22:00

One afternoon I found a little black book at the bottom of the decorative chest adorning my living room; that is where I put all my random thing-a-mabobs, kind of like the dish that is in every household that contains loose change, pens that don’t work anymore and random batteries. I was actually looking for a new notebook hoping I still had a few unused ones, however that little black book looked different from my usual style. The scratches on the leather cover suggested it was used, but there was nothing written in it! Jackpot!!

Settling into bed that night, I was excited to start journaling! I grabbed my favourite pen from the drawer of my nightstand, and noticed the stupid grin on my face as I patted the cover of the notebook like you would the head of good dog.

‘I thought there was nothing written in here!’ - I said out loud. As I turned the cover, I noticed a little handwritten inscription at the bottom right corner of the very first page - ‘Todo Es Posible.’

For the linguistically challenged, that means ‘Anything Is Possible’ in Spanish. I agreed. ‘Where did that come from?’ I picked up the notebook, flipped through it carefully, nothing else was written in it. I went back to the first page and stared at it for a bit. I turned the page - “Are You A Good Person?”.

‘Drahko, you better let me know if there are any ghosts in this house. I’m not trying to die today! I got bills to pay!’

Drahko, My four-year old Pitbull/Mastiff mix was lying comfortably on my legs, already snoozing the night away.

‘Yes’ - I wrote. Before turning the next page to the unknown, I quickly glanced at the digital clock on my nightstand; I had found the clock at the bottom of my chest along with the little black book, it was old but sturdy, I liked it. It read 22:00.

As I looked back to my notebook, a blinding light came out of it. I don’t know how long my eyes were closed for, but after some time, I peeled my lids from my eyeballs and my surroundings started to come into focus. It looks like I am in a store but I can’t tell what kind.

I am standing a few feet away from the front door, there is a woman twenty feet in front of me, she seems to be in command and a couple of bald guys are standing next to her. One is tall, standing to her right with two guns in a shoulder holster, the other is short, shorter than me, standing on her left, scars on his face, and he has knives instead of guns; there is also a little person, red head and he’s wearing a dirty blue suit. There are duffle bags and construction tools on the floor, maybe they are doing some renos, it is very dusty in here. On my right, there's a wall with a hole in it; an entrance to somewhere I did not want to go.

They're huddled and speaking in a language I do not understand, but I somehow know what they are saying. Daronne, the lady in command, wants me to go meet someone through that hole in the wall - ‘I’m not going in there! - I cry as I get closer to the group. They all stop talking and turn around at the same time. Big mistake. I should have kept my mouth shut.

The lackeys come at me full force. I barely have time to take a step back before they grab me and try to drag me towards the hole. I’m punching & kicking, there is no way I am getting in there!! Daronne takes out a gun - ‘What are you going to do with that, shoot me?’ I stop struggling and give a nasty look to the idiots holding me, they let me go and I walk towards Darone. Why am I so confident, calm and collected? I don’t want to die, but I’m scared too - ‘She might shoot me in the leg, but that would make it harder for them to transport me to this person who demands my presence’. - I think to myself. Daronne smiks and gives the short bald guy a nod, he immediately starts preparing a duffle bag. They are going to shove me in it and transport me that way aren’t they? - Fine! I’ll go!! - I say as I put my hands up - ‘No need to shove me in a bag’. I don’t care about the guns and knives, but small spaces, I am not a fan.

The little person starts telling me how to get to where I need to go, his lips are moving but I can’t hear him. I lower myself to hear better but there’s no time. The tall baldie hands me one of the duffle bags, and pushes me towards the hole. I put my free hand on the wall, turn around and look at the little person - ‘There is no freaking way I'm going in there alone.’ - He is the least creepy of the bunch!

They are all staring at me. I face ahead and see wooden stairs going down the rabbit hole, they are old, run down, and look like they can barely support any weight.

I turn to look at the little person to plead my case, and right before my eyes he transforms into an eight foot tall giant with his blue suit, the most orange hair, yellow teeth and the straightest nose I have ever seen. He takes my hand, squats down to my level and smiles at me. He gives me a peck on the lips, he has freckles, his yellow teeth make me cringe but I don’t pull away.

He leads me down the stairs in less than five seconds, his legs are so long he makes it down in two steps, he is still holding my hand but I have no idea how I made it down. It’s dark - ‘And y'all expected me to come down here by myself?!’.

