AN Unexpected Turn

I sigh as I finish closing up the store. 

Being a manager sucks. In the small town of Damerel just off the coast of Maine you don't get to many customers. In a town with only 2,008 people you don't make too much money either. I get in my car, it's past midnight. I close my eyes and wonder why it's all worth it, why do I have to keep going. Then the picture of my daughter's face swims before my eyes. Constance Eliza Mullin, that’s who I was doing everything for. Why I picked my lazy ass out of bed, why I only got five hours of sleep on weeknights, Why I saved every penny, just so I could afford to enroll her in sports. 

I began driving down the quiet road, I look at the starry sky. Night has always been my favorite time of day, so peaceful and quiet, but also deadly and mysterious. I keep driving through the small town until I reach my apartment complex. I get out of my car and start walking up the stairs until I reach level three. After fiddling with the lock I walk into my dark apartment with only one lamp lit. Going deeper into the apartment I slowly open Eliza's door. She is turned over on her side so I can not see her face. Assuming she is asleep, I begin to close the door, but right before it is closed, she talks. 

“We won, if you are wondering.” She says.

“That's so great.” I say carefully, because I can tell her voice is on edge. “So are you going to the championship now?”

“Mom that was the championship.” Her voice is deep and harsh. “But of course you wouldn't know that because you are never there.”

I felt a temper rise in me but I kept it at bay, “Eliza you know I try, I really do, but work-”

“Never mind, forget it.” Eliza mumbles. 

I can tell she is not going to say anymore, so I close the door. I don't even try to fight the tears, I let them fall. Going into my room the tears fall harder, faster. Stepping into the shower and I feel like the worst mother in the world. I didn't even know she had a game tonight. Maybe I should quit my job, but then I would have no money at all and then everything would be ten times worse. 

I step out of the shower, get into bed and fall into a disturbed sleep.

The next day is Saturday and I wake up at seven, even though I wanted to sleep longer. Knowing that I would not fall asleep again, I roll out of bed. 

Going into the bathroom take a look at myself. 

 And God did I look a mess. 

My short hair was weirdly sticking up, (I had chopped it off years ago, right after my divorce.) I was not as skinny as I wanted to be, but I would not consider myself fat either. 

Sighing I look away from the mirror and head out into the kitchen to make breakfast. I didn't expect Eliza to get up until around noon. 

The morning goes by as usual, I get dressed and tame my hair. Do the usual chores, but just as I was sitting down on the couch to watch T.V and Eliza was walking out from her bedroom. I hear the doorbell ring. 

Who could that be? 

We rarely get visitors and when we do it’s not until the evening. 

I start walking over to the door and, when I look into the peep hole a 50 year old man with a tuxedo, tophat and cane is standing there. 

“Eliza.” I whisper as the man rings the doorbell again. “Go into your room until I call you back out.” 

“Why should I,” she snaps back.

I turn toward her and give her the death look, she then rolls her eyes and slumps back to her room. 

Slowly I open the door. 

The man smiles when he sees me. “Hello I am Count Alexander Luca Carter, and you must be Ms. Lane Mullin.”

“Who are you.” I ask suspiciously, eyeing him down, he shouldn’t know my name.

“Don't you know, your aunt Ameila Mae Mullin has died.” He stopped, perhaps noticing the confused look on my face. “May I come in, then I can explain everything.”

I nod, let him in and bring him over to the table. “Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, water.”

“No, no I am fine, what we are here to discuss is that your Aunt Ameila Mullin has died-”

“I haven’t got an aunt.” I interrupt.

“Ms.Mullin, will you please listen.” He says quickly. “Your aunt Ameila left her family at eighteen, she has now died of poor health and given you her fortune of 100 million dollars!”

My mouth dropped. “What.” 

The count, brushes himself off and pulls out a piece of paper from his jacket .His eyes scroll down the page and once they find their destination, he begins to read. “My sister Nora Lane Mullin, her youngest child, whoever that may be, shall inherit my fortune when I die. But for the youngest child to gain the money they shall first need to visit my sister and give her a letter I have written for her.” Alexander stopped reading and looked at me. “That is part of the will I have just read to you.” He then pulled out a nicely sealed envelope. “And this is the letter for your mother.”

My eyes got wide, I had left my family to get away from them, to get far away. I had cut off all contact never to see them again. 

“Yeah no.” I say. “No way, I am not going to see my family.”

 Count Alexander looked taken aback. “Ms. Mullin, this is 100 million dollars we are talking about, would you really throw it away because you don't want to give a letter to your mother.”

I sigh, Count Alexander stayed an hour longer, and by the end he convinced me to go back to my childhood home. He also told me that he would be back in a week with a lawyer to legally give me the money. 

So there I was two days later driving Eliza to a friend's house where she would be staying for two days.

“I don’t see why I can’t go with you.” She argued as she was getting out of the car. 

“I told you.” I say, “My family are psychos.”

She rolled her eyes. “Bye Mom.”

“Bye, I Love you, and be good.” I shout after her. 

Two hours later I am on an airplane heading to Florida. With the stupid letter in my bag,

I lean my head back against the seat as the feeling of dread washes over me. 

Then all too soon the plane lands and I am in the back of a taxi riding to my hotel. Checking in was easy and so was unpacking the only thing that wasn’t easy was sleeping that night. I roll over tossing and turning, Images of my parents float around in my mind, the thick smoke of cigars that wafted around our house. The numerous empty wine bottles that lay undisturbed in the shadows. Not to mention the flashbacks of when I was a child and my parents were high and crazy. 

The sun rose bright and plentiful the next morning, I crawled out of bed thinking it was better to go sooner than later. 

Checking out of the hotel, I get into the rental car. Then I begin towards my parents house. I know the route by heart and get through the city effortlessly, until I am driving out of the city and past the country lanes. Planes roll by until I come to a stop in front of an ugly house, with clutter in the yard and broken cars in the driveway. 

Stopping the car and stepping out of it, I square my shoulders and carefully walk to the front door. Then taking a deep breath I knock on the door. 

A wait a few seconds that seem to take an eternity, 

Then the door opens and my ageing father, in an old robe, with a cigar in his mouth looks at me and says. “Who is it, what do you want?”  He then pauses and takes a good look at me. “Lane.” He whispers, 

“Who is it, who is there.” I hear my mother call from the back of the house.

“Nora, you better come see this.” My father yells.

A moment later my ugly mother comes to the door, also in a robe with a cigar in her mouth. She takes one look at me then spits, “So after all these years the ugly wrench decided to come back.”

“Hello mother.” I sigh. 

“Why are you here.” She says making no gesture to invite me inside, But to be fair I knew she wouldn’t. 

“I have a letter for you.” I take out the letter count Alexander gave me, then hand it to her. 

She rips it open, “Who’s it from?”

“Amelia.” 

She stares at me, “Ameila, how do you know about her?” 

“It’s a long story that I don't have time for right now, I have a flight in a few hours and need to get going.” I turn and start walking toward my car. I wanted to leave as fast as possible. 

“Hey, go can't just go, explain this to me.” She screams as I walk away and get into the rental car. 

From there I drove back to the airport, everything seemed to be going by slowly again, that is until it was a week later and Count Alexander, a lawyer and Eliza were all sitting at the table with me.

The lawyer had just finished reading Ameila’s will. “Well it looks like all her money,100 million dollars as indeed been left for you.” 

It took us another hour to get all the money secured and when they finally left, Eliza asked. “Now what are we going to do now that we are rich?”

I look at her and smile, “Well, I am going to start with quitting my job.”