"What is your mom planning on doing? Finding another job?" Faye asks, handing me a stack of two Mahjong tiles from the pile closest to her. She's in the seat facing the east, meaning that she's the dealer for this round. Next to me, Kassie leans over to steal the following two, lining them next to the ones she already has standing up.
"Yeah. She still has her job at the nail salon and we have some money saved up, so we should be fine for now," I reply, rearranging the order of my tiles. In front of me, I have a pretty bad hand: only one pair, and I have a feeling I won't be able to find matches for any of the stray tiles.
"How about Lulu? Does she have any luck finding a job?"
"No," Kassie answers solemnly, though I know it's been worrying her more than she's letting on, "she had an interview yesterday for a janitor position, and it didn't go...well."
Truthfully, she's in a worse position than my mom and I are. Realistically speaking, she can't stay at Faye's house forever, and there's a risk that if Kass gets a job, they might find out her true identity. Fully digesting this information makes me wonder if we're making the right decision fighting her family. Playing with fire rarely ends well, especially if you don't have a back up plan. If this does blow up in our faces, then what are we going to do next?
"Lee don't worry about it," Kassie says with a shrug, running a hand through the left side of her short hair. The other side is freshly shaven off. "We'll be fine, I promise."
Her words do little to console me, but nonetheless, I offer a small smile.
To kick off the game, Faye draws the first tile, adds it to her line up, and discards the one on the end. The bamboo 3. Doesn't match any of the ones I have, so I grab another from the pile. Zhong (middle). In terms of strategy, it wouldn't make a difference if I kept it or not since I don't have many eyes (pair). My gut is telling me that it's likely I will encounter another one, so I keep it and remove my bamboo eight instead.
"Pong," Kass declares, taking the tile I put down and putting it next to her pair of bamboo eights.
We continue to play for a couple more rounds, and it seems like every move I make benefits my opponents more than it benefits me. Mahjong isn't necessarily a game that relies on strategy. There's a lot of luck involved, and unfortunately, as of recently, that doesn't seem like something that's been on my side.
"I win, bitches," Faye announces, turning her tiles over to show her hand, "pay up."
"You're really gonna take my life savings away like this?" I mutter, pulling a dollar out of my leather bound wallet.
"I was joking, but since the money's already out, I might as well take it," she says, snatching the bill from my hand.
"Kassie?" Halle enters the living room, face twisted with concern, an envelope in hand. Tentatively, she lingers near a crinkled column.
"Yeah?" Kassie responds, tucking in her seat and making her way towards her sister. One glance over her shoulder, and she grimaces. "Uhhhh...that can't be good."
I frown. I've never seen them so on edge before. "What's wrong?"
The two of them exchange a look before the older one of the two sighs and folds the paper back into the ripped open envelope. "Our transplant appointment got cancelled. They said they don't do them anymore...but that can't be true, right? We made it quite recently..."
"Wait this is the hospital my parents work at right? Last time I checked, they do transplants," Faye says, stacking the tiles one by one in their respective cases. The glossy surface reflects the light, brightening the green backing.
Oh fuck. Now, this—this is low, even for him. Despite what's happened between him and his siblings, at the end of the day, Halle's life is in danger, and no one deserves to die. This is too fucking far. Fuck with my life, that's perfectly fine, but once you bring other people into this? That's when it's fucked up. How can someone be so cruel? Even when he's been in her position before. The thought of it makes my blood boil.
"We can go to another hospital to check," Kassie exhales, finding enough strength to smile, "but maybe tomorrow morning since we need to go to a different town and it's really late right now?"
"That sounds good," Faye agrees, folding the legs of the table, and inserting it between the wall and her redwood bookshelf, "I'm pretty sure my mom has a day off so she can drive you."
Halle nods, looking ghostly pale, but emotionless nonetheless. "Sounds like a plan."
Suddenly, a loud shriek drifts into the room, interrupting our conversation. Grimacing, I put my hands over my ears. I'm getting a little worried about the state of Tara's vocal cords.
Groaning, Faye smooths out a wrinkle on her tennis skirt. "Shut up Villanova! You scared the shit out of me."
Dressed in a black turtleneck and ripped jeans, Tara emerges from around the corner, staring down at her phone in horror. "My dad just got arrested. Without bail offered."
Ah, and just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse.
