“…And that’s another week done, then!” Sade teased Ellie as they made their way out of their university campus. “Now the REAL hard work starts, heh!”

“Meh, I wouldn’t call it THAT hard,” Ellie replied with a sad smile. “Well, not PHYSICALLY hard, anyway…”

“Yeah, I get that,” Sade said softly. “But, you know, end of one era, beginning of another?”

“Yeah,” Ellie replied. “And I am looking forward to it, really, I just-“

“It’s okay, I understand,” Sade whispered, giving her friend’s hand a gentle squeeze as they headed to the nearest tube station.

Introduction: I’m sure everyone has come across a story or two about someone finding that bottle or lamp that after the appropriate action releases a genie who will grant a certain number of wishes for the lucky person who happens to find it. Quite frequently, the person finding the genie doesn’t read the ‘fine print’ and the results are frequently not what the person making the wishes desired. The greedy and the dishonest seem to get the worst of it. In the case of this story, I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.

Back to the present, sort of. Rick has shaken Sandy to the core. Everything she thought about herself is eroding away, and rather quickly, I might add. Yet, she cannot find anything in the original wish that would indicate why this is happening to her.