What More Could We Ask For?

I was running; my life depends on it. Seeing a bullet fly by my head only makes me run faster, hearing the heavy booted steps getting louder with each breath.

"Get back here!" I hear one of the men yelling at me.

I take cover in the forest, spotting my partner in the tree only a few feet to my left. I quickly take shelter behind a tree and hear the armored men behind me scream in pain as the sniper bullets go through them.

I cringe, feeling sympathy for the men who were only doing their job to protect their base.

Upon hearing silence, I walk out to see the men on the ground. I grab any useful gear on them and run over to meet my partner in crime, Cameron.

“Let's go,” Cameron said without looking at the men that lay on the grass.

Entering our base, I began to put my bag on the table, searching through it to find what we had gone to find.

“Did you get it?” Cameron asks while walking over to me with hope in his voice.

Grabbing the thin, hard material in the bag, I began pulling out the object.

“Yeah, I got it. Their base wasn’t too hard to get into.”

Lifting the black notebook from my bag, I began looking through the pages with Cameron hovering over my shoulder for a better view.

A look of confusion was washing over our features.

“It’s-”

“Blank.” Cameron, cutting me off, was starting to pace in circles.

“How can it be blank? Why the hell is this book so special? People risk their lives when in reality there isn't anything there. It just doesn’t make sense.” He questions to nobody in particular, knowing that I don’t have an answer of my own.

“Maybe there is a secret to it that we just don’t see. There’s got to be something to it.” I mumble to myself, flipping through the pages.

Getting ready for bed, I change from my heist clothes to pajamas. Sitting down on my bedsheets, I grab the black notebook and my laptop.

I search the web, trying to find anything about the book and why there is nothing in it. No title, no lines, no dates or lists, and no name from the original owner.

"It just doesn't make sense." I think to myself, searching through the notebook for what feels to be the hundredth time.

Finally, settling on stopping and going to sleep, I put the book down and close my eyes.

Memories of Cameron and I fighting for our lives rushed through my mind. We have known each other for as long as I can remember. Our parents died when we were young from a car crash, and we ran away into our current base; an abandoned home that was abandoned and left for us to claim.

Solar panels are what give us power, but most rooms and flooring are falling apart. It’s not the best home, but we do what we can. Our main point of focus is getting food to last the week. Starvation has been our company too many times. We steal food, clothes, and whatever money we do gain we use it for weapons.

I open my eyes and look at my watch: 5:48 AM.

Yawning, I sit up and stretch out my sore limbs. I get up to walk out of my room but stumble into my bedside table, the notebook falling to the floor.

I quickly go to pick up the book, not wanting such an ancient item to be on the dirty floor, but as I’m picking it up, I notice something else with it.

I turn on my lamp and look back at the book, seeing something I never would expect to see in my entire life. I simply can not believe my eyes and gasp out loud.

There, underneath the open book, is $20,000.

“Cameron!” I yell out to Cameron and start running to his room. He is still asleep so I jump on him, shaking him awake.

“Cameron! Cameron! Wake up!”

“What? Just let me sleep.” He grudgingly began to whine to me.

“I can’t! Look!”

I force the money into his hands and he takes it with squinting eyes. After several seconds, sudden realization washes over his features and he is grinning widely.

“Wha-how-where?”

“I don’t know! I had woken up, dropped the black notebook onto the floor and there it was underneath.” I try my best to explain to his racing mind.

“Try it again! Drop the book and see if it happens again.” He yells at me as we rush over to my bedroom.

I pick up the book and drop it back onto the floor like I did just a few moments before. Lifting it, we were holding our breaths.

Nothing.

“What? But how can that be possible? We searched this whole house and never found something like this before.”

“And I had gone through this book for hours, there are no hidden pockets and I would have well seen if there was this much money in here.” I begin flipping through the pages in the book again with Cameron to show my point.

“Well, this doesn’t make sense at all.” Sighing, he sits down on my bed.

“Who cares if it doesn’t make sense? We have money! We should go find a real apartment, somewhere we can take showers and eat good food.” I say excitedly as I start packing up my small bag of clothes, seeing Cameron run to his room to do the same.

Only after an hour of searching in the city of Brooklyn, New York, we finally find ourselves a small apartment just big enough for the both of us. There's a kitchen with a working stove and fridge, a proper working bathroom with warm water, and an amazingly soft bed that your body sinks into.

It’s always been our dream to live in a functioning home. A new start, with a well-paying job and food on the table, not to mention sitting on a soft couch to watch movies we have never heard of before.

I look over at Cameron who is sitting at the dining table, examining the black notebook.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him, sitting down beside him, taking in his features; his eyes concentrating with a strong focus.

“I just don’t understand this book, but there has to be more to it than what meets the eye,” he says, standing up to start pacing, “I mean, you said on our way here that you were dreaming about our problems and then when you woke up there was suddenly $20,000 lying on the floor, and when we were searching for a home, I was wishing-no-pleading that we would find a suitable home for us to live in, and look where we are. Finding a home can days-weeks even, yet here we are, sitting in our dining room.”

He was wailing his arms around in the air; anyone walking by the building and looking up would see him, thinking he is a madman.

“Then, what if the book only grants your most inner desires.”

“Or your most wanted needs,” he chimes in, nodding his head furiously, “that has to be it!”

Quickly, we start thinking of what we could need as a way to test our theory.

“Why not a job? We are going to need to find one so let’s go look for one now. Don't forget to take the book with us.” Cameron jumps out, grabbing his jacket, and rushes out of the door.

We walk into the city streets and look around for any sign on a building for hire. There, a restaurant only a few buildings down the street from us has a sign on their window, needing employees.

We rush over, excitedly tugging the other as to hurry down the street.

Upon arriving, we see a woman step out of the restaurant doors, cursing her way by us about how they did not accept her in. I was getting nervous; what if this does not work?

We step inside and see the front entry full of customers patiently waiting for a free table. We look around, spotting someone talking to a man that had a tag that read 'Manager' on his shirt. I point him out to Cameron, and we make our way over to him.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there are just no more positions open for our business… I know that the sign is still up, and we are looking to be taking it down as soon as we can.” The woman, unhappy with his words, stomps away from the manager and out of the restaurant entirely.

“Um, excuse me, sir.” Cameron hesitantly calls out to the man.

The manager turns to us with a smile on his face.

“Hi there folks, what can I do for you?”

“Well, we were hoping to get an interview with you so we can work here; we need a job,” I say to him, grasping at any confidence that I have inside of me.

“Of course! I will ask you two a few questions, and I will see what I can do for you.” He finishes his sentence and starts asking his questions.

“Well, I don’t see why our restaurant wouldn’t want you two in our business. Welcome to the team.”

He shakes our hands in farewell, but before he can go, I ask him one last question.

“Sir, I remember you were speaking to that lady before us, saying that there were no opening positions; how is it that we got the job?”

“You both were lucky, two spots had opened when you asked me.” And with that, he was walking away from us to check on his customers.

Cameron and I were freaking out, ecstatic that we finally got a job, a new home, and a new life just waiting for us to start tomorrow.

We finally get home after eating at our new job, our stomachs full to the brim.

I look down at the black notebook, contemplating on what to do with it.

“Let’s put it on our bookshelf. We can add it to our new collection.” Cameron says aloud as if reading my thoughts.

I look over to him, smiling widely as that is a great idea.

“When you’re right, you’re right, Cameron,” I say to him as I slide the notebook onto the bookshelf that held only a few novels.

“We got what we needed, and it is all thanks to this little object made of black cloth and paper,” Cameron says as he steps up behind me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

“What more could we ask for?”