Show Me the Money

#MotivationMonday 31

Prompt: "The trouble started when they threw the book in the fire"

Word limit: 100-500, not including prompt.

Photo chosen by me


My Entry: Show Me the Money

The trouble started when they threw the book in the fire. Jason stood with his brothers, watching the pages blacken and smoke drifting up the chimney. Being back here in the house where he grew up made him uneasy, itchy, like ants crawling beneath his skin.

"Nobody will ever know," the eldest, Joseph, said, brushing the dust off his hands.

Those words seemed so familiar. Jason was the baby, the butt of their jokes for years. Now that he was as tall and muscled as the others, they left him alone. But it wasn't his brother's voice he heard in his head.

Jason shook off his unease. "Do you think anyone read it?"

"It was in the trunk with the money," said John, the middle brother. "I doubt anyone's been up there in the thirty years since Mom died."

"Who'd have thought Dad..." Jason trailed off, thinking about the man that married their mother and took on her three young boys. He'd been father to them, and mother as well when she died the next year. They were lucky to have him, as he reminded them their whole lives.

Jason shivered. Being here made it hard to breathe. He kept expecting... something.

"Do you think the money is marked?" asked John. "Or there's a record of serial numbers or something?"

"It was a long time ago," answered Joseph. "I don't know what the cops did back then, or the FBI, or whoever."

"Neither of you have said anything to anybody, right?" Jason probed. Unlikely. Like him, his brothers were unmarried, no women in their lives.

"Hell," Joseph said, "even if they come back at us, what's the worst that could happen? They'd just take the money. We're not doing anything wrong, just using the money we found in our father's attic after he died. He was the criminal, not us."

"Yeah." John nodded his agreement. "Without the diary, there's no way we could know the money was stolen. For all we know, Dad could have been saving his whole life and accumulated it up there."

"Let's get out of here," Jason said. "We can take it back to town to divide it."

Joseph narrowed his eyes at him. "Why such a hurry all of a sudden?"

"This place gives me the creeps." Jason started back up the stairs to the attic. "Come on, let's get the money and get the hell out of here."

He stood at the top of the stairs, waiting as his brothers passed by before drawing his gun.

"You knew, didn't you?"

They both turned, eyes widening. "Knew what?" Joseph said. "We didn't know about the money."

"Not the money." The ants under his skin were joined by bees buzzing in Jason's belly. "What he did to me."

"Jason, he did it to all of us." Joseph, always the reasonable one, the leader, started toward him, reaching out.

Jason shot them both, hefted the trunk of money onto his back and locked the door behind him. "He owes me," he muttered as he drove away.

Prompt plus 498 words

Journey's End

Motivation Monday

The Prompt: You'll find monsters where you least expect them.

The photo is one I chose to go with the story.

Rules: 1. The story must start from the prompt. This means the prompt must be the first words in the story.

2. No more than 500 words (not including the prompt).  No less than 100 words.

The Journey Part 5: Journey's End
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You'll find monsters where you least expect them.

Jessa scrambled through the gate of the Colony with rubbery knees and trembling hands. The Keeper smashed the gate in the face of the Ravager, slamming the bar home. Jessa staggered, and the guard supported her with an arm around her waist, half-carrying her to a nearby stone bench.

"Sit for a mo," he said, "and I'll send for your Captain. Horse, right?"

Jessa nodded, still panting from her frantic final race. "Water," she gasped.

"Of course," said the Keeper, and handed her his canteen.

After gulping her fill, Jessa sat, zoned out. Far better not to think at all than to remember. She'd need to recount her journey soon enough.

"Well, and ye made it, then."

Jessa leaped up at the harsh voice, her hand flying up to her forehead in a salute. "Sir, yes sir." But her knees liquefied and she dropped back to the bench. Appalled, she struggled back to her feet. "Sorry, sir."

Horse exposed huge teeth in his long, lugubrious face, his version of a smile. "Here, lass, let me take the pack." He hefted it off her shoulders and began walking toward the barracks, certain that she'd follow. "Ye found the alloy, then?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Jazzy?" His furry brow lifted.

Jessa blinked back the sting in her eyes and swallowed the desert in her throat. "She didn't make it, sir. Ravagers."

Horse shook his head, his coarse mane of dark hair flowing around his shoulders. "Ah, such a shame. But ye've done well, lass."

Seated in his office, Jessa finished her report. "Cap'n, I found a leaf, at least I think it was."

When she described it, Horse said, "Well, lass, I think ye'd better report this to the Leader."

Jessa's heart leaped and sang for joy as she followed Horse to the Sanctum, where only a favored few entered. She said a quick prayer to the None that the Leader would find favor with her.

The Leader's eyes were deep and mesmerizing, and she dared not look into them as he ushered her into his Holy Place. Seated on a cushion before his throne she kept her head bowed, eyes down as she told him of the leaf.

"And were there no fragments you could collect and bring to me?" His sonorous voice echoed like angel choirs.

"The Ravager almost got me while I was looking for them."

The Leader rose and held out his hand, drawing her up. "Look at me, child."

When her eyes met his, Jessa froze, and when his lips covered hers she would have screamed, but she couldn't. Her thoughts, memories, dreams all flowed from her mouth into his and were absorbed into his being.

His jaw unhinged, swallowing first her face, then her head. The rest of her followed, and she knew no more.

Prompt plus 468 words