Max’s Miracle Mix

(This story is based on a Reddit post I made a while ago that I wanted to expand the story of)

“Worse day ever.” Max said as he walked down the street, replaying the day in his head.

It’d all started when he got in for work. He’d been working tech support for a decently large tech company for the past few years. When he went in this morning his boss informed him their sales were down, and they needed to make some cuts. So, effective immediately, they were gonna have to let him go.

Unexpectedly losing a job was bad enough, but when Max got home he caught his girlfriend with another man. In his bed! Max ended up chasing the two out in a rage. Of course, now that the anger had worn off he just felt drained.

Max had spent most of the day stressing about finding a new job, since his savings wouldn’t last long. Especially since he couldn’t afford rent of his current place on his own. He was in a bad spot, so he’d gone for a walk to clear his head.

Max was pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden bright light in front of him. He looked up and say the source of the light, a shop sign reading, “Celestial Delights”

“That’s odd. I’ve never seen this shop before.” Max said aloud, “Might as well check it out, if nothing else it’ll be a good distraction.”

Max enter the shop, immediately noticing the wide variety of items chaotically placed around the shop. He looked around the shop for a bit, taking notice of the strange tags on the items.

“Must be some kind of weird gimmick shop.” Max rationalize, picking up an odd toy gun, “I mean a ‘Bimbo Beam?’ What’s that even mean?”

“Please be careful with that. That’s one of our more dangerous items.” A voice spoke up. A red haired woman walked up to Max, strangely wearing a witch costume.

“Oh, sorry.” Max said returning the toy gun to it’s shelf, “But, uh, did you say dangerous? How’s a toy dangerous?”

The woman laughed, “Oh, that’s no toy. But forget about that, I have a feeling it’s not what you need. I’m Vivi, the owner of this shop. What can I help you with?”

“Oh, um, I was just looking around. I’m not really planning on buying anything. Sorry.”

“Oh, no. You can’t fool me, hun! I know when someone’s got something on their mind. Most of our customers have something eating at them. This is a safe place, so tell me what’s weighing on you and I’ll see if we have something to help you out.”

What the hell? Max thought, Couldn’t hurt anything.

Max told Vivi all about his rotten day, how his luck had suddenly turn for the absolute worse. She nodded along, her attention not drifting away for even a second.

“That must have been really tough, Max. But, despite what you might think you’re in luck! We have a couple items that can help with your situation!” Vivi started examining a view things on a nearby shelf, “Of course, you’ll probably want something cheap given you situation so…”

Vivi grabbed a glass bottle about the size of a soda can off a shelf, inside swished a dark purple liquid, “I’d recommend this first!”

“What is it?” Max asked examining the bottle.

“It’s what I call a Second Chance Potion. It’ll let you… Re-roll your fate, let’s say.”

“Re-roll my fate? What’s that supposed to mean.”

“It could give you a better life. Of course there’s a chance you end up in a worse one, but it’s a small chance.”

“How would that ‘potion’ give me a better life?”

“Magic, of course! Or did you think this was just a costume?” Vivi said with a wink.

This chick’s crazy. Max thought, But, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? I don’t exactly have much to lose.

“Alright.” Max said, “How much does it cost?”

“Hmm… Price is always tricky. Since it’s not guaranteed to fix your issues. We’ll call it twenty dollars. But, if you end up drinking it I want you to promise you’ll come back sometime afterward.”

Max hesitated for a second. If this potion could really fix his life, then why was the owner willing to let it go for such a cheap price?

“Of course, if the Second Chance isn’t your style we could look at some other options.” Vivi chimed in after a moment, “So, what’ll it be?”