Chapter 3

Just one wish? He thought. There are so many things I could wish for. But just one? Eric laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Not only was he trying to figure out what he would wish for, but also if this was legit. There could be a chance it was just a scam, and God knew that the boy would throw a huge tantrum if it was.

"It sounds silly," Eric said to himself, "but at the same time, cool." He sat up and looked out his window. This world, he thought, this world sucks.

A knock on Eric's door suddenly broke his thoughts. "Cartman?" It was Kyle's voice, and then Eric remembered that his friend had sent him a text message about meeting him at his house to play Cowboys and Indians.

He checked the time on the phone and was shocked to see it was past the time he was supposed to arrive. He was so deep in thought about the wish and candle that he hadn't realized an hour had passed.

Eric jumped down from his bed when Kyle knocked on the door some more. He walked over and opened the door, seeing Kyle, Stan, and Kenny standing there. "Dude, why didn't you come to my house?" Kyle asked.

Eric didn't know what to say at that moment, because his mind was still progressing what he was currently thinking about. He didn't want to tell his friends about the wish until he knew for sure that it was real.

"Come on, dude, I thought we agreed on this," Stan said.

Eric blinked twice, finally coming to his senses. He then glared. "I never said I was coming."

His friends were shocked, and all looked at each other before eying Eric suspiciously. "Alright, what are you up to now, Cartman?" Kyle asked in a serious tone. He knew Eric too well that there had to be a big reason of not wanting to join in a game that he was practically the leader of.

"I don't know what you mean, Kyle," Eric said before turning away, hinting that he did not want to join them. At this moment he couldn't come up with a good reason to give them.

"Every time you refuse to do something fun, there's always something bigger you have your eyes on."

Eric knew Kyle was telling the truth, there was no doubt. But he couldn't tell him what it was, at least not now. That suddenly gave the boy the right words to say. He turned back to his friends with a smirk. "There is something bigger."

"What is it?" Kenny muffled, obviously curious.

"Yeah, what's up your sleeve, Cartman?" Stan asked, also curious, yet not exactly sure he would accept it. Kyle was the same way. The two often agreed on the same thing.

"I can't tell you, at least not yet," Eric answered. He knew that he was not lying, but he didn't have to tell them yet what it was. Not until he could find out for himself.

"Come on, dude, just tell us," Stan said in annoyed tone.

Cartman went to his closet and grabbed his cowboy outfit. "I'll meet at your house, Kyle. I'll be ready."

"You better," Stan said, "because there's a new Indian. He challenges us to a duel for whatever you decide to give him. If you lose.

After Eric put his hat on, he turned to his friends with another determined glare. "I won't lose. And I'm not giving him anything that's mine. You do it."

"We already told him that you were the Sheriff," said Kyle. He watched his friend intently. He wasn't surprised that Eric would refuse such a request. He wasn't the type to give to others.

Eric looked at Kyle and stepped up to him. He looked angry, but then his face softened. "Will he give us something if he loses? 'Cause otherwise I won't do it."

"Yeah," Stan answered.

"Okay, I have an idea." Eric rushed over to his nightstand and eyed the music box he got for his birthday. He then picked it up and turned to his friends.

"Cartman, you can't give that up, it was your grandmother's," Kyle said. He was always nagging at Eric about something he did or was about to do. To him, Eric was a selfish idiot.

"Chtt, it's not like she's gonna come back to life and yell at me for it," Eric said. "It was her gift she gave my mom at her death bed. It's a piece of junk, though."

"Cartman." Kyle wanted to say more, but Eric insisted that they all leave at once, and hurry to his house for the war they were about to start. And without any further arguing, they all left.

Kyle only lived a few houses down from Eric, so the walk wasn't long at all. By the time they got there, Butters, Clyde, Craig, Tweek, and Token were all there waiting. Right next to them was a boy Eric had never met before.

So, this is the enemy, Eric thought to himself. He noticed that the boy was holding a Nintendo Switch in his arms. Eric's eyes widened, for it seemed too good to be real. If that was what the boy was going to give up if he lost, then Eric had to win.

"The name is Seth," the unfamiliar boy said.

Eric took a good look at him. He had short silver white hair and was wearing a Broncos T-shirt. He looked like an ordinary boy, but Eric wasn't going to fall for it. "So, I hear you decided to challenge me, Indian." He was already in the spirit of the game.

"Yes," Seth said as he held up the Switch out in front of him. "You take over my land, and I will give you this. What do you have?"

Eric immediately held out his music box while staring at the boy intently. He waited for Seth to respond, but it was taking a while.

Seth did not seem pleased. "That's a music box," he said dully. "In what right mind do you think I would want that?"

Eric smiled. "Ah, it might look like a music box. But really, it is full of power." He didn't know Seth well at all, but he was sure he could fool him with some silly story. He was good at getting peoples' attention.

"Power?" Seth raised a brow.

"Yeah, my grandmother gave it to me. She told me that anybody who gets their hands on it can rule the world! She trusted me to have it."

Kyle rolled his eyes, thinking that was the most ridiculous thing his friend had come up with. Stan agreed, although he didn't show much emotion about it.

"Wait, that's your birthday present," Clyde said behind Eric's shoulder.

"Quiet, Clyde," Eric said quietly, "it's a piece of junk."

Seth stepped closer to Eric and looked at him, his eyes serious. "You have a wonderful backstory, Sheriff. But why would you want to give me this? If it's that special?"

Eric cleared his throat, and nobody else butted in this time. "Same as you, Indian. I don't intend to lose." He sneered over at the boy, who came even closer.

Seth scanned the rest of Eric's friends, and then glanced back over at him. He smiled. "Game on, then."

"Oh geez, Eric," Butters said, as everyone began to get into their positions, "I can't believe you would bet something so powerful."