Not that he doesn't deserve the sentence, because he definitely does, but this is awful timing. Besides, he's been doing this for years and years, and he's only getting caught now? Something's a little fishy about this. There's no way it's a coincidence. "Shit, someone must've snitched on him."
"This isn't fair," she whines, spinning on her heel to leave, "I'm going to fucking burn that house down, I swear."
I giggle, folding my arms across my chest. "Good one."
She returns with a gallon container of gasoline and a box of matches.
"Woah woah woah, you can't be serious right?" I ask nervously, watching as she sets the items onto the kitchen counter, moving a basket full of fruits to make space.
"Oh I'm fucking serious alright. I have nothing to lose. Clearly," she replies bitterly, sitting on the bottom step of the staircase so she can lace her sneakers.
"Tara, this is insane. Absolute madness. That's arson! If you get caught, you're gonna get into so much trouble! Right Faye? Tell her. Tell her she's being crazy."
"I can't believe you," Faye begins, shaking her head and crossing her arms.
"Thank you! Finally someone's being reasonable!"
"You're not even going to invite me to come along? I thought we were friends," Faye interjects, shaking her head in disapproval.
"Wait what? Don't encourage her!" I exclaim, frantically chasing Faye to her room, where she grabs a change of clothes from her drawers.
"I'm just returning the favor! Have you gotten a look at this place?" Pointing at a hole on the wall that's still unfilled, she scoffs as we rejoin the rest of the girls in the kitchen. "It's falling apart! I can't just sit back and not do anything. That's not fair."
Point taken, but it's much less likely for us to get away with anything. Plus, this is so extreme. Worst case scenario, we get arrested too. Doesn't seem like an appealing outcome.
"If you guys are really going," Kass begins, fishing into her bomber jacket pocket, "then at least take this."
Unhooking a keychain from the loop, she puts the item onto Tara's outstretched hand. "What's this?"
"Sensor card. You need it to get through the gate," she explains, pointing to a small metal chip on the back.
"You're okay with this?"
"I'm not going to partake. Just know that if you're gonna do it, this is your only opportunity," Kassie points out, leaning her elbows on the island's surface. "My dad's in jail, and there's a game today, meaning no one's home. Yes, there is a chance that you'll be caught, but it's way less likely than you might think it is. First of all, the houses in that neighborhood are spread far apart, so it's unlikely a neighbor will see you sneak in. And, on top of that, the closest fire department is at least 30 minutes away. Second of all, if you create a big enough fire, you'll be able to burn all the security footage. The only thing you really need to be careful of is the alarm system, but I know that house like the back of my hand. Make no mistake, my parents are not dumb by any means. Heartless, maybe, but not dumb. The keys Halle has probably won't work, so if you want to bypass the alarms, you need to dig a hole under the fence from the outside, crawl through, and there's a control panel on the wall so you can open it to make things easier when you leave. From there, make sure not to destroy any of the property. That will trigger the security system. Instead, what I suggest you do is make sure you light a fire from the garden. Soak all the walls in gasoline, climb into the chimney if you need to get inside."
"What do you say, Lee?" Faye puts on a dark wash denim jacket. "Are you up for an adventure?"
"Let me get changed."
***
"I can't believe you two dumbasses talked me into this!" I hiss in disbelief, hugging myself to keep warm. Trudging to the trunk, Tara and Faye haul out a ladder that's folded compactly and a shovel. A forceful wave of chilly night air almost knocks me off my feet. Gotta say, it is perfect weather for fueling a fire, and there's lots of dry grass around, which is highly flammable.
Even now, I'm a little worried. What if someone spots us? From afar, we blend in because we're dressed in all black, but what if the gardener or something shows up and ruins everything?
"What I can't believe is how long it took for you to agree!" Faye retorts following Tara to tall wire fences surrounding the property. "Maybe we should've done this when they are all home so they can burn too."
"Zhangster, while that's a completely valid idea, we would've been caught in a heartbeat. We're like the three of the dumbest people on this planet, and I'm way too pretty to rot in a cell for the rest of my life." Hesitantly, I help two gallons of gasoline while Tara clutches onto a couple of lighters and a box of matches. Behind us, Faye trails closely, firmly grasping the shovel. When we're close enough, we carefully lay our materials down.
