Last part
Back to the old grind. As always, get up, take a shower, eat. Then go to school. He’d been doing it for all his life, how could this day be any different? First class, second class, third, fourth, he was getting very tired of this. And still two years to go. He could see the appeal of dropping out. Had to make that dream come true though. That’s something some people still didn’t seem to understand. Dreams don’t have to be unrealistic. They can just be something you want to happen. Not some grandiose manifesto for the future of humanity. Not that is was bad to have those. He had a few. Of course keeping your dreams small meant you might actually be able to achieve them. Although there wasn’t an dream small enough that laziness couldn’t kill. Another lesion far beyond the minds of anyone walking these hallways. They where all so easy to manipulate, all you had to do was write the word “free” on a sign and they would crowd around it like a flock of geese. And without fail there was a table filled with stuff sitting in the cross roads of the main hallway. He never stopped there, nothing they had could interest him. Until today. Sitting strewn about amongst the trash on the table was a lamp. The old kind. The shiny metal kind. The kind that shouldn’t have stood out at all. But this one was different. Something told him that he was supposed to have this lamp. It seemed to be crying out for him to take it. He gave in and approached their little table and spun their wheel. By every law of reality, and discounting small imperfections in design, it should have a basically equal chance of landing on any spot. But somehow Adrien didn’t think it could land on anything but that lamp. He was right.
This thing had been bothering him all day. Just this object sitting, watching, taunting him. Urging him to open it. No. Open wasn’t quite right. Activate? Revive came to mind. That felt right. That’s what he must do. Revive an inanimate object. How he was supposed to do that he didn’t know. Perhaps he had to lite a fire in it, but it was new to him and he didn’t want to possibly ruin it. All secondary actions aside first he had to clean it. Thing was so filthy you’d swear it wasn’t touched in years. He got a rag out of a drawer and started to wipe the thing off. As he was just getting through the first layer of grime he felt a taping of his shoulder.
“Buddy you can stop now.” He looked up to see some vague shadowy figure looming over him. The body alone looked like something that would be the last thing he looked at. For the first time in memory his mind struggled to put together what he was seeing. Never mind vocalizing any coherent thought. Just as he thought words might be approaching his lips the thing before him used its voice.
“Oh man look at your face! Priceless, really is. Look man I’m not gunna do anything bad to ya.” The thing threw off the shadow as if it was but a jacket he then stood there looking much more friendly, however still confusing. Finely Adrien’s mind found something to work with.
“So what are you going to do with me?”
“That all depends on you.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Seriously? Keep up.” The thing took that lamp from him and held it in its hands and gestured to itself. “I’m a genie. This is my lamp. I’m free and you got yourself wishes three.”
Adrien was stunned something would ever have the audacity to suggest that it was a genie. Although the thing that was before him did appear to do many incredible things this couldn’t be anything more than a trick. Some people could manage some impressive things with very little. Adrien spoke again.
“You expect me to believe this?”
“I expect you to believe this.” The genie snapped and suddenly they were on the moon. Just standing completely submerged in space. Breathing fine. Completely, totally, impossibly fine.
“How do I know this isn’t a dream?”
“Life can be a dream if you make it.” Adrien was running out of words again. He had to change the subject. Preferably not to how they were now carrying on the conversation 238,900 miles from where they were.
“Why me?”
“Scuse me?”
“Why are you, appearing, to me?”
“Why does a snowflake land where it does? I don’t know. I just happened to be around is all.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, mostly. I did call out a little bit.”
“So, anybody around could have found you?”
“Anyone that can hear it. Not everyone does.”
“What made me special.”
“Didn’t say you were.” This man was getting confusing. It’s not often that somebody was able to outwit him. Although he had never dealt with magic before. Questions where now going through his mind faster than he could ever hope to ask. Perhaps that was wise, asking how long he did have.
“How long will you be here?”
“What, with you?”
“Yes.”
“Until you use your wishes, or you don’t.”
“How long do I get to make my wishes?”
“However long you get. I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be smart to lollygag though.” Problem. He had to make them sooner rather than later.
“Do aliens exist?”
“Depends when you ask me.”
“Have they existed then?”
“Sure.”
“Then you made them not exist?”
“Couple times.”
“Then people can change each other’s wish?”
“Completely.” Another problem. What good was wishing if it wasn’t premiant? He sat thinking about the problem for a bit. A challenging one to be sure. But it fell after a few minutes. They all did.
“Can you refuse a wish?”
“No, unless I can’t do it.”
“So you can’t do certain things?”
“No. I should think no one can do everything.”
“What can you do?”
“I imagine most anything you could come up with.”
“Are you the only one like you?”
“In this universe yes. But there are many others just like me in other places.”
“Can you travel between the universes?”
“Nope, never. Don’t know anything that can.”
“Interesting. I think I know my first wish.”
“Lay it on me.”
“Before I do, will you know exactly what I meant?”
“Absolutely, you’ll get what you wished for. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“You won’t trick me?”
“I won’t do any more than what you wish.”
“Wonderful. I wish that my version of a utopia would instantly come true.”
“An interesting one. You got it.” And just like that the world around him changed. The ground he was standing on became the streets of a shining city in the sky. People bused about doing whatever it is that they where doing. To them nothing had changed. Adrien nearly couldn’t believe his eyes. He had almost thought that nothing would happen. That this would all turn out to be a dream. Now he was sure it wasn’t. This was all real. His real.
“Perfect. Just perfect.”
“What next?”
“Well. Only one thing. I wish, from now on. You don’t exist.”
“I’m sorry?”
“From this moment onwards, you don’t exist in any form anywhere at all. Nothing left. No coming back. Totally gone.”
“You have to be joking. You still would have one wish! How would you use it?”
“What’s a wish to the man that has everything?” The genie was stunned. When you confront people with magic they do tend to be a little selfish, but this was beyond measure. Beyond reason. However not beyond possibly. He could grant this wish. And if he couldn’t get this monster to change his mind. He would have to.
“You realize what you’d be doing?”
“That’s why I wished for it.”
“You haven’t thought this through! Please! I’m asking you to stop for a second and think this over!”
“Don’t you think you should stop talking and do your job? As I recall, you said you couldn’t refuse. And it doesn’t sound like you can’t.” The kid was right. He couldn’t refuse, and it was getting near the time where he would be forced to grant It.
“Before I go. You, are without a doubt the worst thing that ever cursed the world. If there is any justice in this world someday you will feel more regret than the rest of your filthy universe ever could. I’ve seen self-obsessed. But you. You are more than ever was.” He couldn’t talk any longer, he snapped his fingers and granted the wish. With the provider of his new home vanquished before his eyes Adrien went to his new house. Where the best part of this world would be waiting for him. Finely, he liked him.
