Chapter 10: Next Goal
Adam stared at the amount displayed on the screen. His eyes shone with a bright intense light. He felt a profound sense of disbelief mixed with pure elation.
"This is as much money as I make in a whole year," Adam said. His voice was a reverent whisper. "And look. I made it all in just a few hours." He thought of the endless nights stocking shelves. He thought of the exhausting weekends cleaning offices. He thought of the constant frantic running for the hotel. All that struggle for a year’s wages he had just created in one afternoon sitting on his bed.
His phone vibrated again. It was another text message from his bank. The notifications had been coming in a constant stream. Each one was a small buzz a tiny confirmation of his new reality. He had received thousands of them. He picked up the phone. He felt a flash of irritation. The constant buzzing was distracting. It was pulling him out of his state of focused work. He went into his phone’s settings. He found the messaging app. He turned off all notifications. He wanted silence. He wanted to focus only on the app.
He switched back to the One-Click Billionaire screen. Just as his thumb was about to touch the gray button again his stomach growled. It was a loud insistent noise that echoed in the quiet room. The sound broke his concentration completely. He realized he was starving. He had not eaten since the small piece of toast he had forced down at five thirty this morning.
He smiled. It was a relaxed genuine smile. He put the phone down on the bed beside him. "I have plenty of time," he said to himself. "And enough money to pay this month’s rent." He looked at the $10,010 on the screen.
He could pay his rent right now. But he knew that as soon as he paid the $750 he would have less. His new wealth would be diminished. A part of him felt a sudden greed. A new ambition. Ten thousand dollars was not enough. He wanted more. He needed more. He needed a buffer. A real foundation.
He made a decision. He would make one hundred thousand dollars today. That would be his new goal. After he reached that number he would think about his next plan. He would think about paying the rent. He would think about everything else.
With that thought settled in his mind Adam went to his small kitchen area. He opened the nearly empty refrigerator. He found a packet of instant noodles. He boiled some water on his small electric stovetop. A few minutes later he was sitting at his small wobbly table eating the noodles straight from the pot.
After he finished his simple meal he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 11:30 AM. He could not believe it. He had spent hours just sitting on his bed tapping a screen. The time had vanished. He felt a strange disconnect from the normal world. His old life of schedules and deadlines felt very far away.
He went back to the bed. He sat down. He picked up the phone. He opened the app. He started tapping again.
The afternoon passed in a blur. The light outside his window changed. The shadows in his room grew long. He did not stop. He was a machine. His thumb was a part of the phone. His mind was focused on a single task.
Tap. Four dollars. Tap. Tap.
It was evening now. Adam had been tapping for seven hours straight. His initial target of one hundred thousand dollars was a distant memory. He had passed that goal hours ago. He had not even noticed. He had just kept going.