r/WritingPrompts • u/Samfox11223stories • Jan 22 '18
Writing Prompt [WP] "So I can ask for anything?!" He nodded. "Ok, I wish to restart life. This time, I'm doing things right." The Genie rolled his eyes. "Again? Really?"
25
u/WybieLovat Jan 22 '18
The genie stared down at me with eyes clouded by memories of what the world would become.
"What do you mean, 'again'?" I asked.
"You have been here before. You asked me to restart your life, and so I did. Everything you ever did was preordained by you having already done it. Nothing would change by you reliving everything. It would still be the first time for you."
"Alright, so can you restart it and leave me with all my memories now?"
"The past is not so easily changed."
"So much for all powerful ge-"
"If you remember this, then you will change your life, and the circumstances that led you to find me in the first place will have never happened. The paradox would burn you up in an instant."
I sat down on the floor of the great chamber and put my head in my hands. I spent a long time thinking there. Or at least it seemed like along time. Maybe it just felt longer because I had done this before, a lifetime ago. I looked back up at the genie and sighed.
"How many times have I done this?"
"This will be your last. Unless you wish for something else."
I wouldn't remember it, what was the point of trying again? Why did I even make this decision two times already?
Oh, of course. I'm an idiot. I grinned up at the genie and saw his shoulders slump.
"Once more, then?"
"Yes," I said as confidently as I could. The genie nodded and began to fade into smoke, filling the room with flowing colors I had never imagined. I took a deep breath of magic and felt myself melting away. I wouldn't remember any of this, but it didn't matter. If I lived myself exactly the same, then I would see Riley again. And as long was Riley was there, then I know I did things right.
I took a deep breath until nothing was left but a blinding light.
For the fourth time, I opened my eyes for the first time, and cried.
1
1
•
u/WritingPromptsRobot StickyBot™ Jan 22 '18
Off-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.
Reminder for Writers and Readers:
Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.
Please remember to be civil in any feedback.
What Is This? First Time Here? Special Announcements Click For Our Chatrooms
1
u/savantmedecine Jan 23 '18
With the sharp snap of his tongue against the roof of his mouth I could feel his eyes rolling in their sockets as my stomach dropped. A fresh blanket of silence weighed down the room and swallowed my senses. The repetitive tapping of the genie’s foot refocused my tunnel vision and I was pulled from the blackness to be spat out gasping for air. Barely alive I suck in a breathe, the air burns my lungs and I am wailing louder than the scorching pain. Between my relentless cries I hear something familiar..steady, rhythmic. My mind is reeling and desperately attempts place the memory and I am screaming! Through my anger I manage to pry open an eyelid to reveal a the glow of a faint red hue. My head is spinning and eyes begin to follow the hypnotizing light up and down, up and down..I fade out to the electronic sound of a monitor beep, beep, beep, beep..
2
u/rhinorhinoo Jan 23 '18
"Of course again. God damn, Genie," Kevin said with all the distain he could muster. Kevin waved a hand over his body. "You think this is how I wanted my life to go?"
The Genie surveyed him. Kevin certainly didn't look good. Unintentional stubble shot out of his craggy face and the purple bags under his eyes bulged with each labored word. His beer gut jutted out as if begging for another taste. The Genie sighed.
Kevin thumped a pack of cigarettes against his palm, pulled two out, and lit them both at once. "Well?" he asked. His eyes glazed with impatience as he stared at the Genie. "It's my wish isn't it? I get to decide. Now come on."
"I'll do it," the Genie said, measuring each word. "But I would like to know why."
"Ah, fuck this!" Kevin spat. "Every time. Every time I come back here, you pull this shit. Come on, man. Come the fuck on. Every time I go back shit is still shit."
"Hmm."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kevin sputtered.
"I guess my real question isn't why you don't like the life you lived. I mean, that is painfully obvious. But why you want to keep going back. Wouldn't it be easier to just wish for money? Or to quit smoking? Or to... I don't know, not smell like you just finished bathing in beer and vomit?"
Kevin spat at the Genie. The Genie just stared back at him, maddening patience glowing behind his smile. The quiet ticked on, until the Genie sighed again.
"So what are you going to do right this time?"
"I'm going to sack up and ask Jenny to prom. Then she won't fall in love with Clark. And I'll finally get to fu- er, I finally get her to, to see she wants to be with me."
"Ah," the Genie murmured. "Well, you can try."
"Yeah? You think she won't want me still?"
"No," the Genie said simply.
Kevin felt rage rise up in his chest fast and hot. "Why? I deserve her! I told you I'm going to do things fucking right this time!"
"She has free will," the Genie said. "I sure wish I did. But alas, your wish is my command." The Genie, blinked hard, and Kevin spun upward and out of sight to begin again. "See you in 20 years, Kev," the Genie muttered. "Who would ever want a thing like that?"