[ WP ] You have an ATM that gives you the exact amount of money you need to survive for the day , how you spend it is your choice . Today you are given $ 70,000,000 .

What should've taken 30 seconds took a solid 4 minutes as I leaned my head against the cool stone of the stall. I've never drank so much champagne in my life, and after last night's seeing off my buddy James, bad choices were the way of the day. Seeing the sunrise used to make me feel like that big yellowish ball was a personalized gift from nature, welcoming you to another go around with eternity. This morning it was the visual equivalent to every obscenity known to man. 
 
 `` Your available balance: 7,000,448.00'' the receipt read, finally having been removed from my wallet after I relearned how to use my fingers. I had to read it a number of times as the commas kept looking like decimal points. Dropped it again, this time nearly in the bowl. I did n't bother to pick it up. I needed to not move for a few minutes, let the world stop spinning. 
 
 The coolness of the marble helped, the amount of god damned light it reflected? Not so much. 
 
 The sudden volume change from the door opening startled me. Footsteps, the crowd, the piano, sounds of water flowing in the distance.. 
 
 Before stumbling home at the ass-crack of dawn, sun glare right in my eyes, I stopped by the ATM for a balance inquiry as I intended to sleep most of the day away, and to hell with getting up. It was n't until I awoke in the early afternoon that I saw just how much the machine had given me. And with the wild abandon and joy that only 70,000,000 dollars could bring, I set out to change my life. 
 
 By 3 PM, all debts paid, a couple extravagant purchases later, and I thought it time to share the wealth. The Paradoxí, I thought. Rented the whole place out. They were n't happy about the short notice but they changed their tune really quick when I threw 7 figures at them. Invited family, friends, friends of friends, the mailman, the mailman's mother. It did n't matter. The machine gave me 70 million and if God works in mysterious ways then who am I to question a chunk of smart silicon and wires. This thing answered more prayers than anything else ever had for me. It even greeted me by name on-screen as I approached it, really sealing the deal like it had some kind of personal relationship with me. Got ta love digitally enhanced wallets. Every day I'd wake up wondering if this would be the last time. The bank would catch on. That blind man who sat outside Luz's Cafe across the street was only acting blind, sitting there on surveillance detail, recording when I'd show up at this ATM, helping some big government agency build their case against me. It ai n't paranoia if it's true, right? 
 
 My family was easy enough to fool. Told them my daily numbers picks finally paid off. I felt it was about time my sisters got to dress to the nines and be treated like they were important. It was the least I could do, not being the best big brother I could've been, but I digress. 
 
 It must've been half an hour later. I'm slumped over to my left side on the John with my head against the marble wall. I come to and reach out to prop myself upright. The cockeyed angle has my neck all screwed-up, but at least the world is n't spinning. I look down at the receipt. 70 mil, what the fuck? The most the machine ever gave me was 275,000, and that was close to a year ago. Bought a nice little two bedroom with it on Sunrise lane. Normally I'm `` blessed'' with anywhere from 350 to 1100, and anytime I've tried to save it for the next day the damn machine gives me nothing. Three Islands, two vehicles, Paradoxí's rental fees and some really generous charitable donations later, and I'm still nowhere near zero. Did I have to spend it all that day? Who knows? But I was n't going to chance the ATM deciding it was n't gon na be friendly anymore with some `` lack of use fee'' bullshit. 
 
 My timepiece tells me 9:51. I've been here long enough, and I've got no clue how to spend this money before I leave for the night. I compose myself the best I can and exit that luxurious latrine. 
 
 Dead. Fucking. Silence. Except for the bubbling water of the fountain. 
 
 The door swings shut behind me and echoes its squeak down the hall and out into the ballroom. I'm not moving. I check my watch again, this place was rented until 1 AM. Something's really wrong here. I step out into the ballroom and see nobody. No staff, no crowd, but I hear a murmur coming from a closed double door across the way. I beeline it. 
 
 I throw the doors open and see the crowd shoving to get a look at something outside the arched glass doors to the patio. I approach the crowd from behind and as some heads turn and see me they all tell me to not come any closer with a shocked look on their face. 
 
