Writen Laura V.C
I had one mission in life. One mission that I had to fulfill in twenty- four hours, and that was to find a human who did not value life. How easy was it to find someone with the desire to change? I had the desire to be human, to know the life of someone who had only taken his or her own for granted.
Now, I wandered the halls of a regular high school in a Winnipeg Winter while the heat had not yet been turned on and the sounds of humans willingly filled my ears. They all looked so tempting, some with too much homework for the beginning of a second semester and some slumped in chairs outside the principal's office that waited for a long lecture. Forget those humans, I didn't need to live a trouble maker's life; that might as well have been the same as my trapped existence. Always in detention, never paying attention, always being grounded by their parents at home for absolutely everything. I had been around for longer than they had and hadn't caused as much trouble or at least been caught for so much.
Nope, I had to find someone else, someone pleasing with someone special and with popularity, but than as I thought about that I decided to shake it off. Now who in their right state of mind would want to be a human that can find humor in nothing else then making others lower than them feel bad. Now I didn’t say that popularity is bad, god knows anyone would want that stature if they could reach high enough, but from what I've seen and what I have known from countless other efforts was that if popularity was all it was cracked up to be then why were you always worried about everything from your clothes to your boyfriend to the very earrings you wore? Couldn't you find yourself in less of a state of worry than those whom aren't popular?
No good, I wanted to be liked, not feared and I only wanted certain people to know me rather then a crowd I had to impress under any circumstance.
That's when I found her, the one person who was neither low nor high in stature, not a born to be criminal or a royal highness. She was perfect, but I couldn't think of a way to reveal myself. She would walk right by if I was sloppy, and my efforts would not be worth it. I had to look, see the life so perfect in appearance from her wavy blond hair to her cotton blue eyes, then I looked beside her to find a boy, strong and young and gorgeous as anyone could see. He stood tall and proud with a shock of black curls to the nape of his neck and protecting yet compassionate brown eyes.
I knew that I wanted him and there couldn’t be anyone else. I followed behind them like a shadow watching their every move. Were they together? Was the human so unhappy with her life that she would wish me to take it from her as a favor? "What are you doing tonight"? The boy asked, obviously with a crush so big it showed from the blush that stained his cheeks.
"Actually I'm looking forward to a lonely birthday by myself cleaning the house," she answered. She was upset, I could hear it in her voice, and I kept listening as though I had a notebook that needed updating every few seconds.
"Your dad won't make you do that on your birthday," the boy argued.
"You know my dad, Howard. I'm a servant not a daughter." Good, one reason to despise life. I could definitely have been of some help.
"But it's your sixteenth birthday. He can't make you do anything on your day."
Stop it your ruining the mood, I wanted to say, but I stayed silent and continued to listen.
"Are you making a suggestion?"
"No, I was just saying." He stopped to the sudden look in her eyes. She was very upset, about to cry and he couldn’t make it better. He didn’t know that she wanted him for company and if he denied her I had all the reign over the situation. She would need me. She wanted so much more and I could’ve changed her life forever. Change was good this coming from someone whom had experienced change, maybe only for mere moments, but I still knew it was important. At times it was the most important decision of a human's life. So I waited; I waited until that confused boy was gone before I even attempted to make my move.
The poor girl, poor Maria, sat on the steps of the second floor, head in her hands wishing to have one moment to let all her tears spill like rain from her eyes. Than I saw it, a most beautiful ring given her, clinging to her finger in saphire splendor. She lifted it up to her face staring into it and I realized that she loved it for reasons beyond my knowledge and she kissed it.
Someone who loved a ring that much would’ve needed a special necklace to match and there I am beside her, an eye catching sapphire amulet. Who wouldn't take the chance to touch and take such a stunning piece of jewelry?,
Two blue eyes fell down on me, looking at me for the first time in complete awe that something like me would end up on the stairs and not on someone's neck. "Oh my god," she gasped as she lifted me in her small hand and looped my gold chain around her fingers. "How could anyone drop this and not know it right away?" I felt a presence, maybe someone who was watching us, but I ignored it, waiting to see what Maria would do. First she looked around for someone who could claim me, but when she found no one in the empty halls she stopped to take another gaping look at me. "I can't keep this. Someone might worry, and I know I would if my ring was lost."
