Found and Lost

June 15 2010

Just listening to the ringing through the phone was hard. It was one of those things that he thought would push him over the edge, although there were many of those. “Suicide Hotline” the voice on the other end said, bursting through the line, Ron wasn’t really expecting anyone to answer; it was one of those times where it was going to be just two more rings and I’m hanging up. After all no one could really help now, or could they? His voice shook as he slowly said “I have nothing left to go on for” The voice responded as reassuringly as possible, “That can’t be true.” She said. “I am more than sure you have a lot going for you. I am here to help you figure that out… Who am I speaking with?” Ron hesitated for a moment deciding if he wanted to give his real name, then decided it doesn’t matter. “Ron” He said. “We’ll Ron, I’m in this with you for the long haul if you want me to be. My name is Rita. What’s going on Ron?” “Oh forget it, this is a waste of time” Ron yelled and threw his phone across the room from where he was sitting in his small one bedroom apartment. It narrowly missed a lamp on an end table and bounced off the back of the couch landing on the seat.

Ron, feeling depressed and lonely, put on his shoes and stormed out of the apartment; down two flights of stairs and out onto the front street. Unsure of what to do or where to go he walked, until he came to the bourbon street bridge twelve blocks away. It was approximately 11 pm now it was a dark, hot and humid night, he didn’t see anyone else around. Without much of a second thought, he climbed up onto the railing. A slight tinge of fear passed through him as he looked down from his perch high above the Assiniboine River. It rushed fast beneath the bridge, it’ll be over quick he thought and shook off the feeling. All of a sudden there was a hand that grabbed his wrist. “You don’t want to do that” A deep voice exclaimed. Ron turned his head to look, the man’s face was covered by a grey hooded shirt. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a white pair of Skecher shoes. “Just don’t” the man said. “Trust me, you may not feel anything anymore, but anyone you know will feel it, more than you know.” The man tilted his head as if to point to something behind him. “Let’s walk it off” He said.

“Why do you care?” Ron asked. The man sighed, “I’ve been there too” he said. “Now come on. Get down and let’s go for that walk”. Ron tried to get a look at his face but he couldn’t quite see it. He wasn’t sure if the man was hiding it or if it was coincidence. Ron jumped down onto the street and followed the man.

The man walked ahead confident that Ron would follow. Ron was tall 6’3” he had a long stride. He caught up to his new friend fairly easily and quickly, his dark brown hair sticking to his forehead because of the humidity. “Who are you?” Ron inquired of the man. “My name is Mike, but that’s not important right now Ron.” Ron was surprised. “Do I know you? How do you know my name?” “That’s not important either” Mike stated. “What is important is that you’re not going to try something like that again.” Ron scoffed, “I’m not promising you anything. I don’t even know you.” “I see” said Mike. “Then have it your way” Mike turned and began to walk away. Ron stood there feeling terrible about the way he had just treated the man that had potentially saved his life. After looking at the ground for a few minutes he looked up to see Mike getting on a bus, as he stepped up onto the first step something fell from his back pocket. Ron broke out into a jog to try to catch him but the doors on the bus closed and it drove away. Arriving at the bus stop Ron bent down to pick up a small black book. It was worn looking and had a black leather cover on it. There were no identifiable markings on it aside from a few scratches. It was about the size of a credit card and as thick as a cell phone.

Ron didn’t know anything about Mike, where he lived or even his last name. He wondered how he was going to get the book back to him. Ron flipped the cover open to see if there was any information inside. What he saw stunned him. Written on the page was:

Ron Wilson

Bourbon Street Bridge

11:05 PM June 15 2010

$15000.00

Ron stared at it bewildered, what the hell is this? He thought. Why is my name here, and what does it mean? Confused, Ron thought, was he sent to stop me from jumping by this book? Ron looked around at his surroundings not quite sure what to do next. When he looked back at the page of the book the words were gone. Just a blank page stared back at him. Suddenly there was a flash and a sharp shock that felt like static but much more intense. Ron dropped the book in surprise, he looked down at it for a moment before very cautiously picking it back up and putting it into his pocket. That’s enough excitement for one day he thought and headed home.

June 16 2010

Ron awoke on his couch with a start, his mouth dry yet soaked in sweat, not sure what to make of the events of the previous night. Sitting there in a sleepy daze he wondered if it was real or a dream. Spotting the black leathery book on the side table he instantly knew it was real. Slowly moving he reached towards it unsure if he wanted to take another look inside. Something told him that he had no choice. Flipping open the front cover Ron tried to focus on what the words that seemed to be materializing on the page. It was completely different than what was there yesterday.

Fredrick Silver

310 Valour street

12:25 PM June 16 2010

$20,000

Ron immediately looked at the clock, it was 8:00 AM. Grabbing his phone that was still on the couch cushion, he put the book in his pocket and went to the kitchen in order to make his breakfast.

Unsure of what it all meant Ron set out to figure out exactly where Valour street is. By this time it was around 10 AM, he had figured out exactly where he needed to go but was still very much unsure of what he was going to encounter. 310 Valour was a 5 story apartment building, it was in decent shape. The apartments had large balconies on the front. The area was not one that he was very familiar with. Ron decided to wander about to kill a little time. There was a small grocery store on the corner of the street. On the side of the building was a beautiful mural of an eagle clutching a small animal in it’s talons.

At 12:00PM a moving truck drove to the front of 310 Valour street. There were two men and two women that got out of the truck and began unloading. They had used a heavy box to prop the side door of the building open while they carried boxes and bags into the apartment they were moving into.

Ron went into the corner store and bought himself a bottle of water, the wandered back towards the building only half paying attention to the people unloading the truck. Ron looked at his watch, 12:24. A small boy ran out the propped open door like a prisoner escaping from lockdown. Ron, watching much closer now, heard the boys mother calling “FREDRICK!! GET BACK HERE!!”. Ron was moving quite a bit faster now towards the boy with a half understanding that something may happen to him. Just then he saw an object falling from directly above where the boy was standing. Ron grabbed Fredrick and fell backwards pulling the boy to safety just before a four-wheel furniture dolly crashed down and imbedded itself into the ground in the exact spot Fredrick was standing. His mother frantically ran towards them crying and grabbing for Fredrick. Ron handed him to his mother as she thanked him hysterically. Ron bewildered left the scene not understanding how the book could have possibly had that information in it.

Ron arrived home and even though it was only 1:30 in the afternoon he was already exhausted.

He reached in his pocket to see what information the book was going to show him next, but it was gone. It was almost a sense of relief that washed over him, he didn’t think he could handle another incident like that. He sat on the couch pondering what had just happened, after a few minutes, Ron had fallen asleep. He awoke to a notification sound on his phone. In his bank account was a mysterious deposit of $20,000. The source just said anonymous.