I am Kindhearted

My car stopped working about a week ago. With no money to fix it, I’ve been forced to walk. Cutting through the park lately has been some fun. You get a chance to meet some cool people. Today I happened to notice something under the bushes next a tree. I stopped to pick it up. It was a beat up old black book. There were no markings on the front or back, so I flipped through the pages quickly. It looked like it could’ve been someone’s journal. I put it in my bag, and continued my journey home.

Once home, I threw my bag on the chair and went to the fridge to get something to drink. I sat down and took the book out of my bag for a closer look. I thumbed through the pages once more only to find that they were now blank. Confused, I fanned out the pages. It was like everything was erased. I tossed the book on my coffee table. Feeling let down, I got up to get a snack when the cover flew open. There, on the first page, I saw three words, “I am kindhearted.” As I spoke these words aloud, words began to appear on the page as if someone were writing them. Although a little scared, I read the words. I was beginning to get curious as to what was happening. “You will get a chance to prove your heart is kind, and this book will help you do it. All you need to do is help someone in need, and you will be gifted in return.” As I read the words I could start to hear them. As if someone was narrating them to me. “Once you have found someone…” the words disappeared but I could still hear the voice. “…all you have to do is write their name in the book and how you would like to help them.” Franticly I looked around to see if anyone was in my apartment besides me. I could see a mist or fog over my chair that wasn’t there before. I became fixated with this fog, and I could see it forming a person. The most angelic figure I’ve ever seen just appeared in my living room. “Woo… are you an angel?” seemed like a fitting question I could ask. “Ha… for you, sure I can be an angel.” The figure spoke with such grace, I was immediately calmed and wanted to know more about this book and what I could do with it. “I’m here to give you the rules of the book and inspire you to do something great with it.” I took a glance at the book again.

“How is a book going to help with whatever it is you want me to do?”

“Simple all you got to do is write down the person’s name and what could help make their life a little better.”

“That seems simple.” I stammered, still in shock of what was happening.

“There isn’t much that can’t be done to help brighten someone’s life. There are a few rules you must adhere to when using the book.

1. You may only help others, and not yourself.

2. You must refrain from giving them money directly.

3. You can get people to meet, but you are unable to dictate what happens when they meet.

4. The dead are dead, there’s no going back.”

These rules seemed simple enough to follow. “Anything else I should know?”

“This is your chance to shine. Don’t mess it up.” Before I could respond he vanished, only the book remained.

Later that night as I was heading off to bed, I heard my neighbors again. I could hear him yelling at her, calling her every name in the book. Suddenly I heard a loud slam as if something or someone was thrown against the wall. Followed by a loud slam of the door. I was hoping that would be the end of that. Nope, because now there is a knocking at my door. I looked through the peep hole, it was her shaking and crying. She knocked again. “I’m sorry to bother you, but is there anyway I can come in? I really need to get out of my place, but I have no where to go.” I was about to ignore her when I thought of the book. “I am kindhearted.” Slowly I opened the door looking to see if her boyfriend was still with her. “Are you alone?” I asked her.

“Yes, don’t worry he went to get a pack of smokes or weed I don’t know or care.”

She couldn’t even look me in the eye to talk to me. I could hear the sobbing in her voice. Tonight, was bad, maybe the worst night between these two. I motioned her to come in. “Feel free to sit on the couch.” I pointed to my couch then locked the door. Slightly scared that her boyfriend will come in and find us. I thought of the angel and how he said it was my time to shine. “Can I get you anything to drink?” I opened the fridge to see what I had left. “No thanks.” She replied. I sat down in the chair across from her. “Would you like to talk about what happened?” I was hoping maybe she would be willing to open up a little and share, or at least maybe tell me why she chose my place to go to. “I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. I know it’s getting late. I just didn’t know where to go, and I really didn’t want to be in that apartment right now.” I thought about getting her some tissues. I mean people do that when they see someone crying, right? “I heard a loud crash this time. Did he hurt you?” I started wondering how I could help her.

“Again, I am sorry for intruding. I know we don’t know each other.” She grabs the tissue, wipes her eyes, and calms down enough to lift her head. “Jimmy isn’t always like this.” That was a lie, I live next to them and almost every night I hear a fight. “Today was a little rough for him. He lost his job, and decided to drown his sorrows in a 24 pack of his favorite beer. I wanted to help so I got online, and started looking for jobs for him. Well both of us really. I want to be able to work and help out financially.”

We wound up talking for a couple of hours. I learned her name was Tina, and that Jimmy really was an alcoholic. Even if Tina didn’t want to admit it to herself. I also learned that the loud noise I heard was a piece of furniture. I never really saw any bruising or signs of abuse on Tina. I assumed most of her trauma with Jimmy was all emotional. Tina finally got a hold of one of her sisters but unfortunately, she could not get here until the morning. I told Tina she was welcome to sleep on my couch until her sister could come pick her up. I didn’t have class and I was working second shift. I could stay with her until she was safe with her sister.

Morning came, and we were thankful that Jimmy never came back. Tina assumed that he must have gone to a friend’s house, got completely trashed, and passed out. Either way Tina was safely with her sister now and headed out of town.

“She looks like somebody who could use your help.” That voice. I looked around for the angel. My eye caught the book still on the coffee table. This would be a good chance to see if the book actually works. I grabbed a pen and sat down trying to think of what to write that would help Tina the most. I wrote down her name and began to think of all the things we talked about. I wrote my idea on the page and closed the book. The figure appeared next to me on the couch and grabbed the book. He looked at me with a smile. “You truly are kindhearted. You shall receive a personal gift after this all plays out.” Like that he vanished along with the book. Not believing all that just happened, I got up and got ready for work. That evening, one of the TVs at work was broadcasting the news. One of the stories was of a local meth lab bust. It was the biggest bust for this Sheriff’s department. They showed four mug shots of the people who got busted. Wouldn’t you know it, Jimmy was one of the mug shots. Tina must have been right after all. I finished my shift in the best of moods that night. When I got back to the apartment, I saw Tina’s sister waiting outside by her car.

“I wanted to thank you so much for allowing my sister to stay at your place last night, away from that monster.” She greeted me with a smile.

“It felt like the right thing to do.” I told her “Things got pretty heated between them.” She thanked me again and gave me a hug for her gratitude. I continued my way to my apartment just as Tina was coming out carrying a couple of boxes. “Are you moving out of here?” I asked her.

“Yeah, last night proved what I knew for a while. I need to get away from Jimmy and guys like him. I’m going to stay with my sister for a bit. She thinks she can find me a good job, and I can work on getting back on my own feet.”

“I wish you all the luck in the world. Glad to see that you are going to focus on you." I wanted to help again and pointed to the boxes she was carrying. "Can I help you with those?”

“Sure, thank you.”

I took the boxes from Tina and walked her to her sister’s car and placed them in the back seat with some other boxes.

“Thank you again, you helped me more than you know last night.” Tina reached out and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She then got in the car and the two of them drove off. I went to my apartment and fell asleep knowing that I truly helped someone out and it felt amazing.

I woke up to my alarm and got ready for school. Grabbed my phone so I could quick check my bank app to see if I had money to get some lunch on campus today. To my surprise I had more money in my account then I thought I had, about $20,000 more! Forget getting my car fixed, I’m buying a new one! This was the best thing that has happened to me, all that weirdness with the book was worth it.

I bumped into Tina again a few weeks later. She has been doing amazing with her new job and was starting to look for a place of her own. Since the dust settled after that crazy night, I got up the courage to ask her out. She gave me her number and we have plans to go out this weekend. Once again I have to thank the book that mysteriously came into my life.