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"Tim, what are you doing? We're finished here, you can come downstairs."
I was in my grandfather's attic, I had been helping him to throw old stuff away for the whole morning and it was indeed a lot cleaner now. But as I went to the scale, I saw an old little wooden box covered in dust in a corner and it stimulated my curiosity. While I was taking it carefully before joining my grandpa, I felt letters engraved on the top of it, but I couldn't see them because of the dirt.
"Here I am. Do you know what is this? It looks ancient and I bet it's empty, but it's still nice."
"I never saw it in my entire life, but you know a lot of things here belonged to your grandmother. You can take it if you want, she won't need it where she is."
"Oh. Thanks. I will clean it and see if I can use it as a decoration."
After I came back at my flat and ate a quick lunch, my attention turned back to the box. I did a bit of cleaning, and then I could see the letters on the top of it:
"Do not open"
Apart from the letters, it was a luxury worn box, probably an old snuffbox from the time when it was really expensive.
"Seriously?" I thought. "Am I really going to listen to this stupid rule from some guy probably dead now?"
Of course I wasn't. I opened the box to see what was inside, but there was a flash with a loud noise and I couldn't see anything for a few seconds. Before I could distinguish anything, I heard a powerful manly voice spoke to me:
"Many thanks to you, human, to deliver me from my prison. I grant you a wish to show my gratitude! Chose anything you want, and it's yours."
I began to see who was talking to me: the form was a human one, except below the waist where I could only see a dense mist. He seemed naked, and was very muscular. I couldn't see his face properly though, as the same mist was dancing in front of it.
I began to shake a bit, and sat on the floor to think rationally. After 10 seconds, I asked:
"Are you real?"
I know, that was pretty dumb. But I was quite shocked at the time, and that's all that came to me. I think the entity felt it, as the mist before his face and his legs vanished while he crouched in front of me to be at my level. His head was the one of a young adult, but something in his eyes made me think he was really old. He told me calmly:
"I am real, I was trapped in this box for a long time and now I want to go discover the world and enjoy it. So you'd better accept my offer and tell me a wish that I'll satisfy for you, before I decide to go. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do. Can I have a minute to think about my wish?"
"Of course."
Then the genie fell silent, and looked at me patiently. I began to think out loud:
"I could ask for eternal life of course... Or maybe to be happy until my death, that would be simpler... But if I die in an accident in 3 days, that would have been a very bad choice. Raaaah! And since I can't wish for others wishes..."
"You don't want to do that" told me the genie, frowning.
"What?" I answered, a bit startled.
"You don't want to wish for more wishes."
I couldn't stop myself, even if the genie remained calm I felt like I was pushing my luck. I had to ask:
"Why shouldn't I do that?"
"Because I'd have to stay with you to satisfy your every wishes and I don't want to do that. And trust me, you shouldn't try to force me. Now choose your wish, please."
"I trust you, I'm not a fool. I guess I can't wish to be able to satisfy my wishes myself neither... I think I'll choo..."
"Yes you can. Why wouldn't you?"
I felt really dumb suddenly, as he was looking at me with a mocking smile.
"Really?! Ok, so... I wish to be able to magically satisfy my wishes in the same way the genie here can. Is that all?"
"Nearly. In fact I'm not a genie, I'm a djinn. So I'm afraid you wasted your only wish. Too bad for you, bye."
And he disappeared with a laugh. I kept staring at the empty space before me, too shocked to act. Did I just wasted the best opportunity of my life for a fucking word? I want to kill myself, please I'm so stupid...
With a "pop" the genie was once again in front of me, still laughing at me.
"Ahahah, you should have seen your face, that was hilarious! Dude, you just delivered me, I'm not going to trick you like this. Yes, it's working, all you have to do is pronounce clearly "I wish..." then your sentence, and it will become true. Have fun!"
And he disappeared again. All of that happened really fast, so I tried to calm myself down even if I had a big hope. First, I needed to make sure it was really working:
"I wish 100$ appeared in my hand."
I didn't feel anything special. In fact, yes there was something in my hand... You got it, a single 100$ note was there. Great! Now it was time for something more useful:
"I wish I couldn't die, be injured or sick."
I was thinking about another wish when my phone rang. It was Clara, a gorgeous woman I met 2 weeks ago at a party and with whom I had a date at the cinema after. The movie was great, but it was better when we made out during the credits. Anyway, she told me she had a lot of work to do this week so we didn't see each other (personally I was working at home on my computer 5 or 6 hours a day, so I could be available most of the time). I answered the phone:
"Hello Clara, how it's going?
"Good afternoon Tim! I'm great, I managed to get a day off next week, on Thursday. Do you want to do something?"
"That'd be perfect. Do you want to go to a restaurant? There is a good one close to my flat, you could come here for a drink before going for the diner. Sounds good?"
"It definitely does! At what time do you want me to come?"
"Let's say around 8 pm, if that's fine for you?"