Chapter 2: Chapter Two: The Wish List
People were staring at us, and then I saw why she wanted to do this privately.
"Okay you can stop bowing now," I said.
She stood back up straight and looked at the floor again. "Sorry."
"Let's go back to my place," I offered.
We went to my house, and ignored my dad who attempted to embarrass me by congratulating me on getting a girlfriend. My room was a complete mess and I apologized for it to be polite.
"I'd offer you a seat, but I don't have any chairs," I said.
"It's okay." She sat on the floor.
It was awkward. I didn't know whether to continue the conversation from earlier or offer her a glass of water first.
"So when you say you're a genie and I'm your master, that's not some kind of kinky roleplay thing, right?"
"It's not."
"So you're completely serious?"
"Yeah."
"And do I have three wishes or something?"
"Pretty much."
"Okay." I paused and thought. "I actually have so many questions, but before I even ask any of them, can I see some kind of proof? Got to admit, I'm not usually one to believe this stuff, but a lot of weird things have happened today so I'm actually on the fence about it."
Jean stood up. "It would be odd if you didn't need proof." She extended her hand out to me.
I slowly inched my hand over to hers, and when I finally grabbed it, I was somewhere else in the blink of an eye. The space I was in was dim-lit. The only things there were me, Jean, and vast hills of gold and jewels where I stood, and in every direction I looked. I knelt down and grabbed a handful of gold coins, but felt nothing as I held them. I let them sink out of the cracks of my hands, and watched as they clang on each other and rolled off the mountain of treasures I stood on.
"This has been a fan favorite of many of my previous masters," Jean said. "Would this be something you'd like to wish for?"
"No," I said. "It doesn't appeal to me."
Jean nodded, and the next time I blinked I woke up on a king sized bed with a hot blonde sleeping next to me. I looked around the hotel I was in, and it was completely high end. Designer furniture and expensive paintings were present all throughout the room, and clothes that I guess were supposed to be mine and the blonde chick's were scattered on the floor. I walked onto the patio, and felt the humidity of the air surrounding my skin. The hotel was on the beach, and I viewed the sun setting, painting the ocean pink before its descent. It was actually pretty calming.
"Nickie," A raspy, female voice called my name behind me.
I turned around, and it was the blonde from before wearing lacy lingerie, and twirling her hair. She walked over to me and stroked my hair. She smoothed her hands down to my cheeks, and started to kiss me. She pulled away and smiled at me with a tinge of lovingness in her eyes.
"I'll be in bed if you need me," she said, going back inside.
She was a very, very attractive woman to be honest, but it's been a long time since I've felt any type of excitement about a girl. Any act I've done with a girl for the past few years was more of something to distract me from the boredom rather than something I've truly wanted to do.
I turned back to the view of the beach and suddenly Jean was there. "Is this something you'd wish for?" she asked.
"Was she supposed to be my girlfriend or something?"
"Whatever you'd like. These are just illusions to illustrate the things you could have."
"Well I don't like this either."
"Very well then."
I blinked again, and this time I was wearing a tuxedo, surrounded by a bunch of celebrities in an auditorium.
The host was up there with a golden statue. "And the winner for best actor is . . . Nick Matthews."
Everyone suddenly started cheering, nudging me to go up on stage, and I walked up there dragging my feet. The host shook my hand, and then handed me the award. I looked out into the audience. "Jean?" Mumbles surfed the crowd.
Jean walked on stage. "Yes, master?"
"I get the point now, can we just go home?"
She nodded.
I blinked, and now I was back in my room, holding Jean's extended hand in the same position we were in before we'd left.
I pulled away and sat back on my bed. "How long have we been gone?"
Jean sat too. "No time has passed. But do you believe me now?"
I nodded. "This is insane. I have three wishes."
"You say that but you look . . . unphased."
"I mean, this is amazing, but I just realized something depressing."
"What is it?"
"I can wish for pretty much anything, right?"
"Well there are restrictions and consequences for anything you wish for, but almost anything you think of can be yours."
I laid down on my bed in defeat. "I can have anything I want, but there's nothing that I want, except to want something, but I don't even know what I want to want. Does that even make sense?"
