Dark and musty. Those are the words I would use to describe this prison. I mean, yeah, sleep is super cool, but not after a few thousand years.
I missed the satisfaction of helping a person, greedy or needy. It was an eternal pleasure I could never give up.  Looking up at the small lid in the dim light, I saw a shadow pass over. Could this be my time to help someone out? Thundering steps boomed around me, shaking me in my loose fitting clothes and making my hat fall off of my head.
Suddenly, my being evaporated into smoke and rushed through the spout of this horrid but beautiful lamp. My first instinct was to stretch, and oh boy did it feel good. After some relieving arm stretches and some back cracking, I looked at who the lucky discoverer was. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. It was a toddler! I can’t grant wishes to a toddler! I grasped my head in worry and frustration. This was both a good and a bad situation. The good was that I could stay out of my golden prison for longer, but the bad was that I might never grant another person’s wish.
Furrowing my brow one last time, I quickly changed my disposition to a happy one. The clueless toddler was trying to play with my greyish purple smoke. I formed my legs out of the smoke and bent down to the tiny tot’s level. Drool dripped from her pale face, her raven hair in pigtails. Boy, was she cute, but this was going to be a difficult task to handle.
“Hey there sweetie, how are you?’ I tried my best to mask my voice with a parental one.
“AbABbAbAh,” the toddler spat happily. Of course, they weren’t able to talk yet. I sighed and picked the giggling child up into my arms. She was very cute, but I did not want to deal with her now. Her grasping hands reached my smoke-like hair and tugged on it as hard as she could. She was a strong child.
My face wrenched in pain as she started laughing. I couldn’t be mad at a toothless, innocent, and clueless child like this. There was only one thing that I could do that was in the handbook I received many years ago.
I’ll have to be her guardian genie.
She’ll grow up with me, and still have only three wishes, but I will be her advisor until she uses up all three wishes. I heard footsteps coming from down the hall. I looked around the room, seeing only a couch, TV, lamp, and some potted plants. Quickly but gently setting down the slobbery child, I dove into a potted plant as a smaller version of me. What looked like the mother of the child came into the room and swiftly picked up the now sniffling child. The mother picked up my lamp and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch and scolded the child.
“Now, now, Angel, you know we don’t pick up the lamp. You could hurt yourself with it. Understand?” She bounced the child in her arms and made her way out of the room. This would be a fun journey for me. That mother would constantly be watching over her child, Angel, and I would be in the background until she could be left alone for long periods of time.
****Many years later****
“Alright mom, see you later!” Angel yelled from the kitchen to her departing mother. Angel was going to be left alone at the house for the weekend while her mom was on a business trip to New York.  She tilted her head, her silky hair draping over her face and getting into her eyes, listening for the sound of the front door locking. She heard the click go off and immediately ran to her room where the lamp sat.
“Genie! She’s gone! Let’s go and do something fun!” Angel called to me. I emerged from one of her shoes, coughing and wheezing.
“Dude, you really need to freshen up your shoes. Why don’t we do that this weekend? You can drive us to the nearest grocery sto----“
“Nope! We’re doing something fun!” She danced around the room, nearly hitting me in the face on multiple occasions. “We could go bowling, shopping, or even to the beach! That would be awesome! I could invite my friends to come, and since we don’t have school until September, we can do whatever and stay up as late as we want!” Angel rambled on and on about all of her plans. Just for any occasion that we would need these plans, I wrote all of the plans she said on a notepad, including the freshening of her shoes.
“Alright, since we have all of these plans, and your mother is gone, let us fulfill these plans!” I proclaimed, jumping on her bed, and then onto the floor at my normal human size. I looked down at my normal genie attire. “After I change. Do you have any spare clothes that would suit me? Or do you want me to---“ She looked at me with surprise.
“Do I, Angel Rose, have spare clothes? Of course I do! Time for a genie makeover, baby!” She threw her hands up and ran to her closet. I patiently sat down on her stool by the vanity in her room and waited. This would be a while.
“There! You look perfect! But you should put on some cologne, because you smell like shoe,” Angel had a proud look on her face at the outfit she chose for me. It was a white shirt with jean shorts that fit me perfectly. She picked out some basic tan sandals and threw my silvery hair into a white hat to match. “Okay, now we can go. I have money, my ID, my phone, my keys, and some snacks for in the car. We are good to go!” She ran out of the bedroom and to the garage door from inside the house. She opened the garage door and saw her old convertible ready for use.
That was an everyday adventure I’d get to experience. The life of a teenager who never wished for anything more than a friend to be by her side. I wished it would never end. But all good things come to an end, don’t they?