The American General in
“The Genie Bottle”
by Marz Workman
This story is set in the
Modern Age, 2019, and is a direct continuation of “Little Miss Monster”
A little girl sits on the floor of her holding cell. She is
playing with dolls. One wall of this cell is glass. Watching the girl through
the glass is General Joseph K. Parsons. He is known to the world as the
American General, super hero of World War Two; and still today. He knocks on
the glass.
The little girl looks up, smiles, and runs to the glass,
“Good morning, General!”
“Good Morning, Carol. Did you sleep well?”
“Uh-huh. I had a big breakfast, too.”
Joseph squats to meet her eyes, “Do you need anything?”
“No, sir,” she points to a small refrigerator next to her
bed, “They gave me some drinks and snacks. And a few toys.”
Joseph points a finger and touches the glass, “Your parents
will be here today, Sweetie. They miss you a lot.”
“YES!” shouts Carol, “I miss them, too.”
Carol suddenly gets sad.
“What’s wrong, Carol? Are you feeling ill?” asks Joseph.
Carol begins to tear up, “What if it wants to hurt Mommy
and Daddy?”
Joseph’s face goes sad also,
“I will not let that happen. You have my promise.”
*********************************************************************************
Carol runs to the glass and slams her hands on it, “Mommy!
Daddy!”
Her parents kneel in front of the glass. Her mother is
crying hysterically. Her father places his hand on the glass, and Carol places
hers over his, “You okay, Daddy?”
“I’m fine, Princess,” he says as he starts crying.
Joseph walks into the viewing room, “Mr. and Mrs. Banks, I
am General Joseph Parsons. You may take as much time as you need. I need to
speak with you…”
The demon seems to explode from Carol, “Aaaaaaarrgh!” It
begins to beat on the glass, but it has no effect. The dark, ethereal voice speaks, “You cannot defeat me! I have
lived for thousands of years. I! Am! Forever!”
Carols parents rapidly move
away from the glass.
The two guards standing
outside the door rush in with rifles aimed at the demon.
“What is that?” asks Mr.
Banks.
“That is the demon possessing
your daughter,” replies Joseph.
The demon looks confused, “I
am no demon, mortal. I am Djinn.”
“Djinn? A genie?” Joseph says
low.
“What’s going on?!” screams
Mrs. Banks.
Mr. Banks holds his wife closely,
“Quiet, dear.”
Joseph steps toward the djinn, “Why are you possessing the
girl?”
The djinn makes eye level with Joseph, “I am not possessing
the girl.”
“Carol. Command it to go back into it’s vessel.” says
Joseph.
The djinn raises itself high, “She can not command anything
of me. No one can!”
“You are djinn, you must obey the master of your vessel!”
The djinn retorts quickly, “She is the vessel!”
Joseph takes a step back and looks at Carol in shock.
The djinn turns and holds an arm out to Carol as if
directing attention, “She was taken by the Zetas. They destroyed my vessel and bonded it to her
code. She is not my master, but my vessel.”
The
djinn moves over to Carol, “I only want to be free as to not torment this child
further.”
The
djinn makes itself smaller and lifts Carol’s face to look at him, “Do not be
afraid of me, child. I will not harm you. No longer will I frighten you, Carol.
This is my vow to you.”
Carol
touches its hand, “What is your name?”
“Garuko.”
Garuko
turns to Joseph and Carol’s parents and moves to the glass, “I will no longer
be a threat to you. There is no further reason to fear me.”
Joseph
looks at Carol’s parents, “Can’t they be your master? She is their child.”
“Parents
do not own their children. Only if Carol was to become a slave could I have a
master. Her master would also be my master, and he could set me free with a
wish,” explains Garuko.
“Well,
that isn’t going to happen,” says Joseph.
Joseph
notices that the guards still have their rifles aimed at Garuko, and orders
them to lower their weapons, “At ease, Gentlemen. Return to your post.”
The
guards comply, “Yes, sir.”
Joseph
thinks to himself for a moment. He paces back and forth, occasionally raising a
finger like he had a brilliant idea, then scoffs it away.
He
then stops and looks at Garuko, “You said the Zetas did this to her?”
“I
did.”
“Then
this can be undone. We just need to figure out what they did.” He pauses then
looks at Mr. and Mrs. Banks, “Would you be willing to allow us to run some
tests on Carol? We may be able to find a way of undoing what was done to her.”
“Can you fix me, General?” asks Carol who is now at the
glass.
Joseph walks over to her, “You aren’t broken, Sweetie. The
thing Garuko lives in was put inside you, and we need to find a way to get it
out.”
Mr. Banks steps up, “We must approve of each test,
General.”
“I agree,” says Mrs. Banks.
Joseph looks back at Carol, “What about you? I will not do
anything without your permission.”
Garuko moves in front of Carol, “Do not be afraid, Carol.”
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to die,” says Carol.
Mrs. Banks walks to the glass and kneels, “Do you want to
do this, then?”
Carol smiles and looks at
Garuko, “Yeah. It’ll be fun having a genie around for a while.”
*********************************************************************************
Weeks later, many tests have been done, and Carol and
Garuko have been bonding. They have learned that they can speak telepathically.
