There was a scowl set firmly on Daniel’s face as he prepared for the suffering that was another obligatory afternoon at his inanely boring great aunt’s, only this time it was his eighteenth birthday that had to be sacrificed to please the extremely eccentric woman. The aunt in question was insanely rich, and yet always managed to give the most obscure and useless presents that anyone would ever be able to think of. Daniel waited in ignorance for what, no doubt, would be one of the worst ones yet.
His two elder brothers bragged about college and their latest achievements as their parents laughed at the anecdotes, everyone holding their mandatory cup of tea in china that looked far too pristine considering they used it every time they came, which was far more frequently than Daniel would have liked. The house itself smelt of dust, Daniel could remember it from a very young age; the old, unused smell of the large house, similar to that of opening a box that had been allowed to sit in the attic, unopened for at least twenty years.
“Oh, Isabelle, dear, do pass me that box over there.” The aunt suddenly spoke up from across the room. Daniel’s mother did as she was told, handing her aunt the square box that was neatly covered in inappropriately childish balloon covered paper, the bright colours clashing with the dull and sophisticated patterns of his aunt’s interior design.
The older woman smiled at Daniel and he decided in that moment that it was definitely the wrinkly face combined with the lack of teeth that had always somewhat disturbed him during these trips.
“Come on, don’t be shy.” She coaxed and Daniel stood hesitantly and awkwardly, not quite liking how the noise levels in the room had dropped to almost deathly silence. His feet made trapping noises on the floor as he stumbled over to take the present from his aunt.
“Thanks,” he grumbled, quite ungratefully, yet his aunt smiled through it and nodded her acknowledgement. She beckoned him down with her index finger and placed a dry, hard kiss on his cheek, the stray hairs on her chin scratching against the skin of his cheek. He tried to hide his distaste and grimaced as he turned away from his family and walked back to his seat in the corner, a green armchair with gold embroidered patterns, his designated hiding place. Anything to avoid being involved in pointless small talk.
“Open it!” His aunt insisted in her harsh and far too husky tone. Daniel smiled tightly, nodding as he picked the lid off of the box and tried to hide his displeasure at the cliché dusty lamp that lay surrounded by some white tissue paper that had been placed there to stop it moving about inside the box.
“Wow, thanks.” He spoke up and his mother looked over to him in displeasure at the sarcastic tone his voice had taken on as he spoke those two words.
His aunt smiled, seeming completely oblivious yet all-knowing all at once, and Daniel placed the lid back on the box; intending to hide it away in the furthest corner of his cupboard as soon as was possible.
Daniel let out a low groan of what could be considered to be a mixture of relief and tiredness as he threw himself down onto the comfort of his bed and let the sheets engulf him as the present was allowed to carelessly tumble off of it and fall open. He sighed as he rolled over and let his arm dangle down beside it, no care for the fact that the contents may have been damaged or broken in some way, nor that the contents could be worth more than he originally thought. After all, the aunt was rich.
He picked up the weirdly elongated bronzed lamp and kept it hooked on his finger that was simply looped through the handle. He twirled it slightly as he examined it with a frown on his face before he picked up his other hand and scratched away some of the dust and dirt with his thumb and forefinger so that he could read the dull inscription on the side more clearly.
Just as the cursive letters of what looked like an ancient dialect of some form began to become legible, the lamp tumbled from his hands down into the folds of his duvet. He would have missed the short burst of light that followed had he blinked and looked on in shock as he rubbed his eyes, convinced he was seeing things on account of the large quantities of dust he had inhaled just that afternoon. His wavy, dark brown hair lay tousled on his head as he readjusted his crinkled shirt and relaxed as he managed to regulate his breathing once again after the initial shock.
The boy froze as a short feminine cough sounded from behind him and he turned to see a girl with a sheepish smile on her face.
He immediately jumped up, understandably confused as he let his eyes graze over the girl in front of him. The girl in question stood in a pretty blue tunic style dress with a white peter pan collar adorning the neck. She had short, dark blonde hair that tumbled to her shoulders in loose curls and a pale complexion with hazel-coloured eyes.
“Wh-who are you?” He stammered awkwardly, not thinking to yet question her motives for appearing in his room. His lean muscular body looked almost clumsy in comparison to the composed, petite girl in front of him.
“This is going to be hard to explain,” she spoke lightly as she ran a small, dainty hand through her blonde curls and ruffled them slightly in the process. The movement had his full attention as he took in every detail of the girl stood in front of him; as if that would give him a clue as to whether or not he was dreaming this whole thing up. He noticed the few faint freckles that could be seen on her cheeks and across her nose, the small mole on the side of her neck, and the faint low-lights of a darker blonde hidden amongst the curls which led him to the conclusion that he couldn't be dreaming - he wasn't anywhere near that imaginative.
