by Melissa Haag
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When I woke, I found a manila envelope shoved under my bedroom door. A Post-it decorated the front of it. I easily read Richard’s scrawl.
Run as fast as you can. Everything is in your name.
I gazed at those words with a sinking feeling of dread. Somewhere in the house, a phone rang. Without looking at the contents, I quickly stashed the envelope in my pillowcase and made my bed. Before I finished, a key rattled outside my room and the door swung open. David eyed me as I stood next to the bed, tugging the quilt into place. I still wore my pajamas.
Since Blake needed Richard in the office and didn’t trust me home alone, he’d brought in David as my keeper. Well paid, David did as Blake said. I wondered if David knew about Blake’s teeth.
“You’re not supposed to be in here until I knock,” I said, repeating Blake’s rule.
“Today is an exception. Blake’s on the phone.” David held out a cell phone.
I stared at him a moment before I approached him to take it. What game did they play now?
“Yes?” I said, putting the phone up to my ear.
“Richard’s dead. This changes nothing. We’ll be back tonight.” The line went dead. Richard’s scrawled message ran through my head.
David walked further into my room, a suspicious look on his face. He moved past me and pulled back the quilt. I looked at my shelf where my softball participation trophy from middle school sat. When he lifted my pillow, I quietly lifted the trophy. I could hear my brothers’ muffled voices on the other side of the wall, still locked in their own room.
David never heard the envelope crinkle.
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