"It does. I've had masters like that before. You don't really need to figure it all out right now anyway if that takes any pressure off. There's no time limit."
"Well that explains why Jason's had you for three years. Wait a minute, now I'm confused about something. Jason had the necklace before me. That means you were his genie?"
"Yes."
"But I thought you were his girlfriend. I even saw you two in the hallway today."
"Everyone assumed that we were dating because once he got the necklace we were together all the time. He decided to go with that story because it was easier to explain." She sat back down and blankly faced the floor, fidgeting. "I think at some point he forgot I wasn't actually his girlfriend."
"So now that he isn't your master anymore--"
She locked eyes with me for the first time since this has all happened. "I'm through with him." She looked away. "I never want to see his face again."
"What did Jason wish for?"
"His first wish was to be able to go in and out of anime."
"Anime?"
"Yeah. He could go in, interact with the characters, and even change the plot to his liking. He had no control over freewill of course, even if they weren't real. The characters would react to him however they'd react to anyone else usually. And then he grew bored."
"What happened next?"
"He made his second wish, which was by accident. He was having trouble lifting something, and said 'I wish I was strong'. I physically couldn't keep myself from granting it, so when I did, he got angry. After that he decided he would think long and hard about what his third wish would be, and it's been years that I've been stuck with him. Then you got the necklace."
"Then . . ." I had so many questions to ask that my mind swirled me into a headache. It was a lot to process. One day I accidentally stole a genie from my classmate, but I've known her since kindergarten and she's actually enslaved? I didn't want to think about it anymore. I sighed. "Please allow me to collect my thoughts together, Jean. I need time to think right now."
Jean stood up and bowed. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, master."
Once Jean left, I walked over to my desk and threw all the clothes and books that occupied it on my bed. I wrote down any thought that came to mind, be it an idea for a wish or a question, and threw it all on the page any which way. Once everything my mind had wondered was written down, I cleaned them up and organized it on a list. The whole process probably took me two and a half hours, and then I passed out.
I woke up at 3 a.m. and just laid in bed thinking like I do every day. I looked for traces of the last day's events being real. Due to the list, and the carpet where Jean sat being slightly misplaced, I believed it. Once it was around 6, I got ready for school and went there.
I searched everywhere for Jean before school started, but no sign of her anywhere. I even went as far to ask my peers, but they haven't seen her either.
"Ryan," I said, once I found him rushing through the hallway. "Have you seen--"
"Jean? I was just looking for you. Follow me."
We ran outside the cafeteria, where students were slowly gathering around a heated argument between Jean and Jason. Every time Jason said something, Jean backed up a bit, but he always maintained a certain level of closeness between them.
"What the hell do you mean you aren't mine anymore?!" Jason threw a fit. "Who stole you away from me?"
Jean gulped. "It-- it doesn't matter."
Ryan was tweaking with excitement and amusement. "Nick, did you do that?"
I sighed. "I guess I did."
"I mean, I know I said you should get revenge, but damn you're cold."
The fight continued, and Jason got his grip on Jean's arm.
"Please let me go," Jean said.
Jason pulled her face to face. "I'll ask you one last time. Who. Stole. You?"
"Nick," Ryan said. "He's got his hands on your girl. Aren't you gonna do something about that?"
"She's not my girl, Ryan." Then I thought about it. In the romantic sense, no, Jean was not my girl. But she was my genie, and Jason was putting my hands on her. I wouldn't mind fighting, but only if it were reasonable. If I had a phone, would I want Jason putting his hands on it? No, but that still wouldn't be enough to start a fight. Maybe that wasn't a perfect example. Okay, if I had a dog I definitely wouldn't want Jason grabbing it and yelling at it. Maybe it was my obligation to do something about it after all.
"Either way, you did this, man," Ryan mediated. "Your call, but if I were you I'd kick his ass."
"What would you do if you found out who stole me?" Jean asked.
"I would beat the shit out of him and get you back." Jason gradually began to calm down. "You'll always be mine, Jean. I love you."
She shook her head. "Well I don't."
"Yes you do, I can feel it."
"No, Jason. I hate you!"
Jason smacked her across the face.
