Page 1 of The Genie’s Wish (Harmony Glen #10)

Chapter One

RAYA

“Alright, guys, thanks so much for hanging out with me today.” I smile, waving at the webcam. “See you all tomorrow when we play some new indie games.”

My eyes scan my livestream’s chat, a smile growing on my face at the chorus of byes that flood it. With one last grin, I end the stream, sitting back in my desk chair and letting out a sigh.

I love my job; I’m thankful I get to play games for a living, but today’s stream wasn’t enough to keep me distracted. All I could think about was the errands I need to run, and how much I don’t want to run them.

The room darkens slightly as the monitor fades to black, leaving me sitting in the warm, dim pink that emits from my neon sign behind me. It was a gift from a viewer, and that started a whole new segment on my livestreams—reactions with Raya.

My viewers love it. I open all the mail sent to my PO box and show them what I’ve received. It’s usually pretty pleasant, but occasionally I get hate mail or creepy letters, as does any content creator.

I appreciate that my subscribers want to send me gifts and show me love, but it can be quite draining reacting on camera to everything I receive. Going to my PO box is on the list of errands for today.

Finding the energy to be social, even online, I find very hard—which can be a problem for the career I’ve chosen. I’m almost always able to put on a brave face and power through, even on my hardest days. Some of my viewers notice, but I just pretend I don’t see their messages of concern.

Sluggishly, I push myself out of my chair. I walk through my house toward my front door, collecting my keys and wallet from the random locations I left them last.

Once I have everything I’ll need, I head out, locking up behind me. It’s a nice day out, not too hot, but not by any means cold—the perfect weather.

My neighborhood is pretty quiet as I walk through it. I pass by my best friend Orie’s house, dormant as always. She’s at her shop right now, which reminds me I should stop in.

Somehow, interacting with Orie doesn’t feel draining or like a chore. She made her way through my walls, as she likes to say. I can’t remember quite how long ago I put them up, though.

I make a turn, passing by Gabe’s house on my way. He’s the vulpine who owns the local hardware store, though some people just call him a fox-man.

He’s actually quite an easygoing guy, even though with his height, tattoos, and muscles, he looks a bit intimidating. Whenever I’ve interacted with him, he’s always cracking jokes.

As I continue to Orie’s store, Tranquil, I enjoy the fresh air and setting sun. Moving to Harmony Glen was the best decision I ever made. Not only is it beautiful, it’s inclusive and quiet—all things I want out of the place I call home.

No one is judged here. No one asks questions—most of the time.

Ever since monsters came out of hiding and joined us openly, Harmony Glen has been a haven. It hasn’t just welcomed monsters with open arms, but humans of all varieties too.

I don’t necessarily consider myself a weirdo, but not everyone quite understands the appeal of the lifestyle I’ve chosen. Or, in my friend Orie’s opinion, my lack of lifestyle.

There’s nothing wrong with liking the comfort of my home, and the company of people virtually. It’s what works for me.

Down the street and across the road, I can see Orie’s store, lights gleaming inside. As I get closer, I can see her working away, restocking shelves, her navy space buns bobbing around.

Once I reach the store, a soft bell chimes above me, alerting her of my entrance. She stops what she’s doing, smiling over her shoulder at whoever has entered.

When she sees it’s me, she beams. “Raya, you’ve decided to bless me with your presence?”

“Temporarily, yes.” I nod, walking over to her.

“Here to pick anything up, or just to say hi?” she asks, following me along as I scan her inventory.

I walk over to the shelf with all the essential oils, picking up two of the bottles. “I need some more lavender, and just want some more jasmine.”

“Still having trouble sleeping at night?” Her voice softens, and I don’t turn to look at her—I know what expression she’s wearing right now.

“Sometimes—either no sleep at all, or sleeping too much,” I admit, quickly moving on. “The lavender helps, though.”

She walks behind the counter, narrowed eyes darting up to me as she rings up my items. “And the jasmine?”

“I just like the smell of it.” I shrug. It’s not a complete lie.

Orie knows what each of the essential oils helps with, and I’ve told her about some of my…struggles before. Jasmine is a nice, calming scent to me, and anything else it helps me with is just a bonus.

As I insert my card, she packs up my things, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her put something else in my bag. I glance up at her, tilting my head and raising a brow.

She slides the bag to me, her hand still at the top. “Just something extra to try—for the scent , of course.”

“But—” I don’t even get a second word out before Orie cuts me off.

“Just take it. On me.”

I give her a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Anything for my best friend.” She winks, crossing her arms. “You better hurry though, the post office closes soon.”

With that, I turn, hustling out the door and waving over my shoulder to her. She knows me well, almost too well. She is right, I need to get to the post office before it closes, otherwise they’ll send me another notice.

Walking as quickly as my feet will take me, I make it to the post office just before close. The worker seems unimpressed at my timing, but their attitude changes when they’re able to give me all of my packages.

The sheer number of packages and parcels I need to drag home is much more than I anticipated. If I were the worker, I’d be happy to clear some room out back too. Now the question is, how am I going to get these home?

