The Last Genie: A Novella

Chapter 31

Ithel didn't sleep well that night. He was haunted by dreams of his wife and daughter all night leaving him tired and in no mood to talk. So, he laid in bed until he heard Grace go into the bathroom to get ready for work. Then, he went into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee.

A few minutes later, Grace came into the kitchen. Just by looking at Ithel, she could tell he was struggling. She said, "Good morning," brightly, but Ithel just nodded his head.

"You still want to make the fried chicken tonight?"

"Yeah."

"We'll need to go to the store on the way home to pick up some things."

"I can go while you're at work."

"You're sure?"

Ithel nodded.

"Alright. I'll make you a list of everything you need."

After dropping Grace off at work, Ithel parked across the street form Kari's coffee shop. Luckily, or I should probably say as fate would have it, a few hours later Brandon showed up for work.

Ithel got out of his car, hurried across the street, and called out, "Hey, Brandon!"

After Brandon gave him a confused look, Ithel said, "Do you not remember me? I'm a friend of Kari's," as he stuck out his hand.

Brandon instinctively shook Ithel's hand as he said, "Oh yeah," even though he didn't actually remember who Ithel was.

"Yeah, you tried to run me over with your car."

Instinctively, Brandon tried to jerk his hand away, but Ithel didn't let him.

"That was just an accident," quivered Brandon.

"Did Kari tell you I was genie?"

"Yeah, but I didn't believe her. I thought she was just joking around."

"Yeah, who would believe something crazy like that."

"Yeah, right," said Brandon as he laughed nervously.

"Did you tell anyone else what she said about me?

"No."

"Good," said Ithel with a broad smile. Then he leaned in close to Brandon's ear and whispered. "Because I am genie, and if I find out you did tell someone or if you tell someone later, I'll find them and find you, and then, I'll make you watch as I shrink them to the size of a mouse and feed them to a snake. Then, I'll start working on you, and the pain will be so bad that you'll beg me to kill you, but I won't. I'll keep going on and on and on. Do you understand?"

Brandon nodded his head as his whole body shook with fear.

Then, Ithel pulled back away from Brandon's ear and slapped him on the shoulder as he said, "That's what I wanted to hear. Well, I'll see you later."

Pleased that he had tied up that loose end, Ithel walked back to his car with a little spring in his step feeling ok for the first time that day and headed towards the grocery store.

After putting away the groceries, Ithel looked at the clock. It wasn't even ten o'clock, and he didn't have anything to do. He didn't like that feeling. He didn't like being still.

He wondered into the barren living room, lookedaround, and thought, "We need a couch." Then, it struck him that he thought"We" and not Grace or I. Then after a minute, a small smile crept across hisface, and he grabbed his keys and hurried out the door.