Bottled Life: Conclusion

Our Grienie, grinch genie, was having the time of his life; or shall we say an eternity to be spent swimming among his riches without a care for the outside wall. He had built up his own world filled as he saw fitting, but he wasn't ready for what was coming.

Bottled Life

When you get something you want, you lose something meaningful

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Grienie had always stayed inside the bottle and never wanted the “rub the genie out” incident to happen so he requested to add a phrase to call him out of the bottle so that he wasn’t easily accessible to the outside world; he was never in the mood to socialize. One day a bird picked the bottle and dropped it nearby a playing field. While he was cursing the bird and fixing his decor, he saw that kids were playing in the field; he turned pale, instantly. Worrying someone might find him he was shaken up to his core; he had no intention of establishing any human contact whatsoever. Shortly afterward, a boy no more than 7 years of age saw the bottle lying on the sand and grass. He went close to it, picked it up, and started walking towards the other boys slowly as he scrutinizes the ugly bottle. The kids were laughing by looking at the sorry state of that shabby ugly bottle and started playing catch with it among themselves while the little boy, who picked it up, was running towards whoever catches it; finally, he caught it.

From the outside, the bottle looked shabby, and no matter how much he tried the boy couldn’t open the cap. Frustrated, the boy gave that bottle to a beggar but the beggar was clueless as to what to do with it. He sold it for a few pennies to a junk hoarder. All this time, Grienie was watching everything, this was new to him. Can you blame the guy? He’s seen his first human after decades. The hoarder then dropped the bottle while he was packing up; tumbled and tumbled it crashed on a sidewalk. A little girl saw the bottle and picked it up. She was playing house with the bottle making it a guy and getting it married with her doll. But after playing for a few hours, her mother saw the bottle and threw it in the trash. From there, a big cart dragged the bottle along and Grienie ended up in a big pile of garbage.

At long last, peace found its way towards our Grienie and he could breathe easily. Oh look, he was dropped at the sea; a change in scenery; he started glowing. The upcoming days were nice, he would clap as soon as he opens his eyes and a beautiful ocean view will be on display all around him. The days were passing each at a time with no surprise around. The bottle was dropped and got washed away too deep in the ocean; too far from any man to reach out. Having peaceful luxury days was all that he wanted and he got his wish. Decades went by and the bottle didn’t move an inch; a century later a tsunami swept it away and put it further deep into the ocean. But with every day the same view over and over, Grienie started to get bored. It was dull and there was nothing else to do other than eat, watch, sleep, repeat; he lost count of how long has it been.

Monotonous days and even more uneventful nights as to how years were passing by; nothing makes him cheerful anymore. Remember, Grienie’s shade changes according to his mood? For centuries now, he was stuck with a gray shade. He wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t sleep; he would simply watch the oceanview without even sparing a glance at his jewels. And finally, the day came when he realized something.

He hasn’t said a word to anyone in over a thousand years.

Upon realizing this, Grienie started praying to the dealmaker to show up. He couldn’t live a life like that anymore. The loneliness filled his days, the gems made him cry, the food wasn’t enough to fulfill the emptiness inside and the sleep was gone forever. A century later, the dealmaker answered his prayers.

Dealmaker: What more can you Possibly want, now? I gave you everything that you asked for and still, it doesn’t satisfy you.
Grienie: Please, undo my wish. I want my old life back. This life is far excruciating than my past. It’s hell to spend each day like this. I beg you, heed my prayers.
Dealmaker: You’re far too greedy. Your desire knows no bounds. I will not undo what I have done.
Grienie: Please, this is my last request. From that day on, I’ll only be thankful for every day that I spend fruitfully.
Dealmaker: Alright. Then so be it.

The dealmaker snapped his finger and Grienie woke up with a sweat. He was lying on the street with the same ragged torn-up attire he had the night he made the deal. The sun was rising and he found no bottle around him. He remembered everything, and he clutched his old torn rug tightly. Finally, a smile; all that was just a dream. All those centuries were scrubbed away like an unforgotten nightmare. He got another chance to live.