Epilogue
Nine and a half years later
"Quit bugging me, Cheri." I heard Mitch say from the dining room.
"Mitch got a girlfriend! Mitch got a girlfriend!" Cheri chanted in her cheeky manner.
"Didn't I tell you two to set the table?" I walked into the room and pointed a finger between my two children.
The both stilled and stared at me. I wasn't sure if I could hold back my giggle at how silly they looked. Cheri kept making kissing motions with her face while Mitch tried to squash her expression into anything else. My kids were ridiculous and hilarious in equal measure, and they always kept me amused.
"Set the table." I stifled my smile and bossed them around.
The doorbell rang, so I pointed another stern finger at them reminding them to do the chore I asked. Going to answer the summons, I wondered which of my family members would turn up first.
The last person I expected at the door was Harrison. He hardly made any attempt to see anyone in our family nowadays. It troubled Bev and she always wanted to blame herself. Jene and I knew it had more to do with his double life. He would learn the true extent of a genies patience with the wishes he owed.
"What's it going to be this time, Harrison? Are you still trying for the 'this punishment is so unfair' angle, or have you moved on?" I kept my voice bland and I blocked his view from seeing into my home.
If I had learnt one thing, it was never to give Harrison an opportunity at anything. He used any information he could get to twist the truth and make him seem like the suffering party.
"It's finished. It's finally over." The words of relief leaked from Harrison's mouth.
He sure surprised me. I had thought that he'd still have to suffer his punishment until I was old and grey.
"Your punishment. You've completed your punishment?" I couldn't hide my disbelief.
"Yes." He bowed his head, but for the first time I looked at him carefully.
Harrison was only in his early thirties but he appeared exceedingly older. His hair had grey streaks through it, his face continued its first wrinkle, but it was his eyes that showed his years. This man had seen centuries of time, and yet physically remained quite young.
"That's unexpected. You had an awful lot of wishes to return." I crossed my arms and kept my defences up.
"That's true and I delivered them. You have no idea what it's like living in that tiny space." He shuddered.
"You stole from those who genuinely try to do good for human kind. You deserved everything you've received." I scorned him and he paused.
"I did, and I know that now." Harrison agreed in a troubled whisper.
"Little One, who awaits us?" Jene asked as he came in from the backyard where he had started the barbecue.
I stepped back from the door and Jene spat out a curse. He strode forward with a glare smothering his features. Harrison saw him barreling towards him and I wasn't sure what to expect. It sure wasn't what I saw. Harrison dropped to his knees, placed his forehead on the ground and began to apologise.
"Oh, gracious genie, I humble myself before you so that you may release me from my burden. From this day I have freedom from my punishment, but I do not feel free. A burden of guilt sits clear upon my shoulders that only you may ease. Please forgive me for the way I treated you and the selfish way I treated your lamp." Harrison pleaded in a shaky voice.
Jene paused, stared at Harrison and I could see him planning his words. Neither of us had expected this today.
"Stand, human, stealer of my lamp and its many wishes. If you desire my forgiveness, you must first prove that you have traded in your deceitful ways." Jene commanded in an authoritative tone.
I watched the proceedings with incredulity. This wasn't just unforeseen, but also totally against what I knew of as Harrison. He'd never in his life asked for forgiveness before, let alone pleaded for it.
Jene clicked his fingers and the lamp, as shiny as ever, appeared within its hands. Nowadays, it sat on our bedside table where it refused to move. The lamp had chosen that as its spot, so we left it there.
Harrison stood and saw the lamp. He stared at it, but there was none of the greed I recall seeing on his face from years ago. There was only a certain amount of grudging respect in his expression.
"How did you keep it if you live here with Isla?" Harrison's curiosity appeared genuine and not ruled by his usual behaviour.
"The lamp refused to leave me. We carry the magic and can use it on whatever we wish." Jene used a lofty tone, before raising his brows and staring at Harrison.
"I have no plan to take your lamp or steal any more wishes. I've lost enough of my life to that." Harrison sighed.
"If you lie, the lamp has the power to do what it wishes with you. Do you understand my words?" Jene asked.
"I fully understand and only require your forgiveness."
