Greed

A white wall. No. A white, faded, damaged, mouldy white wall. That’s how I describe myself. 30 years old, just barely getting by? Underpaid office worker a multimillion dollar company, and to top it off, single, very, very, very single. The only thing exciting in my life at the moment has to be this little black book I found in the park as I was walking home from work this afternoon. Although exciting would be an exaggeration. Nothing is even written in here apart from a question on the left hand side.

‘You have $20,000, what’s the price?’

Nothing else, no explanation or anything, none, zilch, nada. I must say, for something sitting under a dead tree in the middle of the park it pretty much looks brand new.

“Whatever, it was probably some kids diary,” I mutter to myself as I put it back in my bag.

I can’t stop thinking about it though. That book. It has an enticing aura to it and I can’t help but wonder.

I turn over on my bed and stare at my bag across the room until I fall asleep.

Morning comes around and I make my way to work because it’s really the only thing that I have going for myself. The day drags on but finally, I make it to lunch.

I look through my bag to find what it was that I brought to eat and to my surprise, I forgot to bring lunch. What am I? A grade-schooler? Instead, I find the book I found yesterday, so I have a closer look.

A black, leather book, almost the size of a small diary, inside is untouched apart from that question. What does that question MEAN though, being a dropout, challenging things and riddles tend to make my head throb. Doing what any simpleton would do though I grab my pen and write down $1 under the question. Money is the only thing I could think of when 'price' is mentioned so I thought I might as well.

I don’t know what I expect to happen though, it’s literally a book.

My phone chimes from inside my pocket. I pull it out to view the notification.

‘You have been transferred $1USD, click here to view more…’

Eh?

I click on the notification to see who it’s from but where there’s suppose to be the sender, there isn’t, all that is there are some flickering little lines.

‘A glitch, I guess?’ Is all I can conclude.

I look back at the little black book, the $20,000 that was there has turned into $19,999 and now on the right-hand side it reads,

‘Who will pay for it?’

‘Pay for what?’ I think to myself again.

Out of nowhere it hit me, I know I may be a little slow and I haven’t eaten but I do not remember writing this.

From the corner of the break room, a short shriek escapes one of the other workers.

“You okay?” I ask to be sure.

She looks up at me while holding her finger, “Yes, sorry! I just got a bit of a splinter from the wooden stirring stick I was using for my coffee, sorry to disturb you.” She gives me an apologetic smile and continues on with her lunch.

I also get back to what I was doing and look down at the book. Under the new heading on the right, in line with the $1 I wrote, read;

'Your coworker.'

I look back up at my coworker who is quietly eating her lunch now, the only people in this break room are me and her. I look down at the book and back up again.

‘Is this some kind of joke?’

‘A coincidence, it’s a coincidence, and someone is playing a prank.’

I look around the room once more but I am certain that there’s no one else here.

‘Once more, it was a coincidence, it can’t happen again, so I have to be sure.’

I write down $2 this time, as soon as my pen leaves the paper, my phone chimes and unease sets in. I pull out my phone and check the notification.

‘You have been transferred $2USD, click here to view more…’

Once again the sender is a few flickering lines on my screen.

I look back at the book under the ‘who will pay for it?’

In the same row as the $2 it says, ‘someone next door.’

‘Next door? There’s only people working next door? What would even ha…’ As I continue trying to disprove any possible way this could happen I could hear a few workers exchanging some words. All I am able to pick up on is a guy who says,

“I just got a bit of an electric shock from somewhere, it’s all good.”

I stare down at the book. In utter disbelief.

All I can think about is the fact that that this could change my life. I can become a millionaire, no, no, I could become a billionaire. That’s if this $20,000 that I started off with, somehow resets itself. It seems like this book works through a trade of something equal value, at the moment it's certain that it’s a physical punishment but they were only minuscule things so it’s not like anything that bad is going to happen.

My life is going to finally change.

My heart starts beating quicker and the adrenaline starts to flow. I get up from my seat in the break room, collect my things and head straight to the manager's office.

I burst through the door without knocking.

“I’m quitting.”

My manager looks at me like I’m a fool and starts laughing.

“I’ve always thought of you as a jokester,” as he snickers, “so, what do you want?”

“Right now. I am done, I’m not coming back here.”

He picks up on my seriousness finally but before he says anymore I end my little meeting with him.

