"Wake up, you useless idiot!" I ignored my mom's voice, as I was too tired.

I immediately found myself drenched in cold water. So, I bolted up and wiped the water from my forehead to my chin, after which I opened my eyes to find my mom holding a steel bucket with furrowed eyebrows and a reddened face.

"What was that for?" I asked her incredulously.

"Don't talk back, you useless piece of existence. Wake up, take a bath in the servants' bathroom, and go and buy groceries for the day." Mom was chipper, as usual.

Mom went downstairs after that. My bedsheet, mattress, T-shirt and pants were also soaked in water. Great! Just Great!

I sighed as I looked up at the sun. It always felt like I could rather stare at it directly than look at my miserable excuse of a face in the mirror.

Life wasn't always this pathetic. Class topper in school (Top 3 in the worst case), 80+ percent in college and all I have to say is that I'm unemployed and a VIP. You know, Vain Idiotic Pest. At least that's what my parents called me now.

Everything changed after I graduated. Preparations for the GATE(Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) exam were in full swing on my part. Confident of my ability to clear it with flying colours, I decided against attending the campus interview during my placements.

This particular decision came back to haunt me for life as I failed to achieve a good rank for getting a job in a PSU(Public Sector Undertaking) and not even a decent enough rank to study for a Post Graduate Degree. The worst part of it was the relatives.

While my parents supported me initially, my repeated failures made me a source of shame for my parents, which led them to hide me in front of my relatives. Events snowballed into a full-blown fight between us.

Bedroom, Living Room, Terrace. That's the chronology in which the order of my sleeping place changed over the last 5 years as a result of the plummeting respect that I had in my parents' eyes.

An object intensely slapped my left cheek jolted me out of my internal musing. I caught the object angrily and was about to throw it away when it suddenly caught my attention.

It was a Gold watch with intricate patterns. On the outside, it showed time with a longer hand and a shorter hand. The longer hand was pointing at the number 3, while the shorter hand pointed in a direction slightly above the number 11. The second hand, which was red, ticked on.

But what was inside the watch caught my attention. Behind the hands, a rotor or fan which looked similar to the ones seen in toy cars was present. It rotated very fast. The strap of the watch was also completely made of Gold.

When I clicked the button which was near the number 3, the watch slowly unravelled itself. The entire face of the watch numbered 1-12 shifted left. Surprisingly, there was a digital part to this watch. 11:16 was the time it showed. Now, this digital part of the watch moved right. There were a set of instructions written in blue.

"Important Instructions" I read the first line out loud.

This looked like the set of instructions on all those exams I wrote. The last exam I wrote was about 2 years ago after which I and my parents mutually decided I'm useless.

Anyways, I just shaked my head before my thoughts dragged me down into a rabbit hole and continued reading. This time internally. I so did not want to alarm mom so that she can come back and insult me again.

'1. This is not just a watch but also a wish-granter.' Right. Someone was playing an elaborate prank on me. It was probably Balaji from next house. I would sucker punch his humungous nose when I get the chance.

'2. You get one wish. No branch wishes.' I couldn't control the snicker that came out of my mouth. Stuff was getting too funny now.

'3. You are only allowed to wish for a change in exactly one event of your life' The prankster clearly had a weird sense of humour. I'm killing the damn mother flunker.

'4. Wish once granted cannot be taken back except when..' Huh. The text after that had disappeared. Maybe the idiot who pulled this stunt forgot what they were supposed to include here.

'5. To make a wish, just imagine what you want and press the button below' Button. Button?! There are buttons now?! Wait. Something more was written below that.

'Wish away and all the best!' What was the ending note? Stupid practical joke pulling buffoon does not have any creativity. Like at all!

The button which the 5th rule talked about was waiting for me below the ending note. In all the movies and TV shows, people just say I wish when they usually got some stuff like this. Again, like I said, the socksucker had no creativity.

"Balaji, come out now" I called out to my neighbour who as it turned out left long ago. Right! The dude had this seminar in his college where he's pursuing his PhD. There was no way he could have thrown this thing on my face.

A breath came out of my lips in the form of a sigh. Even as my gut screamed to throw it away, I decided against it. I've already lost Dignity,happiness, self-confidence and even a modicum of respect in life. My mind dared me to indulge this nonsense because my life's a cluster duck anyways.

If this watch was real, which I knew it so was not, it gave me hope. I don't need hope in my life. Hope had never helped me except bringing more misery later to me.

I sighed again. I just imagined that the one event that had changed my life into a nightmare just happened differently as I pressed the blue button.

The button, after I pressed it, melted and before I could see it, both the digital and number faces of the watch collapsed on each other violently.

Blinded by a very bright light, I closed my eyes with my upper arm.

When I opened my eyes, I suddenly found myself standing in my room.

"Hi John, my dear son!" My mom who was clad in a beautiful purple Kancheepuram silk saree hugged me.

Since when was mom this affectionate? Maybe the watch did something. Also, how in the actual hell am I in my room?

The last time mom even treated me like a human being was 2 years ago. I needed to stop whining too much.

"Hi,  mom" I hugged her and found the watch in my left hand.

But it was not completely Gold. It had this mixture of Blue and Gold. Looked weird but cool.

"Let's go" She said.

"Where?" I asked her completely confused.

"Your best friend Balaji's marriage?" She frowned.

"Right. Dumb me. Let's go" I tackled that doozy. Balaji's getting married? Since when? He never took me anywhere and invited me to anywhere outside 'cause of my parents.

Watch turned out to be real and not a prank. For once in my life, my Hopes were not crushed brutally.

A light-blue shirt and black pants covered me. New dress? That's a rarity. All thanks to the magical watch.