For a snack.

(Authors-Note; Hey, just remembered this story existed, and reading back through I really loved some of my notes on the possible endings for it. Time to finally continue this bish!)

Having long-finished his candy, Max half-seriously wished for something more substantial to munch on while he walked home, rubbing the strange toy in his pocket as he did. A few seconds passed, and nothing happened.

Max chuckled to himself, bringing the weird paw up and out of his pocket to inspect it again. Obviously nothing would happen, it was just a dumb, plastic toy that was probably designed to creep out gullible kids who went to the arcade.

Not a second after he had finished that thought, a hotdog truck pulling around the corner.

Staring in slight disbelief, Max shook his head and focused. It was dumb luck, that was all. Grabbing Tom by his sleeve, Max asked if his brother was hungry for dinner yet.

"Hell yeah, haven't had a hotdog in a while... but uh, I dunno about you but I'm fresh outta cash." His brother responded, pulling out his empty wallet to demonstrate.

Max sighed, recalling their rather exuberant spending at the arcade. The two solemnly walked past the truck, feeling their stomaches groan in protest as they walked away. What rotten luck...

"Heh," Max grimly chuckled, a sudden realization coming to his mind, "Guess I shouldn't have wished for a snack with the monkey's paw, huh?"

His brother slowed his pace for a moment, so suddenly he fell behind by a few paces, but Tom's far more athletic frame carried him back up to meet his brother without Max even needing to slow down.

"You seriously wished for food with that thing? I've seen the ending cutscenes of youtube, bro, even if we got food from that truck we'd probably get food poisoning, haha!" Tom joked, seeming unfazed by the coincidence, despite his moment of pause before.

Max laughed too, somewhat glad in hindsight that they didn't have the cash to order food, probably for the first and last time in his life.

Still, it was undeniable how oddly coincidental the whole situation was. Max was far from superstitious, but the whole situation felt off. He opted to be more careful if he was ever to make another wish by the monkey's paw.

A few minutes later and they were home. It wasn't a long walk, and Tom could probably have gone for another five miles without breaking a sweat, but Max was a bit worn out. Tossing his jacket onto the couch, he headed upstairs to his room, waving to his mother on the way. She didn't respond, however, as she was too busy with a pile of frustrating-looking documents.

Reaching his room, Max flicked on the lights, closed his curtain, and plopped down into his well-worn swivel chair. Booting up his laptop, he couldn't help but feel the urge to make another wish with the fake paw, just to really confirm nothing weird was going on.

Deciding to test the odd plastic replica again in a way that might not result in too dangerous a side-effect, Max placed his finger on the paw in his pocket, and delved deep into contemplation.