"Hey! Speak for yourself. I'm actually quite intelligent," I defend, pocketing a few boxes of matches for later.
"Why the hell do we need to crawl through anyway? Can't we climb it?"
"Um I don't think that's a good idea. These are electric ones," Tara responds, stomping onto the shovel and spooning out a chunk of dirt and grass. "Less talking, more digging."
I didn't notice it before, but there are little wires embedded in the wiring, and it's quite tall, so climbing is definitely out of the equation.
15 minutes and a dozen attempts at forming some sort of moat underneath the fence, we sit back and admire the trench we've created. The dry soot barely holds the shape, and we've hit a rock. In all honesty, it's not that deep.
"That took so fucking long, and we barely got any dirt out on the other side," Faye wheezes out, panting.
Using the hem of my long sleeve shirt, I wipe off the sweat that's collected onto my forehead. "I'm so out of shape that I don't think I can dig anymore."
"I think it's big enough for you to slide through."
"Me?" I repeat, glancing behind me to make sure she's addressing the right person.
"Yes you, you stupid fuck. There's literally no one behind you."
"Why me though? We're all the same height. If any one should go, it's Faye. She literally weighs like 2 pounds."
"I don't wanna get my shoes dirty! These are new Air Force 1s."
"Well I'm wearing new Doc Martens, so I don't wanna go either," Tara adds, looking at me from the corner of her eye. Yeah, they both totally did this on purpose. Who the hell wears nice shoes to burn down a house? Certainly not me.
"Fine I'm going," I grunt, getting onto my hands and feet. The soft soil serves as a plush cushion for my hands, the little bits of minerals getting stuck in my fingernails. These jeans are going to be thrown away if we get out of this alive.
"Careful. Don't get electrocuted. I don't want to carry your dead body from out of there. You're kind of heavy."
"I'm glad you care about my health and well being," I mutter, sinking deeper into the hole, crawling closer to the fence so we're an inch apart. Here comes the tricky part: finding a way to duck my body through without touching it. It doesn't look like it will be too difficult, since most of the soil has been cleared, but I'm afraid my butt may accidentally graze the ends. Using my hands to scoop some of the dirt aside, I stick my upper body under the fence with ease, pausing when I'm halfway through. Then, I arch my belly into the ground, slowly inching my way to the other side. When I'm finally there, I stumble onto my feet, dusting off the dirt stuck on my knees and elbows.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I turn on my flashlight, shining it to help me navigate through the dark. Jesus, I forgot how nice his house was. Neatly groomed cherry blossom trees are planted along the cobblestone pathway. Small pink lights are embedded into the stones, glittering when I pass by. To my left, the quiet sloshing of the water fountain soothes my eardrums.
However, this time, I wasn't fooled. Underneath the fancy embellishments and extravagant decorations, this place is a shit hole, and no amount of money could ever change that.
Stuck on one of the walls, a spot a small beige switch. Ever so carefully, I stick my thumb nail into the crack to pry the thing open. Without much thought, I switch the off button and press the open one. There's a loud rumbling noise that sounds, followed by a creaking one.
Moments later, Faye and Tara arrive, carrying the jugs of gas.
"Ready?" Tara inquires, handing me a box of matches.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
Wasting no time at all, we uncap the bottles, drenching everything—the walls, the plants, the pavement—in gasoline, the putrid smell filling my nostrils, but I couldn't let that get to me because I was running on the high of it. The high of fighting fire with fire.
When my jug is finally empty, I tap the bottle to release the last couple of drops. Reaching into my pocket, I strike the match against the side of the box. A crackling sound as the flame dances in the wind.
Dropping the match onto the gasoline soaked earth, I sit back and admire the trail of flames blazing up the walls and onto the ceiling. The events that followed happened in slow motion.
Ashes float in the sky like a forbidden aftermath of a rainstorm. The thick black smoke enters my throat, poisoning the deepest chambers of my lungs, and I let out a cough. Flames roar on, fueled by the force of the wind, growing angrier by the second. Dry autumn leaves burn into crisps.
Despite the fact that the blistering heat is starting to nip at my skin, I stay put, observing in awe as the fire rages on, melting millions of dollars into embers.
In complete silence, I watched as the foundation—one built on corruption, lies, and exploitation fell as fast as it rose.
And what a glorious sight it was.
Tonight, I witnessed the end of an American dynasty.