They paid me $5000 to go out there and knock on the door.

They gave me no instructions, no training, no guidance on what I was supposed to do when I got there. Just a small bag with a $5000 bill, and an address.<br><br>And that’s all I ever wanted.<br><br>You see, I’d just gone through the worst divorce in history. My ex had taken everything she had won in the divorce, and then taken a little bit more. I had no money, no car, no home, and an eight dollar an hour job in the janitorial department of a local hospital. Due to my lack of employability, I was also host to a host of ailments. Diabetes, chronic bronchitis, and a multitude of digestive issues, each of which left me weak and in constant pain. My life had hit an all time low.<br><br>But they promised me a way out.<br><br>I don’t know how they found me. I’d spent months in a self-destructive cycle of booze and pills, lost in a haze of self destruction. Maybe I had stumbled onto one of their websites. Maybe I was one of the few who were able to connect with them on social media. Whatever the case, they found me.<br><br>At first they offered me a call center position. I remember they told me that my pain would disappear, that my stomach cramps would cease, my breathing would clear, and that my diabetes would go into remission. They said that I’d make $800 a week, which seemed like a lot to me at the time, and that I could stay in a beautiful home with no rent, no utility bills, and that I could keep my job as a hospital janitor if I so desired. All I had to do was sit at a desk and call people. I figured that was a job I could do.<br><br>But they didn’t want me for the call center. Something else had cropped up in the meantime, and they wanted me for something else instead.<br><br>They bought me a car.<br><br>A brand new Audi S4. The best car I’d ever had the pleasure to sit in. I remember the smell of the leather. I remember the hum of the motor. It was a great car, and they said that I could keep it.<br><br>All they wanted me to do was to drive out to an address they provided, and knock on a door. That was it.<br><br>I was told that the person who lived there had money problems, and that they wanted me to knock on the door and ask if I could dog sit for them. They said they were going out of town for a while, and that they wanted me to look after their dog while they were away. <br><br>I was never told where this address came from, who owned it, or how much money they had problems with. I was never given any information about the person who lived there, or what their name was. All they told me was where to go, what to say, and what to do. The rest was a mystery.<br><br>I remember getting into my new car, and driving out to the address. I remember getting nervous about it, because I’d never dog sat before. I didn’t even like dogs. I hated dogs, but I was desperate for the money. I had to do it, for my kids. They needed new shoes, and a new bed, and I just couldn’t afford it anymore. <br><br>I remember driving down the street, and looking at the houses. They seemed normal. I remember pulling up to one, and seeing a house that I was instructed to go to, and a big white gate that I couldn’t open because it required a code. I had been given the code to enter, and was told not to share it with anyone.<br><br>I opened the gate, and drove up to the house. I remember seeing it was a large two story house, and that it had a large garage. I pulled up next to it, and got out of my car. <br><br>I remember the door opening.<br><br>And the man who stood in it.<br><br>He was tall. Maybe six feet four or five. He had blond hair, and blue eyes, and a thin white shirt on. I remember that his eyes seemed to bore into my very soul as he opened his big wooden front doors and said “Hello there.”<br><br>I remember stuttering.<br><br>And then speaking.<br><br>“Hi.” I said. “My name’s Josh. What’s yours?”<br><br>He smiled at me.<br><br>And I remember everything that happened after that.