The Lottery Novels & Stories

"Tonight's winning lottery numbers are..." This was it. This was the moment that would change everything. "The winning numbers for tonight's jackpot of fifty-seven million dollars are..." The announcer paused with that theatrical timing that lottery announcers seemed to perfect. "Seven... fourteen... twenty-three... thirty-one... forty-two... and the bonus number is sixteen.” My heart didn't just stop – it felt like it shattered into a million pieces. Seven, fourteen, twenty-three, thirty-one, forty-two, sixteen. Those weren't Hailey's numbers.

Soon, the day the lottery numbers were to be drawn arrived. Just like last time, my lottery ticket hit the 100-million-dollar jackpot. I was finally about to claim my prize and take back everything I had lost. But when I got home from school, I sensed something amiss. The moment I stepped inside, Mom slapped me across the face. My cheek burned hot. "If the toilet hadn't clogged, I never would have found your lottery ticket in there." She smiled coldly at me and shook the lottery ticket in her hand. Vincent looked thrilled. "Mom, I told you she hid a lottery ticket. None of you believed me!"

"This… is the one that actually wins." In my previous life, I had indeed won 50 million dollars, but with the ticket I'd bought with my own money. On the morning of the wedding, I wanted some good luck, so I stopped by the grocery store and bought a ticket. Of course, I didn't expect Beatrice to give me another one as a wedding gift. When the winning numbers were announced in our previous lives, the lottery office manager took a photo of me and posted it online. Overnight, I became a minor celebrity in our city.

… The next afternoon, Jacob excitedly told me that his good days were coming soon. "Quinn has already bought the lottery ticket. Once the numbers are announced, I'll go cash it in and pay off my loans." He was already shouldering over a million dollars in loans, and they were almost due. Still, he just kept thinking that paying off a million dollars would be easy with 100 million dollars. I ignored him and quietly waited for the day of the lottery draw. When the day finally came, Jacob invited me over to his place, insisting I witness his success. Since I also wanted to see him make a fool of himself, I agreed.

His eyes softened, not with fear, but pride. “I do. Go. My woman doesn’t lose.” Adrian drove me to his Miami estate. He barely waited for the door to shut before blurting, “I’ll bring a priest here. Right now. We can get married today, now, just say yes.” A short, humorless laugh escaped me. “Adrian… why? When I wanted to marry you, you hid behind your stupid lottery. For years, you used chance to keep me waiting, begging.” I stepped closer, my voice quiet and cruel.

My parents used lottery tickets to decide our allowances because they wanted to train and educate my younger sister, Elena Carter, and me. Every week before we returned to school, we would be given five lottery tickets. Whatever amount we scratched would be our weekly allowance. Elena was always lucky. She would always win at least a hundred dollars, and she would spend the money on good meals, dresses, and even buying her roommates coffee. The most I had won was 15 dollars, and most of the day, all I got was a few dollars. At the height of my bad luck, all five lottery tickets would end up being losing tickets. I had to rely on the two dollars I managed to save last week. When I asked

I needed to play the lottery. With a large smile on my face, I grabbed my purse and left the motel. The supermarket I had chosen was busy, and while it was closer to my neighborhood, it was the only one I knew that sold the tickets to the lottery. My smile wiped off my face the moment I walked in and saw people walking around smiling and nodding at each other. Nobody here knew that in just a week, the world they knew would be gone. I shook my head. Even though I wanted to help everyone, I couldn’t, so I would do what I could.

She could not reveal the bitterness she felt inside, so she could only nod helplessly and say, “Ah, yes... that’s right.” The store manager nodded and quickly took out a lottery box from under his desk as he said to Elaine, “Madam, you’d better draw the lottery first!” Elaine sighed, rubbed her hands together, and said, “Come on, let’s try to win the grand prize and see what good thing can be worth 1.2 million dollars!” Having said that, Elaine stretched out her hand, selected a lottery ticket from inside the box, and took it out. The store manager hurriedly put the lottery box back and said to Elaine, “Madam, you can scratch it

Suddenly, Sophia shook the jar in her hand, "Aren't we going to draw the lottery? Let's see who wins the big prize." Chuck looked at Sophia with some remorse. "We really didn't mean to deceive you. This was just a private game between us." Sophia ignored him and handed the jar to Jackson. "Jackson, you do the honors." He nodded, took the jar, and unfolded the pieces of paper inside one by one. The crowd gathered around, eager to know if anyone had written Sophia's agreement. Chuck remained silent, watching from the side. Jackson read aloud, "This one says, 'Get lost and quit dreaming.'"

The host continued, and as he said so, on the big screen behind him popped up three words in bold size-- One Billion Dollars The crowd burst into surprised gasps and then thunder-like cheerings -- Theo's stunt did its number on the people as the flashlights of the media were blinding most of the people present with excitement. Even for one of the best like Nightingale in this field, that kind of money was a years-revenue, and the kind of amount that would totally change the fate of such a company. It was almost the highest lottery ever, and with only 24 people in the game, while one was definitely winning.