The Man with the Strange Journal

Six hours.

It had been six hours since Mia had been subjected to the dust filled attic. Her allergies caused powerful sneezes to wreck through her body. Oh, she was getting a migraine from all the brain shaking. After grandma had died, she left her 20k home to her daughter, her only child. The many years of illness took its toll and the house was in various forms of needed repair. The attic hadn’t been touched in who knows how long. Mia suspected perhaps a hundred years from the amount of cobwebs, dust, and boxes that had become settled in their spots.

Her mother needed her to go through the attic for items to send to a donation drive. She spent searching through boxes of old clothes, old photographs, and other piles of junk in the attic. She organized three piles: Keep, Toss, Donate. When she was not doing that, she was killing spiders and clapping her hands off the giant dust balls clinging to them.

Mia settled against the wall, her eyes roaming the attic. It seemed like the work she did made the place even messier and harder to decipher. “I feel like I am going to die.” She mumbled. Her head collapsed back on the wall. THUD! Her brain rattled from the force as she clutched her head. It felt like when you had a brain freeze and throbbed intensely before releasing slightly. Her eyes swam as the room got dark momentarily. It took a few moments for vision to clear up, but her head still throbbed.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

A rapid heavy bang rang through the attic. It was insistent like how one would knock on the door when they knew someone was avoiding them at home. Mia frowned and slowly eased herself up to her feet. “Mom? Is that you?”

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sound came from within the attic, and there was nothing Mia knew of that could have suggested where it came from. She started pushing through boxes in her search, she even made her way to the part of the attic she hadn’t touched yet. The boxes were too heavy and she would rather work on the lighter boxes, which hadn’t collected as much dust as these.

Taking a few moments to grasp her footing, she slid the box over. Mia grunted in the effort it took to move the heavy things. Behind it, there was a wooden chest. Old and worn, it was nothing she recalled her parents ever owning. She leaned down to get a closer look, it was covered in dust and a few spiders hung from it. Spinning their webs, connecting the chest to the wall. It was then, the thump happened again, vibrating the chest. Mia stumbled back, eyes wide.

She gulped and caught the clasps and flicked them loose. She pushed the top open, and a pale hand came bursting out. It was clenched in a fist and knocked the air three times. There was a slight groan coming from the chest before the hand had another to accompany it. They both grasped the sides of the chest and pulled up a tall, looming man.

His dark hair was slicked back and he wore a mustache. Eyes as green as leaves and skin as smooth as a doll’s. He wore a finely tailored brown suit with a red polka-dotted bow tie. Mia trembled to her feet and took a few steps back. Mia had to crane her neck upwards to take in the sight of the Man. He dug around in his pocket before pulling out a small black book for her to take.

Mia accepted it and stared wide eyed at the Man. “Who are you?”

He did not respond, but motioned for the book. She clumsily opened the book, and the pages were blank. She frowned. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Before her eyes, words appeared.

Hello. This book grants the user whatever they desire for one year.

“For one year?” Mia mumbled. She looked up. “Are you some kind of genie?”

The Man shrugged, “You humans have many different names for me. It does not matter to me what you call me.”

“I can have anything?”

He nodded, “Endless possibilities.”

“Okay, I want to have no more migraine.” Mia said aloud.

The book began to write down: WISH 1: NO MORE MIGRAINE. Suddenly her head began to feel lighter. “Whoa, okay.”

The man, thing, or whatever it was flashed a toothy smile, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “Is that all you are going to use it for?” He asked.

Mia shook her head, “No, just testing it out. Uhm…”

She stood there with the book in her hands, it felt slippery due to her hand sweating. Excitement? Anxiety? Both? She was not sure. Perhaps this book could take her somewhere far away like Paris. She figured endless possibilities had to include that, right? In the book, her thoughts seemed to transfer to the paper as it began to write: WISH 2: PARIS.

The Man began to vibrate, his hands stretching outwards to one of the walls before pulling open a portal. It flashed an intense purple for a moment before clearing to see the Eiffel Tower. He grabbed her arm and pulled her through, entering after her. She could feel the cobbled stone beneath her sneakers as she was suddenly in Europe.

“I think this is going to be a very fun year.” Mia said, her eyes twinkling in excitement. The Man nodded, his smile even wider than before as he stared at her. His eyes once again twinkling in amusement, a hidden joke amongst himself.