It was Saturday morning and I had just woken up after the best high of my life. But that didn’t really matter. I crawled out of bed and lumbered my way over to the kitchen. I grabbed some cereal and poured it in a bowl. Then milk. As I was eating I heard the doorbell. ‘C’moooon!” I exclaimed. I had just woken up and I wasn’t tryna talk to a damn Jehovah’s Witness. I opened the door to find a white box. Like one of those perfect cubes you’d see under the tree in a Christmas movie. I couldn’t see whoever left it and there was a red note folded in half and taped to the top of the box. I called out “Hello?! Who left this?” There was no reply. I picked up the box and brought it inside, placed it on the counter, and crossed my arms, staring at it. Before I opened the box I read the red note on top. It felt delicate. Like the paper was just made today. It was crisp and smooth.
I opened the note and it read, “You may be gifted $100,000. But at the price of 50 lives.”
“This is ridiculous.” I thought. “What kinda cliche, cheesy crap is this?” Before I did anything with the box I decided to text my girlfriend, Olivia. I started texting. “Hey babe, did you send me a white package?”
She replied fast. “No why?” I told her that it randomly showed up out of nowhere and told her to come over to see it. “Omw Stan”, she replied.
I had forgotten about my cereal. The Rice Krispys were fluffy and soaked full of milk. “Nasty.”, I said when I looked at it. I read the note over and over. “$100,000 seems pretty nice…but I know it’s bullshit.” I opened the box to find a light switch connected to something that looked like a transmitter. It kinda looked like a walky talky. It was wrapped in tape and messily screwed together. “This is sketchy as hell.”, I thought. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to wait until Olivia got there to do anything but I flipped the switch out of instinct. “Shit I probably shouldn’t have done that.” I looked at my hand. I didn’t switch it my hand did. There was a loud piercing beep from the transmitter. I put my hands over my ears, dropping the device onto the counter until the beep stopped. Then there was nothing. Just nothing. I expected more but I guessed that was it.
I decided to leave it for now and go watch the news until Olivia got to the house. I plopped down onto the couch and grabbed for the remote. But I was still tired so I tried to use the force to bring the remote to me. Of course I still didn’t have the abilities of a Jedi. So I leaned forward, grabbing the remote, and turned on channel 17 news. The anchorman started talking, “In other news today the…” He stopped, grabbing his chest and leaning over his desk. You could tell by his face that he was worried. He looked like he was forcing a smile but his teeth were just clamped together. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and the camera turned off. “We’ll be right back!” the screen read. I was kinda freaking out. I had probably just seen someone die.
I went outside to get my mind off of the news anchor, the box, and the weird day I was having. I sat down on my porch and reached into the pocket of my sweatpants, pulling out a lighter and a cigarette. Before I had a chance to light the cigarette I looked up and saw a woman walking her dog across the street. I paused. She looked just like my mom. Just uglier. Her little fluff ball of a dog was prancing beside her, minding its own business when out of nowhere a muddy pickup swerved into the sidewalk, practically flattening the woman. My whole body jerked and I shot up off of my porch. Both the lighter and cigarette flew out of my hands. I ran inside now, realizing what was happening. I stumbled into my room, fleeing from the scene.
I understood. “I’m killing everyone that I see…it’s the 50 lives that the note said.” I heard a car door shut. “Shit! Its Olivia!” I ran over to the door but before I could cover my eyes she opened the door. I got a glimpse of her hand and fell to the floor on my knees. She walked all the way into the house.
“What’s wrong Stan?” She was staring at me. She looked scared but she clearly wanted to help.
I looked at her and said, “Why didn’t you knock? WHY DIDN’T YOU KNOCK???” I was crying. Not even crying but bawling my eyes out.
She walked over to me, “Stan what the hell? What’s wrong with you?” As she walked over to me the pointed toe of her high heel got caught on the carpet. I saw her glide down towards the floor in what seemed like slow motion. Before her body could hit the floor the corner of the coffee table dug into her temple. Her head slammed the table and she fell over onto her side.
Her shoulders started to shake and her mouth was slowly foaming. “No no no, oh God Olivia!” I crawled over to her and put my ear to her chest. Her heart was beating fast. I grabbed her shoulders to stop her from shaking but she kept on. She started making choking noises and her chest was shooting up into the air. She suddenly stopped moving. I still had my hands on her shoulders, and I was staring at what was my lifeless girlfriend. I leaned over, wrapping my arms around her to hug her and whispered. “What am I supposed to do without you?” I didn’t want to live anymore. I was hurting people and I was going to keep hurting people if I didn’t do something. “Goodbye Olivia…” I let go of her and gently and placed her body on the floor. I slowly stumbled my way to the bathroom. “This is it.”, I said to myself. I looked up at the mirror and-