The girl, completely aware of the boy’s questioning gaze that had fallen upon her, was lost in her own thoughts. It was quite a different thing to explain this to people that did not need or want to understand in the modern day; they were much less open to the ideas of fantasy and magic. She casted a casual glance towards the boy, looking straight into his dark brown eyes, and probably frightening him slightly she imagined, before grazing her eyes over him. He was quite lean and muscular, a tall boy, and he was quite a bit more tan than her – though he had most definitely been getting more sunlight than she had over the past however many days, months or years.
As she frowned a small crease formed between her brows, Daniel watched on in a mixture of confusion and anticipation. “May I take a seat?” She finally spoke and he struggled to place her accent. It sounded European, though Daniel had travelled most of Europe and had not once heard a voice like hers. Life in the big city had made him ignorant.
“S-sure,” he eventually stuttered and the petite girl casually perched on his desk, her feet dangling about a foot from the ground as she shuffled backwards. Daniel mirrored the movement and sat down opposite her on the edge of his bed, though even the familiarity of his sheets did not seem to make him comfortable being in her presence.
“What’s your name?” She asked, her voice still quiet and polite.
Daniel scratched the back of his head and ruffled his hair, then kept his elbow raised in a manner commonly used amongst boys of his age, and the girl noted that he was still quite uncomfortable with the fact that she was there in front of him, quite understandably to you and I. He should, however, have been jumping with joy at the prospect of what she could bring; then again, ignorance meant he had no idea. “I’m Daniel, you?” He let out a deep breath once he had finished his sentence, a breath he had not realised he had been holding, and allowed himself to swell with pride at the fact that this time he had not stuttered like a fool.
“Emilia, though people tend to shorten it to Mia.” The girl, who Daniel now knew to be named Mia, smiled as he processed the information. The whole question and answer idea seemed to be working quite well in terms of letting him know what was going on. “Is this your room?” She added, taking a moment to look around the stark blue walls and peered down at the weird shade of brown carpet that covered the floor. His bed stood sturdily against two walls in the corner of the room, a dark oak wooden frame with exquisitely patterned black and white sheets, which was opposite the shiny wooden desk that Mia rested on. She looked at some pieces of paper quite timidly, though her curiosity overtook her as she smiled at the familiar work.
“It is. How and why are you in here?” He asked, his tone sharp as he suddenly realised the complete invasion of privacy, he did not care if she was a friend of his brothers or family, he wanted her out.
Mia seemed to ignore the question as her eyes continued to graze the room and take in every small detail that her sight would allow, even down to the small thumb print on the wall opposite, and the scratches on the wood of the wardrobes. Her eyes darted over the wooden double-door wardrobe with nothing holding her interest as she moved to look at the posters on the wall which also held little interest to her as she turned back to the sheets on the desk that she could only assume were from some form of an English class.
Meanwhile, Daniel frowned and awaited Mia’s explanation of why she was in his room and, more importantly, why she had not left yet.
Mia glanced at him in curiosity before answering. “You rubbed the lamp,” she pointed out tentatively, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world for him to have asked. Her black heeled boots tapped the drawers of the desk as she swung her legs childishly and Daniel’s eyes flicked to them briefly before he looked back to her face, his confused frown not dispersing any time soon.
“Yeah, to see what was written on it. How does that explain why you’re here? Is this some joke that Jacob and Lawrence put you up to?” Daniel questioned her.
“Who? You’re quite dense, aren’t you Daniel?” Mia asked rhetorically as she hopped down off of the desk and made her way towards the shelf that was fixed to the wall above his bed, mirroring the length of it.
Daniel followed her every move, relocating to where she had previously been sitting, though choosing to lean in what he hoped was a casual manner as the girl reached up to run her fingers along a few dusty trophies and frames.
“Are these all yours?” She asked, turning around to face him, once again. Her hazel eyes were sparkling with delight and curiosity, like she had never seen such things before.
“Yeah,” he mumbled lowly. She smiled an almost contagious smile and Daniel had to stop himself from letting the corners of his mouth quirk up at her sweet little smile and small dimples evident in the both of her cheeks when she did so. “Can you explain why you’re here?” Daniel asked, trying a new tactic to find out her motives.
“I told you,” she sighed in exasperation, wondering if men had always been this dense. The answer was that they mostly had. “You rubbed the lamp.” She reiterated.
“You said that already, that doesn’t explain anything. Why are you here?” Daniel continued.
Mia did not appreciate that the lamp had been entrusted to such a stupid, ignorant boy. “Why, Daniel, do you really not understand?” She asked as she tilted her head to the side and crossed an arm over her abdomen and rested her other elbow on it as she perched her chin on the back of her hand.
Daniel showed flickers of a frown before replying, “No.”
“I’m a genie,” she grinned suddenly and Daniel felt like he was about to faint. Yes, he was definitely going to faint. He should not have been shocked by the information, after all there was no way it could be true, but his body evidently did not agree as the girl’s pale figure blurred and his vision went black.
Genie – yeah, right.