She was nice, I could feel it like a ripple of warm waves all through me. I couldn’t help but want to help, rather then steal, but she didn’t understand what I had been through. A century had passed since a witch who despised me for falling in love with her man put that curse on me, and him for falling in love with me. I remembered her words clearly well, even now.
Only in a hundred years will you have the chance of freedom again and not before, unless only for a few stolen moments. Before midnight you must find a willing soul to take your place and if they agree you will again know the meaning of freedom, but if that human wishes to regain her life, you will fulfill and return to your place as a genie, awaiting your chance of another hundred years. Believe me, Genie no one will care enough to set you free.
She was right: many of my masters only cared about themselves and when it came to me they couldn't stand to lose their three wishes. They couldn't keep me around so I was always tossed away like a piece of junk. Not this time, though I wouldn’t let that happen this was my only chance to know freedom and if stealing was the only way, then so be it.
Tears might have shown up but I was a trinket with no real feelings, and Life felt much the same. I could have a good man like Howard instead, if he saw me as a human and not as a horrible object only alive to serve the wants of others. I would’ve rather died than live that life again.
I felt a slight polish against my surface and I emerged from my confinement, not yet free, but close enough to touch it. I could hear Maria gasping. She had never seen anything like it and though she was seeing it she couldn’t seem to believe it.
"Maria," I greeted her. Again she gasped. How did I know her name?
"How did you um…I don't understand". Of course she couldn’t that's what made it so unbelievable about me. "I thought you were a necklace."
"Well, I'm here in front of you. What do you think of me now? Am I a piece of jewelry now?"
"Like I said, I don't understand," she mumbled obviously not taking it very well.
I could tell she wanted to run from me, but she wouldn’t, I knew she wouldn’t. She looked at me with eyes of plea to what I might be to her life. "I am Genie."
"A real genie?"
"Yes, that too," I muttered, refusing to let her see the spite I held for my title.
"And I get three wishes?" How hard is this to believe, I had to wonder? She had a chance to change her life I just had to convince her to wish it so. "You know, Genie, I'm really big into the supernatural. I look it up with my… friend Howard. I have met witches, and spiracles and have experienced my share of spirits, so this is not so surprising," she admitted with that pause I noticed before the word friend. Howard was a lot more then a friend to her and I felt it.
"So you believe that beings like me actually exist?" I asked, intrigued with her knowledge.
She nodded and grabbed my arm to drag me out of the school. Why did I still feel that presence around us? Was someone watching? "I'd wish for my mother back," she started off, but even before I started naming off my rules in wishing she listed them for me. "But you can't bring back the dead or make people fall in love or grant the wish of more wishes or grant wishes that are too universal. I know that, but you can help me change my life, can't you? I would rather live a life where I am respected rather then teased and tormented."
"I can do that," I told her confidently. I was respected until the wishes I granted were over, but she didn't mention without consequence. "But it must be in the form of a wish," I reminded.
She nodded as if she already knew this and my stomach tightened in worry that she'd decline. "I want to get away from my whole life and everyone in it. I want to get away from those teasing kids." She pointed into the school. "I want to get away from Howard, who thinks of me as nothing more then a little sister and I want to get away from a father who would rather have me clean the house then spent a happy birthday with me." She stopped to stare at me and tears returned. "Genie, I wish to get away from this, all of this…"
That’s it I thought as I threw my hands out to her granting her wish. She spiraled into an amulet; the same amulet she rubbed and I had her life as horrible and unfair as it might’ve been.
To be human was a tremendous experience, one I had only memories of one hundred years ago.
I sat on the lounge in Maria's living room watching TV, but nothing good was playing and I shut it off to stare out the large bay window. "This is the life," I sighed, fingering the amulet as I watch cars race down the street.
"Maria, I want you to clean up the front room!" That was my new dad, but he wasn't what I expected. I didn’t mind cleaning, but the room didn't need it so I stayed completely silent and continued to look out the window.
A voice of barely a whisper reached my ears. "How could you trick me like this?"
Maria didn’t like the arrangement. "It was up to you whether you wanted to wish the way you did."
"But I don't even have a life now," she argued.
