Moleskine

Nick never thought he could ever have a life, where he was not constantly looked down upon or ridiculed or mocked. he was always the misfit, the mistake, the loser. As an only child, a loner, Nick never seemed to learn the art of socializing, and had a hard time making friends.

As a 25 year old college graduate Nick studied Technology but did not find Joy in it. He bounced around from Job to Job and then finally settled in a boring office as a paralegal. This was never Nick‘s dream Job but he found some interest in it, the thrill of being in court and handling the intricacies of the cases. Nick live a pretty boring life, with a few breaks every now and then. Life never seemed to give Nick a break from being in constant debt and not being able to fund his habit of gadget collection, He was faced with constant disappointments and depression episodes.

Nick dreamed of a life where he had just enough and more to stay out of debt and able to live a humble but comfortable lifestyle. he never thought he would ever achieve such a buoyant life. He would give anything to be free from these shackles that held him back constantly.

It was not until Nick visited his fathers’s old farm in the country, to take his mind off his pathetic life, so he would have a story to share on his 100 follower instagram account. On approaching the farm in his old beat up 2005 car he saw his dad Jake waiving to him at the gate.

”Hey dad”

Nick said as he honked his horn and drove into the a garage. Witch a pop an explosion was heard as he parked the old beat up truck. His dad met him as he stepped out of the car and greeted Nick with a warm longing hug.

”hey son” whispered Jake. ”its been so long since i have seen you, i missed you so much”.

Nick’s mother had passed away a few years ago from a deadly virus that came from the south and caused a complete lock down of the entire country.

“Dad I’ve just been busy” replied Nick. “you know how the city life is, besides you know how things have changed after the pandemic, I can hardly leave home”

he explained.

“I understand, i just missed you”

Jake sighed as he looked at Nick with a melancholy look in his eyes.

“Come we have a lot to talk about”

Jake invited Nick inside the house.

They spoke for what seemed like days as if the day suddenly changed to night. Nick grew tired and told his dad.

“ I’m going to bed”,

“sure son, your room is just as you left it“ Jake replied.

”Oh wait, I found this“,

Jake said as he handed Nick a little Black Moleskin e book. It seemed to have been really old and was almost falling apart.

“Yea it was passed down to me from my grandfather, you know how his life was, he was never in the same country for two days and had a lot more than he could spend at any time, I just did not want that life for myself.”Jake explained looking out the window.

”Um.. thanks“ Nick replied.

Nick headed off to his room, put his bags down and fell back hard into his old bed. It had the same smell that reminded him of his days as a child and how much time he spent in his room. He began to reminisce about times he spent with his mother singing and playing. A tear rolled down his eyes. It was a hard time for Nick but he managed to hid the pain he was still feeling at the loss of his mother, his only friend. Suddenly while starring around in his old room, Nick’s eyes caught sight of the little black book on the side of the table, he had just placed it there. He grabbed the book and began to inspect it before opening the pages. The book had somehow changed its appearance and now looks almost new. This did not phase Nick he though to himself,

“maybe it was just my mind I though the book was old“.

He opened the book an on the first page was an inscription That seemed to become clearer as he looked at it. it read,

the holder of this book will be granted whatever wish is written on its pages.

A gush of wind blew opened the window as Nick read the inscription out loud, and blew the book open to a Blank page. At first it seemed funny and laughable, but Nick grew even more curious as he read the entries that were entered. The book seemed to have been passed down from a lot of people in his family’s generation. An idea popped into Nick’s head, he searched his bag frantically until he found a pen. As he place the tip of the pen on the blank parchment page he hesitated, thought abit then he wrote .. I Nick Walcott wish I had more money than I could count. He quickly closed the book placed it on the table and dived under the covers of his bed.

The next morning, Nick was awoken to the sound of his father knocking on his door with a tray laid out with his favorite breakfast food, pancakes and scrambled eggs and hash browns on the side with a large glass of oranges juice .

“Gee, thanks dad, but you didn’t have to“ exclaimed Nick with sleep still in his voice.

“No son, its fine I don't mind taking care of you whenever I can, its the least i can do when you visit”. Jake replied.

“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything else“ he continued.

“Oh dad have you seen my phone?” Nick asked.

”Yeah….. you left it on the counter last night, you can’t live without that thing can you, I’ll get it for you don’t move Ok” Jake replied.

He scurried downstairs and ran back up.

”By the way you have several messages it kept going off last night, somebody must be really trying to get to youI had to put it on silent.“ Jake continued.

