A genie came in the middle of the night.
She woke up to a gentle shove on her shoulder, rocking her back and forth. Slowly, she rocked into consciousness.
She pulled her face out of the pillows and looked into the darkness. Two eyes glimmered back at her.
He sat on the edge of her bed as she rolled over to look up at him.
“What’s happening? I’m trying to sleep….I’m busy dreaming.”
The genie took her hand in his.
“I’m here to grant you a wish. Any wish you’d like.”
She rubbed her eyes and thought about it.
What’s happening? Is this real?
She squeezed the genie’s hand, yawned, and inspected this mystery creature. He looked like an ordinary man, but more like a shadow.
It was hard to understand, and therefore hard to describe.
She decided she didn’t care if it was real. A wish was a wish, and she would take it.
“I wish I could forget him.”
The genie sighed.
“Wasn’t it one of the best times of your life? Are you sure you would want to erase all of that?”
It’s true, the good times were great. But the grief of knowing such joy, and having lost it…
“Yes. I want to erase it all. I want to be blissfully ignorant of what I don’t have anymore.”
The genie dropped her hand on the bed, and got up to walk away.
As he got up off the bed, his weight disappeared.
As he walked away, his eyes no longer glimmered at her.
As he opened the door, he let in a little ray of dusty light.
As he closed the door, he would never be seen again.
She pulled her pillow up to her face and wondered why she was awake.
But for some reason, she felt this ache in her heart. A phantom ache, that she should be desperately sad about something.
But she didn’t know what.
She decided she didn’t care, that the ignorance was bliss, and that if she didn’t know what to be sad about, she may as well be happy.
As she fell asleep, she squeezed the edge of her blankets like she would a loving hand.
Thoughts 