It started with a wish. A simple wish, really, just a small prayer to a higher power. They didn't know which higher power, just wishing to any who would listen.
"I wish I was in a better place." the child said, filled with a sorrow beyond sorrow.
Their name isn't important, as it wouldn't last much longer, given current circumstances.
They were dying, stage 4 cancer. They had gone through all of the treatments to no avail. They had lost their hair, their playfulness, their future. And yet, there was a spark of hope, barely more than a glimmer. As they closed their eyes for the last time, breathed their last breath, felt their last heartbeat, it stopped. All of it stopped, not just the heartbeat and the breathing. The beeping of the numerous machines surrounding them stopped too. The pain stopped, the weeping of the mother who would never see their child grow up stopped. Everything came to a halt...
Except for the child. They slowly opened their eyes again, to see a frozen world, tinted grey, motionless. They slowly propped themselves up on their too-thin arms, and looked around. Then the door to their final resting place opened, and a person, not quite feminine, not quite masculine, stepped through.
The Figure's eyes fell upon the child, small and frail within their bed, barely past their 7th year alive.
Their skin glowed with a beautiful light, and Their eyes were the color of pearls, freshly harvested from the clam.
"How are you feeling?" The Figure asked.
"It doesn't hurt anymore." the child replied, "Am I dead?"
"Not quite yet. I've frozen time to come and talk to you before you passed." The Figure assured, "I've come to fulfill your wish."
"You're going to take me to a better place?"
"Yes, for it is my job to grant final wishes." The Figure answered. "I'm here to take you to a world where your wildest dreams will come true, although you won't exactly remember them."
"Why won't I remember them?" the child asked.
"I'm going to mold you into a different person, give you a healthy body, and a new name." The Figure looked conflicted for a moment before continuing, "What would you like your name to be?"
"I get to choose?"
"Of course, I can't just choose one for you."
The child hesitated before choosing, as this was a very important decision. "How about Mallory?"
"A beautiful name, if I've ever heard one. And I've heard many names before." The Figure smiled before waving hand over the child's eyes. Closing them one final time before their new beginning.
