What a Day

Ok, you may be wondering how a picture-perfect girl would end up digging through the dirt, hoping to find the money that her father had hidden, to keep the most wanted, and dangerous gang, happy. Well, it’s actually a funny story. 

It started out like any other day. Classes felt like they dragged on for days, my bestie had a few guys ask her out, which I made a mental note of. And I got the house to myself for a few hours, until my brother came home from school. 

However, that is when things took a huge turn for the worst. I was in my room doing some homework, when I heard the front door open. I assumed it was my little brother, however, I didn’t hear the door close. 

‘This kid.’ I thought rolling my eyes. “DEMIAN! CLOSE THE DOOR!” I yelled down to my, super annoying, brother. 

No reply. The only sounds that could be heard from downstairs were some rustling and muffled orders from voices that definitely were not my brother. Or any of his friends. 

Afraid and confused, I got off my double-sized bed, and walked towards my door. I grabbed the bat that I keep by my door, for protection, and slowly reached for the knob. But I quickly stopped when I heard loud, rough footsteps stomping up the stairs towards my room. 

In a moment of panic, I quickly ran to my closet and closed the door. As my closet door closed, my bedroom door slammed open. A tight inhaled gasp caused me to throw my hand over my mouth, praying that whoever had broken into my room didn’t hear me.

Unfortunately for me, they did. 

The footstep came closer to the closet and the door quickly slid open. Before I was able to react, the large male, in all black, grabbed a large chunk of my light brown hair and pulled me out of the closet.

I attempted to fight back, use the bat that I had grabbed, but he grabbed it and threw it away. I screamed, tried to hit him, stomp on his foot, something to get him to let me go. But this guy was a brick wall. Nothing I did, made him let go of my hair. 

He brought me down the stairs, where I saw 4 other men wearing all black. 3 of them holding guns, and one was crouching in front of the couch, holding my little brother’s chin, as if they had just been talking. 

The man turned his head, to see what the commotion was. Our eyes locked. It was him. Caleb Peterson. The leader of the Silent Death gang.

I had met him once. I was much younger, but I would never forget those smoky grey eyes. 

My dad was forced to do a job for him. I was only five years old. He wanted my dad to get him and his men into the bank that he worked at, so they could rob it. This was back when they were much smaller and not as well known. But just as scary.

The only reason my dad helped them was that they had me, my mom, and my newborn brother hostage. However, one of his men was caught. Because of that, they killed my mother. And forced him to do odd jobs whenever they needed him.

I thought he was done with them because I stopped finding notes in the kitchen when I got home. 

“Ah, Eva. So wonderful to see you again.” Caleb started, standing up and walking away from my brother and towards me. “It’s been too long. Last we spoke, you were 5. How old are you now?” 

I hadn’t noticed until now, but the man let go of my hair. I tried to look everywhere but at him, but his thumb and forefinger grabbing my jaw, forced my cristal blue eyes to gaze into his smokey grey ones. “Didn’t your father teach you manners? You are to look at who you are talking to, and answer them when they ask you a question.” 

I stay quiet for a moment, wanting to look away, but it was as if he had captured my gaze with only his eyes. Eventually, I gave up trying to look away and sighed. “17.” 

“See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” He smirked, letting go of my jaw and moving his hand to play with a piece of my hair. “You know, your father does owe us some money, but,” he pauses for a moment and looks me up and down smirking, “I think you might be a better payment.” 

I hit his hand away as my face changes to one of disgust. “Dad went on a business trip and won’t be back until Sunday,” I explain, hoping it will make these people leave. 

Caleb raises a brow. “Is that so. Well then, I guess you’ll have to find some way to come up with the money.” He says as he starts walking away. 

A low growl escapes my lips. “How much?” 

“200 grand.” 

Your brows furrow in confusion. “I just told you I’m 17. Where am I going to get all the money?” 

He smirks and looks at me from over his shoulder. “What is the expression teens use. Um…ah yes. That seems like a you problem.” Another growl escapes my lips. “Oh, and just so I know you get the money,” He turns around and looks at Demian, grabbing his collar which caused him to stand up. “I’ll keep him.” 

I gasp. Demian looks just as afraid as I do. Maybe even more so.

Caleb hands Demian to another one of the men. “Get me the money by Midnight. If not,” He looks at Demian and smirks. “Well, I think you remember what happens when someone doesn’t listen.” 

The sound of my mother screaming fills my head, before I hear the sound of a gun reloading, causing me to jump out of my thoughts. 

“Tick tock.” 

Hearing Calebs attempt to make the sound of a clock, causes me to frantically think. ‘Ok Eva, think. Dad must have hidden some money somewhere. Where would he hide it-’ All of a sudden, a memory enters my mind. 

I was about 5 or 6. My dad was in the kitchen stuffing as much money as he could into a trophy that I had won at a school event. Then someone knocked on the door. My dad quickly ran over to the door and looked through the hole. Once he saw who it was, he opened the door and one of his friends walked in. Dad thanked him and took the trophy, then ran out the door.

I then remembered that one time I was at my brother’s school and saw that the trophy was still there. It was only a few months ago, so it must still be in there. 

After I had my plan, I quickly ran upstairs to grab my phone. Then I ran back downstairs and threw on my jacket and shoes. 

“Where are you going?” Caleb asked. 

“I’ll be back before Midnight with your money,” was all I said before I left and closed the door. 

I ran as fast as I could to my brother’s school. What never crossed my mind, was that I had no way of getting in. Luckily, the universe was on my side. There was a game at the school. 