I ran over in between them and got him away from her. "I stole her from you, Jason. Why don't you try to beat the shit out of me then?"
He saw the necklace perfectly clasped around my neck. "So it was you!" He tried to grab it from around my neck, but it was as if there was a force field that prevented him from doing so. "Damn it!"
Before he could do anything else, I acted out on my moral responsibility to tackle him to the floor and beat the shit out of him. We were rough-housing, getting punches in with one another, and just beating each other in general for around thirty seconds until school security broke us up, and sent us to the principal's office.
Our Principal Mr. Brown sat us down in his office and had a little chat with the three of us. "I've spoken to witnesses of the fight," he said. "So let me get this straight, you two were fighting over a girl?"
"He stole my necklace," Jason said. "The one around his neck."
"Don't try to make this about something that it isn't," Mr. Brown said. "Were you, or were you not fighting over this young lady right here?"
"I wouldn't say we fought over her," I said.
"I would," Jason said.
I continued. "I started fighting him because he slapped Jean."
"Well how very noble of you," Mr. Brown said. "You're a real white knight."
"It's true," Jean said.
"I don't care. If anything like that happens, you go to a teacher. Understand me? You don't go picking fights."
"Are you going to suspend us?"
Mr. Brown sighed. "Normally I would, but Jason, you're on your way to the top. You're in the running for valedictorian. You're on your way to do tremendous things, I don't want you messing up your entire reputation, along with the school's, over a silly fight. I can let you off the hook just this once, but this is the only time I can help you. I don't want to see you getting into any more trouble.You understand me?"
Jason nodded. "Yes sir."
"And you," The principal turned his attention to me, holding a file with my name on it. "If I have to let him off the hook, I have to do the same with you, so you got lucky this time." He flipped through my papers. "Though with your grades, you're going to need all the luck you can get in the future."
"I could do better if I wanted," I said. "But I don't really care."
"Well one day you're going to look back and wish that you did. Now I want the two of you boys to shake hands and apologize."
Jason and I just stared at each other, waiting for the other to be the first to do so.
"Now," Mr. Brown nudged.
I for one never got the point of telling fake apologies, but I didn't want to make things harder and more dragged out than they needed to be. We got up, shook hands, and said sorry, but we both knew we weren't, and I guess that's all that really mattered.
Mr. Brown sent the three of us home for the day to 'reflect�� and told us that on our official record it would just say we were on sick leave. Once we left the office, Jason had a little chat with me.
"I don't know how you stole the necklace, but I'll give you one last chance to give it back to me right now," Jason said, holding out his hand.
"Why should I?" I asked.
"Because you fucking stole it, dipshit. It's mine."
"Technically you're right. Guilty as charged, I stole it. But I think you and I both know that this isn't just a necklace; this is an object, and whomever is the one to wear it is the owner of a genie, along with three wishes."
"Yeah, that's why I fucking want it back, dumbass."
Jean tugged on my shirt and I turned around. She was taking shelter behind me, her chin quivering as she shook and fidgeted on the spot she stood. She looked at me and opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but the catch in her throat prevented her from it. She didn't say a word, but I knew exactly what she meant.
I continued with my speech. "My point is that Jean has feelings." I staggered at myself saying feelings because it was odd for me of all people to make such a point in a debate, but it was relevant. "And I don't think Jean likes you very much."
"Jean loves me."
"She blatantly stated she hated you earlier. How could you possibly characterize her as a woman that loves you?"
"She physically can't make a move that would disobey her master, who right now, is you. How do I know you didn't tell her to tell me she hates me? If you care about her feelings then give her back. Look at her. She's crying. She's scared. She misses me."
Jean gripped both my arms and shielded herself, sobbing uncontrollably. I turned to her. It's not like I even had to ask, but I wanted it to be clear once and for all. "Jean, tell me the truth. Do you want to go back with Jason?"
"NO!" She immediately shouted. Her crying grew even louder as she plopped to the floor and hyperventilated into her hands.
"There's your answer," I said.