“Any chance I can take half today and half tomorrow?” I ask hesitantly, looking between the stack and the worker.

The worker sighs, shaking their head. “Yes, but there’ll be a fee since they’ve already been here so long.”

My shoulders sink as I stare at the daunting pile. I can pay the fee, but that also means having to come back out again . I’d rather not do that.

“How about this…” The worker glances around, as if looking for any prying ears. “I’ll lend you one of our carts, but you have to bring it back tomorrow.”

A wave of relief floods through me. “Really?”

“Yes, but only for you, Raya—since you’re a regular.” The worker’s tone is serious as they nod. “If you don’t return the cart tomorrow, I’ll be in huge trouble.”

As much as I don’t want to go out two days in a row, I can’t pass up their generosity. Besides, dropping off a cart is less socializing than having to get a second load of packages.

I nod, watching as they disappear into the back, reappearing only a few moments later, pushing a canvas-style cart in front of them, the post office logo plastered on the side.

The hairs on my arms stand up, a chill running down my spine. I have to walk home pushing that ? Oh, my Gods. My neighbors and random people will see that.

No words come to me as I watch the worker pack up the cart, filling it with all my mail. I guess there’s no going back now.

Unless I run out of the store, close my PO box, and disappear forever…which sounds like a very tempting option right now. Public humiliation or disappearing off the face of the earth?

Disappearing off the face of the earth.

Unfortunately, my feet seem to be glued in place, and I don’t make it anywhere near the door. The worker pushes the cart right in front of me, smiling as they look proudly at their packing job.

“Well, it’s closing time. Have a good night, Raya. Hopefully you got some cool stuff in there.” While their voice is chipper, they can’t keep their eyes off of the door behind me.

A silent way of telling me to get out.

Grabbing the cart and beginning to push it out the door feels like an out-of-body experience, like I’m not totally in control of what I’m doing. This must be my mind’s way of protecting myself from what I deem an incredibly embarrassing situation.

I’m definitely not sleeping well tonight.

Pushing this heavy cart as fast as I can, I take First Ave to Harmony Road, heading home a different way. This way means that I won’t have to pass by Orie’s store again, and have the embarrassment of her seeing me push this cart.

This way feels a bit longer to get home, but the other way runs the risk of way more people seeing this. I don’t want to take that risk.

Every crack or bump in the sidewalk has me gripping the cart for dear life, desperate for it not to tip over. There’s no way of knowing if there’s anything fragile in my packages until I open them.

I would hate for one of my viewers to have sent me something, and then to break it before I can even open it on stream. They love package unboxing streams—especially when their own packages are in it.

Thankfully, I have enough packages here to do quite a few of those streams, so my viewers should be excited. What I’ll probably do is end my next few streams with some package openings.

I definitely have enough packages to make it last more than a few streams if I do it that way.

Oh well, they love it, and so do I, though sometimes forcing a smile for a strange gift is hard. There aren’t usually too many of those.

The strangest thing I’ve ever received? A dildo. But not just a store-bought one—a model of my viewer’s actual dick. Like a silicone DIY type thing.

I threw it out. And banned that guy from my streams. And set rules about what kinds of things they could send me.

A shudder runs through me as I relive the horror of opening that package. Shaking my head, I focus on getting home—quickly.

As I pass by the cemetery, I stare off into it. The peace and quiet, the minimal to no people—it’s a good place to go hide away when I need to avoid people, but also need to leave my house.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to sit right now. Plus, this cart would be impossible to push through on the gravel paths.

“Did you steal that cart?” A man’s voice cuts through the air, nearly making me jump out of my skin.

I whip around, looking for the source of the voice. Standing almost directly behind me is a man…of sorts…I’ve never seen before in Harmony Glen.

He has pale-blue skin, with dark-blue hair that kind of reminds me of Orie’s. He’s definitely not a shadow demon like her. He’s something different.

I don’t care what he is, though. What I do care about is him leaving me alone. I didn’t want anyone to see me pushing this embarrassingly large cart, even a stranger.

My head begins to spin, my chest hurting from how hard my heart is pounding.

“You look like you’re about to faint…is there anything you wish for?”

What a peculiar question to ask me.

I stumble over my words. “For you to go away.”

“Now, that’s just harsh.” He puts a hand over his heart. “I’m Arman. I’ve just arrived in Harmony Glen.”

I nod at him, turning back around and struggling to get the cart moving again. “That’s lovely. Goodbye.”

The sound of footsteps against the sidewalk tells me that he’s walking along behind me. “You have very pretty hair, I love the color.”

“I carry pepper spray,” I lie, hardening my voice to try to deter him.

His blue complexion appears in my peripheral vision. “I mean you no harm…pink-haired beauty. I actually want to help you.”

“No thanks.” I keep my eyes straight ahead, pushing as fast as I can.

He lets out a sigh, and his steps falter, making him disappear from my view. “Alright, well, I’ll see you around, Pinky.”

Gods, I hope he doesn’t.