Chapter 2: The Numbers Keep Growing
906 Words
Barry's hands shook as he held his phone. The notifications wouldn't stop. Every second, his account balance jumped higher and higher.
He tried to understand what was happening, but it didn't make sense. He had put five thousand dollars into a trading app two months ago, just trying to make a little extra money. He had read about cryptocurrency and stocks online and thought maybe he could get lucky.
For two months, nothing had happened. He made small profits and small losses. Some days he made fifty dollars. Other days he lost a hundred. It was nothing.
But now?
In the last five minutes, his account had gone from five thousand to two hundred billion dollars.
Barry's heart was beating so fast he thought it might jump out of his chest.
He looked around the empty kitchen. Nobody could see his phone. Nobody knew what was happening.
Another notification came through.
"Trade executed. Profit: $18.6 billion."
His balance went higher. Two hundred billion became two hundred eighteen billion.
Barry's mind was racing. Was this real? Was his phone broken? Was he dreaming?
He pinched his arm. It hurt. He wasn't dreaming.
A sound came from upstairs. Footsteps. Someone was coming down to the kitchen.
Barry quickly put his phone away and stood up. His legs felt like jelly. He grabbed a dish and pretended to wash it.
Laura appeared in the doorway. She was still wearing her beautiful birthday dress. She looked annoyed.
"Barry, I'm thirsty," she said without even looking at him. "Get me some water."
"Yes, of course," Barry said. His voice sounded strange and shaky.
He poured her a glass of water with ice. His hands were still trembling. He hoped she wouldn't notice.
Laura took the water and left without saying thank you. The moment she was gone, Barry took his phone out again.
His eyes went wide.
The number was now at five hundred billion dollars.
His phone buzzed again. And again. And again.
The trades kept executing. The money kept coming. It was insane. It was impossible. But it was happening.
Barry didn't know what to do. Should he tell someone? Should he call his bank? Should he scream?
He did none of those things. He stood there in the kitchen, holding his phone, watching as his account balance climbed past one trillion dollars.
One trillion.
Twelve times a hundred billion.
More money than most countries had.
And it was all happening while he stood in his father-in-law's kitchen, in his cheap suit, still smelling like the soap from washing dishes.
The notifications kept coming. His balance went from one trillion to two trillion to three trillion.
Barry felt dizzy. He grabbed the counter to keep from falling.
What was happening? How was this possible?
He opened the trading app fully to look at the individual trades. It was hard to follow. The trades were happening so fast, the app could barely keep up. They were buying and selling all kinds of things—cryptocurrencies he'd never heard of, stocks from companies he didn't know, digital assets that seemed to appear and disappear.
And every single trade was making massive profits.
Barry tried to read one of the trade descriptions, but another ten notifications came through and pushed it off the screen.
His balance was now at four trillion dollars.
Four trillion.
The man who earned two hundred dollars a month was now worth four trillion dollars.
Barry felt like he was going insane. He sat down on the kitchen floor again and just stared at his phone.
This couldn't be happening. This wasn't real.
But the numbers kept climbing.
Four point five trillion.
Five trillion.
Five point three trillion.
Each number made Barry's heart beat faster. Each notification was another billion dollars appearing in his account.
He thought about Reeves kissing those disgusting boots. He thought about Laura turning away from him. He thought about Jonathan slapping his face twice.
Barry's hands clenched into fists.
If he really had this money, everything would change. Everything would be different.
His phone buzzed again, and the number went even higher.
But something was wrong. Barry realized that the money was coming from somewhere. Real money doesn't just appear. There had to be an explanation. There had to be someone or something on the other side of these trades.
Was he stealing? Was this some kind of scam?
His stomach felt sick.
Barry looked at the transaction history again, trying to understand what was happening. But the trades were too fast and too complicated.
He decided he needed to be smart about this. He couldn't let anyone know. Not yet.
His balance crossed six trillion dollars just as Laura called from upstairs for him to bring her more water.
Barry put his phone in his pocket and stood up.
He brought Laura her water.
She still didn't say thank you.
When he went back to the kitchen, there was one last notification before he turned off his phone for the night.
His account balance had reached exactly six point seven trillion dollars.
Barry had made more money in a few hours than he would make in a million lifetimes of working for the Raven family.
And tomorrow morning, when he went to work and cleaned the house and washed the dishes, nobody would know that he was now the richest person on Earth.
He decided to keep it that way.
For now.
- Writer
