You saved us all!

It was cold, icy cold. The kind of cold that separated me from my surroundings, trying to stay focused on getting back home as quickly as my frost bitten feet would take me. Barely noticing the white kissed foliage and shimmering pavement beneath my feet. I'd never been a fan of the Winter months. It was painful. Aching joints, lost circulation, surely I was too young to feel this old.

I held my hot takeaway latte in one gloved hand, while the other fumbled around in my pocket for my keys. Dammit, they must have fallen out on my way back to the apartment. Feeling slightly defeated I sat on the steps leading to the entrance. The latte warmed my hands as I sipped the rich, creamy liquid. I could smell the extra shot of Caffe Verona roast I'd asked for. Ever the coffee connoisseur.

Time went by slowly. Was this really it? Was this how the rest of our lives were to be lived out. Looking forward to our daily exercise permissions, while grabbing a coffee to go as gatherings were now forbidden. Almost a year in and no closer to the finish line. Groundhog Day 2.0. What a shambles, an utter shambles. Our country ravished by this goddamn pandemic. When would it end. After contemplating life and uttering a few obscenities I got up and headed back to the coffee shop, carefully scouring the ground beneath me as I went. The walk back was much quicker than the walk home. My keys were nowhere to be found. Looking in every sparsely leafed bush and grassy path I came across.

Checking my reflection in the coffee shop window, as you do, I noticed the hot pink fluffy flamingo key ring my mother had bought me for Christmas on the counter. I remember opening the shiny, silver, snowflake covered paper she had wrapped it in. I had seen it in a shop on one of our shopping expeditions. She always noticed the things I liked, even if I didn't mention them. Oh how I missed our shopping trips; I missed her. It didn't feel natural to be away from her for so long. Sure we rang each other and used video calling, but nothing could replace a hug from my mum.

The smells from the coffee shop snapped me back from my reminiscing. It was awfully quiet, where was everyone? You could hear a pin drop. I called out but no-one answered. My anxiety monster told me to grab my keys and go, not one for arguing, I did just that.

Now I'd usually walk straight back, being the ever law abiding citizen that I believed I was. Today, this afternoon, something felt different, different in a way I couldn't explain. More different than the new norm we'd been exposed to over the last year. It felt creepy different, eerily different.

My new path took me to further into town, I kept my head down and continued walking. My feet slipped a little on the ice glazed tarmac. I used my hands to steady myself but it was too late I was already falling.

My poor head; ouch, luckily I was wearing my thermal beanie which gave me some protection. Laying there, feeling sorry for myself I turned my gaze and noticed something on the ground with me. It was black and laid there perfectly flush to the floor. Slowly I sat myself up and reached over and took hold of what looked like a notebook. It was black with a smooth textured cover, well worn but well looked after. I could tell that this was important to its owner. Flicking through the ivory pages, trying to find contact details, I noticed that this was a very organised and intelligent person. Each perfectly, preserved page had what appeared to be codes; written in black ink. My swathed fingers of dove grey wool were desperate to touch the pages. I removed a glove from a slightly perspiring hand; crap, I'd smudged some of the cleverly written, secret language.

As if the day couldn't get any worse I'd now managed to destroy someones life's work. Typical me, one thing after another. When would I get a break? "Excuse me". Looking up in bewilderment my eyes fell upon a tall, well built man, a man who looked very important, a man who could possibly know secret coding?. He extended his black soft leather gloved hand and helped me to my feet. "I believe that is mine, I have been looking everywhere for it". My words were completely failing me, this mans presence made me feel so on edge. Trembling I handed him the notebook. A few seconds passed of awkward silence as he proceeded to look through the coded scripture. Staring at me in complete shock with his deep cocoa coloured eyes he shook his head. "How did you do this? You've cracked the code, years and years I've been working on this". Still silence from me, he took my hand again but this time with a firm grip. Staring at me further for what felt like an eternity, long enough for me to notice the bronze flecks that danced in his piercing eyes and just like that he whispered "You've saved the world".

My head was spinning, what on earth was this guy on about. Before I could utter a single syllable he started to walk away and got into a black car with blacked out windows. Nothing suspicious here. Stood there looking on I watched as the back window retreated into the door, his face looking at me with a slight smile. "Check your account, I think you'll be pleased. Before you say I don't know you, be informed that we know everyone". The car drove off swiftly but silently. Nothing unusual there.

Pressing the power button on my phone I wondered what the hell had just happened. That by far had to be the surrealist moment of my life. Tapping my banking app icon felt stupid, remembering my twenty five dollar balance that taunted me this morning as I bought my coffee. No, this couldn't be right. The numbers I saw couldn't be right. Now this, for sure, was surreal. Twenty thousand and twenty five dollars stared back at me from my touch screen. A twenty thousand dollar payment had been made to me with the descriptor 'This is just the start'. Was it?.