Carol has also spoken to Ana, the Black Arachness, who checks in on her,
through the diamond, from the field.
Joseph sits at his desk, speaking on the phone when Dr.
Kohn walks in, “Okay, Everett. You and Ana be safe, and report when you get to
San Francisco. Bye.”
Joseph looks up at Dr. Kohn as he hangs up the phone, “May
I help you, doctor?”
“Tests have confirmed that the vessel of Garuko is a
diamond, but it has been bonded to Carol’s DNA,” explains Dr. Kohn, “We can
reverse the bond, but it will destroy the djinn and could possibly kill Carol.”
Joseph slams his fist on his desk, “Then it isn’t an
option, Vernon! I want an option that doesn’t include someone dying,
understand?
“There is another option, General,“ says Vernon nervously.
“Well, spit it out, man.”
“The diamond can be removed from her DNA, but it would have
to remain in her body for the rest of her life or she will die. It functions as
part of nearly every system in her body. If the djinn were to be set
free…well…”
“So, Garuko’s vessel would be free from Carol?”
“Yes.”
*********************************************************************************
Later in the day, Joseph tells Carol and Garuko of the
situation.
“It could be temporary or permanent. We just don’t know
right now. But it’s an option that could bring your situation back to somewhat
normal,” finishes Joseph.
“Your procedure would, at least, return my purpose to me,”
comments Garuko.
Joseph puts a hand on Carol’s shoulder, “And, this little
one would be your master.”
“So, I get three wishes?” asks Carol.
“It does not work like that. Simply, you command, I obey.
No wishes. And, I cannot break the Great Laws,” explains Garuko to Carol. “I
will explain them to you later.”
Joseph stands, “So, you guys are onboard with this?” The
duo nods in unison. Joseph turns to look at Mr. and Mrs. Banks, “How about you
two?” They give a silent nod.
*********************************************************************************
Over the next few days, a team of doctors and scientists
work to undo what has been done to Carol. They scramble room to room, looking
like ants in a mound. Carol lies in a medically induced coma connected to all
sorts of monitors. Her parents watch through the glass wall. In the room with
her parents, Ana Shvets, the Black Arachness, watches and waits.
Joseph sits behind his desk. Everett Snowe sits on the far
side of the desk from Joseph.
“So, you think it’s going to work?” asks Everett.
“I pray it does, old friend. That little girl in there is
the bravest person I have ever met. She’s been locked up in a prison, more or
less, subjected to hundreds of tests, and is now in a coma having her DNA re-written…again.
Most seasoned soldiers would have caved already.”
An alarm begins to wail. “General Parsons to Lab Three! General
Parsons to Lab Three!”
Joseph runs down the hallways and enters the lab, “What’s
happened?”
One of the scientists is pointing to Carol’s wrists, “We
don’t know, Sir. These metallic things began to grow on her wrists and her
vitals started going erratic.”
“Do something!!” orders Joseph.
The attending medical doctor stops manually checking
vitals, “I have never seen vitals like this before. She should be seizing,
contorting…something! She’s just lying there!”
A nurse brings in a defibrillator, “Here, doctor.”
Joseph looks at the monitors, then at Carol’s wrists as the
doctor readies the defibrillator.
“WAIT!!” yells Joseph, “Wait. Let…let this run its course.”
Everyone watches as the monitors flash and sound, and the
metallic bands form on her arms. Carol remains still.
Joseph looks at Carol’s parents. They look back with
concern and trust. Joseph nods and turns back to Carol as the bands complete
their cycle.
Immediately, Carol sits up in the bed and screams. She
looks around, appearing lost, looking at the bands on her arms, “It worked.”
She looks up at Joseph, “IT WORKED!”
Everyone looks toward Carol, shocked.
The doctor points at Carol, “She shouldn’t be awake. We
placed her in a coma.”
“How do you feel, Carol?” asks Joseph.
“I feel fine, sir.”
“You said it worked…what worked?” asks Joseph.
Carol starts her story, “When we were asleep and the
doctors started working, in the dream, we noticed something was wrong. Garuko
was dying. The vessel wasn’t coming out of my DNA. It was being destroyed.
Seeing no other way to fix it, Garuko said we were going to die. Then, he told
me to be brave, that he was going to leave me, and that I was going to live and
to always remember him. He put his bracelets on me, then he disappeared. That’s
when I woke up.”
Everett looks at Carol amazed, “He gave the girl his power.”
Joseph looks at Everett, then back at Carol.
“I’m hungry. Can I eat now?” asks Carol with a big, cheesy
grin.
Joseph smiles, “Yes. I will bring you something to eat.” He
then looks around at the medical team, “Let’s get her disconnected from this
equipment. She won’t be needing it.” He turns to get Carol’s food.
“Oh, Garuko said to tell you something, General.”
“What is that, Sweetie?”
“He said my super hero name would be ‘Djinna’”.
This Flash Fiction
featured:
American
General (Gen.
Joseph K. Parsons – Open Source)
Djinna (Carol Marie Banks –
Open Source)
©
2019 Rayland Marzette Workman. All rights reserved.
*Djinna is pronounced as "Jenna".
*Djinna is pronounced as "Jenna".
