It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning in June and everything felt just as mundane as usual. 45-year-old Hank had the day off and was currently enjoying breakfast in the dining room. However, he wasn’t alone; the rest of his family was also at the table. Closest to him was his 43-year-old wife, Emma. As usual, she was in a good mood and sipped her coffee with great delight. 18-year-old Levi was sitting next to her, scarfing down pancakes at incredible speed, which caused his sisters, 16-year-old Kayla and 12-year-old Bella, to look at him with revulsion. Across from Hank, sat 14-year-old Garrett, who had opted to eat cereal instead of pancakes like the rest of the family. Finally, the last family member at the table, 10-year-old Spencer, was watching something on his tablet while he haphazardly ate his own stack of pancakes.
Hank finished his plate of pancakes just as the sound of the doorbell rung throughout the house. He told his family he’d answer it and quickly washed and dried his hands before heading to the front door. Sounds of birds chirping and lawns being cut greeted Hank as he opened the door and looked for whoever rang the doorbell. Surprisingly, there was nobody in sight. Puzzled, Hank turned his gaze downward and saw something on his doorstep. A small brown box sealed with packing tape had been placed on the welcome mat. Hank picked it up and instantly noted how light it felt, as if nothing was inside. “I didn’t order anything, so I wonder who did?” Hank asked aloud before spotting something written on the side. There was only one word on the box, no return address or anything indicating its sender, just the name “Hank.”
The box was for him.
Feeling more bewildered and intrigued about the box than before, Hank walked into his office and placed the package on his desk. Grabbing a box cutter from the top drawer of his desk, he opened the box and found two items inside: a folded white piece of paper and a quarter.
Uninterested in the coin, Hank unfolded the note and began reading what it said:
𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘬𝘪,
𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.
𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺,
𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘬𝘪
Hank put the note down in great surprise and bafflement. His great-uncle, who had supposedly vanished twenty years ago, had suddenly written to him. More than that, he had messaged him… just to give him a quarter!?
Hank looked back in the box and spotted the unremarkable silver coin in the box simply resembling a quarter. He reached out to grab it when his phone rang. Hank placed the note back in the box and quickly took out his phone to see who had interrupted him. It was one of his coworkers. Letting out an exasperated huff, Hank walked out of his office and toward the living room to answer the call.
As Hank left his office, he left the door open on his way out, revealing the small box and its contents for anyone to see. Yet, Hank had made a significant error: there wasn't just a single note in the package. If Hank had paid more attention to the note in his hands, he would have noticed that there was a second paper behind the one he read. That note stated the coin's magical abilities and the rules that came with using the coin. But, now that Hank had left the box unattended, anyone in his family had the ability to discover the Coin of Fate and its magical properties. The only question was, who would it be?