“Okay, that’s all, goodbye,” I say as I exit and close the door behind me.

I catch a glimpse of my managers expression of pure shock and smile.

‘No turning back now.’

As I walk through the building I feel eyes fall upon me, some most likely from hearing the conversation with my manager just now. I confidently make my way to the exit without looking back.

“Sayonara you good-for-nothings” I mutter.

I return home after the happiest walk of my life.

“Now, let’s make some bank,” I say to myself.

I grab my pen and open up my book.

‘I guess I’ll start with $100, I don’t wanna go up too fast but I also don’t wanna be too slow.’

My phone chimes, the transfer notification arrives. I wait to see if anything happens.

One minute goes by, then two, three, nothing noticeable is happening.

‘Does this mean it’s safe?’

I check the book to see if anything has changed. Under, ‘Who will pay?’ It says, ‘Neighbour.’

I keep listening out.

“Well, I haven’t heard anything so I’m assuming she’s fine,” I say aloud.

I keep going, $200, $300, $400, nothing noticeable happens, no screams, nothing. The only thing happening is that my bank account is growing.

I laugh to myself, thinking how ridiculously fun this is.

“Honestly, it’s fine. As long as nothing happens to me, it’s fine.” I tell myself.

Now to make the biggest step so far. I write out $1,000 into the book. My phone chimes. I giggle with excitement as I stare at my growing bank account and glance back at the book.

‘Who will pay?’

‘Your cousin.’

“Okay? What’s the worst that could happen, she stubs her toe? Hahaha.”

My phone rings, it’s my Mum.

“Hey, what’s up.”

Frantically she collects her words and says “Your cousin, she’s been in a car crash.”

I pause for a minute and stare at the book, at the words ‘your cousin.’

“Oh, well is she okay?” I ask.

“Thankfully yes she managed to escape with a few scratches and a nasty bruise but she’s fine.”

I feel relieved, not that I was ever really that close with her in the first place, but relieved that not all the punishments in this book mean injury. I can keep going.

“Ok, that’s good, bye now.”

“That’s all? Are you okay? You don’t seem to care?” Mum adds.

“Yes, yes I’m doing really good, I’ll check in with her later.”

I won’t but it’ll make her happy to hear that.

“Okay good, I’m happy to hear that, I will talk to you again in a few days, bye now.”

I waste no time hanging up. I also start bumping up the price.

I feel like checking in on my neighbours first to see if anything ended up happening.

I go around to all four of their apartments and say I’m just checking in. I found out two out of the four found their pets injured and the other two found their pets dead.

‘Oh well, they can get new ones.’ I thought to myself as pretended to sympathise with each of them.

Back in my room and now’s the time I really get going. My pen, almost by itself, writes out the rest of the remaining amount I have left, the book now reads $18000 under the question on the left. I know it’s probably not exactly the amount but a good guess couldn’t do any harm, right?

My phone chimes, I feel giddy as I open the notification.

Something’s changed.

Where it first was just flickering lines, the sender now reads;

‘Game Over.’

“Game Over?”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” I say as anxiety starts to seep in.

My chest aches. I start to panic.

‘No, no, no, no this isn’t anything I’m just anxious, that’s all it is.’ I think as I laugh to myself.

‘Pathetic, pathetic, this is pathetic, I’m overreacting.’

The ache worsens.

I pace around my room.

I find myself looking at the book again. I check who’s down to pay this time.

‘You.’

Huh?

I read it again, not registering what I’ve just seen.

‘You.’

The pain worsens tenfold, I double over in search of some comfort, scratching at my chest, finding it hard to breathe.

I reach for the book and take one more look at it before falling completely to the ground. Fear feeds on my soul and tears fill my eyes. Through them, I can see the book. The ink, the ink is fading. The pain worsens. The ink fades more.

The pain is unbearable now and my vision starts to darken.

‘Who would’ve thought that something good would happen to me, I shouldn’t have believed it for a second. A white wall remember, I’m a white, faded, damaged, mouldy white wall.’

My eyesight is almost completely gone, I can feel my life slipping away as I clench onto my chest and take shallow breaths.

With the last little bit of light that my eyes are allowing through I can see the inside page of that little black book. The ink, all faded away and only one question remains.

‘You have $20,000, what’s the price?’

‘Ah, so this how it works.’