Envious Part Four

"Candace... hey Candace, it's me, Rachel!" the young genie yelled as she pounded against the walls of the heart-shaped bottle. "open the stopper and let me out!"

"Whoever is holding me is not able to hear you" the voice of the bottle informed her.

Rachel gave the bottle's wall a few more slaps before giving up and slumping down to the floor.  "Then I'll just wait until she's ready to release me" she said with a nervous hint of confidence.

"It could be a long time" the bottle warned her, "for all we know, whomever picked me up could've brought us home, put me on one of their shelves and will just leave us there as a decoration.  In fact he may NEVER open me up to free you."

"You mean 'she'" the young genie corrected, "and she will open us up... I just know it!"

"Oh, my foolish student" was all the bottle had to say.



Ten days had gone by since the bottle was picked up by this mysterious person, with hardly a movement or vibration being felt.  As each day passed, Rachel became more and more discouraged.  Her bottle did its best to try and boost her morale by continuing her training, in the hopes that it would take her mind off of her infatuation with the redheaded mortal.  Over the centuries, the heart-shaped vessel has had many young women from all around the world enter inside of her to be schooled in the ways of the djinni.  It had to deal with many different personalities, but with patience and guidance, the bottle was not only able to train them all, but it was successful in finding them qualified masters and mistresses to serve.

However this latest apprentice was beginnig to become a real challenge.  Rachel was starting to show little interest in her studies; oftentimes the young genie would just sit with her back against the bottle wall and sulk.  The pink vessel would try to lift her spirits with colorful light shows and soft music, but none of this could lift Rachel out of her current melancholy state.  Finally, the bottle felt it had no choice but to speak candidly to its latest student...

"Rachel, allow me to tell you the story of how I became a bottle..."

The sad young genie lifted her head and looked around a bit.  She took notice that this was the first time the heart-shaped vessel has ever addressed her by her mortal name.  "You mean, you were something other than a bottle?"

"Not something... some-ONE" came the bottle's reply, "you see, I too was once a mortal woman."

Rachel's interest was now piqued.  "What happened?"

The bottle began to tell its story.  "Thousands of years ago, I lived in a small village in Mesopotamia during the height of the Akkadian Empire.  My mortal name was Mirilanna and I was the daughter of a simple wheat farmer.  My mother died when I was just an infant and my father dutifully took on the role of both parents when raising me, and my childhood was a very happy one.  As I reached adulthood, I beame a very beautiful young woman, with big brown eyes, long shiny black hair, a smooth caramel complexion and full luscious lips.  Suitors would continually arrive at the farm to ask my father for my hand in marriage.  The wealthier ones would entice him with huge extravagant dowries and promises of a luxuorious life for myself.  Even though we were poor and lived in a rather subsistent way, my father was a very proud man and assured me that it would be my decision on whom and when I choose to marry.

"Then one day a young man dressed in ragged commoner's clothes came walking down the path to our farm.  Oh, young djinni, he was very handsome!  He beamed a big beautiful smile at me before approaching my father, explaining that even though he was indigent and penniless and could offer him no dowry, he made a promise to work as hard as he can to provide a comfortable and happy life for me.  My father was greatly impressed by his boldness and ambition, and happily allowed him to court me.  So on that day the handsome young man and I walked together around the farm as we talked about our lives and got to know each other.  The young man's name was Sumar and he told me his father was a shepherd from up north.  Sumar was the youngest of four brothers.  He was nineteen when his father died suddenly, so he and his three older brothers now found themselves responsible for tending to the flock.  One day when he went into town to purchase supplies and he overheard the story two nomadic travelers were telling of a young farmer's daughter who was so beautiful that all across the land ballads were being composed and poems written about her.  The next morning he made a decision to leave his home to search for me.  He was absolutely determined to find me, whatever the obstacles, even if it meant sleeping in caves or going weeks without food.  Oh, young djinni, I was so captivated by his tale that I fell in love with him that very afternoon!

"The next day, Sumar returned to our farm and asked me to marry him.  He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a shimmering blue spinel gemstone.  He told me that in his family, it is customary for a man to give his upcoming bride the spinel stone, then during the wedding ceremony the bride is to give it back to her new husband as a sign of faith and mutual commitment.  I immediately said yes and accepted the stone.  He placed it into my hand and gently closed my fingers around it.  Right after that, he reached into his tattered vest and produced a small diamond-shaped bottle and asked me to open it.  I happily accepted it with my free hand, and after some difficulty, managed to pop the stopper off of it.  Without warning, the bottle flew up out of my hand and floated in front of me.  Black smoke came shooting out of it and it began to engulf my entire body.  I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't even run away.  The thick smoke grabbed a hold of me, lifted me up off the ground and started to squeeze and compress my body so it could be thrusted through the neck of the diamond-shaped vessel.  I cried out to my new fiance for help, but all I heard was sinister laughing.  The pain I was feeling as I was entering the bottle was so excruciating that I soon fell into unconciousness.

"When I awoke, I found myself in a small shiny room that had beams of multi-colored lights filtering through its walls.  The clothes I was wearing just minutes before were gone and I was completely naked, save for a few pink and lavender silk scarves that respectfully covered my chest and torso.  I looked around and saw no doors, no windows, no means of escape.  I screamed out Sumar's name but received no response.  I looked down at my stomach and saw that the blue spinel gemstone he gave me was now lodged deeply within my navel.  I took my fingers and tried to pop it out, but it would not budge.  Once again I yelled out to Sumar to come and rescue me, but received nothing but eerie silence... I felt so helpless and alone... but I would not be alone for long..."