"What if genies were real?"
The question stung me like a bee.. sharp, precise, quick, but exceedingly painful. It's needle like effect piercing the very core of my being.
I felt a tear escape my eyelids and roll softly down my cheek. I quietly hoped that was the end of it, but I was wrong. Because right away, Sarah asked again..
"What if genies were real?"
Her voice had gone up a notch now, the way it usually does when she got excited, or was about to get excited about certain topics.
"Think about it, the possibilities we'd have. The possibilities the world could have. You could simply wish your dad back, I would do same for my little brother.. The world will be a happier place to live in."
She spoke about happiness, but her words were painful. They drove home that which I already knew. Situations that I felt were best not remembered at this point. Images I would rather not be dwelling on.. Not at this time... But Sarah being Sarah, she didn't stop..
"The emergency dial would probably be called the genie dial. One call, one wish, and a dire situation becomes a happy one. Think about it Charles..."
I tried not to listen to her, it was hard. I knew she meant well, she always had a curious way of consoling me whenever I faced a sad situation. And it was quite often. If only she knew a better way.. if only I knew a better way..
"A changed world, a different world, all tied to an affirmative answer to the question.."
I looked at her now, she looked so engrossed in her thoughts, so faraway, so lost.. Yet she was here still, and animated, and aware.. aware that I was staring at her.. I stared down again.. But Sarah had noticed.
"Charles..."
I tried not to hear her. Another tear escaped from my other eye. I could feel it slowly journey down the other cheek, just like its counterpart had earlier done. I closed my eyes tightly...
"Charles..."
Behind my dark eyelids I could see my dad giving me the customary thumbs up as he left that morning, three years ago. I could see him step into his car and drive off. I could see...
"Charles..."
"What!?" I suddenly screamed at her. My eyes were back open now, and my tears were all over the place.
"What if genies were real?" she asked, as calmly as she had asked that first time.
I stared at her, and suddenly I was calm. Sarah was so innocent, she didn't know the way the world worked yet. I yearned to tell her, but I knew one sad soul was way better than two. So instead I forced a smile, and I replied..
"If genies were real my dear, then I would wish that your greatest desires be fulfilled, and that happiness revolve around you, always."
Suddenly, for the first time in hours, Sarah smiled... she smiled in a way I'd never seen before. Her face lit up, literally...
And then like an image straight out of a fantasy novel, I watched the girl who had been my playmate right from childhood, my only true friend in my 19 years of living...
I watched her transform...
And at that very last moment just before I completely passed out, I heard Sarah chuckle and say...
"I thought you'd never wish Charlie..."
I blacked out...
The End...?
#SladenSpeaks
#IfWordsWereNudes
I guess my prompt (Number 13) is obvious from the story.
There's really no other reason I picked it, other than the fact that the question simply directed itself at me when I read it. I asked myself what I'd do if Genies were real, and I knew I'd only wish for what was best for one other person. The story, naturally, flowed from there....
Cheers!