The Unwritten

From an early age writing was kind of my thing. In the fourth grade I had a poem published in a book and that boosted my confidence enough to continue writing. I began keeping a journal for my feelings and a small, black notebook for my craft. It started with poetry but soon I got into short stories and that was where I found what I liked. Being able to create a whole new world with paper and a pencil was such an intriguing idea to me. Imagine my surprise when I realized my words were quite literally creating new worlds.

March 8, 2020 is a day I will never forget. The night before I stayed up until my eyelids were heavy drafting a new story in my little black notebook before I sent it over the next day. I frequently accepted prompts from my fans and for a small tip I would create a story then send it to them exclusively a week before I released it. The prompt was from an anonymous tipper and was simple, "Can you create a story about a woman getting $20,000 but it has to be under outrageous circumstances." Easy enough, I thought to myself as I opened up my notebook and spent the next 2 hours perfecting my story. I woke up the next day, scanned my story into my phone and sent it to the anonymous user's email as requested. After scrolling on my phone for an hour I decided it was probably time to eat something so I check my bank account to see how lavish this breakfast will be. I gasped as I read the numbers in my bank account, $20,254, the night before I only had $254.

"Finesse and Finance Bank, how may I help you today?", a friendly female voice answers the phone. I confirm my account balance and the only thing she can tell me about the deposit was it was made at 12:00 a.m. that morning from a company named Moleskine. Interesting name, I thought to myself as we wrapped up the call. I began searching companies with that name and came back with no results. I was beyond confused as I lay in bed that night. I couldn’t help but question how whoever sent that money, created the reality of my story hours before I had ever emailed it to the anonymous user.

For the next year I lived my life as normal and used my $20,000 to invest which allowed me to continue writing for my fans while making passive income. Life was great even though the mystery of it all seemed to linger. Exactly a year after the mysterious money appearing in my account, I came across an interesting ad for a new website. They claimed to pay writers per read and even have writing challenges. It sounded like something to expand my writing and I signed up quickly. I began reading the past challenges and one in particular caught my eye; The Little Black Book. It was so similar to the prompt I had received from a fan and the company sponsoring the challenge was Moleskine. I clicked on the winning story only to realize it had the same name as the one I had written. Hmm okay, I thought to myself as I began to read it and quickly realized it was the exact same as mine. I automatically assumed this person had stolen my work. When I clicked on her profile it was a picture of...me. The problem was that I had never taken that picture.

Right as I go to investigate further, my laptop dings with an email notification. The subject was empty and the body read, “I’m sure you have questions and I have answers. 2:30 p.m. Veteran Park by the baseball fields” My heart starts beating fast and I'm terrified of what is coming. As I approach the fields, a middle aged woman with long and dark curls, calls my name to alert me she is there for me. She directs me to sit down on a bench beside her and begins talking, “What I’m about to say is going to shock you. You might not believe me, but by the end of this conversation you will have no choice.” I sit in awe with a ‘what in the world is this going on' look on my face.

“First and foremost, you are what we call a life writer. What I mean by this is that the stories you write create the reality of others.” She places her hand on my hand and I begin flashing through the wide variety of worlds I had created. She removed her hand and continued, “As you can see each story you have written in your little black notebook is someone’s reality in some universe. 99% of life writers will never know their true power but due to a mistake on your life writer’s part, you have been introduced to a reality you don’t belong to. When you leave here you will be back in the right universe and sent your next mission” The woman disappeared into thin air and I tried to comprehend what just happened. How had so many questions been answered while creating so many more?

After getting home I got back on my laptop to search for the winner of the challenge I had seen earlier, only to find the website did not exist. I began to truly process what the woman at the park told me. I think back on my life and I begin to understand how it all comes together. From an early age writing was kind of my thing. Without it how many worlds would have stayed unwritten?