The Countdown

Astrid walked toward the isolated bookshelf on the wall. It was oddly distanced from the other collection of notebooks and journals. Bookstores would usually locate these shelves adjacent to each other for easy navigation, but there were quite a few steps between this one and another. Other shoppers didn't even seem to notice this dim corner, and Astrid would have missed it too without the flickering light above. Astrid found herself stepping away from the traffic of the shop as she reached the tall brown shelf placed against the dark green wall. It was stocked solely with duplicates of a small black notebook. Though she found the monopoly unusual, Astrid still appreciated the soft leathery feel at her fingertip. Astrid looked for a barcode or a price sticker but only found five digits embossed in the center both front and back: 20000. If it were meant to indicate the current year, they were horribly off. Astrid dismissed it as a bad copy and grabbed a different one. Same embossing was on the back. She reached for another. Same thing. Now Astrid wondered if this was an intentional design or a terrible printing mistake. Having lost the desire to purchase, she began to put the journal back. As it left her hand, Astrid felt chills going down her spine. She instantly realized something was different, perhaps even wrong. The bustle and the noise had stopped completely. Silence fell over the entire store, and Astrid did not dare turn around. Her instincts were screaming at her to pick up the book. She slowly placed her hand on the black cover, and air began to move again. White noise returned, and Astrid whipped her entire body around. No one was looking at her. Nobody was paying any attention to her. Everyone was going about their day. I... must be really tired, she thought. I must be.

Astrid quickly walked to the counter as she frantically rationalized her experience. "Just this please. How much is it?" Astrid politely asked with her eyes lowered at her wallet. "This isn't for sale actually," a strangely familiar voice replied. Astrid looked up to find an employee smiling softly at her. Her black hair was peppered with grey, and her brown eyes were calm. There was an air of grace about her. "How come?" Astrid asked, assuming it was due to the misprint. "Well..." the cashier lowered her voice "It's a special reward for special people" she smiled again. Astrid stood there awkwardly, unsure how to interpret "special people". Noticing this, the cashier continued, "Are you a member with us?" placing her hands on the computer keyboard. "Oh," of course, Astrid thought, slightly feeling sheepish "Yes, I am, and my phone number is...". After entering in the ten digits, the grey-haired woman took out a roll of purple ribbon from her apron and wrapped it around the notebook. The gesture was quite unnecessary, but Astrid let her finish. After making the most perfect bow, the aged hands put it in a simple paper bag. "Hope you make a good use of it, Astrid" her kind eyes held a firm gaze. Astrid simply smiled back and headed toward the doors where she held for a father and his stroller. She noticed the bag hanging off his arm was different from hers; his was plastic with logos printed all over it. Come to think of it, that was the design she was used to. A breeze weaved through the open space and tussled her black hair. Astrid looked back at the counter and saw someone else standing behind it. Catching herself feeling disappointed, she left the heavy glass door to close behind her.

Astrid melted over her blue blankets as soon as she reached her room. She usually changed out of her clothes immediately, but she felt extremely exhausted from her quick trip. Blinking slowly like a cat, Astrid mustered up the energy to inspect her reward. Flipping through the pages, she found no marks or writing. Clearly new and obviously high-quality, Astrid was glad to have come across such luck. She laid on her side, staring at the matte cover and contemplating what the first entry should be. It was now five something, and the sunny day had warmed her room. The two housemates were yet to be home, so she could enjoy it peacefully. Feeling sleepier, she decided to succumb to her frequent desire to nap. Only after the sun went down, Astrid opened her eyes again. Dazed and confused, she checked the time. It was now past nine. Music from the next room came through the walls. Letting out a disgruntled sigh, she lazily got up to change into her lounge clothes. Now comfortable in her loose long sleeve and baggy bottom, Astrid decided to grab a bowl of frosted cheerios and browse her phone. A light tap revealed a shining stream of posts by her friends and less. She saw posts appreciating the wonderful weather, celebrating an anniversary, announcing some achievement, but also posts reporting hate crimes, grieving a loved one and sharing news of illness. Astrid always felt ambivalent about social media supposedly purposed to connect people. Astrid considered herself a private person and kept her thoughts to herself. This year, she decided to share herself, with her future self. She decided to write a diary.

Astrid stared at the blank lined page on her desk. She had been staring for a few minutes now. The first entry had to be meaningful; It had to be authentic yet deep. How would she achieve that? What could she possibly write about? All she did today were wake up late, go to a bookstore and nap for four hours. Realizing how mundane and unproductive her day was, Astrid closed the journal and considered giving up on the idea entirely. She feared inadequacy which ultimately led her to never begin in the first place; She undeniably had a terrible habit of a lazy perfectionist. Then she noticed the questionable detail on the cover again. 20000. Looking at it now, it felt like a sign saying imperfection is fine. She opened the journal again and, in her best handwriting, she scribbled "Monday, March 1st". It was truly was a good timing to start a new habit. Skipping a line, she continued to write about how the day began at three in the afternoon as usual and how strange the short day felt, adding that her insomnia must be causing paranoia now. Ending the entry with a hope of finding a job and getting her life together, she wrote honestly "I wish I had money" and after finding her day 1 to be satisfactory, closed the notebook. This day began similarly to last. Astrid woke up to white walls tinted blue from her curtains. Seeing how bright her room was, she felt the same sense of guilt and shame from sleeping late again. “I’m never going to fix my sleeping schedule” she murmured in defeat. Astrid laid still in her bed analyzing how quiet the house was. Her housemates left early in the morning and came back late at night. She never really ran into them, but she enjoyed their company when she did. Astrid found herself drowsy again until an obnoxious vibration interrupted her. Astrid lazily turned toward her night stand and reached for her ringing phone. Unfamiliar number showed up on the screen, but she still picked up "Hello?". "Astrid, how's the special gift?" a strangely familiar voice asked. Astrid tried to remember who the voice belonged to. "Make sure to keep writing" the voice warned her. Before she could even ask who they were, the conversation came to an abrupt end. She immediately looked at her recent call history, but the number wasn't there; There was no record of the call. In slight panic, Astrid considered the possibility of hallucinations. Was she sleep deprived? dehydrated? vitamin deficient? She answered yes to all of them. It didn't make her feel better. She thought about what the mysterious caller said. Special gift, she heard that phrase recently. Astrid quickly got up and went over to her desk. The small black notebook was there, a little thicker. The engraving had impossibly changed. It had become 19800. Confused and a little scared, Astrid opened the notebook. On the page of her first entry, two hundred dollar bills laid.

Everything changed from then on. At first, Astrid sought explanations for the appearance of the money and the disappearance of the 20000 on the cover. There was no explanation that didn't sound as crazy as what actually happened. After somehow settling with the idea of money producing journal, Astrid began to experiment and she discovered three out three rules so far. Most importantly, it had to a diary entry. Second, it had to be true and genuine. Third, the more detailed the entry was, the more money. Few months of following the rules, and Astrid had $19,700 in cash hidden around her room. The digit on the cover read: 300. This could be the last entry, she thought. Astrid still did not know why this was happening to her or whether it was even truly beneficial without any evil consequence. She had watched many fantasy and horror movies in her life, but still could not arrive at a conclusion.