Jason flared his nostrils at me, and then at Jean. He punched the locker and shouted curses at us. Then all of a sudden he shut up and grinned at me, his teeth being squeezed and tightened together. He laughed. "You took the only thing away from me that ever made me happy. I'm going to make you fucking hurt, Nick." With that, he walked off, slamming his fist into lockers as he walked by each one.
"That guy is nuts," Ryan said, walking towards me. "What are you gonna do? The guy's got it out for you now."
"I don't care. He doesn't scare me," I said. "He wants to make me hurt? Up until now I still don't give a shit, so have fun with that."
"Don't talk out of your ass, man. You know if you're mad or whatever you can say so."
"But the thing is, I'm not. I know I just got in a fight, went to the principal's office, and made an arch enemy, but eh. I'm not excited, or angry, or scared, I'm just . . . Kinda here. Watching this happen. I know what's right and what's wrong and what's logical and I'm acting on that, but other than that I can't feel it."
"Okay, tough guy. What about Jean? Do you feel bad for her?"
I peered over at Jean who stopped crying, but was still in the cradling position on the floor. To feel bad for her would be empathy. To empathize, I would have to look at things from her point of view. If I had an asshole master like Jason that would be hell I'm sure. I tried to imagine going through it, but it didn't do it for me. Then I remembered how Jean was stuck with him for years. I remembered all the times I wondered what the hell she saw in him, only to find out that the answer was nothing. I remembered how he slapped her, and the look on her face when she thought I was going to give her back to Jason, and the 'no' that she screamed when I asked if she wanted to be his again. If this was just a story I was hearing about from someone else, it would strike me as it being unjust of Jason to do that, and that would be my only response to it. But seeing it all unfold right in front of me, witnessing that, and reflecting upon it really hard, I didn't just know it was unjust. I felt it was unjust. And when I thought even more, unjust wasn't how I would even describe it. I would describe it as evil if there were such a thing.
I averted my puzzled face back to Ryan, who stared at me intently, waiting for a response. I sighed. "You know what? I actually think I feel bad for her."
Ryan's jaw dropped. "Oh shit. I did it. I finally fucking did it. I got a response out of you!" He suddenly wrapped his arm around my neck nearly choking me, and ruffled my hair up. "I knew you weren't a sociopath!"
I tore myself apart from him. "Why would it matter if I were a sociopath, as long as I wasn't a cunt? It's better than being an empath and still choosing to hurt people." Ryan was about to talk again, but I decided to cut in and save me the agony of having to listen to him any further. "Anyway, just go. I'm going to talk to Jean."
He smiled and winked at me. He patted my arm, and was off to wherever he was going.
I sat myself next to Jean, but then I realized I had no idea what to say. My intention was to comfort her, but I had no idea how to comfort people. I guess the best I could do was spit out the comforting facts.
"Jason's gone," I said.
"I know," she responded, not moving a muscle.
"Are you still afraid?"
"A little . . ."
"I'll never let him have you again."
She finally faced me, her eyes swollen and her face all scarlet. She gave me an expression, but I couldn't quite decode it.
"I promise," I continued. "The only thing I want from you is the wishes. I'll treat you with decency and respect."
"Are you kind, Nick?"
"I'm kind've a dick, actually. But I'm honest, and my word is good."
Her expression formed into a quiet smile, and then she chuckled a bit. "I���ve always known you were honest, Nick. I remember when we were kids and you made a little girl cry because you said her dress was ugly."
"Ah, so you remember us being at the same elementary school, then. I thought I was rather forgettable."
"Of course I remember. Hey Nick, do you have any wishes in mind yet?"
"Well I wouldn't say wishes, but I have a few questions. I mean, a lot of questions. There are too many things about you that just don't add up."
The bell rang, and the students poured out of their classrooms and into the hallway to get to their next destination.
"We should talk somewhere alone," she said.
"Well not my house, I don't want my dad to bombard us with questions, especially seeing as how I'm going to be home early."
"We can go to my house."
"Are your parents home?"
"They are, but they're nice. I promise."
I drove us over to Jean's house, where we were greeted by both her parents. They didn't even question why we were out of school. They trusted her a lot I suppose.
"Hello," Jean's mother, Mrs. Wu greeted us. "Jean, who is this?"
"This is Nick," she said.
"Where's Jason?"
