After being imprisoned in the top hat, it was jettisoned into time and space, randomly appearing in a college theater department's wardrobe room. It sat there for the better part of a decade, not being noticed and slowly collecting dust on an upper shelf in the room. But one day, that would all change.
The door to the room opened as an older man flipped on the switch and walked in, followed by a younger man. The older man, Mr. Bergstrom, was the head of the theater department on campus. He was in his mid-fifties, with graying hair and wore glasses. The younger man was Nate, who was a student at the university. He was a bit on the heavy set side and a bit average looking. Still, he was a nice enough guy that most people seemed to enjoy being around.
"Nate, I just want to say how much I appreciate you helping us out. I'm basically turning you loose in this room. All the costumes and props need to be organized and stored. Right now..."
"It looks like a tornado went through here?" finished Nate.
"Exactly. Think you can handle it?" asked Mr. Bergstrom.
Nate nodded. "It may take me a while, but yeah I think so."
"Then I will leave it in your capable hands. Thanks, Nate."
"No problem."
Mr. Bergstrom left the room, the heavy door closing behind him. Nate began looking around the room, taking stock of the different items in the room. He looked through the costumes hanging on the racks, looking through them one at a time, trying to guess the shows they were from. He picked up a prop sword from a pile of them in a corner, pretending to sword fight an imaginary opponent. As he was dodging an imaginary blow, he tripped over a box and toppled to the ground backwards. As Nate gathered himself, he looked up and saw it. On a top shelf, over a rack of old costumes. It was a beautiful, black top hat.
Nate stood up and took the hat of the shelf. It was covered in layers of gray dust, as though it had been there for decades. Nate wiped away the dust, revealing the shiny, silky material of the hat. He looked over the hat, surprised at how good of condition it was in. Suddenly, the hat shot out of his hands, spinning around in mid air. He looked on in shock, not believing his eyes. The hat landed in the middle of the floor and continued to spin around as white smoke started to pour out of it. There was a flash of light causing Nate to jump back and fall onto the old couch behind him. The smoke quickly dissipated, revealing a 6 foot muscle bound white bunny, wearing a purple waist coat and a red fez.
"What the hell?" whispered Nate.
"Wow! I did not think I was gonna be getting out of there!" exclaimed the rabbit. He then looked around. "Where am I?"
"You can talk?"
The rabbit turns around, noticing Nate for the first time. He smiles and walks over. "Ah! My rescuer! You must be the one who rubbed the hat and freed me from my prison. Thank you!"
Nate smiled, still very confused as the rabbit shook his hand. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but who are you? And what are you?"
"I'm sorry. I'm Xander. I'm a genie."
Nate suddenly looked even more surprised. "Holy shit, really?"
"Yep. But there are a few, uh, clauses."
"Such as?"
"Well, for starters, I am a free Genie, so I am not bound to a master and can grant wishes at my pleasure."
"Well, do I get a wish?" asked Nate as politely as possible.
"Seeing as how you freed me, I suppose it would be fair. But do me a favor and don't wish for a billion dollars. I'm not feeling that generous. Besides, it causes a lot of headaches for the wisher, i.e you."
"How so?" asked Nate.
"Try explaining where you got a billion dollars from suddenly." Xander leaned in close. "That amount of money makes things very complicated, very quickly. Besides, from my point of view, it's a waste of a wish. Be more creative."
Nate nodded. "But I could wish for anything else?"
"Sure thing kid. What's your biggest fantasy. The one thing you thought would never, ever come true."
"Well, there was this one thing..." Nate had a coy smile.
Xander took a few steps back. "Go on..."
"Well, I always wished I..."