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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Today's #flashfiction #TheNegativeWishGenie

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
Johnny Storm* #quote


Today I called CJ. He might come over this weekend. We'll see when the weekend comes!


The Negative Wish Genie

         “I will grant you negative three wishes!” The genie barked at me angrily as he emerged from the light bulb in the old lamp I bought at the garage sale. The big green man of a mythical creature glared me down. About nine feet tall as he stretched his arms he almost hit the ceiling of my apartment. He wore a white robe that draped over his tense muscles. He walked towards me and I could hear the floor bending under his weight, as if the genie's body built itself not from flesh but stone. “What are you're negative wishes girl!?”
         The way he yelled “girl” at me brought back memories I'd rather not remember and made the creature far more terrifying. Made him a monster. Like the man in the alleyway that leaped out at me and said, “You've got pretty jewelry and even prettier blonde hair. Give me the jewels and come with me nice and quietly and everything will only hurt a little, I promise.” The person who saved me is now my fiancee and took a bullet so...things...wouldn't happen to me. Why isn't he here to help me with this beast?
       “Your negative wishes girl!”
It took me a moment of deep breaths, but I managed to look the genie in the eyes with my own. We both had a light blue, though I could see clouds in his like the sky.
        “Negative wishes?”
        “Now you listen you simple girl. I hate repeating myself.” The creature's hair transformed into a strange purple flame. “You have purchased, and therefore taken ownership, of the cursed lamp. Until you have made three negative wishes or passed the lamp onto another your future children will be cursed to die young and every person you touch will grow to hate you.”
Okay, I'm a smart girl, sophomore in college. Whatever these negative wishes are I'm certain I can think my way out of them. Can't be harder than Trigonometry.
       “Alright, I think I can take them.”
       The genie laughed. “Being pulled out of my home made me angry but your hubris is a nice joke that put me in a bit of a better mood. Trust me, nobody gets past the first. They try, but I will twist your words and make you suffer and you will not want to make another wish because my job is to make sure that you fail. A negative wish is that you must wish for something to not happen. And one rule is that if you cause a paradox, use a double or any multiple negative, or break the lamp, you die.”
The genie loomed over me. He used his shadow almost like a spell to seal my morale in some sort of enchantment. But I wouldn't let him win.
     “In thirty seconds I wish for you to not move for thirty seconds.” I used my first wish. Sounds safe enough. Nothing happens instantaneously. He'll just sit still a moment. And I got one off the list.
      Oh, wait, crap!
       I jump out of the way as the genie hurtles through my apartment and goes through my door, destroys it and flies off to who knows where. He must have been made of something otherworldly to demolish everything like that. He tore through my couch and half of the things in my apartment.
After thirty seconds he reappeared into my home in a puff of smoke.
He stomped towards me and his voice boomed. “Not as smart as you think you are little girl!? The fact that you survived the first wish angers me quite. If you survive the second I will be quite, quite upset.”
        I'm glad I figured my mistake out. He took at as completely still, not even orbiting with the Earth. So the entire world kept going. Really to say he went through anything was false. The world went through him as it orbited around the Sun. I wonder how much he demolished as the planet went around and spun.
        The next moment I thought of wishes for him not to breathe. But then I realized that if he doesn't breathe then I'd cause a paradox and die. Or if he dies then I wouldn't be able to make the last wish and be stuck with the curse.
        I spent a great deal of time thinking, trying to come up with my next wish.
        I then said to him, “I wish that you were not my enemy.”
        The genie responded, “You think that you're so clever hmmm? Well then, I will grant your wish. But that does not mean that you've won.”
         The genie vanished. I first felt terrified. Did I lose? Would I be unable to make my last wish? But instead the genie replaced by a shorter one, exactly the same in appearance and demeanor though, just a huge seven foot instead of the massive nine.
       “Are humans clever enough to expect a clone? Sure younger, but I'm similar and know enough of my, um, father's tricks to beat you.” This new genie snickered. “Oh, yeah. Try to recycle that 'not your enemy wish and I'll make your enemy a meteor to your face.”
        “Um, erh, uggghhhhh....I wish to for the soda machine outside to be not broken!” Then another thought hit me. “And then I will buy you a free soda and lunch!”
        The younger, less malicious clone genie responded, “Deal! I mean, your wish is my command! The soda machine is fixed. Now the curse is broken! You are free of darkness! Yay!”

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