Braver Than I Used to Be

Chapter Twenty-Eight

When I got back home, Ray and Matthew were waiting for me. I ripped the papers into tiny pieces and threw them into the trashcan.

"What the fuck is going on?" Ray yelled.

I wiped my face again and made my way up the stairs. "He isn't coming back, it's just us now." I said as I made my way to the shower.

I let the hot water run on me as I sat on the shower floor with my arms wrapped around my legs.

I heard the door open and I knew it was Matthew, Ray never came in while I was in the shower. He pulled the curtain back and kneeled on the bathroom floor.

"What is going on?" he said calmly, "Ray is freaking out."

"He left, he isn't coming back. Ever."

"I'm sure he is, he always leaves for a while."

"No, you saw the note. He is not coming back. It's just Ray and I, we have no parents anymore."

He reached in and rubbed my face. "Don't say that."

I pulled my face away. "Matthew, he told me last week he had to leave and he couldn't come back. I told him he had one week because he was endangering everyone here. Now he is gone. He will never come back."

"Okay, I get it. He isn't coming back. But, surely, he couldn't stay from you guys forever."

I looked away, "He could if he wanted to protect us."

"And that is what he is doing?" I nodded, "Did he tell you what he did?"

"No, but I know. And I am not telling anyone. I just have to accept that he will not be back and so does Ray. We have no parents." I said firmly.

Matthew left me to finish my shower, I sat for another fifteen minutes until I remembered what I had to do.

I dried myself off and got dressed. I grabbed the key that was hanging in the kitchen and left on my bike without telling anyone. The storage unit on twenty-fifth street was less than a mile away. It was hidden on a little side street that was easy to pass because it was covered in trees, but I had seen the place before.

When I got there, there was a gate, he didn't give me a passcode so I went to the office. Behind the counter stood a man with short brown hair, light tan skin and a scar on his left cheek.

"Sorry ma'am, we have no units available"

"I don't need a unit, I need to change the lock on unit seventy-one."

The man paused, he was caught off guard by my response. "I've never seen you here before, what is your name?"

"Rita Carter. The name on the unit is Jack Ricter."

He became serious and seemed to know I meant business.

He took out a card and wrote a number down, "This is the passcode to the gate. It is unlocked from four in the morning to ten at night. We ask you conduct any business within those hours."

I nodded, no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't want to tell him that.

"And my lock?" I looked over at a wall full of regular storage unit locks. "Do I choose one of these?"

"No," he pulled out a huge, thick, heavy set lock with a key inside, "For your unit, you get these locks. Once you switch them out, return the old one to me."

I took the lock and got back on my bike after I put in the gate code. I rode around for about five minutes looking for unit seventy-one. Once I found it, I used the key my Dad left for me to open it. These were no regular storage units; the doors were heavy duty steel. They were very hard to push up and had a very thick seal at the bottom. I noticed a light switch to my right and flicked it on.

In front of me sat stacks of money and gold. I gasped and went to touch it to make sure it was real. In the back of the room I noticed another switch, I walked back and flicked it. The regular light turned off and a black light came on. I stared at the mountain of money and lines verified that it was real money. I took two stacks and shoved them along the lining of my pants and covered them with my t-shirt. I didn't want the money sticking out of my pockets. I had no idea what we were supposed to now. I didn't know what to do with the bricks of gold, but there was a lot of them. When I picked one up, how heavy it was told me these were also real.

After about twenty minutes of staring at the pile of money and gold, I closed the unit and locked it with the new lock. I gave the old lock back to the guy at the counter.

"Thank you." I told him.

"No problem, is your Dad okay?" he said before I made it to the door.

I turned back around, "I think so. He just told me to switch these locks-"

"When he left." he finished my sentence.

"Yes."

"He asked me about what happens when he needed to transfer the unit to you. I've known him twenty-years."

"Oh, well today he left."

I think he could see the hurt in my eyes when I told him.

"I'm sorry. My dad disappeared a few years back too. He lets me know he is still around though. Just look for little clues and hints here and there. He will let you know too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they won't come back, but sometimes I get post cards or letters from people with names I don't know. They are always typed up and they are signed by a name only I would know him by and no one else would know."

This made me smile, it gave me a little bit of hope that I would hear from him again. "Thank you, I really hope he does that too." I almost turned around before I thought of something else my Dad said, "What would have happened if I gave you the wrong name?"

He smiled, "We have people that handle that." he winked and it gave me chills all throughout my body. I would never forget the names.

At home Ray was sitting outside waiting for me. I had left my phone behind and he was holding it in his hand.

I took a seat next to him.

"He's really gone?" Ray said.

I nodded, "Yes. He can't come back."

"Why?"

"He said it was for our safety, and I believe him."

"How bad was what he did?" He asked me hoping I would say it wasn't too bad at all, and there is still hope.

"Really bad."

"And you are sure I don't want to know."

"It is better that you don't. I found out by mistake. But he was going to leave either way. Me knowing just made it easier, because now one of us knew why he had to go."

"I trust you." He leaned his head on my shoulder and we silently cried. We were alone.