Blank Pages

The smell of mould and dust filled her nostrils as she pushed open the broken front door. Sariah peered in to make a quick assessment of the situation before stepping in. The last thing she needed during a desperate bathroom stop were critters running up her legs and making a home in her pants while she emptied her overfilled bladder.

Having made a wrong turn a fair while back, Sariah had been driving around aimlessly trying to find her way back and stumbled upon a completely deserted and dilapidated town. Unfortunately, the summer heat had also had her downing bottles of water like crazy which she was now paying for. As uncharacteristic as it was for her to break into a home (even if it was abandoned) there was no way she was going to go behind a bush - she was far too prim for that.

“Better a dusty butt than a dirty butt” she’d said to herself as she pulled up to the first house on the street.

Sariah inched her way into the house, scanning for a doorway that would lead her to the bathroom. Spotting one on the right side of the room, Sariah made her way over and began down the hall. The house itself was very old, she guessed its original year as 1920. There were two oak pocket doors on one side and a little further down another door. She peeked behind that door praying it was the room she was looking for.

She gave a sigh of relief as she spotted the tiled walls, clawed bathtub and toilet in the far corner.

As she went about her business she took a look around the room. Nothing too out of the ordinary except a broken mirror with some droplets on the floor leading to the sink, looking a little like dried blood. Sariah suddenly became acutely aware of how reckless she had been. What on earth was she thinking just waltzing into a random house in an abandoned town?! Her mind raced through endless hypothetical scenarios all of which did not finish well for her.

Now plagued with thoughts of axe murderers and all things supernatural she was keen to get out of there, fast. Without looking in the broken mirror (she’d heard far too many horror stories involving broken mirrors) she raced out of there, down the hallway, passed the open pocket doors... and froze. Those doors were definitely closed when she passed them earlier. She listened for noise as her brain headed into overdrive heart rate beginning to race. The house was completely silent.

Against all her better judgement, she inched forward, clueless to where all this dare devil had come from. Taking a deep breath she stepped into the room. Completely empty except for a large wooden desk and chair, the walls were lined with bare bookshelves. Slightly disappointed that there was nothing out of the ordinary in there she walked over to the chair behind the desk to retie her shoelaces. As she straightened up her eye caught sight of a very small black book wedged in the frame of the underside of the desk. Curious, she tugged it out, wondering why it had been hidden there. She flicked through the pages, not seeing anything written in it except for the very first page.

“The more you give, the more you get,

The more you keep, the more is gone.”

Not feeling very inspired to delve into the meaning of that she put the book back where she found it and headed back to her car. Her phone, now charged, told her she was an hour off course to the route back towards her mother’s. Glancing at the fuel gauge she realised she needed to find a petrol station fast. Luckily, 25mins into her drive she came across one. She opened her bag and rummaged around for her purse. As she fished it out a few of the contents of the bag fell out onto the seat. Amongst them, was a little black book. Frowning, Sariah picked it up with a very strange feeling in her stomach.

“Surely not…” she murmured to herself. Flicking to the first page, there it was, the same words she had read in the book at the house.

She was confused. She had definitely put the book back under the desk. Something was very strange. She flicked through the pages again. This time instead of pages, they had been replaced with -

“Money..”, she breathed. Sitting back down in the car, she stared at it taking a minute or two, then started to count.

“Twenty. Thousand. Dollars.”, she whispered. A feeling of uneasiness and excitement had twisted together inside of her.

On the inside of the back cover she noticed something else that had not been there at the house. A list of names and dates next to them. Some names had a duration of years next to them and others only months or a couple of weeks. But it was the very last name that made her breath catch - hers - the date being that very day.

Deep in thought she filled up her petrol tank pausing as she picked up her purse. Curious, she pulled out a small amount of money from the book. At the counter she breathed a sigh of relief as she handed it over, half expecting it to have disappeared from her pocket.

Back in her car she began towards the highway. An hour into the drive and halfway through her 90s throwback performance she heard a pop and a sudden pull on her steering wheel. She immediately pulled into the emergency lane and got out of her car. As she suspected, the passenger side tyre had popped and despite all her mother’s urgings, Sariah had not learnt to carry the tools or even learn how to change a tyre for that matter. Musing over her options, and as if the universe was responding to all her needs that day, an old Chevy ute pulled over in front of her and a man and his young son stepped out.

“Are you alright, miss? Do you need help?”

