Wish-Keeper in charge of this well," he asserted.

"Wish-Keeper?" "Well, yeah. We're spread all over the world. And I'm quite sure you haven't heard of us." I shook my head in disbelief. "So, what do you do?" I questioned.

"Well, you make a wish after throwing a coin into a wish-making well- mind, ONLY a wish-making well, because we've gotten so many complaints of not getting wishes fulfilled when you didn't throw it into a wish-making well, we can't be everywhere, you know- so, yeah, and we receive your wish and we make sure it comes true," he finished. I raised my eyebrows. How was my mind making all this stuff up? "So...what if somebody asks for 'End the world' or something like that?" I enquired.

"Ah," he wiggled his eyebrows. "Company secrets. Not allowed to say." I rolled my eyes. "I know exactly what you want," he continued. "Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrows. "What do I want? Enlighten me," I stated. He knows, the annoying little voice whispered again. I shook my head. "You want to know where you're grandparents are," he said, slowly. "You want to know that they're okay." You already know. I gritted my teeth and looked at the ground. The voice was driving me crazy. Where was it coming from? "Am I right?" He added.

I stood there, not knowing what to say. Was he right? I was curious about where my grandparents were. Harry had told me that they were probably nearby, getting ready for our visit, but for some reason, I didn't believe him. Why? Oh, you know why, the irritating voice whispered again. "Helen?" I heard a raspy voice. My head snapped up. There was my grandfather, standing there, smiling at me. He was dressed exactly like Dave. His white hair was messy, like he had been standing in a strong gale. That was exactly how he had looked the last time I had seen him.

I gasped. "Grandpa?" I screamed. The old man shook his head. "You know I'm not your grandpa, sweetie," a feminine voice spoke. Standing in front of me, in place of my grandpa, was my grandma, in her white gown, her gray hair streaked with black pulled into a messy bun. There was a faded blue ncklace hanging around her neck, the exact same one as when Dave changed into a girl. She was also smiling at me. She was also looking the exact same way as the last time I saw her. "Grandma," I whispered.

The edges of my vision were starting to blur. You know everything, you know, you know, the voice in my head sang. What was happening? I was so confused. Everything slowly became black. The last thing I saw was sunlight streaming through the treetops.

* * *

I opened my eyes slowly, everything extremely blurry. I felt something hard underneath me. I could hear voices talking. I blinked a few times to clear my vision. The same voices were saying my name. I didn't move, so I could keep listening to them.

"Has she had some sort of tragic accident in her life, something to cause her trauma?" A calm male voice asked. "When we were kids, our parents passed away in a plane crash. She was just 2 years old, and that hardly affected her. We were raised by our grandparents, who we lost last year. Helen's been like this ever since," I heard Harry say. Harry? Why was he talking about me? What did he mean, our grandparents were dead. I blinked once or twice, trying to clear my mind. My head was spinning again.

"Well, according to our reports, she's going through intense trauma. She is unable to accept that they've passed away, resulting in a slight form of amnesia. In place of the memories of their death, she's made up other memories in her mind which are more satisfactory for her," the other man spoke

"I understand, doctor," Harry stated. Doctor? I was in a hospital? "Is there any way we can help her?" he asked, in a hopeful voice. "Dave, he added. I heard the flipping of pages. "You'll need to take her to see a therapist," the doctor replied. I gasped ever so quietly at the mention of the name Dave and tried to sit up. I groaned and Harry rushed to my side. "Are you okay, Helen?" Harry enquired in a scared voice. "They're n-not d-dead," I mumbled through gritted teeth. I felt horrible. The pain was blinding.

Harry caught me as I collapsed back on my bed. "Helen!" Harry exclaimed. "It's okay, you're all right, you're fine," he kept saying, over and over again. Suddenly, everything became peaceful. I saw my grandmother sitting at the edge of my bed, patting my leg, telling me that I'm fine. I relaxed in his hands. "Hey, grandma," I said, smiling. I looked at Harry. There were tears in his face, and he mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked, confused. He shook his head. Grandma was gone. Everything became white.

I was standing in my grandparents' backyard again. Dave was standing in front of me, his hand on the well next to him."You know, there's a legend about this well," he said, patting it. I nodded. "Yeah, I know, you told me," I stated simply. "Oh no, I didn't tell you this," he said. "This well is said to tell people what's real and what's not real." I raised my eyebrows as I realized what he was coming to. "And, you know what's real?" he ventured, and I shook my head, scared of what he was going to say next. "The fact that your grandparents are dead."

I woke up with a scream, and I felt Harry grip my hand and murmur, "It's alright, Helen, it's okay, I'm right here." I took a deep breath and turned to look at Harry. "Are they dead?" I asked in a shaky voice. Harry's eyes widened. "I-" "Are they dead?" I shouted at him. He opened his mouth slightly, and he slowly nodded. Tears filled my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded quietly. "You were there, Helen, you saw them, but, you weren't willing to accept it," he said, his voice breaking. "How?" I asked, looking him in the eyes. He sighed, looking at my hand. "The well. Grandpa died trying to save the well, and Grandma died trying to save him," he whispered. I wiped the tears from my face. And suddenly, I realized who Dave was, and why he looked so familiar. Dave looked exactly like Grandpa in his college days. There was this photo of Grandpa in his younger days, standing in front of the well. I pulled Harry into a hug and cried even harder at my realization.

I had mixed up all the memories of what had happened after their death and made into something that I was capable of believing. I created Dave out of the doctor, my grandfather and the infamous well.

As I cried, memories of Harry and me playing in front of the well flashed through my mind, followed by the horrific death of my grandparents, which I remembered to the most miniscule of details, but it felt like I was watching it for the first time. It made me cry harder.

And I realized that the things you have always leave you at some point or the other. If not, you leave them. Your brain is capable of not accepting their leaving and creating something extraordinary just to keep you sane, which was proven from my little amnesiac adventure. But, in the end, it's your heart which decides whether you accept it or not. My heart had chosen my most vivid memory of my grandparents- the well- and turned it into something else to soften the blow.

In the end, it had been in my mind, it had been temporary, but somehow, the well had done exactly what it was said to do- it had granted my wish.

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Fin.
Hope you liked it!