Maria watched the Wishgranter toy with the lollipop in her mouth, a sickly sweet scent rolling off it.

"Don't look at me like that." The Wishgranter pulled the lollipop out of her mouth. It was lemon flavored.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ms. Wishgranter." Maria made sure to bear holes in the back of the Wishgranter's chair and what she could see of her neck and the top part of her head.

"I know you don't approve of what I'm doing, but-"

"Oh, please," Maria snapped. "What you're doing is nothing to approve of. You're ruining people's lives!"

The Wishgranter continued to face forward. She taped her half-eaten lollipop over the AC, so its smell circulated through the car. That was far from the strangest thing she could have done. "I'm not ruining their lives, I'm simply showing them their lives were already horrible, and one wish won't change that."

Maria snorted. "Then you should help them. But you don't. You go along with the sweet, candy-centered façade you created. You're like the lollipop you taped over the AC. Super sweet at first glance, but once you take a bit of the real thing, you know you messed up."

The Wishgranter turned around, rolling her eyes. "Alright, fine, but if I'm the lollipop, then you're already the lemon."

Maria had no reply to that retort, so she changed the subject. "You can't deny ruining my life."

The Wishgranter groaned. "Not this again."

"Yes, this again!" If Maria was angry before, now she was livid. "You flat out abducted me!"

The Wishgranter dared to look annoyed. "That's not what happened."

"Oh yeah? Then, what did happen?" Maria wanted to hear whatever excuse fell out of the lemon lollipop's mouth. She never talked about what happened unless Maria angrily brought it up. But, even then, she gave no backstory.

"Your father wished for the removal of your existence."

Maria stared at the Wishgranter. "What."

The Wishgranter sighed, sending Maria a look of sadness. "He asked for me or someone else to kill you. So instead, I brought your spirit here and left your body which got recovered by the cops. Your dad got blamed for it, by the way. I think he's still in prison, as well. Jerk got what he deserved. A person like that shouldn't have a warrant to walk free."

Maria didn't know what to say. Her father wanted her dead, and now she was "living" with a sugar-addicted sociopath.

Then it hit her. "Why didn't he come back after he got arrested? He could have gotten you to undo my... my death."

Now that she thought about it, no one ever came back. She couldn't believe she never realized it before. No wonder the Wishgranter was so successful in destroying lives: no one ever wanted a refund!

The Wishgranter threw away her finished lollipop and opened another. The new one was mulberry flavored. Maria wrinkled her nose at the thought. "He could've come back. But he didn't. No one ever does. Th- I told you not to give me that look. They can come back, but they prefer to work their problems out on their own. Like they should have in the first place."

Maria glared at her. She hoped one day someone would get revenge on the Wishgranter. Not her father, though. He deserved to rot alongside the Wishgranter.

"Anyway," The Wishgranter fiddled with the lollipop in her mouth. "it doesn't matter if they don't come back."

"Then what does matter?"

The Wishgranter sucked on her lollipop, the sweet scent gone. "Take nothing for granted. Nothing ever is free. Especially a wish. There are always strings attached."

"Never take a wish for granted."