 My heart sinks and starts beating faster simultaneously. I push my way through the crowd towards the only open door as they all start getting louder with some of them actively trying to grab any part of me they can. I'm getting yelled at by friends, neighbors, I do n't see my family until I fight my way to the front of the crowd on the patio. 
 
 There's my oldest sister in her beautiful gold dress, laying motionless on her back in a pool of blood. The moonlight glimmering over the scene, my baby sister hunched over her grasping her hand and sobbing. 
 
 I throw myself beside her, landing in the blood. Frantically I scream her name while grasping her arm, squeezing her face, `` No no no! No! Fuck! Jessie please! Oh God no! Somebody call the police!'' I plead. `` They're on the way!'' someone nearby retorts. `` We did!'' someone in the crowd yells. The crowd is murmuring and I hear some people yelling `` Back up! Give them air!'' 
 
 `` What the hell happened?'' I scream at my sister Nina. `` I do n't know!'' she says between sobs. `` Jesus Fucking Christ'' I exclaim looking down at Jessie, trying to stir her. 
 
 `` She got thrown off the roof'' a voice says aside the crowd. Some of the crowd gasps as they look over to find the source of the lone voice. 
 
 I look where they're looking, I see my buddy James. `` James? What the fuck? ``, I eek out, incredulous. He looks disheveled. His button down missing some buttons, torn on one side, swelling over his left eye, hair tossled. `` I was there. I-'', it took less than a second before I was upon him. I grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him back into the crowd, my bloodied hands dirtying his chest. The crowd could n't disperse fast enough as we plowed through them. 
 
 `` What did you do?'' I shrieked as we fell to the ground. I stood over him, furious at my friend for hurting Jessie, clouded by rage, one hand grabbing his shirt, the other balled in a fist waiting to bash his face in. `` There was a man-'' I hit him across the face, some men of the crowd attempted to remove me but I swung my arms around wildly and roared. I refocused on James. `` There was a man on the roof!'' he sputtered through a bloody mouth. `` What man? What the fuck are you talking about?'' `` I was up there, with Jessie. I was saying goodbye to her.'' he stopped to catch his breath. I did n't give a shit. I grabbed his shirt with both hands, `` Talk! Talk James!'' I could feel the spit flying from my mouth. `` I owed him money. He came out of nowhere and said he was going to kill me if I did n't pay him right then with interest.'' I froze in disbelief. `` I told him I did n't have much, but if he let Jessie walk away, he could take me to an ATM and I'd give him whatever he wanted. He said a million. I said I'll give him more than that, I do n't care, seven million, ten times that.'' I slowly let go of his shirt and stepped back, feeling wiped out. `` Then Jessie steps sideways and kicks a planter, he gets distracted and I try and grab the gun, but we get tripped up and he drops the gun.'' I ca n't hear him anymore. I'm slowly fumbling for my wallet. `` He hits me and pins me down so Jessie tries to get him off me but he stands up and shoves her away and she goes over the railing!'' James sobs. `` He took off running!'' 
 
 I take out my wallet as some of the party guests help James to his feet. `` James'' I say, completely sullen. `` Were you going to.. what ATM were you going to get..'' 
 
 James is dumbfounded. `` Why does that even matter?'' 
 
 I drop the wallet and double over, vomiting. `` The police are here!'' someone yells. The crowd starts moving in every direction. 
 
 Seeing the sunrise used to make me feel like that big yellowish ball was a personalized gift from nature, welcoming you to another go around with eternity. Now it's what lights up the hospital room where Jessie has to live another day on a ventilator. It's been weeks. Medically induced coma. Doctor does n't know if she's gon na make it. 
 
 James is long gone. I got a letter from him a week after that night at Paradoxí's, no return address. Turns out he was running from a loanshark and that's why he was saying goodbye. He blames himself for Jessie's accident. Says he wish he grabbed his wallet and not mine mistakenly as we settled up at the bar. He would have had the right ATM access to pay back the loanshark. And this whole time he thought he was the only one with this miracle ATM at his disposal. 
 
 I blame myself for wanting to treat my sisters right. At least the ATM started giving me enough to cover her bills. But what really fucks me up to think about is if any of this would have happened if James and I had n't unwittingly switched wallets. Or why he skipped town that night at Paradoxí's without switching them back.
