Yes, Mr. Demon Boy? (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty-Four

We didn't shift back to our human form until our worn claws scraped against a tarnished metal, a low screeching nails-on-a-chalkboard sound ringing out throughout the forest. We redressed as quickly as possible, our eyes never leaving the dull metal 2 by 8 container that we began to pull out of the dirt.

It was taller than I expected and way more dirty. It wasn't like in the movies when you pull a time capsule or a box out of the ground and somehow it's pristine. The thing had worms and beetles and shit crawling all over it. I had to take my shirt off again to wipe it all away so we could see how to open it.

And that's when I saw them. The 5 half moon carvings on the top of the metal container just like the ones Darius had forced me to open a few weeks ago. So I bent down on my knees, extracted my nails, and dug them into the moons and turned.

Just like I expected, the box radiated a light blue (Randy let out a "what the fuck") and popped open with a small click. We both slowly gravitated towards the opening, knowing but not really knowing what to expect.

Randy was right-there had to be millions of dollars in there.

They were stacked in even, organized, neatly placed piles of 100-dollar bills. There were five rows that I counted, each with a light yellow Post-it on top. Each note had a last name, an address, a state, and an amount.

"Randal, Jensen, Plyman.." Randy muttered in disbelief, his eyes engulfing every name. "30,000, 50,000.... Tanka... and," Randy paused, turning to look at me warily. "Rush. One million."

My breath caught in my throat.

Rush.

Seeing the money, seeing all those zeroes in my father's carefully scripted handwriting made my stomach queasy. I knew Darius' accusations about my dad had to be true, but a small part of me wished that he was wrong. That he was mentally unstable and a liar and that my father was the kind-hearted gentle man I knew him to be all my life. Seeing that money... with their name on it.... that hurt.

"Wait a minute Sam... didn't you say Damien's dad invested 20,000 dollars?"

Randy's voice brought me back to the reality of the situation. Right as the word "huh?" was about to form on my lips, I processed what he had said.

Instead I said, "Yes. Yes only 20,000."

Randy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Both of us leaned down over the box to see if a mistake could have been made. But then I saw it. It was scratchy and the pen's ink wasn't very good, and it was written over the writing on the bill, but I could clearly see my name. So I reach in and brought out the first stack from the Rush's pile. The one with the post it. Slowly I pulled the note off, my eyes catching the ink and writing of my name disappearing underneath it.

It said:

Sam-

For your new life together.

Dad

~~

Mason

Casp was leaning sideways against his locker; book in hand, as the rest of us watched from further away talking amongst ourselves. We had one more period until the end of the day and Caspian was cramming for a bio exam he had to make up during study hall. I felt terrible; he was still making up assignments from last week's hospital scare. I had offered to help him study, but he sent me away because apparently my hand on his hip and my fingers toying with the skin under his shirt were considered "a distraction." Personally, I would call it motivation.

"Caspian could make anything look sexy," I said to no one in particular, the boys behind me not paying any attention to me. But the little smirk and light blush on Caspian's cheeks told me he was the only one who had heard, even if he was a couple feet away from me.