Money can't buy happiness.. Or can they?

''The man pushed himself off a bridge two days ago was a 23 years old English student and his parents stated he never showed sign of depression. His suicide was the last of a series of mysterious-''

Gwen changed the radio, shuffling between stations to find some music to listen to. She was tired of hearing and reading about this suicide on every channel, station, paper, website. She didn't know why they were making such a big fuss out of it; it was what it was - a suicide. Where was the mystery in that?

A sudden strange noise coming from the car stopped her train of thoughts. The oil spy went off and the car started to slow down; she started to steer towards the left, looking for an emergency stop area and cursing her bad luck. She had to deliver some food and the house was after that damn bridge. She knew she shouldn't have accepted the delivery, but the day was slow and she wanted to do at least a couple of deliveries before going home.

The car stopped in time to reach the emergency stop area and then completely shut down with a weird hiss. Gwen sighed, took her phone and went out of the car. She called the tow truck, and then the delivery company to explain what happened and to make them arrange another delivery.

Now she just had to wait. She leaned back to the banister and then she turned to look at the landscape. The river down below, the green grass in the shore and the little houses far away. It was beautiful, but she really wanted to go home. Maybe she could eat that pizza she had not being able to deliver.

Her eyes glanced down and she saw, between the weeds on the pavement, a little black book. She grabbed it and checked it out. It looked quite new, like it was never been used. She opened it at the first page and she started to read:

“Hi there.

If you're reading this notebook, it means that the person before you has completed the challenge offered.

Now it's your turn.

We will give you $20,000 dollars, but you will have to follow some rules and instructions that we will give you for three days. At the end you will have to give us something in return.

If you accept this challenge, you'll have to take it to the end. And if you take it to the end, it will change your life forever.

Are you ready?”

Gwen read that little paragraph over and over, and then flipped through the pages. They were all blank.

'Is this a joke or something?' she wondered, not being able to get her head around it.

$20,000 and the promise her life would change forever? She would definitely accept, if all of that wasn't a bit sketchy. 'Rules and guidelines' was written there, but what did that mean? And what about ‘give something in return’? What if they would make her do something illegal?

And what if it was all a prank? She looked around for cameras, but she could only see cars passing. She just couldn't believe it. She looked down at the book and in the corner there was a 'turn page' written very small, that she didn’t notice before.

She turned page and the space that was once blank was filled with words:

''This is not a prank. This is not a joke. We know who you are. You're far away from home. You have a job you don't want and a life you've been stuck in for the past 5 years. If you accept this challenge, this will all change.

When you're ready to accept the challenge, sign at the bottom of this page.''

Gwen read that page several times, incredulous. She couldn’t believe all of that was real, and she was also a bit scared.

Most of all though, she was curious. A book that knew things about her and that offered a lot of money and a change of life was not something to throw away. But could she trust it? The sound of the tow truck’s klaxon distracted her and she put the little book in her jacket, stepping inside the truck.

When she finally got home, had dinner and took a shower, she took the little book from the jacket, sit down in the sofa, opened the first page and stared at it for a long time. She had thought about that offer for all the trip back home.

She was really not happy about her life, she really missed her family and decided that at the end of the day, it was worth it. If they would make her do things she didn’t want to, she would just stop. Without thinking any further, she grabbed a pen and signed at the bottom of the second page.

After a moment, a ding coming from her phone told her she received a message. She looked at it, and her eyes widened when she saw a notification from her bank: $20,000 had been accredited to her account. She put a hand on her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Twenty thousand dollars. In her account. She looked at the book and in the third page had appeared another message:

"Well done. You took the first step. Now we set the rules.

1) You can’t speak about this with anyone.

2) Every day for three days we will give you instructions on how to use the money. You can spend how much you want, but the money has to last until the end of the third day.

3) You MUST follow all the instructions.

Turn the page and discover your first instruction.”

Gwen turned the page and continued reading:

“Day One:

If you had to spend your last days with someone, who would that be?

You have until tomorrow at this hour to be with them.”

