Genie's Star

Genie passed the rugged stone building of the school. No siree, not today would she be going to class, the books there worn and old, the pages falling apart with one tail flick. Instead, she would head to the library. The smell of pure paper wafted towards her nose. She swam over to one of her favorites, Star Sea. As she flipped to her favorite page, she read, “The stars can be seen at stardusk, for 20 minutes. The stars, oblong shaped and shining, are watched by land dwellers as normality.” The leather cover felt rough against her dark skin; she traced the gold lettering with her finger on the cover. Two large stars, each embroidered with the finest gold thread seen. Oh, how Genie loved that book! But her reimbursement was disturbed. As the Blestffle Squid started huffing, everybody took cover underneath the tables, but Genie had gone into her own dream. “Genie!” she heard a voice say. But she was too late. As the black ink sprayed on her, her tail changed color for worse, from a light purple to a foul, dark black. Embarrassed, Genie ran, and she ran all the way to her volcano home.

She shoved up the smooth, flat stone up the volcano as she dove in her home. No bubbles today. She thought. Her pitch black tail swung around as it slapped the side of the stone walls, her attitude spicy. Genie sighed, her silver hair plastered on her forehead, adorned with dry seaweed from a midnight dive, and she opened her closet door. “Locklin. Come ooouuuuut.” The electric eel slithered out of his small jar to reveal his 12 foot long body, green on the bottom like fresh sea grass and blue on the top like the smooth sea water. His fins were almost transparent, blue, and you could see the veins peeking through like eyes in a cavern. “Genie.” he hissed. “Where are the stars?” she sighed. “I told you. We can’t get stars. They’re… forbidden.” he spit out fish guts. “How? We can see the stars’ reflection. Why can’t we see them?” Genie sighed. She did have to explain to him every single night. “The air is poisonous, Locklin. We can’t go up there. We’ll….go away.” she said. He understood. At least, Genie thought he did. He huffed and went back into the jar. “So what if we go away? At least we’ll have a good sight to see.” His voice echoed in Genie ears like a voice in a tunnel. At least we’ll have a good sight to see. Genie shrugged. She took the sponge and started scrubbing off the tight black ink off her luscious tail. No use. The sponge bruised and scratched her fins but didn’t erase any part of the ink. Locklin swam up behind her, miming chomping into a piece of food. She sighed, and gave him a smooth seaweed cake, but just as he started to go out the door, Genie said. “Those are given. Not shared.” The girl, too, was hungry but greater work was needed to be done before she could sleep. But far too hungry was she, for when Locklin came back, the crumbs of the seaweed dribbling across his mouth she dove into her cupboard, sending pots and pans, along with rose hips and seaweed cakes flying out. Finally, she came upon what she would eat. A truffle. Just one single truffle, stuffed with cherry crisp and sugar. After the truffle was devoured, Genie was far too tired to continue on. She said goodnight to Locklin, lined up her shawl on the coat hanger, and dove into her pallet, closing her eyes.

Genie couldn’t sleep. The bubbling and the popping of the lava was normal, but today it felt...dangerous. She tossed and turned again, her blanket wrapping around her toes tightly. Just sleep. She told herself. Genie attempted to focus on the volcanos erupting into a bubble blitz. One rested outside her window, but led upwards towards the surface. Towards the stars. Unf! She flung the blanket off and it fell softly to the ground with an unsoft THUMP. Her cloak was draped on the closet and she put the silvery shawl around her shoulders. Her fin was twisting around, trying to wake Locklin. “You’re not getting my fish!” he mumbled in his sleep. “No, no, no!” Genie put a hand on his fin, but she quickly took it back as the shock rumbled. “Locklin.” she said softly at first. “Fine. I’ll get crawfish.” he whispered. Genie rolled her eyes. “Locklin!” she said again, her voice raised higher. She could see his eyes flutter, but they rolled back down. “Locklin Serras Tre!” she shouted, her patience running low, using his full name. “What?” he said groggily, his voice slurring. “We’re going.” “To where?” he said. Which she replied. “To the stars.” 

“Genie we can’t just go to the stars!” Locklin said. He was pacing around, the lantern’s swinging, rumbling. He picked up a book and flipped through it with his fins. “Aha!” Locklin muttered, his thick-rimmed glasses balancing at the tip of his nostrils. “There. It states, we can-” “- go watch the stars at a time of stardusk. Today is the final stardusk! We can go! Besides, you told me to go, remember?” she exclaimed. Far too excited, she rushed out of her home and started swimming to the surface. Her silver hair flowed behind her just like the Milky Way, and she waved delightfully towards the clownfish, who looked at her strangely. They were playing around with shells, and they pounded them and put them on their faces and laughed. Oh, the sea was perfect! But more perfect was the stars, or so she hoped. She passed the thick bay of coral, the little ferns waving with their blooming green hands. As she passed the washed up starfish she started to wonder if this was a bad idea after all. Locklin knew it was a bad idea. It wasn’t stardusk anymore. But Genie swam up to the surface. Gasp! It was not stardusk. But she was determined to enjoy it, as Locklin said. Gazing up at them, she heard a voice call for her, and her breath floating away. But she saw the two stars on the cover of the book, lying in the sky. As her breath ran out, she started to panic, but looked up at the sky, in its wholeness. The stars twinkled, and her eyes fluttered softly, and she took a deep breath, then stopped, her eyes closing peacefully.