The Expense

It all started one fateful day, with Veronica and Jacob, a young career couple living in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Veronica was an aspiring actress, who is just getting her foot in the door; she had done some modeling here and there, had been in a couple of commercials, but had moved out to California with her husband from Chicago in search of true fame. She had always been one for the limelight and loved the attention and approval of others. With her natural brunette hair, fair complexion, and smoky hazel eyes she was a natural beauty. Jacob was a salesman, and his company had been brought out. However, after moving to California with his wife, he was able to land a stable position at a firm; The pay was not spectacular, but it kept food on the table. Having grown up in the inner city, he experienced life has many young men had. Growing up with no father, and only a single mother, he knew firsthand about struggling. This time he determined to make something of himself and decided with his wife to go ahead and take this adventure. After they moved to L.A., they wound up getting A decent sized apartment, which was the result of careful planning and conscious saving. After adjusting for six months, they become acclimated to the routine of daily living. Veronica would get odd jobs for commercials, modeling gigs, and Jacob would bury himself in his work daily.

One day as she was in the park rehearsing her lines for an ad she was to be featured in, she noticed an odd-looking man with sunglasses in the long coat. He sat directly on another bench across from her. When he got up, he turned, looked at her for a moment and then walked away. There was a little black book left on the bench. Veronica thought it was odd that the man forgot his book. She felt the need to return it, grabbed the book and proceeded to chase the man down, but she lost him in the crowd of people that were at the park that day. She was suddenly left with this little mysterious reminder in her hands. This was the beginning of a strange day that was just beginning to get stranger. She did not want to be nosy and did not want to pry into someone’s personal business, but she reassured herself that there might have been a phone number or some sort of email in the book which would make it easier to return. As she opened it, she could feel the black leather in her hands. It was cool to the touch and worn from the years of use. She carefully opened it and noticed that the pages were parchment, as if from another time. Inside the first three pages was an address scribbled in some terrible handwriting. However, it was legible enough for her to read it. She read it again and look for any other markings, writings, or anything else. She could not find anything except that address. The address was 1111 Valencia Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. She remembered when she and her husband first moved into their apartment seeing Valencia Avenue. And then it dawned on her, that address was not too far from her apartment. She called Jacob, told him the story, and begged him to come with her so that she could be safe to return the book to its owner. He was very reluctant and thought she should have not bothered to pick up the book you left things alone, but he agreed to go with her because he wanted to make sure his wife was safe. He also knew she would go anyway without him. So later, Veronica came home and showed her husband the book. He was very baffled as he looked inside and noticed no other pages except the address. He looked at her and said “You know this is very creepy you are finding this strange book, and then there’s this strange man. Veronica is there anything on the inside of you that is telling you how Strange this is?” She looked up and in the puppy dog eyes and said “I want to do some good and I believe in karma. You never know, no good deed goes unrewarded.”

So, they got up the nerve loaded up the car and proceeded to go to the address to return the book. As they got closer to the address they drove and drove around and noticed that there was a house matching the address in the book. The house was well lit, Well built, and it seem to be occupied. Veronica and Jacob had no idea what they were doing other than the fact that they were trying to be good Samaritans. They looked at each other, Shrugged their shoulders he proceeded to go to the front door to knock. As they were doing so, they noticed a black bag sitting on the front porch with a note on it. The note read “Thank you so much for your honesty and your generosity. Whoever found my book, you are an honest person and I want to reward you for your honesty. I know it seems a little strange, But I am an entrepreneur, and I am looking for honest people who have kind hearts. Please accept your award.” When they looked in the bag it was an incredible sum of money, fresh neatly stacked hundred-dollar bills, and the total came up to be $100,000. The couple immediately became frightened because they never saw that much money in their lives. Jacob immediately said to his wife “What have you got me into? This is crazy, and we need to leave right now before the police show up. For all we know this clown could be a drug lord, Or mafia boss. I knew I should not have listened to you!” As he was leaving the porch Veronica said “No I am not leaving until I get this bag of money. I have heard about things like this, rich people who just want to be benevolent and do some kind things toward strangers. I think this was just some elaborate test to see what we would do, and we did it. Clearly this is our reward.” Jacob mulled it over in his mind for a little bit, and on one hand knew this was super crazy but, on another hand, he reasoned the note was clearly written for whoever found the book. He said “Okay, this goes against my better judgment but let us get this money and get out of here. We cannot tell a soul…anyone about this, let us get out of here quick!”

They grabbed the bag, looked around to make sure there was no one watching and stuffed it in the car and drove off. Once they got home, they just stared at the bag for a few hours and wondered what they would do with all this money. Jacob was particularly nervous, because in the back of his mind he wondered if anyone saw them and did not want there to be in trouble. So, they mutually decided that they would get small amounts of cash and put them in the bank. They really did not want to draw any suspicion of the IRS, and they were still a little dumbfounded found it has to all this came about.

