Landlord's Tale

I started having trouble remembering things after finding the bag, but I do remember coming straight home. This must be my lucky day. I don't think I've been this excited my entire life. Perhaps I'll go have some fun at the racetrack tomorrow once I sleep off this headache. I wish my dear Monica was still alive. Oh, how she loved her a good horse race.

It's been two days and I thought this headache would've gotten better but it's gotten worse and now it's accompanied by a fever. I couldn't even finish my pasta. My appetite is gone. I can't stand being sick but I won't go to the walk-in just yet. I'm sure if I take it easy for the rest of the day I'll be fine. My memory seems to be worsening as well. I can barely remember things from yesterday, almost like I have a bad hangover . Like, where did I get all this money from exactly. There was something else in this bag, but I can't remember what I did with it. Did I throw it away?

I don't remember where I put my phone but it doesn't matter because I can't get out of bed anyways. I've had no choice but to urinate on myself this morning. This is far from any flu or sickness I've ever experienced. My body feels like it's decaying with every passing minute. Even just breathing hurts. I'm so thirsty. Everytime I try to scream for help I begin to cough uncontrollably. This pain is unbearable. If there is a God, ple....

I felt bad for him. He wasn't even able to finish his plea to God so I said a short prayer for him. Seeing him laying lifeless like that and knowing the pain he went through in his last days was hard to digest. In my 45 years of being a landlord, that was a first for me. It's scary because he was only a few years older than me. Maybe my time is near as well.

I heard a knock at the door. The police finally arrive along with a detective. The two officers are unprepared for the smell of a deceased man laying in his own filth but It's nothing new for the detective who enters as if he didn't smell anything at all. This guy was definitely seasoned. He immediately noticed the little black book in my hand so I handed it over to him and told him it was in his hands when I discovered him. He asked me what his name was but I couldn't remember it in the moment being that I have so many tenants. I watched the detectives eyes quickly read the same thing I read in the dead man's diary. He then placed the book in a clear zip-loc bag and tossed it on the bed. The way he scanned the room was very quick but you can tell he didn't miss a thing in sight before heading back out to the living room. I followed of course and he stopped to look at a picture on the wall. While observing the picture he suddenly asks as if to catch me off guard...."Did you touch anything other than that book?" Before I could reply, one of the officer's called him to the kitchen. I heard the officer say "Hey detective! Take a look at this." The officer was going through a brown travel bag with cash inside organized in bank style bundles. He did a quick count by thumbing through the stacks and said "Looks like there's about twenty grand here...There's also a note sir.". He held up a sheet of paper stained with spaghetti sauce that was obviously crumpled at some point. It contained magazine letters cut out and glued in sequence forming an ominous message. At that point the detective told the officer to read it out loud.

"THIS MONEY IS CURSED UNLESS THIS ONE RULE IS FOLLOWED. TAKE ONLY HALF AND LEAVE THE OTHER HALF ALONG WITH THIS NOTE IN THE BAG EXACTLY WHERE YOU FOUND IT. IF YOU TAKE EVEN 1 DOLLAR MORE THAN HALF FROM WHERE THIS BAG WAS FOUND, YOU WILL SURELY DIE."

The other officer then said with sarcasm "So I guess we're only taking half back with us as evidence?". The three began laughing while I stood there in silence. Seeing the three of them laughing about the situation brought me to realize something. Only 1 out of 5 people can control their greed.