The days following Rissa’s midnight escapade to my house were among the oddest and surreal of my life. I’m still not sure what made me look down the following morning, but as soon as I walked outside to shovel the freshly fallen snow, I noticed a single white lily lying on my porch in the snow. It was a minor miracle that I didn’t step on it, since it didn’t exactly stand out in stark contrast to the snow. Glancing around, I looked for footprints only to discover there were none in the general vicinity, which meant it had to have been dropped off before the current snow had fallen. A small red tag was attached that read, “Please.” That was it; just one word. Unsure of what else to do, I tossed it inside my door so I could shovel a path to my garage and officially start my day.
That one word lingered in my mind all day as I meandered about the diner taking and serving orders. Every time I managed to forget about it, someone would say, “Coffee please” or “Hot chocolate please” thereby bringing it right back to the forefront of my mind.
“What do you think it means?” I asked Derik during one of the slumps.
“How the hell should I know? Have you been overly friendly to Brian?”
“No?” I asked, uncertain about whether or not my lack of hostility toward Brian could be misconstrued as something more. “I don’t think so. I mean I’m pretty sure he understands it’s over between us.”
“If you can’t even answer that, how am I supposed to make an educated guess? I’m sorry Trini, but I’ve got nothing.”
Honestly, I mentally complained, who leaves vague one word messages?
When I fell asleep that night, even my dreams were persistent in repeating the word.
The next afternoon I found a picture of my special clearing with my hollowed out tree on my doorstep with the word, “forgive.” Again, I went about my business with two words floating around in my head. I wracked my brain for who could possibly wish for my forgiveness. Did this mystery person wish for forgiveness for themselves or a loved one?
Whoever it was must’ve heard my questions, because when I got home that night, I discovered yet another token, though this time it was a flyer to a college with courses available online for my bachelors in education that had a sticker that read “me.” This particular token demanded my attention because it was clear that whoever was leaving this for me could only be one of four people: Brian, Ashley, Sam, and Brad. They were the only ones that could possibly have something to apologize for and also knew about both my hideout and my plans to go back to school. I doubted that it was Ashley because being a selfish, unrepentant whore seemed to be her lot in life. The amount of animosity that stirred within me just thinking her name made me laugh. Hopefully it wasn’t her asking for forgiveness, because I had a feeling that she would be a difficult one to forgive.
It would be a bold faced lie, if I said that I wasn’t completely and totally curious as to which of the three it could possibly be. I set my alarm for five sharp and went to sleep hoping I could catch whoever it was in the act of leaving me the next token. My disappointment at the butt crack of dawn was palpable, but I tamped it down when I realized that whoever had left me the three tokens must have already said what they meant to say. The three words together were a coherent thought, therefore additional messages were not necessary. Still, one would think the person would at least tell me who they were. Unless, my mind reasoned, they assumed you would figure it out.
The sound of my phone in the dead silence scared the living daylights out of me and I jumped a good two feet in the air before I ran over to answer it. I could not have been more grateful to take the call since it turned out to be Bill, my next door neighbor and real estate agent requesting to meet me in town because he officially had a buyer for me.
Completely shocked and suddenly unsure of how I felt about it, I managed to set up a meeting time for later this afternoon to review the paperwork. I jumped into the shower and made myself presentable for my meeting with Bill and some obviously wealthy person’s estate manager. I imagined the estate manager as a tall, pale and thin sort of man with a big nose and condescending eyes. The person he managed for would be a portly old man who liked to vacation in small towns with his wife of fifty years. The thought alone made me sigh, however in that same vein, it also filled me with sadness.
This house held a lifetime’s worth of memories, both good and bad in nature. It was also basically all I had left of my old life. I had long since sold my parents vehicles in order to be able to afford the mortgage payment, and most of their clothing had been donated to Goodwill. If I gave up this house, all that remained were a few photos and the abstract memories I would carry in my heart forever.
However if I sold this house, I’d be able to move into town and start over. I could rent out an apartment, reenroll in school and finally get my life together. As I settled into my car and blasted the heater to combat the cold, I realized that if the price was right, it was a necessary change that was seven years overdue.
**
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” I said with my jaw practically unhinged.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” he reiterated.