"I don't think Jason will come around here anymore, mom."
Mr. and Mrs. Wu's faces lit up at her words. They exchanged looks, and nodded at one another.
"Nick, are you Jason's replacement?" Mrs. Wu asked.
I was just going on a limb and assumed they knew Jean was a genie. "I suppose I am, yes."
"Wow, I don't know what it is, but I like you, Nick." Jean's mom embraced me dearly and kissed me on the cheek. "I like you a lot more than that Jason guy."
Mr. Wu shook my hand. "Thank God. Compared to Jason, you're Johnny Cash. My prayers have been answered. Anybody except Jason as my daughter's boyfriend."
Jean and I exchanged glances. So they didn't know the truth about her after all.
"Dad . . ." Jean whined.
"What? Is it not that serious yet? Sorry. Anybody but Jason as my daughter's special male friend."
Jean's parents proceeded to embarrass her and asked me so many questions. After some time, Jean finally convinced them to give us alone time in the living room while they stayed upstairs. When we were finally alone, we talked.
"I am so, so sorry about them," Jean said. "They're just really excited that you're . . . Not Jason."
"Great. I'm the lesser of two assholes."
Jean widened her eyes at me.
"I'm kidding. I would be thrilled if not-Jason showed up at my house too. So your parents don't know you're a genie?"
"They don't."
"And they aren't genies either?"
"They aren't."
"Damn. I was starting to think I had things figured out. I was thinking that genies were another race that walked among us or something, but now my confusion is back at square one." I pulled out my questions. "Now that we can talk alone in peace, I'd like to ask you these, just to clarify everything."
"Alright."
"My first question is, how did you turn into a genie?"
"I've always been a genie, ever since as far back as I can remember."
"And how far back is that?"
"B.C."
"So, you're thousands of years old then?"
"Yeah."
"That leads me to another question. Why do you have parents? Why do you live a normal life? Why do you age? Is it all an illusion? This isn't like any of the original genie tales I heard about."
"It's a bit complicated . . ."
"I think I can handle it."
"Well, for thousands of years I've lived the 'normal' genie tale. I was a slave to humans. The necklace you wear can take the form of many objects that has to be activated somehow. In this instance, it's a necklace that's activated by wearing. In the most popular tale, it's a lamp that's activated by rubbing. It's intertwined with my soul. It was the same story for many thousands of years. The object would end up in the hands of a human, they would activate it, they would make three wishes, and then the object would change into something else, trap me in with it, and be transported on some other random location on Earth. Sometimes it would take a day for someone else to find it, other times it would take a thousand years. I don't know why, but it's like the object has a need to be found. It has a mind of its own"
"Then what changed?"
"One day, I had a master that wished me free. Freedom was all I ever wanted, but then I realized that I didn't want to just be free. I wanted to have a life like everyone else. I wanted to be a small child, and then grow up learning about the world little by little until I could grow up and be whoever I wanted to be.
"My master's words that wished me free were incredibly vague, so I did what I wanted to with them, with my own definition of freedom. I reincarnated myself into a loving family, and I had absolutely no memory of my genie past, or who I was before. I guess a part of me always knew and held the same opinions and values as before without knowing why, but I was so at ease . . . So happy.
"The thing is, when I was granting the wish, the object wouldn't let me destroy it. If I destroyed it, I would die too. It's more powerful than I am, but it needs a being to enslave. My only options were to chain my master's soul to it and turn him into a genie instead, or make it so my soul was still enlaced with it, and somehow still free. The object and I came up with a compromise. When I was born, it would fall into my possession, but if a human were to get their hands on it and activate it, I would be a genie once more."
"But you couldn't have known how dire it would be to let another human have it if you lost your memories."
"Deep down I always knew that I needed to keep the necklace close to me and never let anyone touch it."
"So how did Jason get it?"
"One day there was a dance, and the necklace didn't match my dress. My mom got me another one, and I put the necklace in my purse. I put the purse down for just a second, and then the next thing you know, I remembered everything about my genie past. I looked across the dance floor, and there was my new master. I've been stuck with him ever since, until yesterday."
"Okay, well that clears a lot of things up actually, thank you."
