No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

People always warn me of walking alone at night, but it's one of the few moments I feel like myself. All-day situations break you down. You must keep up your fake customer service front, do good things for people who don't deserve it, and pretend you don't hurt when they yell at you. Don't forget to smile at the creepy condescending men so they leave you a tip and won't write a bad Yelp review about you. The night is my solitude so it's the risk I'm willing to take. I rarely, if ever, see a soul anyway.

Until tonight.

Sitting on a park bench illuminated in the orange fog lamplight was a distraught man. I normally pass on by but we locked eyes and something about him made me want to approach him. He was old and gaunt, his clothes looked like they belonged to someone four times his size. He reminded me of my grandpa and I'm stupid sentimental.

"Hey man, are you ok?"

He broke into a painful whisper "I'll never be. I just keep messing up. I can't keep going on."

I sat on the bench across. "It's okay, we all mess up. Nothing is permanent and we can always change."

"You don't understand." He dug into his coat and held out a little black leather book. "This carries every curse. I can't forget...."

I told him "Then toss it into the river! Maybe you just need to start over."

"I can't destroy it. Unless I give it to someone. Then maybe I can."

After some silence, I realized he was hoping for me to take it. It's just a little book, yet there was something in me that hesitated. It's just a little book, what harm could it do?

"What if... I take your book? " I asked. "I can keep it safe if you ever want it, but this way it's not with you."

He shook his head, "It will only work if you take it as yours. I cannot receive it back."

"Okay, I can do that." Simple, right?

"Well, there's a catch... You have to take all my money too. You have to take the book and the $20,000 I have."

What weirdo wants you to take their money, let alone twenty grand?! "Wait, is this money dirty or something?.... Don't you need money to start over?"

He leaned closer and smiled, "The money isn't criminal if that's what you're asking. It's dirty only to me. It's what's gotten me into every bad decision that's in that book. I want none of it. " He stood up from his bench and kneeled in front of me. "Please, say you'll take it. Use it only for good."

I took the book from his hands. "I will take the book and use the money only for good. I can do that."

He stood up, took a satchel off, and outstretched his arm. "The money."

I looked at him in surprise. I just didn't expect the money part to be real, let alone a bag of cash. I hesitantly reached for the bag.

"So it's a deal?"

"Yessir. I'll do good deeds."

He reached out to shake my hand. The sad little man's face formed an aberrant smile, then it got bigger. Just staring with growing intensity, smiling and vigorously shaking my hand. He held this for what felt like minutes and it was very unnerving. He suddenly stopped, then turned and walked off without another word.

°

The beat-up Moleskine notebook wasn't any help. He said he made mistakes but I couldn't even make sense of what they might be. Each line was seemingly unrelated. Some lines sounded like the good deeds, but some of it was plain creepy. Were there also other writers? The handwriting changed, sometimes even on the same page. It is mystery fish.

I hope that I released him from this and he's found peace.

°

After months I haven't done anything with the money. I felt I needed to do something meaningful, but maybe if I start small it wouldn't be so overwhelming. I can spread out the fortune to touch more lives.

The last guy onto the bus was short on fare. I hopped up. "I got you" and handed him $1. I'm feeling good, finally starting my good deeds. It's small but still significant.

Moments later, we hear a woman yelling "He's a pervert! Keep an eye on the creep!" She walked towards the front to get away from a man in the back. It was the short fare guy. Ew. The first good deed was given to a bus pervert. I didn't know. It was still a good deed, right?

°

I walked to the gas station craving some delicious junk food. It's been a day. A lady says she's short on gas and stuck with her kids. I always think these are a scam, but whatever I got money to burn and this lady seems nice. I handed her $40, enough for a full tank.

As I walked out with my shame snacks, another person approached asking if I had change. She was hungry and wanted to get a hot dog. I handed her $40 too so she could get a full meal and have more for later.

