The Cost of 20k

A firm knock at my hotel door jolted me out of my video game trance. It really didn’t help that the video game I was playing was of the horror variety. I stood up, my legs and back cracked and popped as I moved them for the first time in hours. My eyes burned as I rubbed them. The moisture having all but depleted from going so long without blinking. I wandered to the door and looked through the peep hole.

There was no one there. Maybe the person who knocked realized they had the wrong room and walked off, wouldn’t have been the first time. I thought nothing of it and returned to my video game, it was the only beacon of entertainment I had since coming to this hotel. I only got about halfway back to the little corner desk when another knock occurred. This time it was more of a pounding sound, as though the person was using the meat of their fist opposed to their knuckles. I turned around and swiftly walked back to the door and peered once more through the peep hole. Still no one.

Another knock. Without using the peep hole this time I flung the door open. A man stood there towering in front of me. His face was extremely pale and he was dressed in a black suit that draped over his frail body. His milky eyes didn’t seem to have any issues seeing as he extended his hand out to shake mine, meeting my gaze while doing so.

“Good evening sir.” He greeted me. His voice was deep but seemed strained . He winced as the words came out. We shook hands. The frigid clammy skin felt like I was touching an ice sculpture opposed to actual human flesh.

“Good evening. Can I help you?” I inquired irritated, trying to skip the pleasantries.

“We would like to extend this gift to you.” He replied.

“A gift?” I asked visibly confused.

He extended his hand which held a little black notebook. I grabbed it cautiously and looked down at it. It was leather bound with an accompanying leather lace wrapped around it. It was no bigger than a composition notebook you might have found in school. It’s more noticeable feature was that the front seemed to be bulging.

“What is this for?” I asked. My words trailed off as I looked back up.

He was gone.

I stood outside my doorway briefly, looking left and right, down the seemingly endless halls searching for the stranger but to no avail. I looked back down at the book, gave the halls another once over and retreated back into my room.

I closed my door and utilized the interior deadbolt. I set the book down on my desk and glared at it. I stared intently at the front of the book. Whatever it said on the front wasn’t in English. Still more bizarre was it looked like the letters, if you could call them that, had been branded into the leather instead of written.

I snatched the book up and took off the lace that was holding it shut. I opened the cover and a flood of green rectangular sheets came flowing out onto my lap and on the floor. My eyes widened as I witnessed a waterfall of $100 bills drop from the book. I stood up and ran back to the door. I unlocked it and swung it open. The man was standing there once again. Startled, I jumped back and fell onto the floor.

The stranger stepped into the room. I felt a cold chill of air as he stepped over me.

“It usually takes people longer to open the book.” He said with the same deep strained voice as earlier.

I got back up to my feet and positioned myself between him and the money.

“Is this.. Is this real?” I asked, I could feel my words struggling to leave my mouth.

He looked down at me and smiled. The wideness of which seemed unnatural. It was as if an invisible force was pulling at the corners of his mouth. His teeth were as white as snow and appeared razor sharp. They looked as though they belonged in the mouth of a shark, with rows stacked behind one another. Each row of teeth getting bigger as they pushed toward the front of his face.

He closed his mouth and nodded silently.

“That is $20,000. It is yours to do as you please.” he said, with the unnatural grin appearing back onto his face.

“Why.” I inquired sternly. Although I was vastly less concerned with the money at the moment as I was with trying to figure out what this thing standing in front of me was.

“We try to be helpful.” He turned around and walked back towards the door.

“The instructions are on the inside of the book. Happy spending.”

With that he gave me a backwards glance and left the room. I couldn’t understand why this was happening or what the stranger even was. If he was human, he was only barely so.

The questions rolled around in my head in a never ending cycle of creating more questions than available answers. ‘The instructions are on the inside of the book.’ I replayed his words over and over.

I picked up the book from the floor and let the rest of the money fall to the ground.

I opened it and scanned its contents closely. On the very first page, one sentence was written in red ink.