"Guys, that's got to be the weirdest conversation I've ever heard." Mitch interrupted from where he leaned against the dining room door.
"Mitch, what happened to setting the table?" I grouched at him.
"There's more happening out here." Mitch grinned.
"Let us finish discussing things with your uncle." I swished my hands at my son.
"You are forgiven. The lamp has seen through to your true intent and it has rebuilt faith in you," Jene solemnly said as he tapped the lamp on the top of Harrison's head. A weird sound rang out and a bang of doors clanging shut echoed around us. "You are now free." Jene declared.
Harrison stared around with tears in his eyes, and the burden I had earlier seen pressing on him had eased, "I'm really free." He began to blubber.
"Yes, you are." Jene assured him.
"Oh, that's pretty, Daddy, can I have it?" Cheri asked as she peered at the lamp with excitement.
"Cheri, my daughter, this is not a toy." Jene said as he held the lamp with reverence.
"It's a proper genies lamp. How did you not know that, Cheri?" Mitch teased her.
"Can I have wishes?" Cheri's eyes went wide. "I want to wish for more dollies."
I watched the lamp with interest, knowing it had a mind of its own. It responded to Cheri as if Jene had spoken and that worried me. With a sigh, I knew I had to end this.
"You aren't giving her wishes when she has more than enough toys and things," I chided the lamp who turned a reproachful grey. "I mean it! Don't let me catch you giving her wishes." I shook my finger at the lamp in the same manner I did with my children.
"And I'd listen to her. She gives out the worst punishments." Mitch said with a wink to the lamp.
Everyone laughed then and I smiled ruefully. I had a habit of over mothering everyone, which nobody let me forget.
Jene invited Harrison in the door with a jovial smile, and that sure shocked Harrison. Genie forgiveness was an instantaneous thing with no human ill feelings getting in the way. Cheri followed the man with the lamp hoping for wishes. I only hoped her father would show any type of moderation.
Mitch and I remained standing at the door. I shut the door, while Mitch seemed lost in his thoughts. It was only when I went to walk away that he spoke.
"Why didn't you ever use the lamp to fix me? That lamps always been here and I've known that it could give wishes. Why?" Mitch pointed to the left side of his face that had puckered markings and I wondered how to answer. It broke my heart to see his face grow sadder.
"I can change you right now without the lamp, but will it make any difference?" I asked.
Mitch turned to stare in the hallway mirror. A genetic facial deformity that I never noticed, but as a teenage boy, he did.
He'd never brought up the topic before, but neither had I. Right now I hoped that I could reassure him that I saw him as the person he was. His deformity had never bothered me.
I dragged in a deep breath and approached the topic head on. With a quick burst of magic, I changed his face so he didn't have the puckered skin. He stared hard in the mirror, his mouth flopping open.
"This isn't the Mitch who I know and adore. This Mitch doesn't have a grin that crooks to the side. This Mitch is who society expects," I changed his features back. "You are this Mitch. This Mitch has learnt that friends who are worthy don't care what he looks like," Mitch's phone beeped and I smiled because I knew it was his girlfriend or one of his mates. It proved my point well.
"This Mitch has a girlfriend who sees him and not the deformity he has. This Mitch is who we all know and love. I can change you so that you have perfect features, but you would no longer be my Mitch. I never changed you before because I never thought it was necessary." I finished my speech and my son looked at me.
"Geez, when you put it like that..." he trailed off and ran a hand behind his neck.
"Makes you think, huh?" I raised my brows at him.
"Yeah."
"C'mon, let's go and see if you and your sister actually set the table." I pulled him into a hug.
We walked towards the kitchen and I pondered what had just happened. From Harrison's awakenings to my son's insecurities, it was all a part and parcel of our life.
Jene and I had built a world for us that was neither the Realm or earth. We used the lamp where we needed, and we always took care of our family. We had a life that we loved, and we never squandered the gifts we were given. I liked to think of us as normal, with just a touch of magic.
The End
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And so ends another story of mine! Thanks for reading, voting and commenting. My readers are the hugest part of my world and I want you to know how much I appreciate you all. I hope you like the ending, I wrote this last night after I got the idea in the shower, of all places. I thought it made for an appropriate ending, what do you think?