Until I Am No Longer Needed

By Sean A. Donahue © 2006

Those words echoed in my head today but years ago - close to one hundred years ago - I thought I was just being cute. You see, on my trip to Hawaii with my parents I had gone on a tour of an ancient volcanic site. I was excited to see the power and fury of a site that was once feared.

As I backed up to take a picture I tripped and fell into a hole.

"We're coming to get you Sean," they said as I brushed myself off.

I hurt from everywhere, the fall from ten feet caused me to have pain from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my toes. My back felt the brunt of the pain and as the dust settled I examined my predicament. I was ten feet down in a hole of an ancient volcano with my right arm broken and my left leg shattered. I felt with my left arm what was causing my pain in my lower back.

Now, you know it's hard to believe, but I'll try it anyway.

It was a bottle.

Now me being the sarcastic S.O.B. that I am, I immediately opened the bottle to watch the smoke rising from it. Coughing, I threw the bottle away and looked as the smoke cleared.

It was a man. Dressed as if he had been stuck in there since the twenties. He looked like he was one of the Rat Pack. I laughed.

"I discovered Frank Sinatra in a bottle," I laughed.

"Come, come, you should be nicer to me in the predicament you're in," he said smugly.

"Let me guess, make three wishes and my life will be different," I laughed trying not to move as I felt light headed as blood rushed from my leg.

"Let's take care of an immediate wish, consider this a freebie," Frank said as he touched his tie.

My arm stopped bleeding, my leg was still broken, but not as bad as it was before and my right arm felt no pain.

"I've gotta be in shock," I said.

"Nope, but choose the wording of your wishes wisely. Void where prohibited by law, you must be 18, I cannot hurt anyone or kill anyone no matter how much you try. Carpe Diem," he sputtered in quick legalese.

"I want to win the largest lottery in history, 1 Billion Dollars," I said.

"Yeah, yeah the money thing," Frank said as I looked around.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Check your wallet when you get home, the rescuers will be here in 4.73 minutes. Let's get going with your second wish," he urged.

"I want to be able to know when people are trying to take advantage of me and be able to not let people take advantage of me," I stated.

Frank thought for a second.

"You want to be able to limit the ability of people to use you without your own consent," he restated.

"Yes!"

"Done."

"And I want to live until I am no longer needed," I finished.

"Unusual, you want to live until the people you are around no longer need you. DONE," Frank said in a puff of smoke.

When I woke up I was in the hospital.

I had been in a coma for 164 days.

They called me the Maui Miracle. When I returned to the states I went to my home and found my neighbor Tina there. I found Tina attractive but she had never given me the time of day. I thanked her for watching my dog and she seemed to have a white halo around her. I thought to myself, "That's strange, never noticed that before. I better let the doctor know my prescription must have changed after the accident."

I returned to my house to find it barely dusted and cleaned. Mugsy had been taken care of but nothing else had been. There was a pile of bills that had been separated by my family I think into junk mail, bills, more bills and even more bills.

I laughed to myself as I thought boy, was that one crazy dream I had.

I decided to clean out my house and start my life over again. I cleaned up and started the long road back. Now I am a very meticulous man. I have a place for everything and everything in its place. So I entered all the bills into my computer. I was deeply in debt and my job was gone. I checked my wallet to see that I had $42 left.

But I found a Mega Millions ticket. I went to the nearest 7-11 to check out how much it was worth.

The clerk just started shaking. "You’re the one they are looking for," he said.

"Yeah, yeah I know the Maui Miracle."

"No. Sign here. I’m calling the papers. You better head down to Austin. I'd guard that thing with my life," he said as he shook uncontrollably. "Yeah, boss, I have the Mega Millions winning ticket here," the clerk said as I walked away. I was shaken as I saw a green aura come over the clerk.

"Don't leave, I'm calling the papers next," he said as I ran to my car.

Everything became a blur to me. I was still having colored flashes as people came up to me. Everything was crazy. I slowly learned the colors and their meaning, red for anger, green for envy, white for purity, orange for confusion and black for evil.

Funny, I didn't think I would see so many men of the cloth with black auras, but I digress.

I went to Austin and claimed the $963 million prize as sole winner of the Mega Millions lottery.

My life changed immediately. I made college funds for the kids, went and paid my bills and took care of my family and friends. And I still had $800 million left. You see, I had $578 million after the taxes were paid off and I invested here and there. I couldn't give away the money fast enough.

I gave money to charities with my foundation, giving $20 million to my favorite charities each year, which increased to a $100 million when my money grew exponentially.

But as the years went by I watched as loved ones slowly turned from white to orange with one friend going from white to red to green to orange and finally black before he killed himself.

I grew older and watched my loved ones die one by one.

I watched my parents leave this earth. Followed by my brothers and sisters, then my children.

But I lived on…

I couldn't live on; I was tired. I wanted to just join my family in the everlasting.

But the interest of my accounts grew and the money grew. I established a living will where my pet charities received $100 million a year until I died. Then the rest of the money would go to my heirs.

But I didn't die. I kept living and living.

One day as I lay on my bed praying for the end to come I had a vision.

It was the members of my pet charities, all their auras black hoping I would live for yet another year so they would get their money. I saw members of my extended family long past grand, grand, grand children all their auras black with evil. All hoping I would die.

And then my words came back to haunt me. I would live until I was no longer needed.

Both sides tugged at my soul.

And then everything went black.

"Sean? We're coming to get you..."

Sean A. Donahue is a freelance writer, radio personality and poker player. He is the author of Instant Tragedy which looks at his life and those who he has touched and been touched by. He is divorced with two children and lives in Lubbock, Texas.