“You have the power to make them come true” the voice said to me.
“Power? I can make their wishes come through?” I asked.
“Yes Benjamin, you can” the voice said.
But while I was still wallowing in excitement, he told me that I couldn’t wish for anything myself; I could only grant other people’s wishes. After that I woke up from my deep sleep.
I felt a sudden wave of shock inside me and I knew at once that something about me had changed. I’d just woken up from a dream where I saw myself talking to a genie. He was blue in color, similar to the one of Aladdin and the Princess.
I’d helped him to get out from under a large rock which had trapped his right hand. I didn’t want to start imagining how he found himself there because everything about such creatures never made sense to me; starting from their whoozy physical appearance.
After I helped him out, he rewarded me by giving me powers. Powers to make people’s wishes come true, and as a teenager the first thing which popped into my head was ice creams. I wanted to lick as many ice creams as possible with my magical powers, I also wanted to go and play video games and have fun, fun and more fun. But he dropped a bombshell. “You can’t make a wish, you can only grant people’s wishes”. So that ended all my personal aspirations.
With the sudden wave of shock inside me, my ears started to transform. I could hear what every child in the world said at every passing second. Ranging from the cries of infants to the joyful shouts of the noisy children on the streets. The adults were no exception. In fact, my ears were everywhere.
I was still wrapped up in confusion and a bit of excitement (due to my new nature) when someone made the first wish.
Yes, I heard her clearly, her mother called her Anna. I was somehow able to deduce that she was 7 years of age. Anna was crying bitterly when she made the wish. Her mother had grounded her and locked her inside the room (for misbehaving) and then she made a terrible wish. “I wish this door will fall off and the house will catch fire”
Somehow, I granted that wish. I had no option. I couldn’t refuse it. It was my job; it was my duty to grant people’s wishes because I’d been given the power to do so. According to the genie, I’d been chosen for it. If I didn’t do it, I’d be disrupting the timeline, and I’d certainly face the consequences.
“A-p-r-i-c-a-b-e-n-d-a” I muttered the magic words, and the door to the room where she was locked in, fell with a great thud. I listened closely - all the way from my house- as Anna screamed with fear and ran to her mother. “Mummy! Mummy!” She said. But that wasn’t all; somewhere in the basement had caught fire, and in few minutes the house was ablaze.
As I sat on my bed listening to Anna and her mum crying outside, watching the structure come down to nothing; I felt bad and only hoped that people would stop making bad wishes.
“Ben, Ben, are you awake? You should get up and prepare for school” it was my mother knocking on the door.
“Yes I am; good morning mother” I said, as I jumped out of my bed and went straight into the bathroom.
“Good morning son, your breakfast is waiting for you” she added before leaving.
While I had my bath, I didn’t stop thinking about Anna and her mother. Whatever had happened to them was my fault. My countenance changed. I’d done something terrible.
“I shouldn’t have granted that wish” I muttered to myself severally.
I closed my eyes and asked. “Dear genie, how will Anna and her mother survive?” But there was silence. Just silence. No reply. Everywhere was calm. Maybe if I wanted to reach him, I should go back to sleep again. I felt very terrible.
“Dear genie, I don’t want to have this power again” I said. But no response. Everywhere was so silent.
“Ben are you done?!” My mummy shouted from the dining table; interrupting my thoughts. I hurried my bath and in few minutes I was eating with her at the dining.
After breakfast she kissed me on the forehead and wished me a nice day at school.
“Be a good boy okay? Don’t quarrel with Greg, have fun, play together and always be in good team spirit okay?”
I nodded. What else could be better than having a sweet soft mother. Soon the school bus pulled over, and I jumped in. I scanned the normal sit area where I and Greg usually sat in. He was there playing some video games with his phone. “Hi Greg” I said and sat down close to him. He seemed to be so engrossed with his game. He only waved at me; with his eyes still fixed to the screen.
I’ll call Greg ‘my best friend’. I knew him since I was a kid. We grew up in the same neighborhood before they finally relocated to somewhere ‘cheaper and affordable’ according to his parents.
We did everything together. We ate together, danced together and took risks together. Yes, big risks.
At least some of my memorable moments with him were the ones where we punctured Mr. Philip’s Car tyre because he splashed dirty water on us and wouldn’t say ‘sorry’.