I popped quickly into the Indian grocer next door that has an awesome to-go food window. I scrolled on my phone while I waited, enjoying the light breeze in the parking lot. I didn't see it happen but heard the thud on impact and the screech of brakes. I looked up and saw a car had hit a woman. It was the "Out of Gas Lady" and she hit the "Hungry Woman". The driver got out, "Oh my God...she came out of nowhere! They're gonna take my kids! I'm not supposed to be driving and I hit someone!" I rushed to check Hungry Woman's vitals and looked for visible trauma. In her hand was $40 worth of scratchers. She didn't get any food. It was the least of what I should worry about, but it's all I could think about while I waited for the ambulance. The "No Gas" lady asked me if I could check her kids. One was bleeding.

I leaned in and saw the child was in the front seat instead of safely in the back. He must've hit his nose into the dash. The car kept beeping at me so I turned the keys to shut it up. I noticed the gas was saying near empty. She didn't use the money for gas.

After the long interrogation by the cops, I was spent. It should have been the accident that left me broken, yet all I can think about is how neither was honest.

°

One after another, I gave freely to requests of need that fell into my lap... and one after another information came to light about their misfortunes. The first three seemed coincidence, but now it seems this cash is cursed. There are over twenty people now. I haven't heard news from four others and I'm scared to know. Thankfully, I have given small and only minor things happened.

I vowed to just bury this cash. It's a lot of money to have sitting, but I'm convinced it'll only give misfortune.

°

Years passed us by and I've not been tempted by the money.

Until now.

My coworkers' child is sick. They need to have an operation but even with insurance, the copay is more than they have. $21,000 is a lot for a server to have in their bank account. Her savings, all our pooled tips from last night, plus a car wash we held only came to $2,500. He needed this operation within the month. Dialysis can only keep him stable for a little while.

I had exactly the $18,500 they needed. Maybe this was a sign, but also twenty people met misfortunes.

Is it even ethical for me to risk it and he ends up dead or something?!

I decided we can't.

There's gotta be another way.

°

Bake-sales, more car washes, she's even sold those MLM essential oils, and I've sold my paintings yet we're way short. The financial aid office was a bust; they refused a payment plan. We were at $5,500, but he needed treatments to stabilize him so we're down to $2,500. We're running out of time and back to where we started.

I decided I must use the money.

But I had a plan.

I will go to the hospital and pay for the treatment. If I spend the money then the curse is on me. I was thinking maybe those folks were cursed because they lied. Maybe I'll be fine because I am doing this with pure intentions to help a child...or so I hoped.

I walked into the hospital knowing I may be sealing my fate.

°

"That's it?!" Paul yelled at his partner. "I finished this stupid book I found at the park. There's a bunch of gibberish and creepy haikus. Someone wrote some weird story written like diary entries and it started to get somewhere then they didn't finish it. I want to know what happened."

"You really should put that back where you found it, maybe the person was writing in the park and forgot it. I'm sure someone is looking for it." Shelle threw dinner onto the table. "Let's eat and go put it back!"

°

They've only been there during the day so it was a different experience at night and was enjoyable at first.

They get to the park bench where he found it and are surprised to see a girl in a hoodie sitting there. She's wearing clothes that looked four times her size and looks gaunt for what appears to be a young woman.

Paul approaches her, "Excuse me, I found this leather notebook here this morning. It didn't have the owner's info so I wanted to leave it where I found it... Is this yours?"

She lifts her tired head. "It's your notebook now. I have no use for it. It's cursed. Every time the money was used bad things happened. It hurts people. "

Paul and Shelle are a bit freaked out but give each other a knowing look. Usually, it's easier to play along with people's delusions than to try to convince them of reality. "Okay, I'll just take your storybook home if that's what you want then. It's a shame you don't want to finish your story, it was interesting."

"It's real" she says to them. "My story is finished. Promise me you'll just keep it safe and never do anything with it. I spent all the money so the curse is probably done. I just need it away from me. It burns. It whispers. It taunts me. "

"We'll take your book. It won't hurt you anymore, okay?"

"Thank you." She smiles at them and it is unsettling. If you have ever heard the term "dead eyes" this would be it. She stares at them as they walk away. Paul keeps looking back expecting her to follow. Even when she was far away and couldn't possibly see them, Paul still felt the shiver she placed there with her stare.

They get to their townhome and on their doorstep is a grubby canvas satchel. It has a paper scribbled with "Paul" tied on it.

Paul felt the shiver intensify again.

They open the bag and in it is $20,000 in cash.