Aladdin

The door yawned wide. Slow. As his heavy boots began to scrape the mat. The air breathed between us. In fetching grabs that stole my thoughts. The way a strong breeze breaks apart the dandelions.

I didn't want to ruin what had happened with what hadn't.

So I didn't say anything to him after that.

And I think he was happy again. To know that goodbye had come soon enough.

It was a beautiful wound. The kind that bleeds through the gauze faster than you can wrap it 'round. The familiar bite as the peroxide chews at your skin. The more it hurts the better it was.

It's not the genie in the lamp I fear. It's the three wishes.

There's nothing left to want.