Write five names of real people on the last page and set the book outside your door.

Vague instructions to say the least. Just more questions without answers.

I set the book down and stared collecting the mess of green bills that littered the floor.

After counting through it numerous times, the amount was exactly what the stranger said it was.

$20,000. That was a substantial amount of money for me. But I was fully aware it wasn’t “do anything you want forever” money. I sat there and pondered what I would do with it.

Maybe put it in stocks, or buy a car, or put a down payment on a house. But those thoughts were fleeting. If I put this kind of money out, I would certainly be question by some authority on how I obtained it and the thought of explaining the man dressed in a black suit with a shark mouth didn’t seem believable.

After daydreaming for an hour or so on how I would spend the money, I felt my stomach rumble. I hadn’t eaten since the morning prior. I stacked the bills neatly on the desk and grabbed one of the $100 bills off the top and went for the door. I figured wherever I went to get food would certainly be able to break the large note.

I opened the door. And took a step out. I imminently felt like I was being ripped into the ground. I fought the force for a few second before my knees finally buckled and slammed in the concrete. A burning sensation came over my body, It felt as though I was being set on fire. The $100 bill in my hand burst into flames. With a great amount of effort I forced myself back into the room and closed the door.

I laid there catching my breath as the feeling of being set ablaze faded.

I made my way back to the book after some time reflecting on what just happened. I opened it and re-read the instruction.

Write five names of real people on the last page and set the book outside your door.

I flipped to the last page. It was blank, but it had the frayed remains of lazily torn out pages that told me I wasn’t the first one to obtain the curious little book, and I was likely not the first person the stranger had visited.

I didn’t know why he gave me the money or the book with its associated task, but it made me wonder if someone had written my name in the book. I didn’t have many friends and I hadn’t spoken to my family in years. So I just started jotting names of family. Maybe they would get the chance to obtain $20,000. Despite the strangers disturbing appearance, he didn’t seem hostile, so I didn’t see the harm in writing their names.

Mother, Father, Sister, Uncle and a Cousin. The task was completed.

I closed the book and went to set it outside. The stranger was there when I opened the door.

I was less startled this time.

I looked up at him with hesitation as I set the book on the ground at his feet.

“Following instructions seems difficult for your kind.” He growled at me.

“The instructions were simple and yet you still managed to fail.”

“I didn’t know I wouldn’t be able to leave until I had done it.” I snapped at him.

“Ah, Yes. But you attempted to take that money with you, didn’t you?”

I thought about it. I had tried taking one of the bills with me. It erupted in my hands.

“Yes, I did.” He had me.

“You have failed our little test. But I will tell you what, I found you pain amusing so I will make you a deal. Instead of taking you away for not following the provided instructions I will let you choose one of the people on the list you wrote to take your place, and you get to keep the money.” The overly enthusiastic, shark-tooth grin enveloped his face.

“You.. You want me to let you kill one of my family? I can’t do that.” I replied solemnly.

“I said nothing about killing them. I will take them.”

“Take them where?”

“That is not your concern, they will live, you will live, and you will be able to keep the money. Do we have a deal?” He reached out his hand.

I back up to the wall and slid down. I couldn’t just hand over a family member to this thing. But then again it was a sizable amount of money. And he did say he wouldn’t kill them.

“Okay.” I said, regret filled my voice.

“Perfect.” He opened the book to the front page and faced it towards me.

“Choose.”

I don’t know if it was out of cowardice or defeat, but I looked down and pressed my finger to the page without looking.

“Thank you for accepting our gift.” He chuckled as he left the room.

Several months passed by. I didn’t dwell on that day to much. I had spent all the money on frivolous things I didn’t truly need. Primarily video games and assorted electronics that would become obsolete in short order. But I was content. None of my family reached out to me. So I assumed all was well.

One morning I was scrolling through my social media news feed. And that’s when I saw it.

A missing persons note in giant red letters.

With a picture.

Of my sister.