I walked into the school and saw the case. The problem was, there were some teachers standing on either side of it, so I couldn’t get in. I growled to myself and tried to think of something that I could do. 

Unsure of what to do, I followed the crowd to the gym where the game was being played. I thought about what I could do. Then I got an idea. I waited until half time then hid in the bathrooms, opened a window, and waited again.

I waited until the game was over, and the school fell silent. At around 9:45 I exited the bathroom and walked over to the cabinet. ‘Thank goodness for my forgetful ass, never remembering her key.’ 

In elementary school, I would ride my bike to school, but I would always forget my key. Eventually, after about 5 locks, I learned how to pick locks. And from then on, I never needed my key. 

I took a bobby pin out of my hair and started to pick the lock while being hyper-aware of all my surroundings. Once the lock was picked, I opened the cabinet and quickly grabbed the trophy. Assuming there was a silent alarm, I closed the cabinet and ran. I ran back to the bathroom and jumped out the window. Once out, I hid behind a bush that was nearby and took a breath. 

‘Ok Eva, you need to breathe.’ I thought to myself, attempting to calm my breathing. 

Once I had caught my breath, I sighed and looked at the trophy in my hand. I flipped it around and pulled at the bottom. It took a little bit of pulling, but I eventually got it to open. I looked inside hoping to see a large amount of money, however, fear took me over when I found nothing. All that was there was a key and a note. Confused, I looked at the note and there was a bunch of dots and dashes.

It was morse code. 

. . . . -  - - - - -   - . -  . -  . - .  - . .  . . . 

I quickly whipped out my phone and searched for morse code. I quickly translated the note. 

‘4…0…y…a…r…d…s? 40 yards? What does that mean?’ I thought to myself. I thought about what it could mean, then the most obvious choice came to mind. ‘The football field. Where dad lost the biggest game of the season in high school.’ 

Not wanting to know if anyone was coming, I quickly ran out of the bush and ran to my high school. 

Once I got there, I quickly ran to the utility shed near the football field and picked the lock the same way I did at the elementary school. Once open, I ran in and frantically started looking for a shovel. Once I found one, I ran out to the field and tried to remember which 40 he lost on. 

Eventually, I remembered which one it was and ran over to it. Then, I started digging. 

And that is pretty much how this happened. I’ve been digging for about 20 minutes, and haven’t hit anything. I still have an hour until midnight, but I need to hurry up. 

I continue to dig until I eventually hit something. It was metal. Freaking out, I brushed off the dirt of what I hit, and daw a small metal container with a keyhole. I jumped out of the hole I dug and fumbled for the key that I found in the trophy.

I inserted the key and twisted, which thankfully unlocked the box. Inside there was at least half a million dollars. I smiled and closed the container, locking it again, then ran home. 

Bursting through the door, I saw 6 men in the living room, Caleb being one of them, and Demian. He looked unharmed. 

“Ah, Eva. You finally came back.” He looked at the container in my hand. “Do you have my money?” He stood up and walked over to me, with his hand outreached for the container. But I pulled it back before he could touch it. 

“Give me my brother, then you get your money,” I explained, my face filled with seriousness. 

He let out a chuckle. “How do I know you actually have the money?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

She thought for a moment, then walked over to the coffee table. I looked up at Demian, my eyes telling him that it would be ok. He nodded. 

Taking a breath, I unlocked the container and started to count out $200,000. Caleb watching from behind my shoulder. 

“199, 200,000. There.” I picked up the money and closed and locked the container. “Give me my brother, and you get your money.” 

He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. That seems like a lot of money for one kid.” 

“You said 200,000. Give me my brother, or no money.” Determination and intimidation were the only things lacing my tone. 

“I don’t think you are really in the position to be changing the demands,” Caleb said with a confused smirk. “Give me the key.” 

Raising my eyebrows, I sighed and picked up the key. “Eva, don’t.” I heard Demian cry out. 

As I was about to hand Caleb the key, I pulled it back to myself and broke off most of the teeth on the key.

About to scowl and tell the man holding my brother, to shoot, I dropped the key and held the money in both hands ready to rip all of it. Caleb stopped all movements. “You are making this really hard for yourself,” I said, with a smirk. 

“Heh, you really are your father’s daughter.” He motioned, with his head, to the man to bring my brother over.

The man obeyed and brought my brother over. Caleb stuck his hand out for me to give him the money. I did the same, but towards my brother. 

Caleb smirked as my brother grabbed my hand. I extended my hand with the money in it, and he had a hand on the money. Both our eyes connected with intense tension, that was so thick, saying you could cut it with a knife would be an understatement. 

He motioned to the man that he could let go of my brother. The moment he did and I pulled my brother towards me, I let go of the money and hugged my brother tight. 

Caleb smirked at the money and motioned to the men. “Come on. Our work here is done.” He said, not breaking our eye contact. “It was nice to see you again Eva. Let me know when you’re 18. Maybe we could,” he paused and looked me up and down. “Talk about some things.”

Disgust crossed my face as he smirked, looked at me again, then left my house leaving my brother and me alone. 

The moment the door closed, I started to check over my brother, searching for any scratches or bruises, or any kind of injury. “Are you ok?” I asked worriedly. “Did they hurt you?” 

“I’m ok. Just-” Demian paused, as if unsure of what to say. “Who were those guys?”

I sighed. “Just some bad people dad was forced to do work for. Hopefully, they won’t come back anymore.” 

Finally letting go of my brother, I sat on the couch, covered in dirt and small twigs, and thought about everything that just happened. I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed.

‘What a day.’