"You're welcome, master. Do you have any more questions?"
"What are the rules for wishing, if any?"
"There aren't any rules, but I will say that anything you wish for has consequences. I used to be a bad genie that would use my owner's own words against them, but it only made me feel more sad and lonely than I already did, especially when hundreds or thousands of years passed and I saw the world suffering because of something that I did. Even still, when I decided to be a good genie, my masters still didn't take into account that their wishes would come back at them. They wished to be rich but took it for granted and ended up in debt. They wished to always have someone's affection, but it turned into an obsession. That kind of thing."
"What if someone wished for more wishes?"
"You can do that, but I seriously wouldn't recommend it. To even have three wishes that can manipulate the world around you to your liking is a power imbalance that the natural laws are barely willing to overlook. If you have more than that, the universe will essentially attempt to punish and exterminate you. Let me tell you that if you make a wish that messes with higher order, that is a fate worse than death. That means bringing someone from the dead, time travel, or wishing to be a god. I've seen it all, Nick." Jean stared off into space and shuttered. "I wish I could just forget it all. If you've seen the way people destroy themselves and each other over petty desires, you'd never have a sound sleep again."
"Noted. I just have one last question, then."
"What is it?"
It was sort of a hard thing to ask, because it was about a wish I wanted. It seemed easy before when I was writing about it on paper or thinking about it, but to speak with another person about my most personal wishes was a conversation that was too intimate. "Could someone wish to be happy?" I cringed at my own words.
"It isn't a terrible wish that tampers with the balance of life, death, time, and fate if that's what you mean. But would I recommend it? I wouldn't. Depending on how I could interpret that vagueness, you could either be happy for a moment until it went away, or be in a state of happiness that's unreal and numbifies you. Sounds fun, but it doesn't really fix anything. Imagine being drugged up for the rest of your life."
"I thought it'd be something like that. Damn. Having a genie in fiction sounds so glamorous and glorified, but I guess it's really always more complicated than that. Just like any other thing people think is so great. It's different when it's actually happening." I untensed myself in my seat. "What's even the point of having a genie when no wish can get you what you really want?"
"It's not to say that I never had a master that made a decent wish, I didn't want to discourage you, only warn you." She got up. "I'll be right back," she said, hopping up the stairs.
She returned with a notebook. "These are some of the most memorable wishes some of my masters ever made. The good, the bad, and the strange. Once I regained memory of me being a genie again, I drew it up."
I looked flipped through the book containing hundreds of Jean's previous past masters. "I notice that there's a picture of each person here."
"More than half of my masters went on to become really famous. I got pictures of most of them on the internet. The ones I couldn't find on the internet, I drew to the best of my ability."
"You're an amazing artist . . ." I said in truth, looking at a pencil sketch of one of Jean's drawings. "There are so many here . . ."
"I only recorded the most memorable ones. I've had thousands of masters, actually."
"Genghis Khan?" I asked.
"He wished to rule the world."
I flipped to the next one and widened my eyes at the next person I saw. "Cupid? He's real?"
"That one was a really long time ago. He was a common man that believed he should have the authority to pick and choose who is to fall in love with who. He wished to have the power to strike infatuation into people's hearts. His wish was more complicated than that actually, I can't really explain it. But I can say, had he not made his wish, romantic love as we know it would be entirely different."
I flipped to the front of the book to see the first person recorded: George Washington.
"That was the master I had before Jason," Jean said. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled warmly at the picture. "He's the man that set me free. He was a great man, you know that? He wished that America would win the Revolutionary War, and then he wished for my own independence."
"I must say, this book is pretty interesting."
"You can keep it. Maybe it'll give you a few ideas." She smiled at me.
There was something that was still bugging me. "Jean, what will happen once I make all three wishes?"
She pressed her lips together. "From what I've seen, you'll either be fulfilled, or incredibly depressed."
I shook my head. "I mean, what will happen to you? Will you be free again? Or--"
"The object automatically transports to a random place on Earth after a single master has made three wishes," she cut in. Her next words were soft, and it was as if she said them too loud, the world would shake. "Once you make all three wishes, I'll be as I was before: an eternal slave to mankind."
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