Manifestation Destination

Laura always had bad luck. She was what you would call a walking Murphy’s Law. Her life had been filled with tragedy. A social introvert with a love of books and writing, Laura Sheffield’s luck changed when her mom leaves her a mysterious and hidden gift after passing of cancer.

One day Laura walked into a bookstore off Main Street. Her eyes scanned around the room above her plain black cloth mask. It felt so strange to be in a bookstore after all this time, she thought. Her eyes darted down to the wet spot on her pants which she spilled her beloved iced macchiato on the car ride to the bookshop. Luckily there weren’t many people inside and but those who were, were masked and alone in each row. She sighed a breath of relief as her anxiety level had soared while walking through the entrance door. This was her first outing since her mother had gotten sick and passed away. Being in a bookstore instantly hit her as she got a whiff of copy machines and stale air. She thought how strange it was that certain smells could trigger such strong emotional responses. As she walked past the book stands with hardbacks all begging to be used, she noticed a ray of sunlight came through the large glass window over her shoulder. It was illuminating a medium sized black paperback book with a picture of a sun and moon in the same style as one of her mother’s necklaces. She tilted her head to the side trying to process the image and it’s meaning.

She took two steps forward until she stood in front of the ray of light and spoke aloud Manifestation Destination: A Spiritual Guided Journal to Manifest the Life of Your Dreams.

A sense of calm washed over Laura and she knew this was what she came for. She went to the front counter, paid and hurried out of the door. As she walked down Main Street to her car, Laura took a deep breath and her lungs felt clearer and more free than ever before.

As Laura walked into her front door, her she threw her keys onto the antique table to her right and waltzed inside. She shed her mask in the kitchen, threw it on the counter and proceeded to wash her hands while her thoughts raced. The words that echoed in her head of her mother’s spiritual journey stories raced back and forth like eyes scanning novel pages. Her mother was a beautiful soul, she had been so free spirited and always seemed so peaceful, Laura had every desire to find that same inner peace after many tough years. “When I was your age I already had two children and had been married for a few years. I lost myself completely” her mother’s words echoed in her head and she dried her hands while staring off into the distance. She had heard the stories many times but now that her mother was gone, Laura was left searching for what was next for her in this pandemic frenzy. She barely had any friends, and her father was off living with his new family in New York; she knew how painful it was for him to see her nor did she have any desire to be in New York in these times. Laura had always lived in small towns and always looked at New York as this big epicenter of wild carefree but busy living. Laura liked simple. It had been hard for her to picture any other way of life since her moms illness consumed her life for the last 3 years.

One thing her mom always talked about was the spiritual journey she made after she turned 25 and how it changed her life. She manifested everything she could ever want out of her life. She often said after getting sick “I manifested such a great life that I don’t need to live as long as everyone else.”

Laura sat down with the book and started reading the pages and completing the activities. Over the course of the next few days she was starting to feel herself come to the conclusion that she too, wanted to have an experience like her mother did. The journal asked Laura to write down 3 things she wanted out of life. It took Laura all day to really figure it out. Laura hadn’t ever really stopped to consider what else she would want. She had decided on 1. A new job 2. Move somewhere warmer (when she had the guts) 3. Experience romance. Laura turned the page and continued to fill out activities when a notification came across her phone. “Soak up the sun in the sunshine state this spring break! Tampa escape only $149.” Laura scoffed and spoke to herself out loud, “I wish”.

The next morning Laura decided she wanted to see her mom's manifestation books down in the basement for inspiration. Laura turned the light on to the basement, stared down the dark stairway. It had been months since she needed to go into the basement and it always creeped her out without fail. As she went step by step, the old wooden floors creaked and she shuttered as she got closer to the bottom. “I’m not 8, I am not scared of a silly basement anymore” she protested aloud. Laura reached the bottom and immediately spotted the box containing her mother’s books and hand written stories. She always told mom that she should have written a book with them all. Her mother liked to write poetry and stories of her adventures. Laura begun to dig through the box. She grabbed journals, loose pages and random trinkets her mother had acquired throughout the years aside. Laura came across a little wooden box that was hand painted, probably by her mother however she had never seen this box before. She tried to open the box but it was locked. Curious, Laura ran upstairs to her moms bedroom and started looking through all the drawers. “It has to be here somewhere” she protested. She went through everything, finally she opened the top drawer of her moms dresser and there it was just sitting on top of a glass ashtray that hadn’t been used in years. “Funny” she thought, mom never smoked. Laura took the key and bolted back downstairs into the basement to unlock the box.

As Laura stuck the key into the keyhole, her heart started pounding hoping there was something exciting inside. But there was another key and a note that read 51512. Laura couldn’t understand what this was about. As she picked up the note she realized there was also a photo at the bottom of the box of her family. On the back it read, “For a rainy day.” Laura knew her mom didn’t have a safety deposit box anymore because she had been in charge of going through it after she passed away. She already had seen the will and everything had been settled for the house already. Laura sat down and scanned the basement. ...Another box. Maybe she should ask her dad she thought... then it hit her. That was the same family photo as in her mother’s bedroom. She quickly gathered the box and key, ran back upstairs all the way up to the top floor where her mother’s room was. Just before she opened the door to her moms room, she hesitated. Laura took a deep breath and opened the door. It still smelled like her mom and Laura instantly felt sadness wash over her for a brief moment before her eyes found

the photo on the wall. Her heart skipped a beat. Laura went over to the photo of her dad, mom and herself. She removed the photo from the wall to find a fist sized hole in the wall. Laura peered into the hole and found a smaller locked box with a ballerina painted on the top. She started to shake as she went to unlock the key, fearful of what she would find. As Laura opened the box her jaw dropped. There was 2 stacks of bills wrapped and labeled $10,000 each. Underneath the bills was a note. Laura picked it up as tears filled her eyes.

Dearest Laura, I have been working on saving this for you to attend college since you were a baby. I assume if you have found this, that the cancer has taken me from this Earth. I love you dearly, if you don’t wish to use this on college, please use it to follow your dreams, and take that trip. Get out of Blowing Rock and see the world. I will always love you buttercup.

Love, Mom

Laura’s eyes welled up more and she started sobbing. She shook her head back and forth in disbelief as she stared at the box filled with money.

One year later, Laura is sitting in a library, behind the desk scanning books into the system. She closes out her day and heads home. As she leaves the library, Laura looks up at the palm trees and smiles. As she sits down in her car, glances over to her passenger seat which has a newly printed copy of the book she wrote titled, Unveiling Manifestation. She smiled knowing her mother would be so happy that her stories were now being shared with 600,000 people, who had already preordered her book. Laura closed her car door and drove to her home and is greeted by her boyfriend Lex with a sweet kiss. Laura thought to herself, if only mom could see me now.