The Golden Coin

The wind blew through his hair as he stared into the setting sun, trying not to squint. The sand of the beach was wet and stuck to everything. The grit dug into his eyes, his shorts. It seemed to be in every crevice of his body. Within the man's hand was a single coin. A coin that had caused so much trouble. He gripped it hard, his fingers pressing into it, trying to snap it in half.
"So, you came to your senses," a voice called out from behind him.
"You didn't have to murder them," Greg cried. His voice almost cracked at the end.
"But did you not understand the deal," the old voice said. He stepped onto the beach. He didn't look quite as old as he did that night in the shop. It was only a week ago, but for Greg it felt like a lifetime. His face wasn't as wrinkled as it was before. His skin smoother, he didn't walk as crooked now, and didn't even need the cane he had before. "You wanted riches, remember? You wanted happiness. You didn't bother reading what it would cost."
Greg turned back to the ocean. "Cost me," he said. "It was supposed to cost me!"
"Oh, but in a way, it has. Now look at you. Greg Greggerson. Multi-millionaire. Newly minted widow. Body of a Greek god, I believe that's what you asked for when you took the coin. And I get everything you receive."
"I can still almost feel them," Greg said. "I just wanted to be younger. Fitter. Not to steal the youth from my children. The life from..." he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut.
A heavy hand landed on Greg's shoulder. "You got what you asked for. Perhaps you should make your final wish to be more careful with wishes."
"I wish," Greg snarled. Thinking of his wife, the car accident she died in. The hours of agonizing pain she spent in the twisted wreckage as everyone searched for her. The lottery ticket. His kids, coming home from school, growing older, then ancient, falling frail and brittle before his eyes as he grew younger.
He thought of the coin, the heavy weight in his hand. The coin of Alexander. Supposedly held by the very....
"Do not delay the inevitable," the old man whispered in his ear. "Make your wish. Make us rich. Make us powerful. Wish your family back, if you choose. You can bring them all back now. You can..."
Somewhere inside Greg, he knew that would be a mistake. They'd be twisted. Slaves to the old man or worse. And Greg would have no choice, his final wish used up, than to be dead or indentured to the bitter old fiend for a thousand years. He gritted his teeth, thinking of that. Him and his entire family the servants of a mad, ancient ruler. All because of the stupid coin that was found...
"I wish Alexander The Great had never been found."
He turned to the old man, a grim look of triumph on his face. The old man's face now a mask of horror. "No! Not that one, you can't wish for that."
"I wish," Greg said, "Alexander The Great's body had never been found!" He dropped the coin in front of the old man and watched as it levitated and began to spin. It glowed yellow, then a piercing white light as the old man slowly began to age.
"But it was! It was found in seventeen...uh...sixteen...uh..." he stuttered. "I mean...nineteen...no! Anything but that, please!"
The coin flipped and flipped, as dust particles from the old man rose up and drifted into it. Particles from Greg as well, flowed off of him in the wind, pulling from his own skin. He looked down at his hand and watched them wrinkle, his belly push out in a middle aged paunch and even his full head of hair, the very first thing he'd wished for, drifted into the coin. It vanished in a wink. Then everything turned to black.
Greg awoke and stood on the beach. He was a little woozy, but stayed steady. He wasn't in his shorts anymore. He was wearing his work khaki's. What was he doing out here? Just then, his cell phone buzzed. Pulling it out, he saw a single text:
"Bring home something to grill for dinner tonight. You're cooking."
He didn't know why, but he dialed his wife. He had the sudden urge to hear her and his children's voices.