On a beautiful morning, you can find many things. Elderly people feeding innocent pigeons, children playing in the street with their cell phones, a group of mothers gossiping—I mean, talking about other people's business—a young man walking with a floating sphere, luminous, interstellar, Lovecraftian, and beautiful, drifting beside him.

  Yes, many normal things on a beautiful morning...

  "Well, to test your wish-granting powers, I need situations to practice with," Jeff said, glancing around.

  "Although you know my abilities require portions of your life, you're very enthusiastic," Esfer said, puzzled by his master's thoughts.

  "Well, yes, but a little sacrifice is necessary for future situations where your wishes are my last resort," Jeff commented, proud of his thoughts.

  Esfer disagreed, as it seemed that their master was ready to face a villain threatening to destroy the world instead of helping an old man cross the road.

  "First, I need a list outlining the categories of wishes you can grant and their respective costs." Extending his hand slightly, several sheets of paper appeared.

  "What is this?" Jeff asked with a neutral expression.

  "It's the list you requested, Master," Esfer replied, happy to serve.

  "This isn't a list, it's an entire book!" Jeff exclaimed, annoyed by what he had asked for.

  "Master, 20 pages don't make a book"

  "Hmph!, I have some information that suggests otherwise."

  "Besides, Master, you're attracting the attention of the passersby."

  Around Jeff and Esfer, some children were playing, and their mothers sat on a bench, staring in astonishment at Jeff's behavior.

  “...Good morning, madams,” Jeff said with a polite, old-fashioned attitude from another century, completely out of character for him. With that, he left the place without receiving any response from them, his shame left lying on the floor.

  “All of this is your fault,” he said, turning his gaze toward Esfer, while holding a sulky attitude like that of a six-year-old child.

  “Master, it wasn’t my fault. Beings other than you can’t see or sense me; I practically don’t exist for them.”

  “...Are you sure I’m not delirious and you’re just a character from my imagination?”

  “Master, this is the eighteenth time I’ve told you no.”

  Jeff and Esfer moved toward… anywhere, while Jeff read a book similar in size to both the Old and New Testament together.

  “I see, creating natural things costs very little, but objects made by humans cost much more.”

  “That’s right, Master. Creating something like a pure mineral is simple, but creating an object that has several elements in its construction and an assembly requires a greater amount of life.”

  As they walked, a man approached Jeff. “Excuse me.”

  Jeff noticed and looked around, but there was no one in sight. When he looked down, he saw a man in a wheelchair, and on his lap he had a tray with several cupcakes.

  “Excuse me, would you like to buy a cupcake?” the man asked kindly.

  Jeff looked at the man for a moment before answering. “Yes, I would like three chocolate cupcakes.”

  The man handed over the cupcakes, and Jeff gave him the money, plus a little extra. The man quickly tried to return the extra money, but Jeff refused and walked away.

  Esfer looked at Jeff strangely and didn’t hold it back. “Excuse me, Master, this question may be strange, but considering that you long to help people, I thought you would give that person more money, like a few million.”

  Jeff looked at Esfer oddly. “Why would I do that? He wasn’t asking for help; in fact, he was just working.”

  Esfer reflected on the matter, no longer speaking to Jeff. At that moment, they saw a child shouting, “Blanquito!” (Whitey)

  Jeff approached the child. “Hey, buddy.”

  The child looked at Jeff, and he bent his knees to be at the same level. “Are you looking for your pet?”

  The child stepped back a little, distrustful of Jeff. Seeing the child’s attitude, he said, “Don’t worry, I just want to help you. Your pet’s name is Blanquito, right?”

  The child nodded, and Jeff continued with the questions. “Okay, can you tell me what kind of animal it is and where you saw it for the last time?”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “S-sure” the child said. “He’s a medium-sized dog, white in color, and I was walking with him, but at one moment he ran off to the side and I couldn’t catch him.”

  “He ran off?" Jeff said, more to take note of it than to ask, then he looked at Esfer, who was at his side.

  *Can you find the dog?* Jeff asked Esfer through his thoughts.

  “That would be very complicated, Master,” Esfer replied. “You see, all beings have something inside them that is called by many names: soul, spirit, being, chakra, ki, among others. But to be honest, they all have the same essence. I can’t distinguish the essence of a dog within a sea of inferior beings… with all due respect, Master.”

  “Then you can’t find him. That will make things more difficult,” Jeff commented as he rubbed his chin, and when he turned his gaze back to the child, the boy was looking at him a little scared.

  “Uh… are you okay, sir?” the child asked. “You were staring at the air for a long time… and who are you talking to?”

  Jeff turned pale when he saw the child looking at him like he was crazy… and he wondered if he actually was.

  “Don’t worry, I was talking to myself—it helps me think. How about we walk to where your dog ran off and ask people if they’ve seen him?”