Some other time, we would sneak into Mr Thompson’s farmyard to pluck mangoes and oranges. I remember once, when Greg got stung by a black ant. He shouted and ran home without clothes that day. I was as scared as he was; I thought he would die because someone in class told us that if we were ever bitten by an ant or snake we would disappear from the face of the earth in less than 24 hrs. Anyways, even if Greg lied to his parents that he left his clothes in my house, and that he was stung by an ant in my house; that didn’t change our mind about the farmyard. Even if he was treated and didn’t later disappear—a huge relief to the both of us—it didn’t still convince us to go back to the farm to steal. We stopped abruptly. I didn’t want to be a victim to the ants too.
In fact, what else didn’t we do together?
With the way we were fond of each other, one would wonder what could ever separate us. Well, nothing; maybe until one of us found a wife to marry in future, I don’t think we could ever be separated.
Another thing I loved about Greg was his jovial nature. He was an open minded person and I always felt free around him. As we grew older, he protected me most times, from senior bullies and I loved that too, maybe because he was a year older or that he looked much bigger than I was. None of these mattered. I was glad I had him.
But our friendship began to take a U-turn in class 4, when I came ‘1st position’ in class and he came 15th position. Yes, when it came to intellect, we weren’t on the same level. But having understood this early enough, I promised myself that I’d never use it against him. In fact whenever we were talking about our results and class performances, I preferred to remain quiet so that I wouldn’t make him feel inferior.
“I wish I could hold you in my arms right now and sing to you”. Someone’s wish brought me back to reality. It was a couple speaking over the phone. Probably they were doing a long distance relationship and it had mostly been calls, more calls, texts and voice notes.
Anyway, It was the guy who made the wish and after making the statement, I muttered the magic words once more “A-p-r-i-c-a-b-e-n-d-a”
“What did you say?” Greg asked me as he paused his game and turned to look at me.
“Me? Did I say something?”
“Yeah I heard you say some magic words like ‘Aprica’ or something.
“Oh, really? Maybe you didn’t hear right Greg” I replied to him laughing.
He looked at me in a confused manner. “But I heard someone saying that, few seconds ago”
“You should focus on your game alright?” I said to him patting him on his back. He continued with the game, and I went back to my deep listening.
Yes, the magic worked. The wish came true. I could hear the guy singing ‘all of me’ by John Legend, for his lover. It was an emotional moment for the duo. “I love you; I never expected this moment to happen; I’m glad it had happened” she said and they kissed each other. I sat back on the chair and smiled to myself as I looked out through the window of the moving bus. What could be so rewarding than making sweet wishes come true?
Few minutes later, the bus came to a halt; we had arrived school. Every student scrambled to get out; the rush of excitement, childhood adrenaline and rascality hadn’t left them yet, as teenagers. Oh; I wasn’t excluded too. The reason I and Greg came out last was because I was waiting for him to zip up his school bag.
Talking about Greg, our friendship began to take a U-turn due to our intellectual differences. He didn’t seem happy that I was always topping the class. So whenever we went to pick up our report cards from school at the end of the session, I wouldn’t tell him my position in class so that he wouldn’t feel bad.
Soon he stopped visiting me in my house. Instead, I was the one visiting and trying to sustain the friendship with my so called ‘best friend’. He also stopped joking and playing with me. I watched as he had the time of his life with other class mates. I was now treated like I didn’t exist.
Even when I told my mum, she said I should be a bit patient that people do change; she told me that regardless of what was happening between the two of us at the moment, she was happy for our growth and friendship. So I remained quiet; I said nothing. I smiled with him and played along, because mum made me believe that I should play along.
I remained quiet until the end of the semester; I remained quiet until it was time for us to pick up our termly report cards. I remained quiet until he made his wish. Yes Greg made a wish that evening after he found out that I topped the class once more and that he was no where near the high achieving students in class. He made a wish. A dangerous wish.
“I wish Benjamin is dead”
After weeping for hours, I ignored the wish and went back to bed. I would have a dream and boldly tell the genie that; “Such wish cannot be granted by me”. I wouldn’t say ‘Apricabenda’ for that.
Whether the genie would get angry or not, I didn’t care. Whether my actions would disrupt the timeline or not, I didn’t care.
I was ready to face the consequences.