Aladdin

For centuries, men have bled rivers

and burned kingdoms to the ground for a cursed lamp.

They call it magical, divine, a gift from the gods.

Three wishes, just three. But they never see the truth.

Never hear the screams buried beneath each wish.

Every wish carved in greed.

Every war lit by envy.

Empires rose with trembling hands,

and crumbled beneath the weight

of what they thought they wanted.

Blood spilled in the name of wistfulness,

of dreams too frail to hold the weight of reality.

I watched kings go mad from power they begged for,

lovers twist devotion into daggers,

brothers slit throats for promises that never came.

I have seen miracles granted,

and souls shattered in return,

for this lamp does not create joy.

It exposes it. It corrupts it.

And now, it sits in new hands.

Yours, warm, waiting.

So tell me, what could you possibly wish for

that no one else has died trying to take?

Oh.

Man.

Yeah? It looks nice.

It's big.

Well, yeah, it's big.

I mean, you could look at it as a bunch of small spaces

put together in one.

What? Just trying to be helpful, Jesus Christ.

Okay, okay. Look, it's just three days, right?

Yeah, just three days.

We'll be outta here first thing Monday morning. Okay?

It'll be like none of this ever happened. All right?

Look, the doctor said in order to beat this thing,

you gotta face it head on.

You can't beat it by being afraid.

That was good. Did you get that gem on a fortune cookie?

Maybe.

Mmm. Just trying to help.

Besides, it's a positive truth, huh?

All right. So what you say, uh?

I'll grab the bags, meet you inside. Yeah?

All right. Door should be open, go.

I got it.

Go. Keep walking.

I'm serious, I'll be there. Go.

Three days.

Three fuckin' days.

Everything okay?

Oh, shit, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.

Too late for that.

Well, what're you doing?

I um,

was looking at the woods.

Looking at the woods?

Yeah.

You see anything interesting out there?

Uh, no. Not, not really.

No? Hmm.

There's a lotta wildlife in those woods.

Yeah.

I reckon we'll see uh, deer, bears,

lions, tigers, oh my. - Okay, okay, all right.

You're not helping. In fact, you're making it worse.

Sorry.

Hey, why don't we go pick out a room

before the other ones get here, huh?

Early bird gets his worm.

Come on.

Baby, come on.

No, that's all good, man. Yeah, just take your time.

We'll see you in the morning.

Oh, yeah. Oh, the place is awesome.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Wait till you see it.

Okay.

Okay. Well, we'll see you soon.

Be careful.

All right. Bye.

Who's that?

That was Derrick.

Something came up at the firm.

Mel doesn't wanna drive up alone.

He doesn't wanna make her wait.

They'll be here in the morning.

Okay.

Hey, I left your bag up on the bed here

if you wanna unpack.

And any of those drawers are yours, you can have 'em.

Gosh.

Honey? Rachel.

What are you doing? What is that?

Um, what is this?

I don't know.

I mean, it looks like one of those lamps that you rub

and a genie comes out, right?

Right. I, no, I get that.

I just, I mean, what is it doing in here?

I don't know what it's doing there.

Hmm. Looks kinda cool.

Looks very antiquey.

Antiquey?

You, you like stuff like that.

Strange.

What? You want me to call the owners?

Let 'em know maybe somebody left it behind

when they were checking out?

Maybe.

What?

Um, no, nothing, I...

Who cares, right? It's just a lamp.

Yeah, it's a lamp. Who cares?

I'm gonna unpack, okay?

Well, it wasn't just that it smelled, I mean,

it was a burrito and an even bolder decision.

Oh, god, now he's gonna make himself out to be

some kind of martyr.

No, no, no, no, no. I'm not.

It's just, it, it was like one of those places

that sold boiling peanuts, windshield wipers,

and probably meth.

No, definitely meth.

Definitely meth.

I mean, the attendant handed me a key

tied to a cinder block.

A cinder block.

Like, like, like I was gonna break into Alcatraz,

just to take a fucking dump.

Derrick.

What? He asked, he obviously wants to hear the story.

No, no, I do. I wanna, please continue, please.

Okay, anyway. Thank you.

Um, rusted knife, flickering light,

I mean, somebody definitely died in there once.

Probably twice.

The toilet, I mean, it looked like it witnessed crimes.

Seat was cracked, floor was sticky,

and the graffiti on the wall said shit like,

"Even Satan wouldn't shit here."

Get the fuck outta here. Are you serious?

- Yeah. - Ha ha!

Oh, yeah.

Anyway, I hovered, I sweat, I said a prayer.

And just when I thought I was in the clear,

the door flung open.

What?

Mm-hmm. Forgot to latch it.

- What? - Yep.

I met a trucker named Gene E.

Gene E.?

Yeah. He uh... Two words?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Me and him made soul-shattering eye contact.

Both screamed.

I don't think either of us will ever love again.

But hey, that burrito though, huh?

Oh fuck, dude. It was totally worth it.

All right, corner pocket right there.

Hey. There she is.

Ah, somebody slept in.

Yeah, I didn't even realize I slept in.

Well, that's okay. It's the the first night, new place.

Right? Babe, you want a beer?

Uh, no, thanks.

Oh, please drink with me.

I cannot suffer through these two idiots on my own.

Oh.

Maybe later.

So how do you like the, the cabin?

It's, it's nice.

I wasn't sure with um, uh, the, the condition?

Oh, um, well, we're working on it.

The, the doctor said that uh,

the weekend would be good for her, you know,

that she needed to face her fears kinda thing.

Yeah. Right.

Well, I'm gonna grab our bags from the car.

Okay.

You wanna show Mel to our den of love for the weekend?

Ew, gross.

Come on. You're helping.

- Oh, I am? - Yeah.

Guess I am.

Baby, I need a new beer.

- Okay. - 'Kay.

Let's go, burrito boy.

- Okay, show me the digs. - All right.

Show me what's up.

Ugh, feel better.

Um, so, obviously this is us,

but the one in the back is just as big.

What the heck is this?

Um, nothing, it's just a, a lamp that was here uh,

last night when we got in.

Whoa... It's weird, right?

It's beautiful.

It's like, you know, this is like,

one of those old basement finds