“Thanks dad, the food is really good by the way“. he smiled as his dad walked out of the room.

Nick’s attention now turned to the phone. As he noticed the messages were coming in from his bank. They were trying to reach him. As he opened the first message it read, The sum of $20,000,000.00 has been transferred to your account. Nick thought WTF and he bit his tongue as he was chewing. Blood poured out his wide opened mouth as his jaws dropped even further, reading the other text messages, bearing the same information.

In disbelief Nick quickly tried to log into his account. After tying to get a proper connection using his data he got frustrated and ran downstairs to connect. Jake did not have internet access except on one old computer in the living room that was always hard wired to the internet in case of emergencies. Nick quickly powered on the computer, which was taking way too long to boot up . Nick grew more and more curious. Finally he logged into his account, he could not believe his eyes. His account kept growing and growing and growing. He was speechless, sighed and fell back hard in the old chair. Jake hearing Nick‘s hard sigh, came running into the living room.

“what is it son“ he asked as he drew closer to the screen, “Nick whats the matter …… wait what did you do?, where is all this money coming from in your account?” Jake asked.

“Son what did you do” he asked in a very stern tone.

“Dad I don't know“ Nick replied.

“Someone must be playing a prank”.

Nick remembered the book and ran upstairs he grabbed the book and began searching the book but all the pages were old and only had notes with numbers on them. There was no sign of his wish or any wish for that matter. Needless to say something happened last night Nick thought and I must test if this is real. He grabbed his bag, quickly changed his clothes and ran back downstairs and out the door.

”Nick where are you going you just got here” are exclaimed Running behind him.

“Dad I’ll be back, i have to go into town to check this out, I'm gonna go to the bank.” He said.

”Ok please be careful” Jake replied.

As nick drove he couldn’t help but think how could this happen, with a deep boiling in the pit of his stomach he thought to himself if this is real i can finally change my life. As Nick approached a corner he saw a bearded old man trying to get a ride into the town. He pulled over and ask the man where he was headed.

“I’m going where ever you are the old man replied”

Nick was too busy to notice that the man had no reflection in his mirror. As the man got in the car and Nick drove off, the old man said.

“ did you read the fine print?”

“What fine print, what are you talking about?” Nick asked in confusion.

“I see you found the Moleskin“ the old man replied.

”You mean this little old book, My dad gave it too me” Nick replied,

”Yes but did you read the fine print?” The old man asked.

“Whoever wishes on this book must suffer great loss to break free from the wish” the old man replied.

Nick began to think hard on what he had written but quickly shrugged it off and asked,

“What wish?”

The old man replied “ you don't have to acknowledge it now, but I will say enjoy it while it lasts, just ensure you always keep this book with you, never leave it never lose it or you will suffer greatly”

As Nick chuckled and shrugged off the old man’s sayings he looked over to the passenger side of his car and the old man was gone. Nick was really startled and sharply stopped in the middle of the road, got out of the car and even looked underneath in search for the old man.



A few moments later Nick arrived at the bank, he was early and first in line. he went straight to the tell and gave her his information. She quickly pulled up the information and said,

”oh my, my apologies Mr. Walcott come this way with me please” as she directed him to a room at the back past the other tellers.

Everyone was now starring at Nick as he slowly and curiously walked to the door that was now opened for him. He stepped into a room that was all white with white furniture and air conditioning. The manager of the bank walked in and greeted him generously, asked him to take a seat and said,

“ Mr. Walcott, how may we help you today” I see several deposits were made to your account today and they have all been cleared in fact deposits are still coming in we have been very Busy this morning because of you, how is your company going?” ,

“Company” Nick asked in disbelief,

“Yes NCorp”, the Manager replied.

“Are you ok Mr. Walcott”,

”Im…..Fine, can you give me a minute please, also where is my company again?” Nick replied.

The manager gave him the address and told him if there is anything he needed he should not hesitate to call him.

Nick hopped into his car again and sped off to the address he was given. On his arrival he found a 50 story high building with NCorp written on it. A few months in Nick is living in a penthouse and has an array of vehicles he can pick and choose from to drive. Nick has more money than he can spend. Nevertheless what the old man said to him never seemed to leave his mind.

As Nick looked out the window of his penthouse, he heard his doorbell ring. He slowly walked to the door and looked at the camera.

It is the old man standing there smiling without a care in the world. Nick quickly opens the door.



to be continued.….