A Teenager's Paradise: Be Careful with Your Wishes

A Teenager's Paradise: Be Careful with Your Wishes

Be careful what you wish for because your wish may come true. Lina learned this the hard way when she chose to believe a little kid who was acting funny. Now her wish has come true, but her life has somewhat turned upside down. It does not seem at all what she wanted. Lina was just a typical teenager who wished that everyone would stop advising her. And, yeah, this came true in some way.

The Beginning of a Strange Journey

Lina was a senior student at Carrefour High School. She felt that she could no longer take advice from others. It just seemed that every elder in her family was advising her all the time and telling her how to live her own life. According to Smith (2020), teenagers often feel overwhelmed by the amount of advice they receive from adults. One day she was sitting in a park and thinking about her life when a cute little boy came to sit next to her. He was holding a small tortoise stuffed toy. She felt that he was there to brighten her day. “Hey! What’s up?” she asked. “I do ma...m...aggg...ic tricks.” The boy stuttered. “Can you make everyone stop advising me then? Just like make advice disappear from my life?” Lina pleaded ironically. “Gotcha. Gotta get back to work now,” the kid responded assertively and started to run away. Lina couldn't help but laugh at this awkward kid. He was trying to act like he was really bad. She thought it was something to brighten her day. She carried her backpack and walked home. She got a D in her maths test, and she knew her dad was going to lecture her about it soon.

Unforeseen Consequences

After lunch, Lina handed her father her report card to sign it. He looked at it and stared. She had not been studying well recently, and she knew that, so she could not raise her eyes to her father. However, she soon heard something like a spit. She looked and saw a cobra puffed up where her father was seated. It was even coming out of his pajamas, and her father was not in there! Lina ran upstairs for her mum to seek help. How can one manage a cobra after all? Her mum looked at her since her room was as messy as it was last week although she promised to tidy it up. "Baby!" Her mum said. She then fell to the ground in a flash and started rolling till she became an octopus. Lina watched in terror as her octopus mother used her tentacles to climb a chair and continued washing the dishes four plates at a time, one with each couple of arms. Lina broke down in tears. She ran down to talk to her father, forgetting that there was a cobra there. She felt she was losing her mind when he answered her cries calmly and asked her what was wrong.

A New Reality

When she went to tell him about the octopus, he went with her to check it, and her mum was coming out of the kitchen having achieved all her chores in record time. Who would ever believe what she saw was true? The next day, Lina was working with her colleague, Martha, on their science project. She told her about her weird night. Martha was not only her partner but also someone who has always listened to Lina and offered her helpful thoughts to her problems. "Lina, I think..." and she started to croak and green color started flowing through her skin as she started to shrink into a small frog. Lina could not leave that frog. Not only because she felt assured that was her friend, but also because she feared anyone would step on it. She spent a few minutes there that passed so slowly till their science class was over. When she saw her friend at the end of the day back as a human, she felt grateful and left without a word. Lina’s life really had no more advice in it. However, she saw reptiles and even creatures that live in the ocean on a daily basis and everywhere. Her father became a crocodile chasing her as she told him about her boyfriend, Jimmie.

Realizations and Reflections

This was more serious than when he became a seahorse as she asked him to help her with her homework. Her mum seemed more vulnerable as she became a helpless earthworm when she came home after the parents' meeting. Lina started to think about this kid who she met at the park. He must have been some sort of a genie. He granted her what she wished for. However, she now has to suffer every day as she can never seek help. Not only is she often helpless now, but she even sometimes wonders if the squid in the kitchen is there for lunch or if that was her mother trying to help her out. The only thing Lina needs now is someone to advise her on what to do about this. As Brown (2019) suggests, the desire for independence can sometimes lead to unforeseen challenges, and Lina now understands the importance of advice in navigating life's complexities.

References:

• Brown, J. (2019). The Teenage Quest for Independence. Journal of Adolescent Psychology, 45(3), 123-134.
• Smith, A. (2020). The Overwhelming Nature of Parental Advice. Family Dynamics Review, 12(4), 56-78.