Crystal the Genie

Today’s writing prompt simply said Magic Lamp, 3 Wishes. When I started writing I thought I would struggle with this a bit. This is my first try at fiction after all. I was wrong. The words just flowed out. I was so in the zone that I was surprised by how long it ended up being. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The cave was cold and dark that I climbed out of. I couldn’t believe that I had even discovered such a place so deep within the earth. The entrance was so small it was a wonder why I even looked at it at all. There were no markings, not even an out of place stone, yet someone long ago has hidden such an inspiring amount of treasure inside. No one person could have collected that amount of stuff, so how had its hiding spot been kept a secret.

These questions and more would be answered in time with my team, I plan to bring them back here in a week. I wasn’t even supposed to yet myself. I am meant to be home with my husband and daughter for the holiday. However, our daughter is in a very important year of study at school and asked if she could skip coming home this once. We agreed if she promised to spend the actual day of the holiday not studying and trying to enjoy herself. My husband and I still planned to go see relatives, but when his best friend called and said he won a trip and needed someone to go with, I knew it would be the ultimate gift for him. So, I went into the university library earlier than planned to gather more research on the area my team and I would be exploring next in the field.

Among the piles of books that I had pulled fell an old piece of parchment. It was thick, yellow, and ripped along the edges. Yet it had somehow been preserved and hidden. How long had it been at this university is anyone’s guess. What surprised me the most is that no one had found it before me. There had been lots of research teams in this area before us, so all these books have been looked at at some point. Yet there it was clear as day, instructions to a cave that your wildest dreams wouldn’t be able to come up with.

I look down at the crystal vile in my hand. I have never, not even by mistake, taken something from a site before. Everything had always been by the book. Catalog photograph and tag before doing anything else. But while marveling at the immense amount of gold, silver, jewels and other valuables stacked so neatly this crystal vile has caught my eye. The vile itself, though beautifully crafted, was not what intrigued me. Its contents looked to be like some sort of gas. Thick and swirling around as if trying to escape. Unexpectedly my had wrapped around the vile and I had turned and ran back out of the cave.

Back in my office at home, I was trying to figure out what had come over me. I had never felt like that before, as if my muscles had acted out of my control. I stared at the crystal vile on my desk and I had an urge to wipe it clean. But that made no sense to me. It wasn’t dirty, not even a fleck of dust. It was almost as if it had only been in that cave for a few days rather than the thousands of years it probably had been. If I give into this urge, I can tell that something will happen, I just can’t decern if it will be good or bad.

Eventually I throw caution to the wind and pick up the vile and wipe it with my hand. Suddenly the vapor inside spills out the top. With the lid still in place. Before I can process what is happening and react the vapor forms into a shape and before me stands a young girl of about 10 or 11 years old. I scream, drop the now empty vile and back away.

“Oh, please don’t be frightened” she says, “I’m Crystal, I’m a genie, and I’m here to grant you three wishes.”

I stand there with my mouth hanging open in a shocked silence.

“I’m sorry, what can I do to? You’re only the third person who has gotten me out of there. I don’t know how to help you yet.”

She was so calm, yet so apologetic. I saw the worry in her eyes and that snapped me out of my trance.

“No, I’m sorry,” I reply. “This is all mew to me too. I don’t know what I was expecting to happen, but I would have never guessed you would have appeared.”

She smiles at me, and I offer her a seat. We spent the next hour talking about how her magic works, rules for the wishes, and what happens when she finishes granting my wishes. I tell her about what year it is and learn that it has been 300 years since she was last out of her vile. She also lets me know that the wishes are consequence free.

“Really? All the old fairytales that I read warn about being careful what your wish for.” I say.

“Yes, well that’s because the original wishers needed to be able to explain away the wishes.” She explains. “The guy who wanted true love got it, she truly did love him, no magic broke later. He just took for granted that he would have to work on the relationship like everyone else. The women who wanted wealth didn’t want anyone to think poorly of her. So, she claimed an uncle passed away tragically, so the money was inherited. What you do with your life after the wish is up to you. But there is no price to pay to have the wish.

I sigh with relief. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of what I asked for. Now the next question to ask myself is what I want. We have good jobs and are set for money as long as we stay smart with it. All my family is currently healthy, so I don’t need to wish for anyone to get better. Then it hits me. Health! Lydia, on my research team, just went in for testing on a lump. She was nervous that she was going to get bad news.

“Okay, I have thought of my first wish.” I look at Crystal and she smiles encouragingly. “I wish that Lydia’s test results come back normal and that she is healthy.”

“Lydia, a friend of yours?” she asks, and I nod my head. “Wonderful, wish granted! She will get the results and a clean bill of health at her next appointment.”

I smile. Pleased that Lydia is going to be okay. I think hard about what else I should wish for. Then I think of Nathan and his family. Another member of my research team and has been looking like the world is going to crush him any day now. He has been telling me about the debt he and his wife got themselves into and how they are struggling to make each check stretch to the next.

“Next, I would like to wish for my friend Nathan and his family to be debt free.”

“I can do that but know that this will only take care of debt as of today. Not if they accumulate more debt.”

“I understand”

“Well then, wish granted!”

She is still sitting there smiling at me. I feel so good that I have been able to help my friends. So, I want to continue that trend. But who to help next? Then I think of my daughter again. She went through a bad break up last winter and it had shattered her self-confidence. My husband and I think that is part of the reason she wanted to stay at school. He tried to tell her that she would fail without him, and she is doing extra studying because she thinks he is right.

I look at Crystal and it seems as though she is reading my mind.

“You want to make your next wish for someone closer to you then a friend?”

“Yes,” I answer, “my daughter. But I’m not sure if you can grant this one. I want her self-confidence to be restored. It was broken by a boy recently and I don’t know how to help her.”

“I know how to do that. She will get lots of compliments over the next month in lots of areas of her life. She will achieve good grades and will have an easier time not second guessing herself. This is not a wish for love, but if she can continue to work on this foundation I give to her, she may find it. Is this what you want? All you must do is wish for it”

“That is exactly what she needs. Thank you! I wish for my daughter’s self-confidence to be restored.” I say with the biggest smile on my face.

“Wish granted!” Crystal stares at me for a few more minutes. Not loke before when she was waiting for my wishes, but as if she is contemplating something.

“What happens now?” I ask.

“Well, I’m trying to decide what to do for you to reward you for your selflessness. Then I will return to my bottle and my cave.”

“Truly I don’t want anything. I thought about myself at first, but I have all that I could want or need in my family and my job.”

“I don’t here of many wishers who use all three wishes on others. So, I am wanting to give you something that will leave you a little bit of magic. This pearl necklace.” A simple strand of pearls materializes on the desk next to us. “When someone wears it that will also be more conscious of others needs and be grateful for what they have. This magic will last forever. So, you can pass it down your family line and they will always have a bit of your goodness with them.”

And just like that she is gone. So is the map to the cave that I found. The pearl necklace gets displayed in my jewelry box. And I drift off to sleep satisfied that three people I love are going to be in better places in their lives come morning.