Make the Right Choice

A soft afternoon glow shone through the window. The sky was grey, and yet, the sun peeked through. Jamie sat on his sofa in the living room, his hand in a bag of chips, the other hand clutching the TV remote.

“Ding dong!” Jamie looked towards the front door. He hardly ever had anyone visit. His family all lived far away and he wasn’t close with his neighbours. Jamie rose from the couch and brushed crumbs off his sweatpants. He opened the door. An odd looking man with old, wrinkly skin and a wispy white beard stood there. He had a leather satchel hanging from one shoulder. Jamie had never seen this man before.

“James Simmons?” the man asked hoarsely.

“Yeah, that’s me, who’s asking?” Jamie replied.

“It doesn’t matter who I am”, he reached his hand into the satchel, and pulled out a thick yellow envelope. “I regret to inform you that your cousin’s great uncle has passed away.”

“Who?” Jamie asked.

“Daniel Hughes, your cousin’s great uncle.”

Jamie scratched his chin. “Oh yeah…that guy,” he snickered. “Who are you again?”

“That doesn’t matter. I am merely executing his will, and I am here to offer you the partial inheritance he left you.”

Inheritance? I didn’t even know the guy, Jamie thought. Jamie was silent for a few moments. “Is this a joke?” He asked.

“This certainly is not a joke, Mr. Simmons. Now you have a choice. For your inheritance, you can either have this,” he lifted the envelope. “This contains $20,000 inside, choose it and its yours.”

Holy crap, Jamie thought “This is for real?” Jamie asked, his mouth gaping. He was skeptical, but nevertheless reached for the envelope “I’ll take th-“

“Not so fast Mr. Simmons, you haven’t heard the other option.” He cleared his throat and reached into his satchel once more. “You can have the $20,000, or this,” he held up a small notebook. It had a smooth black cover, with a shiny, thin bookmark hanging out, it was nothing remarkable. Jamie rolled his eyes and tried to grab the envelope from the man, but he pulled it away. With piercing eyes, he seemed to stare straight into Jamie’s soul. “Make the right choice.”

Jamie felt a little unsettled, but his heart beat in excitement. “Yeah, I think I’ll take the 20 grand,” The man pulled a clipboard out of his satchel, which seemed to large to fit inside.

“Just sign here.” Jamie took the pen attached to the clipboard and signed. The man handed him the envelope.

“Very well, I best be on my way.” He put the notebook back into his satchel, “I hope you don’t regret your decision.” The man turned on his heel and left, and was out of sight in mere moments.

Jamie opened the envelope, expecting a balled up sheet of paper with the words “got ya!” on it. He reached in and pulled out several green stacks. He stumbled over to the couch, his mouth hanging open.

“Oh my god” he muttered under his breath. It was real. He thumbed through the money and counted. $20,000 all right. The initial shock of this money faded, and made way for the overwhelming excitement.

Jamie leapt up from the couch, what was he going to do with it? He spent the money in his mind by the thousands. He looked towards the TV. His show was still on.

“Eh, I can spend it later.” He resumed his previous position, watching TV, eating potato chips. The yellow envelope lay on the floor, the cash in his lap.

Jamie glanced at his watch. The clock read 11:30. Whoa, I’ve been watching TV for way too long, he thought. He stood up from the couch and stretched, the cash falling to the floor. Whoops, don’t want to lose that. He snatched it up and looked around, wondering where his phone was. It wasn’t on the sofa with him or in his pocket. Jamie shrugged his shoulders, I’ll find it tomorrow. With that he left the living room and entered his bedroom. He threw the money onto his dresser. In mere minutes, Jamie was sleeping.

7:30 am. Jamie’s alarm clock rang. He slapped it until it stopped. I have nowhere to be, he thought, it’s Sunday. After a few minutes, he sat up in bed. No use, I can’t fall back to sleep now. He reached for his nightstand to check his phone. That’s right, he thought, I couldn’t find it last night. Groggily, he rolled out of bed. He looked over at the dresser, good the money is still there, he thought. Before he left his room, he took the money and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket, liking the feeling of having that much money on him.

In the living room, Jamie looked around, where could it be? Oh yes! He looked over at a bookshelf in the corner of the room. His phone lay on the shelf. He ran over to it. Laying his hand on his phone, he stopped. His heart skipped a beat. Laying innocently on the bookshelf, was none other than the very black notebook he was offered the previous day.

Forgetting his phone, he snatched up the notebook. It was unmistakably the same one. It had the same black cover, same thin shiny bookmark attached to it. He flipped through the notebook. It had regular grey lines, nothing special. As he was placing the notebook back onto the bookshelf he stopped, wait this page has writing on it.

