“Eric, go outside and get the mail.”

“Okay, Mom,” I said, still tired and sleepy from waking up earlier than normal. I walked outside and opened the mailbox door, grabbed the mail, and walked back to the house. I started to look through the mail to see if anything was for me. “Yes,” I exclaimed as I saw a letter written to a Mr. Eric Wilkinson. That was odd, I thought, why would a letter be addressed to a Mr. Eric Wilkinson? However, I didn’t make much of it. After all, I was still excited that I was receiving a letter. I ran upstairs with my letter and began to open it. If I only knew it would change my life…
Forever

I slowly ripped open the envelope, trying not to ruin whatever was inside, when I saw a small card inside. The card read, “If you are reading this, then you have been chosen for a scientific experiment to see if money can change people. Inside this card is a check, entitled to you, spend your money wisely.” Who is this from? I thought, as I located the check in the bottom right-hand corner of the card. I flipped it over and couldn’t believe my eyes; “One million dollars to the pay-order of a Mr. Eric Wilkinson!” My heart was beating a million miles a minute; I thought I would go into cardiac arrest. I managed to calm down and start to think. What would I spend it on? How would they know I was spending it? Are they watching me? I looked out my window thinking I may see a spy in a bush or someone with binoculars on my neighbor’s roof, but all there was outside was a lady walking her dog. I rushed downstairs and showed my mom who was astounded. “Eric, I think we should go to the bank,” she stated. That was the beginning of our shopping spree!

I started to make a list of the top 10 things that I wanted to buy and so did my mom. We decided that we would save the rest of my money for college. At the top of my list was a 2010 BMW. My mom wanted a house extension which we really needed. It was a Saturday and we had nothing to do so we decide to go to the mall and buy brand new clothes. For the first time, we didn’t have a budget. While walking in the mall, I saw a poster for a travel agency. “We should go on vacation to a tropical island,” I stated. My mom also thought it would be nice to get away for a couple of days. So far life was great, we had bought a new car, planned a vacation, and started renovation on our house. In the back of my mind I still wondered why anyone would give away one million dollars, though I might have not wanted the answer.

Later on that week, we got a phone call. It was a recording on a man with a deep voice saying that we need to spend more of the money and change. I got scared because that means that somewhere, someone is watching us. I tried to forget, but it was to no avail. We needed to spend a lot of money fast so we decided to go to an auction. At the auction were a bunch of rich, snotty, greedy, mindless people. I began to think that we were becoming more like these people. For example, we never once thought about giving the money to charity. I only thought about spending the money on myself. I was changing. I couldn’t go along with it any longer. Why did they give me the money? Why, why, why?

My eyes opened and I was in my room. “It was all just a dream.” I stepped out of my bed and walked into the bathroom. Everything was normal. I began to feel relieved that it was over. I didn’t like those weird people watching me anyway. I began to walk downstairs to get myself a bowl of cereal. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a letter. “Why did you wake up? You weren’t supposed to. This is only the beginning of our little mind game Eric.” Inside the letter was a check for 1 million dollars. “Nooooooooooooooooooooo!” At the bottom of the check someone had written, We will get you. What do they want from me? What will I buy this time?


To be continued…