“It appears I do,” she smiled, a little embarrassed as she gestured towards the tyre.

“No problem miss, my son has been practising his automotive skills and would love to get that changed for you.” And so he did. In less than 10mins the boy was tightening the bolts on her spare tire. Sariah was impressed and feeling a whole lot of gratitude for the strangers to have pulled over to help her. As she waited, her mind wondered back to the little black book. She suddenly felt a strange feeling in her belly and an overwhelming need to give back for their good deed. She reached into her bag and discreetly pulled out some cash.

“Well. I’m certainly impressed”, she said to the young boy, “you’ve saved me a lot of trouble.”

“You’re welcome, I like cars.” He walked back to his father who was seated back in their car.

“You’re good to go now miss?”

“Yes, thank you so much for stopping. Just one thing…” and she reached through his open window and dropped the envelope of cash on his lap.

“A gift”, she said firmly, and walked back to her car. As she started the engine again, the father knocked on her window.

“Miss, we can’t accept this,” he said as he offered the money back.

“Yes, you can, and you will. I will not miss it. Today has been a strange day and strange things have happened to me, including this money. And everything in me is telling me you deserve this. So please, do not fight me on it.”

The man stared down at her and his eyes suddenly looked a little wet.

“Thank you”, he whispered. “Christopher’s mother was involved in an accident a few months back and we had to turn off the life support a few weeks ago. He’s grieving and with all the medical bills and time off work, this Christmas wasn’t looking good. Thank you for helping me brighten it for him. Please take care.” He hurried back to his car before she could respond and, she suspected, before he lost control of his feelings.

Oh what a wonderful feeling, she sang to herself.

Back on the road again she passed through the town of Derrin where she stopped quickly to use the restroom.

Screeeeeeeeeech!

Sariah jumped, looking around wildly. A black SUV sped off in the opposite direction leaving behind tyre marks and what looked like a small crumpled shaggy blanket. Sariah moved closer to take a look. Realising what it was she broke out into a run, pulling out her phone to check for the closest vet. She crouched down next to the dog, breathing but unconscious. He didn’t appear to be bleeding but there was a definite bulge in his abdomen. She needed to work quickly. Picking him up very carefully she moved to her car and lay him on her back seat. She jumped behind the wheel and sped as carefully as she could following the directions on the GPS.

“This dog needs help!” she cried as she burst through the doors. The receptionist picked up her phone and punched in a number speaking quickly into the receiver. Two veterinarians came running out and took the dog from Sariah's arms.

Exhausted, she slumped into a seat and waited for news. About 20mins later, a middle aged slender woman burst through the doors.

“Charlie! I’m here for Charlie – the hit and run!”

One of the vets came back out.

“Hi Christine, Charlie is asleep now, we had to anaesthetise him to get some xrays. He has a few broken ribs that will need surgery, but thankfully none of his lungs are punctured. It will be expensive though, about $5000, have you got insurance?”

The woman groaned, “I cancelled it a month ago. I was made redundant at work and had to cut costs until I could secure another job.” She began to sob, “I don’t have $5000... Please give me a moment while I figure out what to do".

Sariah knew what she needed to do. She had just gotten that same strange feeling in her stomach and overwhelming need to help.

Sariah approached the receptionist, “Excuse me,” she said quietly, “I’d like to settle the cost for the surgery for Charlie please.” The receptionist’s eyes grew wide as she handed the money over the counter.

“No one has ever done that before,” she said.

Sariah smiled. “Give me 5mins to leave then you can tell her it’s been settled. I don’t want her to try and give the money back. Have a nice day".

She walked out quickly and headed to her car. She was feeling great! Euphoric, even. Also, starving. She stopped at the first diner she saw.

Sariah gave her order to the waitress and settled into her seat, looking out the window.

“What a day it’s been" She thought. So much had happened, strange, tragic but unexpectedly wonderful. She opened the book again and read the words repeating them over and over in her mind... the more you give the more you get... She had given 10k away today, and used $50 for her own needs.. she flicked through the money, eyes widening as she continued to count. What she had given away had doubled, what she had used for herself was gone.

She realised now that this book came with a job. A responsibility to touch others' lives, to learn their stories, to be an impact. She wondered about her predecessors and the lives they must have also impacted. Sariah closed the book sacredly, knowing her life path had altered drastically and that she was destined for something bigger than herself.

“Your burger and fries, ma'am", said the waitress.

She looked up, searching, seeing.