I looked at the composed young man that had introduced himself as Tom and inspected every facet of his expression. He practically reeked of ‘business sense’ and seriousness.
“You’re serious.”
“Of course the man is serious Trinity. He flew all the way from New York to meet with you this afternoon,” Bill interjected impatiently.
“But it was only purchased for two hundred thousand!”
Bill looked like he wanted to strangle me for looking at what was obviously a gift horse in the mouth.
“Twenty years ago,” Tom supplied helpfully finally breaking his serious mask with a small, amused smile. “Inflation, location, and the floor plans make it a valuable buy despite the state of disrepair that it is in at the moment.”
“And you’re willing to offer me a quarter of million dollars cash for the house as is with all the furnishings?”
“That sounds about right,” he said easily.
“Do I get to meet this mystery buyer?” I asked, still not quite able to believe the too good to be true offer.
“Unfortunately, no. He’s a busy man and there is written documentation allowing me to make transactions on his behalf. He says he wants your house for what it’s worth, and I make it happen.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he smiled in earnest.
“Have you had Terry down at the law office review it?” I asked as I finally turned back to Bill.
“Yeah, Tom here forwarded it to me about a week ago and Terry approved it this morning. Being the extremely efficient man he is, Tom has called every morning like clockwork to confirm the status.”
Bill handed me the initial contract and explained, “Tom has agreed to transfer the remaining amount of the balance due on the house to your personal account so you can pay it off and clear the title. In the meantime the binding promissory note between you, states that the moment a clear title is in your possession, he will transfer the remaining balance owed to you in exchange for the official bill of sale. It’s a once in a lifetime offer Trinity. He is being very generous in both his offer and how he’s going about it.”
This was my chance, I reminded myself, my chance to start fresh without the ghosts of my past haunting me.
I took Bill’s proffered pen and let it hover as I reread the simple and to the point contract one more time. There didn’t seem to be any fine print and the only thing I was worried about was where I planned to stay while the title cleared. I guess, the new owner was so ecstatic about his most recent impending acquirement that he planned to have contractors in there restoring the house to its original majesty by the end of the week. In the best case scenario I’d stay with Derik and Trishka for a couple weeks. I only needed long enough to secure an apartment in town. Worst case scenario was that I could move in with Kristy and the gang.
“Jese,” I mumbled to myself, “where have I heard that before?”
“It’s the name of the estate,” Tom answered even though my question hadn’t really been for him.
“It’s do or die,” I urged myself as I pressed the pen to the paper and signed my name.
“Check your funds at your earliest convenience. I took the liberty of assuming you would take me up on my offer and transferred the first payment right before you got here.”
“What if I had refused?” I asked taken aback.
“But you didn’t,” he smiled, eyes twinkling, “I must be off. Remember the agreement. I need you out of there in two days time.”
Without another word he strode out of the door and I was seventy thousand dollars richer.
**
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” I said almost numb.
“Say what?” Derik asked completely floored. I could tell not only by his words, but by his tone. Every time he found something completely preposterous, his voice would rise to a soprano octave by the end of his statement.
“He offered me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for an acre and the house fully furnished as is.”
“Why on God’s green earth would he do that?” Derik continued to question dumbfounded, “If the house were in perfect condition, it’d be worth three hundred tops. As it is, that house is twenty years old and in need of a lot more repair!”
“I know. In fact to Bill’s horror, I admitted the purchasing price straight up to the old dude’s estate manager,” I replied thinking of the meeting that had ended twenty minutes ago.
“You want to know what he did? He gave me a small, knowing smile and with a twinkle in his eye told me it was inflation and-”
A deer shot out of nowhere and in my panic, I slammed on my brakes and swerved to avoid it. Thankfully there was no one behind me or in any direction for that matter. On the downside, there was no to see or hear me wrap my car around a tree when I overcorrected and lost traction on the ice slicked roads.
The last thing I remember before I blacked out was the sound of Derik yelling my name repeatedly over the phone.
\\Okay kind of short and kind of a cliff hanger, but the events that occur after this flow better as a chapter of its own so I had no choice. So a BIG thanks to all the readers, both new and old. You all got me to What's Hot 35, which is AMAZING. I'm grateful to each and every one of you who've read/voted for this and I hope you enjoy the beginning of the end of Flight Risk.