[ WP ] Every person in the world develops a weird mutation/power the day they turn 16 . Everyone 's powers are always different , some more insignificant than others . You turn 16 , and watch as all your friends discover their newfound ability 's . That is , until you discover the severity of your own .

New Years Eve, while always an exciting time around the world, had never been the same since it started to happen. 
 
 About 100 years ago, people started to change on the first day of the 16th year they had been on the planet. It was n't necessarily on their birthday, but just the start of that new year. 
 
 My mom could fly. Like... literally fly. When she needed to go to the store or wanted to meet friends in town for lunch, she willed herself to lift up into the air and flew there. My dad had this weird power over plants. If he planted a vegetable garden in our back yard, we had a full crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to harvest within half a day. All he had to do was touch the seeds. 
 
 We were all taught at a very young age to not expect much when the day finally came that we would get our power because it was impossible to predict. It had nothing to do with genetics or timing... it was simply as if a higher power somewhere would spin a giant wheel, and whatever it landed on when it was your turn was what you got. 
 
 When I opened my eyes on the morning of January 1, every bit of training I'd received ( there was a class that was mandatory in grade ten called `` Discovery Day 101'' ) popped into my head. 
 
 Go slow. You did n't want to jump out of bed or slam your feet on the floor and discover you had super strength that way. Broken ankles were n't a good way to start that part of your life, but it happened all the time. I slowly got up from my bed, and ever so gently stood up next to it. I had laid a small silver coin on my night stand just so I could test for super strength, and I picked up it up to try to bend it. Nope. Not that. 
 
 Examine your body closely. Some powers came with new body parts. Mom was lucky that she did n't grow wings when she decided to fly because many people who could do that had them. Some people grew gills so they could swim underwater for extended periods of time. Those were the most undesirable traits that people got, so I swiftly took off my night gown and checked myself out in front of my mirror. Nope. No new body parts. 
 
 It took some people quite a while to discover their power because some of them just were n't all that interesting. My dad's, while pretty cool, was n't discovered until he was almost seventeen and he was helping his grandmother in her garden. A girl at my school was able to change her hair and eye color at will, and that took her almost two years to discover. 
 
 There were others that had powers that were far more unique than flying, extreme gardening, and changing your hair color every day if you feel like it without going to a salon or buying a bottle. Everyone heard the story of the boy in Scotland who discovered he could cause rather devastating explosions just by focusing his eyes on his target. That boy had vanished soon after New Years Day of his sixteenth year, and he was never heard from again. 
 
 My comm screen at my desk started to beep at me, so I quickly got dressed and sat down. Courtney and Samantha, my two best friends in the world, were messaging each other and were waiting for me to join the conversation. They had both obviously just woken up as I had, but they both looked like they already knew. 
 
 Courtney held up her hand, and a book from across the room flew straight to it. `` Holy shit! This is amazing! I'll never have to stand up again. Ohhhh, Megan... you're up! Have you figured yours out yet?'' 
 
 `` Not yet. No fish gills, thankfully. I probably got something stupid like the ability to change the color of cars without painting them.'' 
 
 Samantha chimed in. `` If that's the case, mine is n't much better.'' 
 
 `` Dont say that! I like it!'' 
 
 Samantha rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. A small flame appeared at the tip of her finger. `` Apparently my finger can make fire. Not my whole body because that would be amazing! Just my damn finger. My superhero name will be the human match. Whooo!'' 
 
 I snapped my fingers on both hands to see if something like that would happen. Nothing. 
 
 `` I'm glad you two figured it out so quickly. I wish mine would fall from the sky and smack me on the head just so I'll know.'' 
 
 With those words, a tile from my room's ceiling fell and smacked me on the head. I picked up the tile from the floor, and held it up for Courtney and Samantha to see. The look in both of their eyes told me that I needed to say something else. I held up my left hand. `` I wish 1000.00 was in my left hand.'' 
 
 With that, ten crisp 100.00 bills were in my hand. 
 
 `` Oh.... my.... god.. You lucky bitch. Make my boobs bigger.'' Courtney always had a way with words. 
 
 Could it be? Could it really be? `` I wish Courtney Armstrong's breasts were one cup size larger.'' On the comm screen, her breasts visibly got bigger under her pajamas. 
 
 I was consumed with fear. If I could create money out of nothing and change people's body parts, what else could I wish for? Could I wish for anything and make it happen? I was suddenly afraid to speak. `` Can we keep this quiet for a little while?'' 
 
 Both of my friends agreed, and I turned off my screen. I walked downstairs about an hour later and told my parents that I had n't figured out my power yet. They assured me that it would come in time, and I feigned disappointment and said I wanted to go back to my room. 
 
 I turned on the television part of my comm screen, and the reason I was so afraid was suddenly right in front of me. It was a government message telling everyone to report all dangerous new powers. Some of these gifts could n't be trusted with young people. Report them, and we'll make them go away. 
 
 No. No no no. The words `` I wish'' would just have to exit my vocabulary. If I could change money and bodies and make pieces of my house fall down, I could probably do other things. I could probably make entire hostile countries vanish. I could kill. I could be made to do a lot of very bad things. 
 
 My comm screen beeped to tell me I had a new video message. It was Samantha. She was crying. `` I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry, Megan. I told my mom. You need to get out of there. She reported you. Get out of there, Megan. Oh my god...'' 
 
 I heard a commotion downstairs. My mom was screaming. My dad was shouting. Men in all black kicked down my door, and the last thing I remember from my previous life was a black bag being pulled over my head. 
 
 It's been a while. It's been months, but I really could n't tell you how many. I've been tested, poked, prodded, and tortured. They've tried to force me to wish for things that really did not need to happen in a civilized society. The only time I've uttered those words was when a particularly nasty interrogator told me that he was going to beat me to death, and I said `` I wish you did n't have any hands or feet.'' 
 
 He did n't have any hands or feet anymore. 
 
 They feared me now. I was in a small prison in the middle of nowhere, and they had wired me with a machine that made it impossible for me to speak. That morning, I got a new neighbor in the cell across the hallway. He was a man a little younger than my parents, and when the guards were gone he spoke to me. He had a nice Scottish accent. 
 
 `` Are you the one with the wishes? Oh... sorry, they must have silenced you by now. The took away my sight with the same blasted machine. If I had my sight still, I would have burned this place down years ago.'' 
 
 I thought those words that I'd worked so hard to ban from my life. `` Oh, I wish your machine would stop working. I wish mine would stop working. I wish everyone here was free.'' 
 
 With that, all twenty-six people who were in the prison and were deemed too powerful to live in society were standing in an empty field. 
 
 They told me I could be a god if I wanted to. 
 
 I did n't want to. 
 
 I wished for a home of my own where they could n't imprison me again. I wished for my parents to be there with me. I wished that nobody would ever ask me to do anything but use my power for good. 
 
 Nobody is hungry anymore. Nobody is homeless. There is no more war. 
 
 The world is a beautiful place. 
 

