Order from the Black Book

I’m at a standstill. Lost in a world I could never understand. Starring out the bus window desperately awaiting my stop so I can get lost in some manga and forget the dilemma I’ve been in for the past 5 years. Bearing the burden of trying to save my family has been extremely hard considering I can barely save myself. working doubles at the pizzeria for the past week has drained me completely, but I have to pay for the bills for my sister and mom, school tuition fees, and not to mention the excessive rent for the raggedy-old studio apartment I call home.

The bus aggressively stops and shakes me telling me to get off. Just as my feet hit the ground it starts to rain. Of course, it’s when I don’t bring my umbrella, “Guess it’s a good night for a jog.” The sidewalk starts to splash with every step. 1 mile of running in this kind of heavy rain usually feels nice, but tonight I’m overwhelmed. I am going to drown in debt if I don’t keep slaving away though. Looking at the musty two-story building with every few lights flickering, I finally relax a little, “Just need to grab the mail, then ramen and manga here I come.” My voice whispers to the drops of rain that hit the tall dark trees and asphalt around me. 

My feet moved towards the dimly lit shed-shaped building where all the mailboxes are. Feeling for my keys in my soaked pockets I jog A bit faster in hopes of speeding up the process of getting inside. I scramble to open the rusty squeaky mailbox, reach inside, and feel for the usual bills. To my surprise, I felt a package. This can’t be right. I mutter to myself in disbelief. I decide to check the address and feel shocked as I see it’s mine, “This is pretty cool, wonder what it is and who sent it.” Speaking with excitement and confusion of an unexpected package, I turn it over and over in my hands looking for the sender, but there’s none to be found, “Well, this is odd.” I decided to just brush it off for now because the bills are getting wet, “They're dripping now, great. I’ll have to lay them out to dry.” I sigh to myself quietly and start bolting to my door. 

The leaky roof nearly had me trip up the slimy stairs, “Geez, this place needs to be fixed.” Finally, at my door, I head inside to complete my daily cycle: fill the tea kettle with water and heat it on the stovetop, pick out a manga, when the pot whistles pour the water into my Ramen and wait three minutes to enjoy. This time I had to disrupt the cycle by laying out the bills to dry and opening a package. 

After eating the same old food I always have I get to laying out the bills around my small nearly empty home. Then proceed towards my recliner to open the small package. It’s packed in a typical postal white package wrap. Inside I find a small black book and an envelope. The envelope read my name and held a warning symbol sticker on it and the little black book was blank. I flip through quickly but found nothing. My curiosity grew as big as the beanstalk in that one tail. So I had to open the envelope. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at what was inside, “This can’t be real.” I almost shouted too loud. Inside was a stack of $50 bills. I pinch myself completely baffled, “Oh gosh it’s real.” I quickly count the cash desperate to start a new life. In my hands is $20,000. At the bottom of the stack are instructions on how I may use this money it read,

“Dear receiver,

     you must write your name on the first page of the book after that you will have 42 hours to complete the task given to you in the book. There will be a checklist of places you must go and what your task is in each place. The book will be your teleportation device as you complete these tasks. To activate teleportation right the address of the place you are requested to go under your name then flip to the center of the book. Warning do not jump outside of the portal when teleporting through space it will be fatal. PS: You have three hours to start your mission or all will vanish. You will be paid double the amount once you are finished.”

I couldn’t process this information, “It’s a dream,” is all I can think.

I know it won’t take me three hours to say yes and change my life forever because all I crave is change, but teleportation and possible probe crazy alien-filled missions are not what I had in mind. With the risk acknowledged, I write a letter to my family in case they come looking for me. Then with shaking breaths of anxiety I sign my name on the first page of the book. The first task appears at the bottom of the page,

“Give £3666.90 to Janice O’kain off of 03 Alpha Rd., Cambridge England, CB4 3DQ, tell her it’s from “THEM”, and she is to start her bakery now.”

“I don’t have any pounds.” I said to the book. Then as if answering my confusion under the directions the words “converting change now” appeared then change to a new sentence, “please check the envelope for change.” That’s when I realize the money wasn’t for me, but for these people, “THEM” decide to give it to. 

“Start task or face the consequences!” blink on the page in bold letters.