"It's not really powerful, Butters," Eric said,irritated, "I made it up. I have nothing to lose here."

"Oh, okay, Eric." Butters obviously had a heart for Eric's grandmother, but he didn't have the power or authority to convince Eric how special his birthday present was. Butters knew that, so he didn't say another word about it.

In a moment, the boys began the game of Cowboys and Indians. Eric, Kyle, Tweek, Token, and Clyde were the Cowboys; and Stan, Kenny, Butters, Craig, and Seth were the Indians. Eric lead his team while Seth lead his, and they all began the battle.

It was a war of imaginary gun shots and fake bow and arrows. Tweek was the first one to go down, him falling to his knees and screaming out in an exaggerated pain. "They got me, I'm down!"

"We must protect everyone!" Kyle said as if he were the leader. But Eric didn't complain about him trying to take over. In fact, he agreed with him, and the battle continued.

"Get this arrow out of me!" Tweek exclaimed while holding an imaginary wound on his chest.

"It's too late for you!" Eric called. "You're dead, Tweek!"

Nobody else defended Tweek, so the jittery boy crawled off the battle field, also being Kyle's driveway. Kyle pretended to shoot a flare gun right at the Indians, and Stan was immediately "hit" in his left arm.

"Sorry," Kyle said, sounding a bit sympathetic, but didn't show it on his face that he felt bad. He fired another one toward the Indians, but they managed to dodge.

Craig held up a fake spear made of a stick, and threw it right at Token, who acted out a dramatic scene of falling in pain and toward death. "That's my Craig," Tweek said, even though he was on the opposite team.

Seth laughed viciously. "So far you are losing," he said excitedly. "Give up?"

"No way!" Eric shouted. "Clyde, fire now!"

Clyde obeyed and began to "shoot" with his gun, making fake gun sound affects with his mouth. But Seth was able to dodge.

As Clyde kept Seth busy, Eric managed to "shoot" Kenny right in the face. The poor boy fell to the ground and gave a fake scream. He was glad that this wasn't real death. He had the ability to come back to life every time he got killed by something or someone. He was very fragile, and it happened quite often.

"Yes!" Eric cackled, and went back to focusing on Seth. "This will end. That Switch is mine!" He aimed right at him, and "shot" at Seth, not intending to miss.

Butters, though, was way into it, and took the fake bullet as he jumped right in front of his Chief. "No! I'm sorry…I wanted to save you."

"Huh." Eric pretended to cock his gun. "Your warriors are pathetic." He took a step closer, with glory in his eyes.

"Not as fake as yours." Seth pointed to Clyde, who was already on the ground holding his head, obviously getting shot with Craig's spear. Craig was smiling evilly.

"Oh, it hurts!" Clyde cried.

"Dammit, Clyde!" Eric exclaimed. "Oh, shut up, you got hit in the head, you're dead!"

"Yeah, your brains are scrambled," Kyle added, not noticing that Seth had that moment to shoot a fake arrow right in his face. He shrieked before falling to the ground.

"Kyle!" Eric was angry. It was over, for his team had lost. Visions of him enjoying his new Nintendo Switch faded, as well as his pride. "No!"

"Hah, you lose," Seth said as he stepped up to Eric and held out his hands. "The music box is mine."

Eric was ashamed and disappointed he didn't win his prize. But he felt no emotion for losing his music box. He picked it up and handed it over.

"Excellent," Seth said quietly and turned his back to everyone. He had no interest for a second game.

"Hey," Stan started, "you're pretty good, kid. You should join us again."

Seth didn't turn around, but a smile grew on his face. "Oh, maybe one day I will. Farewell, comrades!" And he took off, not looking back.

"Poor Eric," Butters said softly, "I guess you really lost the power this time, didn't you? And your grandmother would be so sad." He truly sounded upset, but nobody else seemed to feel sorry.

"Butters, I told you, it's not really powerful and I don't give a crap about my dead grandma!" Eric was raging, not being able to have his Switch. He knew he should have gotten it for his birthday, but everyone got him games for his Xbox One instead.

He had to wait till Christmas. Now the only thing left to do was to go home and figure out if that birthday candle he received from Sarah was real or not. If so, he would have something to celebrate.

"Dude, come on, it was just one game," said Stan as he and the others watched Eric leave. But the obese boy didn't turn back, nor did he make a sound.

"I think he is truly upset about the music box," Butters said sadly, "that he just doesn't want to admit it." Nobody else added their input and decided to toss a football around for the rest of the hour.

After Eric got home, he demanded that his mother give him some peace as he locked himself in the bathroom, along with his candle and a lighter. He did not want anyone to see him try this, even if it did end up being real.

The boy ran the bath water and stripped off his clothes as he waited for the tub to fill up at least half way. He made sure that it was hot by sticking his finger in it. It was like lava.

Eric took a deep breath and placed his left bare leg in the water. He groaned in pain but kept still until his leg was numb. Then he added the other leg, and quickly threw his whole body in. It didn't feel good, but he knew that it was the only way. He had to make sure he did everything right.

After getting use to the burning sensation, Eric reached for the floor and grabbed the birthday candle, then the lighter with his other hand. He lit the candle and held it out in front of him. He felt stupid for doing this, but he had nothing else to lose.

"What I wish for," he started, as he begin to think of all the possibilities. Then one thing flashed in his head. Something that he would love, and so would the rest of the world. "I wish that this world was full of power, and that all my games with the others were legit. I wish that reality was fantasy, and fantasy was reality."

And with that, he blew the out the flame. What came next shocked him. He felt his whole body tingle, as the water in the tub began to drain. And before he knew it, he felt a rumbling sound from beneath him, and the candle in his hand vanished.

Eric gasped, and before he knew it, he was on the bathroom floor, falling unconscious.