Chicago Beaumont has a magical life to everyone on the outside. She is just like any other rich kid in the world. She gets whatever she wants at the snap of her fingers. She lives in a beautiful house and she's considered one of the most popular gir...
"Joshua, start looking for a key," I instructed. "His desk key has to be here somewhere."
The boy nodded, settling the book he was holding back on the shelf. I knew there was no way he was going to find it; however, he wanted to help. My father would hide the key where only a Beaumont would be able to find it through some thinking. At times like this, I was happy that I was a genius.
When the twins, Hugo, and I were younger, my parents would hide Easter eggs in the strangest of places just to test our thinking process. Sometimes the eggs were hidden outside; other times they were inside. Every year we were able to find them, but as we started growing up, the hiding places started getting stranger and stranger. My parents wanted us to start thinking about the unlikely places.
One year, I couldn't find the last egg that was hidden for me and instead of giving me a normal hint, my father decided to talk to me in riddles. There were three main ones that always stayed with me.
"It has a million stories, but cannot tell them."
That hint led me to his study which I didn't understand. That was the one forbidden place in the entire house and when I tried to open the door, it was locked. So I went back to my father and I told him that his riddle lead me to his study, the only place that could be describe as a library. The next riddle was quite easy for me.
"I have a spine, but no bones. Inside me the adventurous find quests and treasures of every kind."
That answer was very easy for me to figure out. He was talking about a book; what I didn't get was that all the books in the house was in his study, which I couldn't get access to. So I had to look around the house for a stray book. I ended up finding a book called in my mother's pantry. What I couldn't understand was that I was looking for an Easter egg. Why was I led to a book?
I could remember staring at it and turning it over and over until my father walked in the kitchen and smiled, stating another riddle.
"One sheet, two sheets, three, sheets, more... some use less, some use more."
Toilet paper automatically popped into my head when he said that, but that couldn't possibly be right. That's when I opened the book and a bright purple egg fell at my feet. It turned out that the book was hollow. I was amazed over that concept when I was child, but now it seemed quite useful.
"Joshua, look for a book called The Seven Ravens by the Brothers Grimm." I hurried over to the main bookshelf in the room, my eyes scanning over the spines of various books.
Josh raised his eyebrows at me, confused by my sudden outburst, but he did exactly what I asked. "When we do this, we should play twenty questions. We are supposed to get to know each other and so far I only know that you have a big family and you are very cunning."
I rolled my eyes. "We are acting like spies and you want to play twenty questions, Joshua?" I shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess. You go first."
"What's your favorite color?"
"Starting with the basics, huh?" I remarked, moving on to the next shelf. "If you must know, it's purple."
Josh mocked shock. "Chicago Beaumont actually likes a girlish color, wow!" He was so lucky that I wasn't close to him because if I was he would be getting a punch in the arm. "Favorite tv show?"
"The Walking Dead," was his immediate response and I couldn't help but scoff. "Almost every person on this planet loves the Walking Dead. I didn't think it was that great honestly."
Josh now had a real look of shock on his face. "Who doesn't like the Walking Dead? You are so abnormal, Chicago. Let me guess, your favorite show is Pretty Little Liars?"
I shook my head. "No, it is actually Boy Meets World. I'm pretty sure Shawn Hunter was my first crush when I was like seven."
The blue-haired boy opened his mouth to say something before he slowly closed it again. I watched as he reached out and wrapped his hand around a book, pulling it off the shelf. "This is it."
I hurried over to where he stood and took the book out of his hands, flipping to the middle. Sure enough the book was hollowed out and inside laid a key.
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Josh looked over my shoulder in awe. "Your family will forever amaze me."
We both moved towards my father's desk and I inserted the key into the main drawer. I looked up to smile at Josh. "Hopefully, what I want to find is in here."
•••
"What are we even looking for?" Josh asked, shifting through a manila folder stuffed with papers. "To me, this is just a bunch of gibberish."
"Bank statements involving large sums of money, journal entries, printed out emails, anything," I responded.
"What secret are you trying to discover, Chicago?"
I froze. I really didn't know if I wanted Josh to know about my father's involvement in money embezzlement. My family always taught me to keep up the good reputation and telling Josh about everything would ruin that. It was best if I just kept my mouth shut.
"I just want to find something." My eyes scanned over the small black print that was spread out in front of me, looking for anything to do with the bank. After a good ten minutes, I began to think that maybe my father was telling the truth when he said he was innocent. That's when I stumbled upon a little slip of white paper.
"What is it?"Josh asked, leaning over to try to see what was catching my eye. I shook my head, turning my body to where I wasn't facing him. I didn't want him to see the disappointment on my face as I silently read the small print.
WITHDRAWAL
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 062758132
DATE: March 6th, 2016 Name: Quentin Beaumont
SIGNATURE:Quentin Caleb Beaumont
The Money Bank Amount: $350,000
Columbus, OH
A/N: Updates may be less frequent because I'm starting driver's ed next week. Just a heads up!
