The Cursed Genie - |SAMPLE|

|1|

VERITY

Garage sales—where you can find some of the most unexpected treasures.

Last year, Annie and I went to our first garage sale randomly and she happened to find a rare collection of Barbie's. We didn't know they were worth anything at the time. But since Annie loved Barbies as a kid, she decided to purchase them on a whim.

They were still in their original boxes and the owners were an older couple who wanted to get rid of them so they could move into a nursing home.

She took them off their hands and when we got home, we randomly searched them online for fun just to see how old they were and if they were worth anything.

Lo and behold, they were worth about $100.00 to $200.00 each and she had gotten them for only $2.00 each. Let's just say she was able to cover rent that month with the profits she made and even had some leftovers. Since then, whenever we see a garage sale, we would get super excited.

And we were at one now.

Compared to our rental home area, this neighborhood would be a huge upgrade. The houses here were double or triple in size. And most of them had double or triple garages while we had none. Even the driveways were bigger and longer than ours.

This one in particular had the whole driveway filled with stuff. It was almost four cars wide and six cars long.

They had everything. Clothes on racks, colorful plastic kid toys, some furniture, shoes of different sizes, a round table full of books, and much more.

There was a long table completely covered with miscellaneous things. Annie went over to the toy section while I scanned the long table to see if anything would catch my eye.

"Verity." A beautiful voice—deep and melodic—called my name seductively from behind as a summer breeze caressed my cheek.

"Yes?" I replied with the same tone as I turned around, my shoulder-length hair dancing along with the wind.

Annie, my best friend, gave me a weird look just a few feet away. "Uh, I didn't say anything."

I laughed sheepishly and realized no one was actually talking to me. There was a cute guy near her but he was focused on something in front of him. There were a few older men and women around us but they were also focused elsewhere.

I must be going insane.

Am I hearing things now?

Maybe I'm daydreaming so much that my reality is getting mixed with fantasy.

"Verity." There it was again—so melodious and lovely. So unnatural like it belonged to a supernatural realm and not this world.

I twisted back and my gaze darted around, scanning every face to see if one was capable of possessing such a voice. A couple of new guys joined in on the sale but they seemed too ordinary.

Nope. Just common people among us mortals.

"Verity." The same sensual voice called out for the third time, so close and clear that I swore the speaker's lips were right next to my ear.

My head immediately whipped around but again, nothing.

Okay. I'm really losing my shit.

Maybe I was delusional because I had skipped breakfast and now my hunger was inducing the hallucination.

"Verity." Ugh. Stop it!

My palms roughly blocked my ears and it silenced.

"Hey, are you okay?" Annie must have noticed my odd behavior since she looked somewhat concerned.