Literature
The numbers
You are driving on the highway at night. You see a hitchhiker, and decide to stop. The young man greets you nervously, and asks for a ride to a nearby city. He seems troubled, and looks like he hasn't slept for weeks. You try to start up a conversation, and he replies politely but makes it clear he doesn't want to talk. You give up and just drive.
At the city you stop to a street corner and he jumps out of the car. "I have no money, but" - he takes off a necklace you hadn't noticed before - "I am number five." He hands you the necklace. It looks old, like one of those victorian pendants with the silhouette-image on the middle, exempt that th