J-I-N-N-I

She sees herself on a podium, in front of the huge number of people inside a well-lit library. Her forehead is filled with sweat that doesn’t seem to stop from falling.

She’s nervous as hell and when she looked down, the pages of the book in front of her was empty.

She gulped as curious stare started to dart towards her.

Is she in a horror film right now?

“I told you Charlie. You should have submitted your draft a long time ago!” she could hear her professor’s voice reverberating all over the place, yet she could not see where he is.

She squinted her eyes; they seem to have grown blurry by the minute. Then she hears the click-clack sound she has grown accustomed to listening with.

Her grinning face now filled her entire sight and the fear in her grew ecstatic.

She gripped her hands against the wooden podium.

They are all out to get her. She has nothing. No story to write. Nothing.

“So this is what your greatest desire is? I wonder if this too is your greatest fear?”

“No.. please.. no.”

Then she felt her body falling right into the ground.

And in the literal sense of it, she found herself groaning, her back aching from the fall.

“That hurt!”

“Good morning!”

Startled, she quickly sat on the floor and looked for the owner of the voice.

She found the mysterious woman sitting on a shiny blue sofa, wrapped in a scarlet robe. Teacup in hand, she sipped from it, placed it back on the small plate it came with and clasped her hands together on top of her legs twirled with each other.

“Where am I?”

“Have some tea.”

She poured some tea in another teacup.

Charlie slowly stood up from the floor while still looking at the woman who has saved her twice now.

Then in quick moment she noticed something. She started touching her face, feeling them like they were gooey gums. She could no longer feel the pain. It was as though she was unscathed from last night’s incident.

She looked around trying to find a mirror. she ended looking at her reflection in a glass cabinet filled with China sets.

Her face looked unscratched. It was as though she wasn’t punched last night. 

“Oh My god! I look good!”

“You do.”

She ran back in front of the woman who was still steadily sitting on the sofa.

“How was that possible? Wait…” her eyes grew big and pointed a finger at the woman in front of her, “How was all of that possible?” slowly remembering everything that happened from the previous night.

She started pacing back and forth, “You stopped those flying bullets, you made money magically appear and then, for God’s sake, you made a Ferrari appear right in front of me. How did you do all that? What are you?”

She was too scared to know yet too curious to not ask.

“You’re funny. I like you!”

“Who are you?” she was almost screaming.

“Well, again..”

“My name is too expensive for you dear!” she imitated the way she sounded and the intonation.

The woman in front of her giggled, “Did I really sound like that? Ohhh.. mother of heavens, I sound cute.”

“You haven’t answered me.”

Suddenly, the woman giggling suddenly turned to her with her fierce stare.

“As I said, my name is expensive. If you really want to know, tell me, what are you willing to pay me?”

The deadly sound of her voice startled her.

She had swiftly shifted from an amused woman to a deadly sorceress. She could feel every inch of her body getting cold with just the few words she let out.

“You don’t have anything do you?” she let out a smile, “Now, why don’t you be a kind little girl and sit down, have tea with me.”

She obediently sat don, zipped her mouth and accepted the tea offered to her.

“Now, I ask you answer. Tell me Charlie...”

“How—”

She slumped her back against the sofa once again as she realizes what this woman just said. She asks.

“Right—”

“Tell me Charlie, why did you owe those people that much money?”

“Well, that’s confidential.”

“You do realize I just saved you from all of those men twice, do you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“The least that you can do for me, is tell the truth.”

“Can we at least trade?”

“Trade what?”

“I’ll trade the information about the money, and you tell me your name.”

She smiled meekly, trying to convince the woman facing her.

“You are not in any position to trade with me right now young lady.”

“Right. I do realize that now.”

“Now spill.”

“Fine. It wasn’t exactly me who needed that money. It was my scammer of a boyfriend. He asked me to lend him some money for his graduate school. So, I had no choice but to loan some money.”

“How much exactly did he swindle from you?”