The next day they woke up, Jacob went to work, and Veronica went to her modeling gig as usual, but this time they knew that they were much richer than the night before. They were both thinking what they could do with their newfound wealth. For some strange reason Veronica still had the book. Instinctively she looked inside it and noticed writing that was in it had not been in it before. On the first page of the book were the words “Yes, congratulations Veronica. You and Jacob earned the money that you found. Now you just have to learn to spend it wisely.” She was floored and threw the book on the floor. At first, she thought Jacob was playing some joke on her, but she knew her husband’s handwriting and that was not it, also it was written in a very strange ink. She was baffled. She picked the book up reluctantly and looked back inside. On the next page she noticed a list of things written down that she needed. This time she was really weirded out. She was going to call her husband and tell him everything that just happened and then a little voice inside said no. She realized if she told him this, he would probably return the money and she did not want that. So as crazy as everything was, she said to herself “I have no idea what’s going on, but I just have to follow my instincts.” The night before she and Jacob had taken about $10,000 each to buy some things that they needed. They made sure to hide the bag in a very safe and secure place. Veronica went to get some much-needed shopping done.

She bought some clothes, much needed things for their home, and she could feel the rush of adrenaline. Jacob on the other hand after work wanted to go out and celebrate with his wife. He made reservations at an awfully expensive restaurant, bought himself a nice watch, and a nice dress for her, and decided they would paint the town red. When he came home, he showed her the dress and she loved it. He surprised me with the reservation and told her to get ready. “How do I look honey?” She asked him when she changed into the dress. He was stunned at her natural beauty. After they get ready, they made it to the restaurant, the same one they have been wanting to go to but had never been able to because they could not afford it. As they sit across the table looking at each other holding hands they were just thinking about the future and what it held for them. After a lovely meal meaningful conversation, they gave the waitress a generous tip and left for the evening. They went to bed tired, but very satisfied.

The next morning Jacob went to work, but Veronica decided to just not really do any more modeling gigs for a little while. Oddly enough, each time she would open the book there would be a different message in it. She honestly thought she was hallucinating, and she was losing her mind, but she knew she was not, and this was all some sort of supernatural intervention that she could not explain. However, she was too preoccupied with her newfound wealth to really see anything wrong with what was happening. When she opened the book, she received a new message. It read “What is the one thing that you desire? And how much are you willing to pay to get that one thing?” Veronica began thinking, she really desired a career in acting I wanted to be a famous actress. Within minutes her cell phone rang, And the part that she had auditioned for in a major TV show suddenly became available, and the one of producers called her to offer her part. She was ecstatic and overjoyed. Finally, her dreams were coming true.

Jacob while he was at work was thinking about everything, investing saving getting ready for the future. Veronica called him ecstatic and told him the good news. He was overjoyed. In the spur of the moment, he decided to leave early and just take a vacation day. He wanted to rejoice with his wife. He hopped in his car, and as he was driving, he noticed the traffic was heavier than usual. Behind him in the rearview mirror, there was a gray Mercedes following him close. Behind the wheel of it was a mysterious looking man, with sunglasses on, and clean shaven with dark hair. The Mercedes kept getting closer and closer, until it is bumped Jacob’s car Off the road. As he lost control of the wheel, he saw his life flash before him, and crashed into a tree. He was very startled grateful to be alive. He called his wife to give her the bad news about the accident. She was devastated but glad he was okay.

The next morning Veronica woke up feeling incredibly nauseous. She could not understand why, as she was not feeling this way the night before. She had a crazy urge in her head to pick up the book. She looked inside, and there was a page that said, “You have three days to return all of the money, or the consequences will be bad.” She jumped out of the bed and threw the book down again. She immediately called her husband frantic and scared and said “Jacob I know this is crazy, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier but something strange is going on. That little book I found, every day I pick it up and read it there is another message in it. When I first picked it up there was nothing in it. Now it is some cryptic message every day. And now it’s saying that we have to return the money in three days or something bad will happen.” Jacob was in disbelief; he knew his wife was a little crazy but now he considered having her locked away. He started yelling. “You are the one that wanted me to get the bag in the first place! Now you are having these hallucinations about messages in the book, and now you are saying you want to return it? We have already spent $20,000 already, and there is no way we are going to be able to pay that back. You are delusional, and I don’t know if you’re drinking or not, but I’m not returning anything!” He hung up on her, spent the rest of the day sulking.

When Jacob came home, and Veronica was on the floor in tears. He wondered in the back of his mind if she did something crazy with the money. They both glared at each other, and he began to speak. “I’m not sure what’s happening to us, but it’s very strange and I’m scared.” She shook her head and agreed. They both knew something was wrong. Veronica got the bag and showed it to Jacob. Inside of it was a note on top of the money, and it said, “Return the money now!” Jacob was dumbfounded and thought his wife was playing a joke on him. She tried to reason with him, telling him that she did not write it. He became increasingly angry and begin yelling at her. She began yelling at him. Then the yelling escalated. Veronica started putting her fingers in Jacobs face. Jacob was trying to tell her to stop and smacked her hand out of his face. She slapped him and scratched his cheek. They begin to continue screaming at each other. As they were arguing, Veronica grabbed the money bag and threw it at Jacob interestingly enough, none of the money fell out. In the heat of the moment, they were so scared, but decided to burn the bag with the money and the little black book. When they tried to burn it, nothing happened to the book or the money, but the house caught on fire. Later, after the house had burned down, the bag was nowhere to be found. All that remained was the book. One of the firemen found it, and it was not burned at all. He was very curious and decided to look Inside. The words only words written in it read, “1111 Valencia Avenue, Los Angeles, CA”.

The End