The Secret Manuscript

by Edward Mullen

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ben sat alone in his room reading the manuscript. After his date debacle, he wanted to redeem himself somehow. This time, as he was reading, he approached the text with a slightly different lens. He was intrigued at how he could use the contents of the story to manipulate situations and even exploit them for his own personal gain. It worked so well with getting Vanessa’s number, he wondered if it could work to get other things, such as money.

  His motives were not purely based on greed, he owed a lot of back taxes to the city for his house and wanted to make sure he and Kyle would continue to have a place to live. After all the things Kyle had done for Ben, it was the least Ben could do in return. He considered going back to work, but he did not want to subject himself to working some menial job with an egomaniacal boss again. Instead, he combed through the text with a meticulous eye for the subtlest clue he could use to make money.

  One problem he encountered, however, was timing. Not every detail of Ben’s life was written in the manuscript, only the prominent events. This made it incredibly difficult for him to navigate the future. Since nothing in the story was dated, it was left up to Ben’s best guess as to when the events would occur. One method he used was to recognize when past events happened and then use those as a compass to navigate forward. It was a bit like walking in the dark. He also found having too much knowledge of future events would alter the course of his destiny. In some cases, events would not unfold exactly the way the story described because his reactions were no longer genuine and spontaneous. In other cases, entire events did not even take place at all. He discovered this when an event in the story transpired, but the prior event had not. This problem puzzled him for several days, until he figured out what was happening.

  When he used the story to get Vanessa’s number, it just so happened he read that part of the text moments before the actual event, but with prior knowledge of the events too far in advance, it seemed to unravel the entire situation before it could transpire at all. His solution to this problem was to stop reading the manuscript for extended periods of time to allow his destiny to enter him into situations naturally. Then, he would try to time it so he would read the text moments before the event actually came to be. This proved to be difficult, but at least this way he avoided having the knowledge of the forthcoming event get in the way and alter his path.

  Within a few weeks, he figured his destiny had caught up with him and his placement within the story was running parallel with his actual life.

  After a short bus ride, Ben stepped off and continued the rest of the way on foot. It was the nearest bank in his neighbourhood. He was down to his last few dollars and was desperate for a loan. When he arrived at the bank, a strange feeling came over him — a feeling of déjà vu. Seeing as he was a huge believer in signs, he stopped right outside the bank door, took out his manuscript, and began reading. As he read, it described the trip to the bank. Ben was ecstatic since his hypothesis had worked. He had timed it perfectly, and was now running in tandem with the contents of the story.

  Ben entered the bank and waited in line like everyone else. In front of him was a man wearing a dark military jacket and combat boots with the pant legs tucked in. Ben took notice of the man’s attire and felt a little uneasy. When the next teller became available, the man casually approached the counter and slipped the teller a folded piece of paper. The whole time, Ben kept an eye on the situation. Immediately, he could tell what was happening, but did nothing.

  The look of pure terror on the teller’s face spoke volumes. It was a situation they had all trained for, but hoped to never be in. The teller did as she was trained to do and complied with the robber’s request. She promptly placed several stacks of bills into a bag and handed it to the robber. Nobody but Ben seemed to notice; the rest of the bank staff and customers were oblivious to what was happening.

  As the robber turned around to leave, he saw Ben watching him. The robber walked right up to Ben, which caused Ben to get really nervous, and said, “Say a word and you’re a dead man.”

  At that point, the robber was home free; all he needed to do was leave. Even though Ben knew an altercation was unlikely since the robber would not want to do anything to risk getting caught, Ben was still frightened. He did not say a word to the robber, he simply watched the robber nonchalantly walk out of the bank and head east down 12th Avenue.

  Just then, Ben was bumped from behind. The impact caused him to drop his papers. As he bent down to pick them up, he noticed a set of black military boots step into his field of vision. He looked up and saw a man wearing a dark military jacket much like the one described in the text. It was undoubtedly the robber.

  Ben’s adrenaline kicked in as he quickly contemplated what to do. He stood up, went over to the window, and cupped his hands together. Now peering through the window, he saw the robber standing in line. Ben looked around for a weapon he could use to attack the robber with when he came out.

  Oh who am I kidding? Ben thought. I’m no hero.

  Ben reasoned that any man willing to rob a bank in broad daylight was probably armed and dangerous. At the very least, he was probably someone who was not to be messed with. Nevertheless, Ben could not just ignore the opportunity. This kind of moment was exactly what he was looking for. He wanted to come up with a way he could capitalize on the situation, but nothing came to mind. What he decided to do was run across the street and safely observe from a distance, hoping a better plan would reveal itself.

  A few moments later, the robber exited the bank. Concealed in his jacket was a canvas satchel. Just as the manuscript had said, the robber headed east down 12th Avenue. With no real plan in mind, Ben followed him. The robber walked to the end of the block and turned right. Ben lost his visual on the robber, so he picked up his pace.

  Ben ran to the end of the block and rounded the same corner the robber had. In that short time, however, the robber was gone. Ben stood still and surveyed the area. He saw countless pedestrians going about their day, but none of them were wearing military clothes. He was disappointed in himself to say the least, but was unsure what the end result would have been. Perhaps losing his visual on the robber was a blessing in disguise.

  Ben still needed to go to the bank, but he was not about to go to one that had just been robbed. He decided to head home and go back the next day. He walked to the bus stop on the next block. As was his natural inclination, he kept his head down and avoided making eye contact with the other people waiting for the bus.

  The bus arrived shortly after and Ben boarded, paid his fare, and found a seat. The bus pulled away and Ben stayed occupied by looking out the window. After a few stops, he focused his attention to the man sitting next to him, who seemed oddly fidgety. Ben briefly looked over at the man, but did not notice anything out of the ordinary, until he looked at the man’s footwear. The man was wearing military-style combat boots. Ben now realized why this man seemed so anxious — he had just gotten away with robbing a bank.

  Not knowing what to do next, Ben continued to sit coolly in his seat next to the robber. Ben looked on as the bus passed his stop. He stayed on for another fifteen or twenty minutes as the bus entered a rundown neighbourhood. At a certain point, the bus slowed to a stop and the robber quickly got up and rushed out the back door. Had he not been so hasty with his exit, he would have noticed Ben get up shortly after and follow him out the door.

  The robber walked with a frantic pace as he was undoubtedly surging on adrenaline. Given the nature of the crime and the neighbourhood, Ben thought there was a good chance he was high on some kind of drug as well. Ben kept his distance, but observed where the man was headed. In the short distance from the bus stop to the robber’s house, he only looked back once. Fortunately, Ben was wise enough to have crossed the street so he went unnoticed.

  The robber entered a house, which from the exterior looked a lot like Ben’s house. Ben figured the interior layout was probably similar as well. Without a
fully developed plan in mind, Ben walked by slowly, casing the place. After a few passes, he decided to leave.