"Would you rather go back to this life with a father who doesn't care and a mother who's dead…”
It grew silent, but I felt guilty for my words and in a soft whisper she explained, "She died when I was four and all I have is a ring to remember her by. My dad loved her, but now that she's gone he can't even stand to look at me. He can't stand the memories." She stared down at her ring on my finger and looked away as if it pained her to see it on me.
"At least you have a family. I have no one," I told her, angry that she despised the one she had. "I have lived past those of my parents and haven't seen them since I was sixteen in the end of the nineteenth century."
Maria spoke with sympathy, but this was the only way she could help me, didn’t she understand that? "How old are you?"
“Today I have turned a century and have not the wonderful things you take advantage of now. I would give anything for a father and friends and a life such as yours." I almost screamed at this time, but I calmed down when the doorbell rang. Who could that be especially if Maria is disliked as she said? I placed the necklace under my shirt and approached the door, pulling it open to look into the stunning brown eyes of Howard. He had a few videos under his arm and a bag hanging off his shoulder.
"Hey Maria, how are you doing? Has your dad given you a break yet?" I laughed. What a wonderful feeling it was to actually be able to do it.
"Everything is better now that you're here," I flattered him and his cheeks flushed into his smile.
"I feel special," he murmured, handing me the bag, and as a gentleman he took my arm to lead me into the living room. "Go on and open your present," he offered, seating himself next to me on the sofa. I took great pains to slowly unwrap the gift of a book lying on my lap. It was a book all about the supernatural, thick beneath hard cover enough to make me cry. I threw my arms around him only to feel a pinch of guilt and slowly, I pulled away.
"Thank you, I have never"… I stopped to my foolish words. "I have never received anything so wonderful." Truth is I have never once received a gift since my sixteenth birthday.
"It's no big deal," he laughed, but he had no idea how happy he had made me. we watched the movies together, but I wanted a lot more then a silent night so I leaned closer resting my head on his shoulder.
He brought his arm around me, a nicely built arm, and that's when Maria began to protest. "No! Don't do this to me Genie!"
Howard hadn't heard her and he ignored the movie to stare at me, "I made you feel really bad today didn't I? You think I don't care about you, but I do."
"Then why did you leave me on the steps!" I heard Maria cry.
"What?" he exclaimed.
I knew what was wrong with him and I pulled him towards me, "Don't be shy, there's no time in this world to be shy with your feelings." He listened well; in fact he agreed and leaned in to start a kiss that would've made me whole if Maria's voice hadn't gotten to him. She called him over and over pleading him to refuse the kiss. He pulled back, gazing into my face as if he suddenly didn’t know who I was or why he was there.
"I'm sorry, Maria, but something is stopping me," he told me.
I slapped the amulet and gave him the look that made him feel bad for denying me what I needed. "That's okay," I whispered.
"You know I saw you talking to someone today. Who was she? Did she tell you something to upset you?”
He was the one who was spying and I stood up immediately, not that I felt violated, more hurt since I was never going to receive the love he held for Maria. "I'll be right back," I muttered, heading to the bathroom to lecture the amulet under my shirt. Again I felt like I had been followed, but I ignored it.
"You're ruining this for me," I growled, unclasping the amulet to hold within my palm. "I gave you what you wanted and now you want to destroy my freedom. You're so selfish, Maria, just as all my masters were."
"Genie, you can't steal my life to have your own," she said to me calmly, "That's not what freedom is."
"And I'm sure you know freedom better than I?"
"Don't do this to me," she pleaded, but again I ignored and stuffed her into my pocket not to think about her again until Howard had left.
I wanted to have a nice night with Howard, a free night to think for myself and love whom I wanted to. Howard understood me and I fell next to him on the sofa. He looked perturbed. "Where's your necklace?" he asked.
"I didn't have a necklace," I lied to him. He couldn’t have been like Maria. I needed him to care about me, and some day love me but all he inquired about was the stupid necklace.
"What's wrong? You afraid I'll find out the truth, Genie," he emphasized and I stood up shaking my head. "You can't do this to me!"
"Let her go!" he demanded.
"She doesn't deserve this life. She wished to be rid of it!" I yelled at him. It was true I wasn't bid to take a life that would wish otherwise.