Gwen looked up and started to think frantically. She would spend her last days with her parents of course, the most important people for her. But she would have to take a couple of buses, hop on a plane, maybe two... She didn’t know if she could do it. She went online to check up flights and saw one that was in 4 hours, but it was very expensive and how the hell was she supposed to arrive there in time without a bus? And then she realized: $20,000. She could be wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

So, she packed a bag, called a cab to go to the airport and hopped on the flight. It cost her more than what she made in a month, but by the early hours in the morning she was on her way to her parents’ house.

When she ringed the bell, her mom opened the door and after shortly realizing who she was, she started to scream, hugging and kissing her.

“What are you doing here? Oh darling, I’m so happy, but is something wrong? You were not supposed to come back for months! Your dad is going to be so happy!”

“Everything is ok mom, if you just let me- Mom!” Gwen shouted as her mom grabbed for another hug, secretly happy to finally be home.

She settled down, her mother fussing around her, her father hugging her and asking thousands of questions. They had breakfast and spent all day together. She almost forgot about the book, until her father asked “So, what are you actually doing here?”

“I just wanted to see you both. I missed you a lot and I needed a break.”

Her father looked at her suspiciously, as if he found it hard to believed her. She avoided his look, and used an excuse to go check the book. She went into the toilet, locked it, opened the book and started to read the new words that had appeared:

“Well done. Spend as much time as you can with the ones you love, because that time goes away quickly.

Now get ready for the next instruction.

Day Two:

If you had to choose something to do in your last day, what would that be?

You have until tomorrow at this hour.”

Gwen thought about the things she loved doing. Cooking, eating, painting, reading... Things she could do without spending money, boring things even. But she still had a lot to spend, so she decided to treat herself and her parents. She brought them to a spa, then to a nice restaurant and then around the nicest shops in the city.

When she came back home, she helped her mom cooking a nice dinner, and just after being forced to eat another serve of everything on the table, she was able to sneak in her room to check the book, where other words appeared:

“Well done. Doing the things we love is very important to stay alive.

Now get ready for the next instruction.

Day Three:

If you had to choose a place to go to die, where would you go?

You have until tomorrow at this hour to be there.”

Gwen didn’t have to think much about it. There was only one place in the world where she would die, and it was a small village on the cliffs overlooking the sea she used to go to when she was little, only a couple of hours from her city.

She went to bed, and woke up early in the morning to spend a couple of hours more with her parents. They didn’t understand why she was in such a hurry to go, telling her to wait a couple more days so maybe they could go all together.

“I just have to go there to sort out a couple of problems, and it has to be today. I promise we’ll go together another time”

Her dad eyed her suspiciously, letting her go just after hugging her for a long time and telling her how much he loved her. Gwen felt like crying, like she was really saying goodbye, instead she just hugged her mother and then hopped into the car.

She couldn’t understand what she was feeling; it felt like dread and expectation mixed together.

She reached the village and went straight away to the cliff in front of the lovely old house her parents used to rent when she was a kid.

She walked on the cliffs, breathing the fresh air and feeling more at peace than she had been in years. She loved it. If there was a place she would have died in, that was definitely that.

And then she realized.

The mysterious suicides. The little black book with words that appeared out of nowhere. The instructions.

The questions were not hypothetical.

She took the book out of the jacket, sat down with her legs dangling off the cliff, opened the book and started to read:

“You arrived at the last day of your challenge. Well done.

Some say that money cannot buy happiness. But they can buy trips, time with people we love and things that make us happy.

They also bring worries, and problems, and death.

And unfortunately you cannot have one without the other.

We gave you the time and the things to make you happy. Now we need something in exchange.

Leave this little black book behind you.

Good luck.”

Gwen closed the book, smiled briefly and stared at the sea for a while. She looked at everything, just taking in as much as she could. The sky, the sea, the beautiful cliffs, the small red boat near the beach that had been there for years.

She put the book on the rocks behind her, stood up and jumped.

For the whole time a smile was on her face.