The Genie's Curse

Chapter 23

Keme had not enjoyed at all what Tsuru told him growling to himself as he sat as far away from her as he could while still on the same row as her. Even after hours through the plane ride, they didn't speak a word to each other.

She didn't like his view on things and he didn't like hers. It was mutual... but he was willing to just settle in a half point between them. She however was not, staying in her one and only train of thought.

Tsuru had eyed him through the ride time and time again. Seeing as he decided the silence route as his last line of defense.

"Hey-" Allon looked back and forth between them confused. He'd walked over to check up on the two, "Everything alright?"

"Everything's the same as it was a few minutes ago." Keme replied.

"There's not much to do Allon, we talk, we keep quiet and we sleep. I'll be doing the last one." Tsuru said begging to dozing off.

Keme sighed, "I am interested in the last one, not sure if sleeping is something you'd do Tsuru."

"Surprising I know," She said looking at him sternly, "Sleep if you want, but don't bother me."

Keme rolled his eyes, "Fine then pretty boy, you deal with her." He stood up gesturing to Allon to sit on his spot, "You keep her company, and tell her how terrible it is to be alive."

"I think I should leave-"Allon started saying but wasn't allowed to continue.

"Sit, your ass down!" Keme commanded getting a few awkward glances from passengers. A flight attendant was making her way to them and Allon complied to not cause a scene. Keme, on the other hand, walked to his new chair while grumbling something under his breath.

"So... we're sitting on the same row... just the two of us..." Allon's uncomfortable conversation.

Tsuru looked over at him, "If you don't have a good conversation starter just don't say anything at all, and let me sleep."

"Sorry."

Tsuru looked over at him, rubbing her eyes, "What do you want to say? Get it done with."

"I've seen how you doze off at times, is everything alright?" he asked, worried about the moments she just blacked out. Breathing and seeming normal on a quick glance, except when you stayed a watch as she seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Nothing you should worry about."

"Are you remembering things you thought you forgot?" Allon asked, hitting right on the subject, "Yeah... I know the face you make. I've been there."

"You've been there? What have you suddenly forgotten everything and just slowly get parts of the memories like a torture?" She spoke and grabbed onto her armrest, "Because that's what happens when certain things trigger it... and when i want to remember what happened next... I just can't."

"I... I guess you could say i know what you're going through..." he started, "What always pops into my head was how i got in this mess... how i became trapped."

For a day that seemed blurry in her mind was as clear as yesterday for him

A child around five years old sat on the pavement watching people come and go. His father stood at the table in front conducting his usual businesses. The child's eyes wandered through the crowd, landing on an empty alley. In that alley, a small silver lamp stood on a piece of wood. Looking mesmerized, the child stood up, his father unaware that his son was slowly leaving the area.

It was broad daylight yet no one noticed the small boy walking around alone. Eyes glanced at him for mere seconds before continuing their own path. The streets become louder and packed with more people.

"Shiny," the boy said steps away from the small silver lamp. It seemed to shine in the sunlight, he laughed to himself crouching before the small object glancing around seeing no one around.

"Bassam!" The child's name being called loud and clear made him react out of impulse. Grabbing the lamp in his tiny hands, looking back at where his father should be. The man was looking around for him not too far away, as soon as the boy's steps towards him began the lamp pulled him in. By the time he took his first few steps the blue smoke covered his entire being.

The familiar scene drifting into a black lifeless void. A parchment of paper showing words he could not understand. The number five hundred appearing, flashing through his eyes. Wandering through the abyss, feeling a trickling sensation in his feet. But a small glimpse of light flashed through the top getting his complete attention, "Shinny."

His small hand reached up as if to catch the light, watching his hands intently looking for something. A small wooden hoarse appearing before his very eyes, "Horsey." Few words but his eyes so lost in a world none would understand.

Like memory's drifting through the wind Allon was silent

"Weren't you scared?" Tsuru's question brought him back to life, showing her a small smile.

"In all reality, no. I didn't understand what was happening at all, but I just didn't know what to do. I just played around with toys, until they explained the situation... and you know how that went." He sighed heavily looking down, "Well that's about it, and it constantly appears out of nowhere in my head."

"You were a weird kid then, I mean really, wouldn't you even be a little curious as to where you were. Because that day, I cried like never before, I was terrified, so scared of everything." She scoffed, "I was a little coward back in the day."

Allon chuckled, "We all grew up, changed, and some died on the way. Yet, here we are, us three together, you, Keme and me."

Tsuru fell quiet looking at Allon, her eyes softening to his shock, "Have you decided what you'll do this lifetime?"

"Of course I had, I planned to be a scientist. And now I'm going to follow you and Keme around. After all, there are so many places to take you, so many things to show you. It'll be like experiencing it the first time, but with people like me around." He smiled leaning to whisper, "People don't take the whole murder things to well..."

She rolled her eyes at him sighing speaking sarcastically, "You don't say, I didn't notice with Evira's leaving and all."

Allon moved uncomfortably in his seat, "Right." He laughed lightly, "So, wanna learn the new terms for things, and actually use them?"

While their conversations continued Keme had walked back. He kept a close eye from afar. Watching them bond so casually while his attempt to it was rejected in a heartbeat. Making his blood boil watching their conversing, jealousy seeping through his veins at the sight.

He didn't get what was the difference in Allon's words to him when offering to teach her about the new things.