the wishing well

A few weeks ago, I had a dream about a wishing well.  Like most of my dreams, I can't remember a lot of detail, just that there was this sad, crumbling old well in the distance, and I was afraid of it for some reason.  I think the dream might've been a result of listening to a lot of The Airborne Toxic Event or something...they have a song I love called The Wishing Well, which is heartbreakingly beautiful.  Like almost all of their songs are, really.

But anyway, after the dream, that image of the well stuck with me and a story started to take form in my little head.  My new story, in which I somehow already have over 3000 words written, centers around an old wishing well in a field on an abandoned farm.  There's a legend that a ghost named Gabby lives within the depths, and Gabby is responsible for granting wishes.  When Jane's (the MC) boyfriend is in a horrible accident that leaves him fighting for his life, she decides to put her doubts at rest and go to the well to cast in her wish- that Gabby somehow help save Connor's life.  But Gabby's help will come with a price.

The story will go back and forth between the present and the past, showing snippets of Jane and Connor's relationship, how they met and fell in love, and finally leading up to his accident, which Jane feels responsible for.  I'm sure ideas and concepts will change as I write, but kids, I am very, very excited for this one.

Oddly enough, there's another song out there right now that I LOVE, also centered around a wishing well-  Danny, Dakota and the Wishing Well by A Silent Film.  I heard this song for the first time right after I started writing the story, when it was just two sad lonely paragraphs and I had no idea where it would go.  I think it was a sign.

I leave you right now with some song lyrics, courtesy of The Airborne Toxic Event and their song, The Wishing Well.  All lyrics are written by them; I only wish I had the talent to write this beautifully.  This is the second verse, all the way to the end of the song.

So you stand on the corner
Where the angels sit
And you think to yourself,
This is it, this is it
This is all that I have
All I can stand
Is this air in my lungs
And this coin in my hand
That you tossed in the air
And I fell, and I fell
All the way to the bottom
Of the well, of the well
Like those soft little secrets
That you tell, that you tell
To yourself, when you think
No one's listening too well

And the walls spin
And you're paper-thin
From the haze of the smoke
And the mess calling
The threat of your brow
Under unmade sheets
In your ear with the noise
From the darkest streets
We ran far and wide
You screamed, you cried
You thought suicide was an alibi
But you were always a mess
You were always aloof
Yeah, it's awful, I guess
But it's the awful truth
It was truth from the first
To the last words that she read

And she emerged from the dark
Like a ghost in my head
She said, I haven't forgot
Any words that you said
I just stare at the clocks
And I cry in my sleep
And I tear up your letters
And I burn them in heaps
And I gather the ashes
In that hole in the ground
Where we fell