Message:
7:30:12am.
Cleaning service needed at Bin Vin junction.
Address: Unknown.
Amount: 25$.
Sender: ××××××××
[First tap on screen, No response].
[Doubles tap, delayed response].
*Decryption*
Sender: "$230 instead of $20".
[Decryption ended, message terminated].
Black arrived at the end of the road, a dog barked exactly twice, and Black identified the building.
"A warehouse?"
'What's going on?'.
Black scanned around and entered the compound. Tractors, heavy duty trucks and mini vans, both old and news were parked all over the places. The ground blackened from oil and gas stains. The warehouse looked deserted, except the occasional cock crows, sheep bleats and lizard nodding and basking in the sun. Black made his way into the warehouse. The warehouse was dark, but not too dark for the eyes to identify the interior.
The warehouse has a mattress laid on a pile of sacks, a section for two luggages, another section for two shoes, a desk, a connected laptop, an alarm and a covered plate.
The laptop screen came on and a recorded message started playing.
"Hello, Black. This is Arthur. And this message will self-destruct after 3 seconds once the recording ends, so listen carefully. I am Arthur, and I'm a financial analyst. I've spent the past 12years of my life studying the financial market. I made a huge breakthrough via my work called 'Echo System', and I thought that was everything I needed until I discovered that some secret societies are after me. Now, I have to be on the run or else I'll get killed. I was told to hand over my echo system but I refused. These knowledge should never fall into the wrong hands. If peradventure, anything should happen to me, I would prefer I die with my system so no one can access it, yet I realised it'll be a waste of my life's work. So I planned on transferring the knowledge to you. But your inexperience and poverty state won't allow you to make proper use of this system. So I'll contact a close friend of mine, who is a bank manager to secure you a short term internship slot at one of his bank branches. Once you're capable and experienced, I'll hand over my system to you. This message destroys in three seconds".
Somewhere else, 400miles away from Black's location, Arthur wrote his signature in some documents, and handed the file to his lawyer alongside a parcel to be delivered to 'William Junior' at a specific date and time attached.
The wall alarm rang, and Black rose off his bed stretching. It was already two weeks after the incident at the warehouse. Black had gotten up to get ready for his first white collar job for the first timein his life.
The morning was fresh, as the morning sun smile radiantly across his window.
"Ahhh, a good day to be at work".
Black arrived at work and expected a grand plush office but was disappointed by what he saw. The head lead of the branch appeared, as if answering Black's question, said "Our boss told me that an intern would be arriving at our work place today, so I guess you're the one. Well, there's no office for interns, so we kind of fixed a quick space for you. Mind you, we have a lot of merited and experienced people seeking this job and spot, but because you're close to someone that's close to our boss, you thought you could pull strings. I hope you enjoy the grand sight, Nepo baby".
Black was so angry and frustrated, unable to make sense of what was happening, but he was sane enough to ask the head lead who was already half way to the out of the room,
"Does this room previously belong to the cleaners?"
The head lead answered with malice, "Yes, it does. Are you not familiar with your environment?" laughing as he closed the door behind him.
Frustrated, Black took a deep breath, and forced himself to be calm and focused. If there's one super power he has, it's the ability to thrive in any environment he finds himself. He possesses an unbreakable spirit that doesn't falter.
"Whew! what an incredible way to start the day. First impression mattered right? I bet it could get any better than this".
Laughing, Black made some arrangements to the office, settled down and began familiarising himself with his work. "No orientation to newbies for that matter, just wow!".
By the end of the day, Black checked out of the office to discover that he was the only one left, and that the office activities had closed about 2 hours ago.
"Urrrghhhh! This should literally be the best day of my life. Now I understand why the working class has so much office drama to talk about. They're always entertained".
Time passed, and Black learnt, worked and gained tangible experience needed for him to face on the financial market. But he was unable to make any possible contact with Arthur. He tried so hard, that he saved up to pay a Tech company so they could help him contact Arthur, but to no avail.
Despair started setting in. Hopelessness and gloom became the face of the usually enthusiastic young man.
Along the line, Black was transferred to another bank of the same branch but with much lower standard. To make things worse, his office was a rented room few blocks away from the main building. And with no pay as an intern, he was designated to work as an analyst to the brokerage activities of low income traders and personals.
The maximum amount this category of traders could handle falls between 10$-300$. It was really too low for the type of expertise Black had gained as an intern. Yet, he was poorer than the money he monitor.
Sometimes, he wished if those money fluctuating on his screen could be his own. But "Digital money is just figures... unless it hits your bank account".
He sighed.
Majority of the time, Black reminisced on an eventful day, a terrible teenage years mistake, when a call came through on his Father's phone one fateful evening. His father wasn't around when the phone rang, so Black picked the call out of curiosity.
"Hello, who is this?" Black asked.
"Good afternoon, Is this Mr Samuel Junior? The female voice asked over the phone.
"No, my dad is not around, what do I tell him?".
"Oh, I see. (Clears throat). I see you're a very smart boy, and you'll be able to do this simple task, I have a reward for you when you're done. Is anyone there with you?".
"No one is here, Ma or Sir, and why is your voice changing?".
That fateful day, Mr Samuel Junior lost all his life savings, he also lost the money in the cooperative trust account that was kept in his charge by a 24-men association. Mr Samuel broke down to illness after he discovered what his innocent son had done. He lost his job, got into debt and was alleged and arrested for fraud. Mr Samuel died in the chaos and his wife died shortly after.
Black succumbed to his grief and guilt anytime he remembers what he had done. And today seem to be one of those days, until He got a mail on his work computer, and opened it.
"Meet me at the warehouse. I think it's time."
Sender: Anonymous
Address: Anonymous
Black's face lightened up and he ran out of his office without bothering to lock the office.