By Otatade Okojie
The villagers called it St. Brigid’s Well.
Children called it the Wishing Well.
The old people called it something else.
The Hungry Well.
Hidden deep within Blackwood Forest, it was older than the village itself. Moss-covered stones circled its mouth, and the water at the bottom was so dark it reflected nothing—not the sky, not the trees, not even the faces of those who peered inside.
Yet every year, people came with coins.
And every year…
Someone’s wish came true.
At a price.
When eighteen-year-old Evelyn Harper found the well, she was desperate.
Her mother was dying.
The doctors had exhausted every treatment.
The hospital had quietly prepared the family for the inevitable.
Evelyn had only one wish left.
She dropped an old silver coin into the darkness.
“I wish my mother would live.”
The coin never splashed.
Instead, the forest fell silent.
Then a voice rose from the well.
“Granted.”
The next morning, her mother was awake.
Laughing.
Eating breakfast.
The illness was gone.
Doctors called it impossible.
The newspapers called it a miracle.
Evelyn smiled through tears.
Until her father collapsed at work.
A brain aneurysm.
He died before the ambulance arrived.
The well had granted the wish.
It had simply collected its payment.
Months passed.
Grief gave way to guilt.
But people noticed Evelyn’s miracle.
Soon they came searching for the well.
A struggling farmer wished for rain.
A storm flooded the valley and destroyed every neighbouring field.
A lonely widow wished never to be alone again.
Her house became overrun with distant relatives who refused to leave.
A failing musician wished the world would know his name.
By morning, his songs topped every chart.
By evening, every newspaper accused him of murdering his manager.
The world knew his name.
Just not for the reason he had hoped.
The well never refused.
It only twisted.
Evelyn returned one final time.
She carried no coin.
Only regret.
“I wish…” she whispered, “…that nobody would ever make another wish.”
The darkness stirred.
For the first time, the voice laughed.
“Careful.”
She understood too late.
The ground trembled.
The ancient stones cracked apart.
The forest swallowed the well whole.
It disappeared without a trace.
People searched for years.
No one found it.
No one could make another wish.
No one could undo the wishes already made, either.
Generations later, children still wandered Blackwood Forest, telling stories about a well that granted every desire.
Most laughed.
Most didn’t believe.
But sometimes, after heavy rain, hikers reported hearing the faint clink of a coin falling through endless darkness…
…followed by a voice patiently waiting below.
“What is it you truly want?”
Leave a Reply