“About thirty grand. That man just asked for the half of it, I let him borrow all my savings with the hope of getting paid later. But then, just three days after I gave him the money, he was gone. He disappeared into thin air. While I am left with all the pieces. I’m broke, I have this unending writer’s block, and I just feel like I’m living off an ugly book each day.”

“That’s a very odd comparison. But just so you know, no book is ever ugly. All books have its beauty. Your book may just get better soon.”

She took a sip of the tea that was just handed to her. Surprisingly, she found the tea delicious. If delicious is even a proper word to describe teas. She never had any before.

“What are you?” she remained staring at the tea as she blurted out that question, “Or is that also an expensive question to answer?”

“Well, you’ve seen me in action, so I guess there’s no use trying to hide things from you.” She stood up and started walking towards another area of the huge house, “Chop-chop now little lady, walk with me.”

Charlie quickly stood up and followed suit.

“I am a Jinni.”

“A what?”

The woman faced her and said the words once again with emphasis.

“A Jinni.”

“A Genie?”

“Jinni.” She said once again, changing the intonation as she speaks.

“Genie.”

“No, Jinni.”

“You mean those magical creatures inside a lamp right?”

“Yes. A jinni. J-I-N-N-I. Jinni. Get it?”

“Fine. Did you just spell the words for me?”

“I did.” She turned her back against he once again and started walking towards the long hallway.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m not. Of course, humans can make things fly and produce money our of nowhere and oh, make a Ferrari appear in just a few clicks of their fingers.”

“Right. It does not make any sense.”

“So, let me tell you again. And this time, you better believe me. Because if you don’t, I’ll send you out of this house and back into the captivity of those men.”

“You can do that?”

“I certainly can.”

“Fine, if you’re really who you say you are, why aren’t you telling me about my three wishes?”

A loud chuckle started to fill the room.

“You people are very silly. Three wishes. That sounds ridiculous.”

“Why? Isn’t that how it works?”

“Well, it doesn’t work that way.”

“So how does it work?”

“Oh, I will tell you soon. But first, a little history.”

They climbed a few steps of from the ground floor and walked a wide pathway towards the end of it. The place was huge, designed like an Arabian castle.

Of course, the language, it must have been Arabian.

“Where are we going?”

“First, to my closet. You must dress, for the occasion.” She looks at her from head to foot, “I have the perfect outfit for you.”

The door at the end of the hallway opened and what welcomed her was a huge line of dresses, outfits all seemingly coming from places all over the world.

Her eyes feasted on the colors that are filling he eyes.

“This is your wardrobe?”

“Oh, don’t be surprised. There are still twenty more rooms I call wardrobe as well.”

“W—hat?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see all of them soon. I have a feeling...” she scoured through a bunch of hanged clothes and pulled a gray coat fit to wear in a desert, “That you will be wit me for a very long time.” She handed her the clothes.

“Wait, what is that?”

“That’s your... how do you call it these days? OOTD. Yes, that’s it.”

“But it’s very hot today. I don’t think that’s the appropriate clothes I should wear.”

“Well, you’ll be surprised how warm those clothes could make you once we get to the place where we will be going.”

“Where are we going exactly?”

“I won’t tell you unless you put those clothes on.”

“Fine.”

She pointed her to the direction of the changing area. In a few minutes, Charlie got out of the small space wearing the hijab.

“You look awesome. Not bad.”

She flickered her finger and soon enough, she was now changed to the same clothes Charlie was wearing.

“Why didn’t you just flick your fingers for me?”

“You’ll have to learn how to wear it anyway. Now off we go.”

They walked out of the room once again and turned left.

“Now, whatever you do, do not speak a word. Not until I tell you. Is that clear?”

She nodded endlessly.

She gripped the door open and like magic, the door produced a bright white light.

But what amazed her even more was the fact that the moment they stepped into the door, they were now inside a sand cave.

“What the—”

“Shhhh...”

She stopped whatever words she was about to say and recalled her instructions.

“Welcome, to the 24^th Century BC.”