A Birthday Party and a Ransom Note

[Content Warning - Contains mild mention of violence.]

She holds the card up to her face and there’s a moment's silence as she reads. Her eyes are wide as she lowers it, but thankfully, her hands don’t shake. I stare at her the entire time, studying her features, trying to guess what she’s thinking.

She clears her throat. “Thank you… It’s very thoughtful.” She sounds hesitant, nervous. Good. That means she’s taking me seriously. I’d worried a bit that she’d think it was a joke, but I shouldn’t have. She’s too smart for that.

“Happy birthday, Bri.” I can’t help but keep a hint of smugness out of my voice. She’s trapped by the gazes of the others around her, unable to even show her emotions.

The person sitting beside me—I’m not sure what his name is—stands up and brings her a wrapped box. She musters excitement as she opens it, but I can tell how forced the expression is.

A few hours pass, and there’s singing and laughing and cake, but eventually people begin to get tired. One by one, they leave, and I say nothing, until I hear the front door creak closed behind the very last guest.

I slump in an armchair, facing Brianna. She crosses her arms and looks at me.

“So?” I ask, impatient.

“What is this about?” She demands, holding up the card, and I can’t help myself but chuckle.

“Shouldn’t it be obvious?”

“I…” She stutters for a moment, struggling to find the right words, before stating simply, “I don’t have it.”

“But you can get it.” It isn’t a question.

Her tone suddenly shifts, from angry to desperate. “Please. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Let him go, please.”

“Give it to me first.”

“I… I can’t.”

“Then no.” Doesn’t she get that the point of a ransom note is that she gives me something? In order to save her dear boyfriend’s life?

Brianna’s always been too kind. That’s her weakness. She can’t even comprehend things like this, acts of cruelty. Oh, and I know that’s what this is. It’ll be worth it, though, in the end. She’ll understand, eventually.

“Please, please, I’m begging you. You know I can’t give it up.”

“Well, then, it sounds like you’ve made your choice.”

“But I can’t lose him either.”

“I don’t think you understand how this works.”

There’s no warning for what she does next. She reaches over and grabs a wine glass sitting on the side table and shatters it on the wall, leaving her holding a jagged stump.

She crosses the room and holds it up to my chest.

“Let. Him. Go.”

“You realize,” I begin, “That if you kill me, he dies anyway. So there’s really no point in threatening me when I already know that you won’t follow through.”

“I can still hurt you.”

I let out a cackle, admittedly slightly over dramatic. “You? You can’t even swat a fly. And besides, I could easily bring this to the police.”

“You think they won’t figure out what you’re doing?”

“Yes, I do. Benefits, I suppose, of having a sister on the force. Or did you forget?” I never told her about that in the first place. Secrets are a weapon, if you wield them right, and besides that, with five siblings, she probably wouldn’t even have remembered.

“Why do you want it so badly? I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s not going to work out.”

“How would you even know that?”

“I–”

“Oh, let me guess. Your mother told you? Like all that other crap she whispered into your ear? Face it, Bri. She was a liar–”

“My mother was not a liar!”

I shake my head. I’ve learned by now that it’s impossible to convince her otherwise.

“Listen, I’ve said everything I came here to say. If you don’t bring it to me by Friday, you can forget about your boyfriend.”

I stand up and walk out the door, ignoring her halfhearted calls for me to come back.

I place my hands on my hips, wrapping up the lecture I just gave and admiring the chalkboard behind me, completely covered in dates and information.

“Class dismissed,” I say finally, and the students shuffle out. I sit back down and pull a book out of my desk drawer, deciding to read while I wait for Brianna. It’s been a few days, and this is her final chance to give me what I want.

I’m confident she’ll show up. The girl’s weak.

It takes a while. I get about halfway done with the book before I hear her footsteps in the hallway. But for once, I’ll be patient, I’ll wait for her to walk inside first.

“I’m here.” Her melodic voice breaks the quiet.

“You decided?” I say, attempting nonchalance and barely glancing up from the page.

“...Yes… I…” She turns away and whispers, “I’m sorry, mama.” As if her voice might somehow reach her mother.

There’s a thump as she places a box on my desk. I reach out to grab it, but she places her hand on it to stop me.

“Where is he?” She growls.

“I think I saw him in the library, just down the hall, walking into the closet in the back. There’s a key in the top desk drawer.”

“You’re keeping him on campus?”

“Where else would I? You know where I live, and I’m sure you aren’t beyond smashing a window.”

I slide the top off of the wooden box, and inside, I see it, shimmering blue in the bright light of the classroom.

“You can go,” I tell her, ignoring her as she takes a key and leaves the room, my focus entirely on the hair clip in front of me.

It’s a stupid, frivolous thing to hide such power in, and that’s what makes it genius. Who would guess, except for one trained in the arts of identifying such objects? Or one so proficient in ancient history such as myself?

I pick it up. There’s a decorative crystal on one side of it, while the rest is just plain. In awe, I slide open the bottom drawer of my desk, pulling out another box.

This one contains ashes.

The symbols are already carved into the sides of it, in anticipation for this moment. I open it carefully, and hold the hair clip above it in the palm of my hand.

This will only take a few minutes, but I’m careful not to mess up, or I’ll have to restart the whole process.

A few moments pass as I work.

That’s when I realize my mistake. The door slams open, breaking my focus, and there I see Brianna and her brat of a boyfriend. The two of them are loyal, and I’ve never known them to break a promise, but apparently the kidnapping was a step too far for them.

I should’ve just locked the door.

That’s the first thought to cross my mind.

And then Brianna’s tracing symbols through the air and chanting words in a language I don’t know, and I realize I have to think fast or I’m not going to make it out of this. I grab a random item off the desk and fling it at her.

It’s a stapler, but that doesn’t matter, because the man has unnaturally quick reflexes and snatches it out of the air.

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” He yells.

“Oh, trust me, I do,” I reply, my voice almost remaining level. It’s then that I remember the dagger, tucked away in a hidden compartment in the desk. I scramble to open it in time, all the while hearing Brianna’s loathsome chants, and finally my fingers close around its hilt.

“Stop!” I hold the weapon where they can see it clearly, hoping the threat is enough. It might not be. I’m a decent aim, but I don’t think they know that.

She keeps going, probably nearly done with the enchantment at this point. Hurriedly, I take aim, and let the dagger fly.

The world seems to slow down, in that moment. As the boy sees what I’ve done, knowing he won’t be able to stop it. As Brianna’s eyes remain closed, unaware of her imminent death. As she finishes her spell. As the fire alarm begins to blare, and suddenly the world is bright and hot and it burns.

I scream, flailing around, desperate to extinguish the flames that have engulfed me. The boy screams too, but the sound doesn’t reach me.

I collapse on the ground, writhing and yet still able to see, plain as day, the fresh corpse of the girl I just murdered.

Everything is too bright and too loud. And there’s so much pain. I can feel myself fading, succumbing to the growing darkness.

No…

No.

NO.

I will not die here.

Agonizingly, I reach up and grasp the hair pin, then clutch it close to my chest.

But it’s not enough.

I don’t even have the strength to scream anymore.

I can’t see…

I can’t… feel anything…

…Is this… what it’s like to die..?..