"There's always a loophole. What is it?" he wanted to know, but I didn’t tell him that his beloved could wish for her life back, trapping me again.
"I won't go back to being a nobody, you understand? I won't go back to being tossed away after people are done with me." I looked at the clock it was already quarter to twelve and I fell on the carpet pleading for my life. "I can't go back to having no one. It isn't fair that someone who despises her life cannot give it to me!" The feelings I was soon to lose gave me the tears to gush through my eyes.
"Maria has three more wishes, doesn't she?" He doesn't care about me, only about her and I am once again forgotten.
With a brush of my hand to my face I stood to face him, dragging the amulet reluctantly out of my pocket. "Tell her,” I choked, shakily handing it to him, "that she must make a wish to regain her life. It is the only way she can escape."
"I heard what you said", Maria murmured, but I ignored. There was too much to think about. How would I ever live life and be freed of the curse? I could see the evil glare Howard had on me, and I shrank back once he snatched the amulet. "Life is important to me, Genie, no matter how I live it. I know I made it look like I despised it, but I was only angry. I understand how much you want this, but"…
I stopped her in mid sentence, “Make your wish before midnight, Maria, or you will be trapped forever. It is your choice."
"Is this what happened to you?”
"I didn't have a choice," I admitted tearfully. "You do, so take it while you still can before I turn my back."
A couple minutes left, Howard awaited the decision as well as I who wished within myself for a chance above any other. My own loophole to the curse of a jealous witch. "I wish you free Genie…”
A tear, the last tear of that day, left my eye as the clock on the wall struck twelve. She was still trapped and I could feel the curse drift from me like a haunting spirit. Why would she do such a thing knowing I tricked her? "Maria, how could you?" I cried, staring down into the amulet. I watched the tears of heartbreak escape Howard's eyes. He cared about her the way she cared about me and I thought no one ever would. I had to help him free her and I was the only one who knew how.
"You deserve freedom if you would go to all these lengths to have it, especially to have mine. You were right. I was very undeserving of life and I don't deserve it as much as you who loves it and would never take advantage of it," she answered in honesty that I knew I did not deserve.
I had an idea, the best idea yet, and I took the amulet from Howard to loop around my fingers. "You're a genie now, Maria. All you need is a master." My eyes caught Howard's. "Be her hero."
He took the amulet to hold lovingly. "What do I do?" He sniffled, cuddling it to his chest. "How do I set her free?"
"Rub and wish," I whispered, stepping back as he obeyed and Maria emerged with a smile to the two of us. I couldn’t help, but smile back. "It's nice to have someone who loves and cares about you," I told her.
She nodded and Howard took her hand to pull her close, tilting her chin for their eyes to meet. "I wish you free," he gasped and I knew that was the end. We would never see the necklace again nor suffer horrible confinement from real life. As an angel emerges from Heaven, Maria returned in a bright white light that blinded Howard and I.
"Thank you," she murmured, taking his face to lean her lips into his for a satisfying first kiss. "My hero." I wiped away a tear of joy happy to have tears, as well as that laughter that caused my body to shudder. Maria turned to me and without any warning she hugged me as she would an old friend. "Thank you to you, Genie, for teaching me that life holds your own value."
I taught her that, how proud I felt, but she was sad and with a pivot she ran down the stairs to her dad. I followed along behind Howard just in time to see her and her dad in a hug. Maybe it would be hard for them to take her mother's as well as his wife's death but they realized they had to do it together. I longed for my family now for that piece of me that would travel for generations. I sat on the stairs wondering, waiting for a chance, a hope that I might know the true meaning of family once again.
"Genie!" I heard Maria gasp tugging my hand off my face. "Genie, how would you like to stay with us and start brand new?"
I could hardly believe it. She had offered me a home and a new life and all I could do was gawk. "You are serious?"
"Very serious", she laughed, pulling me up to my feet.
"But I do not deserve this", I mumbled, refusing to look at her. "Not after I've deceived you".
Maria's laugh was clear, "Everyone deserves to live, Genie, including those who have made mistakes because that is what makes us human. And freedom is when we learn from them". She added with a smile.
I could understand that and now because of her I could truly feel what I had been denied, unbelievable freedom.