In dark red, which Jamie hoped was ink, were the words: “Make the right choice”. The right choice? What the hell does that mean. He looked more thoroughly through the notebook, but that was the only writing. Feeling a bit uneasy, Jamie ripped out the page, balled it up, and threw it in the trash. He picked up his phone, and placed the notebook back on the shelf.

Jamie looked through his phone: no messages. Ouch, he thought. I didn’t check my phone all night, and not one new message? Absentmindedly, he entered his room and tossed his phone onto his bed. Thunk! It hit something hard. Jamie looked up. It was the notebook. He took a stumbling step backwards, did I bring it upstairs? He turned the light on. It was the same one all right, same smooth black cover. Jamie flipped through it. There was a string of ripped paper hanging on to the centre, where he had ripped out the paper a few minutes ago.

Everything was the same, except… Jamie’s eyes widened. New writing: “Make the right choice, Jamie.” How did that happen? I didn’t write it, he thought. Is there someone in my house?

A thorough inspection of the house revealed that all the doors and windows were locked. No one else was inside. Then how? Jamie secretly hoped that there was someone who had broken into his house. It seemed better than the alternative.

He re-entered his bedroom. The book still lay, innocently on his bed. He picked up the notebook, brought it downstairs and outside, and thew it in the trash. Feeling satisfied, he clapped his hands together and went back inside. He walked over to the pantry and found a new bag of chips. Opening the bag, he went to sit on the couch and turn on the TV. He sat on something hard…

“NO!” Jamie screamed. This was not happening. How was it here?! Jamie picked up the notebook and threw it as hard as he could at the wall. It landed open on the floor. There were new large words “get rid of it” along with “make the right choice” in small letters at the bottom of the page. Jamie’s heart pounded. Make the right choice? Get rid of it? What does this mean?

Jamie slapped himself. This has to be a dream. But no matter how many times his hand connected with his face, the notebook sat innocently on the floor, almost taunting him.

“That’s it!” Jamie cried out. He could not deal with this any longer. His body shook, his heart pounded. Jamie grabbed the notebook and went outside through the back door. His backyard wasn’t very spacious, but he did have a stretch of grass with a makeshift fire pit. There was also a few lawn chairs beside a small shed. Jamie threw the notebook onto the grass and opened the door to the shed. He came out a few seconds later with some newspaper and a lighter.

He tore the newspaper and scattered it around the wood, then set the paper aflame. He retrieved the notebook and tossed it in. He laughed, the notebook wouldn’t bother him anymore. The paper in the notebook curled and blackened, and in moments, it was consumed by the flame.

Jamie heaved a sigh of relief. Sweat beaded on his forehead, partly from nerves, partly from the nearby fire. He turned to the shed and went in to get the hose to extinguish the fire. It was under an old, broken table and was dusty and had kinks, but he was able to lug it out. The hose fell from his hands. In front of the fire, on the grass, the black notebook lay there, seemingly untouched, opened to a page with words in all caps. “GET RID OF IT!”.

His heart seemed to stop beating. He had seen the notebook destroyed by the flames. Jamie’s head began to spin, he felt dizzy and very nauseous. He fell to his knees and held his stomach. I need to end this, he thought. He looked up at the notebook. It wasn’t just a notebook, but a demon, laughing at him. He could hear the words, “make the right choice, get rid of it.”

In one swift movement, Jamie grabbed the stacks of cash from his pocket and hurled them into the fire’s heart. In an instant, the money was burnt to ashes. There, I got rid of it. He picked up the notebook and rose to his feet. He yelled at the grey sky, “There I made the right choice!” Tears streamed down his face, his words were choked, “I got rid of it.” He looked at the fire. No more traces of the money could be seen, it was like it never existed.

He flipped through the notebook. The words he had just seen were gone, and replaced with new words. As he read, he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. The crimson ink dripped down the page, smudging the words. “Thank you for making the right choice.”

Jamie clutched his stomach. The dizziness he had felt from moments ago had multiplied. He clutched the notebook so tightly, his knuckles turned white. He read and re-read these new words. So he made the right choice… so why did this feel like the wrong one? A small breeze picked up and flipped the page. There were more words, with the same dripping red ink.

“Goodbye Jamie”

The dizziness increased, Jamie dropped the notebook. Lone embers floated upwards into the grey sky, it was all a flash of light as Jamie’s vision blurred. The world seemed to spin, and Jamie’s eyes rolled up into his head. He clutched his stomach. And collapsed.

And the notebook sat innocently in the grass.