“I’d rather not risk death from another dimensional being thing.” I heard myself say those words with worry now with haste I write the address under my name and flip to the center of the book. A bright light fills my vision, it’s so bright my eyes just close and when I open them the light is faded and I’m in a glowing purple tube-like thing, floating around. The air is freezing and I’m regretting my choice of shorts and a T-shirt luckily there’s a bright light ahead of me so I close my eyes and feel my feet touch a hard surface.

After opening my eyes to a damp alley I see red arrows appear on the ground, “A-Am I a GPS now!” Stutters through my mind. I started walking, following the magical floating arrows. Passing other people, I notice them staring. I don’t belong here and everyone knows that. Quickening my steps to reach my destinations faster, I see the arrow turn into a neighborhood, slightly jogging now I turn into it and stop so suddenly I almost fall on my face.

This is a neighborhood of mansions, big green lawns, those hedges shaped like animals, and water fountains. I slowed my pace in awe of the rich beauty. In front of one big pink doll-like mansion, there's a gold star with the last arrow leading to it. I walk up a path leading to giant doors and ring a gold bell. A butler opens the door and he asks, “How may I help you?” He glances at me as if disgusted. A bit offended, and with an attitude, I told him I was sent here by “THEM” and I have Janice O’kains Pay. He then picks up a gold landline and dials whom I assume is Janice.

“You have a young lady here with a payment from “THEM” ma’am,” almost immediately I hear footsteps, clearly in heels, running toward us. A beautiful blonde-pale girl in a red-fitted dress and heels tear open the door and in an excited squeal asks, “Where is it?!” I take the exact amount out of the envelope and hand it to her. 

 “I am directed to tell you to start your bakery now.” I spoke in a plain voice to cover up my amazement. “Thank you for this.” The blonde beauty said before closing the door. I check off a little box next to the task and a new one appears.

 “Go home and rest. Wait for a new task.” 

 I looked at the time and realized it was 3:40 A.M. back at home. I’d been out for 4 hours. I write down my address and go home. As soon as I lay in bed I fall asleep, even though the excitement I am just too tired and weak to keep going. When I wake up at 11 A.M. my new task appears. It’s in England again. 

With a learned lesson I dress warm and put on sunglasses, same routine but it’s 4415.51 pounds. I give to a seemingly rich man this time, I spend about 5 hours walking to his house and take a few hours to myself as directed. My last task appears with a 22 hour and 40-minute warning for completion.     

“Easy,” I think. “It’s in new york city cool!” I write down the address and go. I follow the same routine as the other 2 tasks. While walking down the crowded sidewalk a man pushes me into an alley, “Give me everything you’ve got!” He shouts. In a rush, I pull out the book and write my address, as I flip to the center he grabs my arm and we go into the portal together.

“You work for “THEM”!That book will sell for so much money!” He shouts with an evil grin. He grabs me and tries to push me out of the portal, as we struggle he tells me that he used to work for “THEM”. He was rich till he was late one time to deliver. “They took everything from me!” He cried. Then he pushed half of my body out of the portal, emerging me into the cold of space. “Am I going to die here in space?” I thought as my body was being pulled out. “This is it for me. I just wanted to be more in life, and now I'm going to die.”

As I was almost submerged into space he grabbed the book I held tight in my hands and my fight or flight kicked in. I pulled myself in and kicked him with all my force, he flew out of the portal right before we reached the light and I was home. I sit down and stare at my blank wall. “I’d just killed a man. It was in self-defense but, I just killed a man.” All I could do was lay on my floor and cry.

I know I’d fallen asleep without realizing it because I woke to my phone ringing, 

“Hey girl, just wanted you to know I’ve got the phone bill covered this month for the 3 of us, I got a new job at the mall!” the sound of my sister warmed my heart. 

“I love you so much,” I said.

“I love you too, you okay, you don’t sound too hot?”

 “Yeah, I just got a new job too, I’m really tired.”

“That’s great! Well breaks over, I gotta go close the store bye!”

I looked at the time and saw that I only had 4 hours left to finish my task. “I still need to give my family a better life”. I go back to New York and finish the task. All the money is in the hands of business owners now. After going home and check off the last box I get an e-Mail from my bank. You’ve received $40,000 from your employer “THEM”. I look in the book and it asks, “Do you wish to deliver for us?” Months pass and my family is rich now. At the cost of forever risking life for “THEM”.