  With that in mind, Jeff, the boy, and Esfer went to look for the dog. They asked several people if they had seen him; some said they hadn’t, but others said they had and pointed out the direction he had gone.

  The more they followed and asked, the more clues about the dog they found. The clues led them to a small park, and in plain sight there was a sausage cart, and there was a white dog eating one off the ground.

  “Blanquito!!” the child shouted, excited and happy to have found his friend, and immediately ran toward his dog.

  Jeff watched the child’s back as he ran toward his friend; that image gave him a certain sense of joy.

  A simply, beautiful moment… but that moment was interrupted by a noise. A loud noise was heard, the sound of a horn.

  Jeff looked to his right, only to see a shadow on the road that quickly disappeared from his sight.

  Immediately after, he heard a loud impact to his left, accompanied by the sound of braking tires, a dog barking, and the piercing screams of some nearby passersby.

  Jeff didn’t want to look; his mind had already recreated the scene to his left, but he simply didn’t want to see it with his own eyes.

  His body was invaded by a strong wave of cold that struck his chest and spread through his body; his hands trembled, and sweat covered his forehead.

  Esfer positioned themself in front of their master, calling out to him... maybe, Jeff couldn’t hear them—Esfer’s voice sounded dull… it only took a few more seconds for his ears to no longer feel blocked, and with that, his mind became clearer.

  “Master, respond, ask to go back in time,” Esfer begged Jeff, in a state of urgency and panic.

  Esfer’s words caused Jeff’s eyes to widen; they stayed like that for a few seconds, until Jeff was able to speak.

  “Esfer… take me back to before the accident.”

  He didn’t have to say anything else, because one second later, his vision changed, and so did the noise. Jeff was standing in front of the park, where the dog was next to a hot dog stand.

  “Blan—” the child, who was about to run, was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder that applied strong pressure. The owner of the hand was Jeff, and just as the child was about to complain that his arm hurt, a car zoomed down the road.

  It was just a brief flash—the silhouette of the truck—but the child was able to see it, and with that, he understood the reason for Jeff’s pressure. Even though the truck was already gone, Jeff did not remove his hand from the child’s shoulder, although it no longer had the same intensity as before.

  Jeff looked to both sides of the road, and seeing no vehicles nearby, he decided to cross the street, with the child walking alongside him.

  There, the dog saw them and ran toward its owner, who opened his arms to embrace it.

  It was a joyful and warm moment, but Jeff did not feel the same. He lowered his gaze to hide his paleness and the sweat covering his forehead.

  His legs no longer had any strength, so he decided to sit down on a small bench beside him.

  His gaze remained lost on the ground and his mouth felt dry, his heart was still beating strongly; it was incredible how time had gone back, yet his condition remained the same.

  With his eyes fixed on the ground, his mind was finally able to analyze his previous situation.

  He had witnessed an accident, a death—someone who had been alive right in front of him and who had been with him. A child who, in his innocence, had not measured the weight of his actions. A future that had been erased in a single second. It was very little time, but for death, that is more than enough to take someone away.

  But now he had Esfer. He was able to rewrite the child’s story, he was able to save a life—but what would have happened if he hadn’t had Esfer?

  The child would not have been saved. He would have had to live with the idea of a child’s death. But even when he lifted his gaze and looked at the child alive, he was still suffering as if his state existed in the other timeline. He couldn’t remove the image from his head, and he wouldn’t be able to forget it.

  “Master,” Esfer’s voice echoed in his mind with a calming tone. “I cannot deny that you have suffered a great shock from what just happened, but I suggest that you do not keep dwelling on it, or you may drown in those waters.”

  Jeff remained silent. He knew Esfer was right, but it wasn’t easy to remove something so tragic and impactful from his mind.

  Before Jeff could continue with his thoughts a shadow fell over the back of his head and the ground beneath him. When he looked up, he saw the smiling boy standing in front of him.

  With that, Jeff managed to compose himself a little. He couldn’t ignore what had happened, but he also couldn’t reject the child’s sincere gratitude.

  “You’re welcome, kid, but always remember to hold the dog’s leash and look both ways before crossing the road.”

  With those words, the child left the park along with his dog, and Jeff dragged his feet as he headed back to his apartment.

  “Well… that was a very hectic day,” Jeff commented, feeling his soul heavy and his back the same, forming the shape of a shrimp.

  Jeff felt less impacted by the accident, repeating to himself in his mind, *If the child is fine now, then I should be fine too.*

  “Yes,” Esfer commented, standing beside Jeff. “Although it is barely twelve in the morning at this specific point on this earthly plane, it has been a hectic day. And please, straighten your back.”

  Jeff raised his back only one degree more upward, causing there to be no visible difference at first glance.

  *…and I believe there will be many more difficult days with you,* Esfer thought, looking at his strange master and toward his strange future.