We reach the button of the stairs and immediately start to move uphill. It feels like we are in an underground forest, the trees look dried up but I can feel the moisture in the air, the soil is damp and squishy under my feet, the tree roots are huge and I keep stumbling. The Blue Giant is hunched over so there is a ceiling to this I think. A light appears ahead, as we get closer I discern an entrance to a completely different world, a hole in the darkness that leads to a very bright space, I see green grass, yellow leaves, living trees. The Blue Giant helps me through the bright hole and I jump over a grayish looking tree that is right at the entrance of this new realm. Right as I get over it, this even bigger giant steps over me carrying some wood - ‘Took you long enough!’, he says. The Wood Giant has what used to be a white shirt on, khaki dirty pants that only reach his shins, he is barefoot, has long shaggy silver hair and a matching beard.

My Blue Giant sits me on a tree trunk and starts chopping wood, he is telling me everything will be ok when the Wood Giant interrupts - ‘You split that wood and I split her, that's the deal’ - My eyes widens more than I ever thought possible, glued to the Wood Giant...

‘Are you ready?’ - The Wood Giant asks, sitting loudly cross-legged across from me, making the ground shake.

‘Ready for what?’

‘To answer the question! You only get one chance you know, I don’t have all day!’

‘What question? Listen I have no idea what’s going on here, I am cool and all but can someone expl…’

‘Are you a good person?’ - The Wood Giant interrupts. He staring at me, waiting for a response

Sitting in this world where the light seemed to be soaked by every inch of my skin in all its intensity, I thought hard for a while, minutes, maybe hours, before I could find my answer.

“I am a good person most of the time. Without darkness there is no light, I think I cannot be good all the time.”

As if I said some magic words, the Wood Giant laughs. It is hands down, the loudest sound I had ever heard.

‘You had me doubting for a while there little lady! I thought I was going to have to end you!’ - He laughs again. ‘Congratulations, you’ve earned the spoils!’

‘You passed the test’ - The Blue Giant says in my ear. He had joined us and is now sitting behind me. He wraps his giant arms around me before I can utter a word, and I notice a digital watch on his wrist. His embrace was warm and cozy. I feel safe and would give up a lot to stay here. I slowly close my eyes and before they completely close I catch a glimpse of the time: 22:00.

When the cozy feeling starts to fade away, I open my eyes: I am sitting on my bed, the magic little black book in my lap. Drahko is still there, I am relieved. A Gmail notification brings me back to reality, I reach over to the side table, pick up my phone and open the email: “The Little Black Book Corp Grant Program has chosen its 100th recipient for the yearly $20,000 award.” At that moment I get the urge to look at the clock on my nightstand, it is 22:00.

The alarm on my phone went off, it woke me up. Another freaking dream. I have been having the weirdest dreams lately. I always have nightmares, but these feel different. They are not necessarily scary, but they are draining; I haven’t had a good night's sleep in quite some time. I sat up on my bed, put my head between my hands, with one eye I glanced on my nightstand... just to double check...Nothing! Thank Goodness! - ‘Drahko, do you wanna eat?’ - Time to get up.

I buried that dream, like I do all of them. Some time went by, not sure how much time.

One morning I remember waking up very excited. One of my friends had just opened a hair salon, and I offered her my services as I worked in the salon industry for a few years, and I truly wanted to help. That day we were sorting and getting rid of stuff the old tenant left behind, but first, I had to go through my six-hour shift at work.

I fed Drahko, worked out for an hour, that usually helps me wake up, then took Drahko for a walk before work. By 5pm I was at the salon.

We got to cleaning right away. I took the tiny back room which will be the back office and storage room. There were a few boxes left behind on the tiny desk used by the old tenant and I decided to go through them to make sure there wasn’t anything useful left. This used to be an antique shop, it was worth looking through everything first; unfortunately, there was nothing interesting. As I picked up the last box from the desk to take it to the recycling bin I noticed a smaller box in the left corner of the desk. I put the big box on the floor by the door and went back to the desk. I dusted the old chair next to the desk with a rag I had on hand before sitting down and I pulled the small box from the corner to the middle of the desk. I dusted it off, opened it and stared at the contents. It was a little black book and an old digital clock.