We left the lawyer's office in silence. Mom kept glancing my way, her face hesitant and worried. Each time she began to speak she ended up closing her mouth. My sister, Rosy, was quiet, but more because her eyes
were glued to her phone. She only glanced up enough to walk in the right direction, but mostly, to keep from falling on her face.
As for me, my hands were trembling. The instructions in the will, didn't make any sense. The house and land were my mother's, also was a large bank account sufficient to provide her with a stable income for the rest of her life. There was only a single condition.
Her oldest male relative by blood or oath had to move into the shed behind the house. It was a peculiar turn of phrase and an even odder request. My father had died six months ago. If we had come here two years
ago when Uncle Flynn had died, he would have been the man required to fulfill this request.
Now there was only me. I was my mother's oldest living relative. After me, there was only my sister. Knowing my mom, she might have walked away from the lawyer's office without agreeing to the terms. It was college tuition that was the killer, though.
I'd taken last year off school since dad died. We were all sorta wrecked. But Rosy was almost ready to start college, and she was far too smart to not go to the best school she could.
For that, mom was ready to swallow her pride. Even then, it was only because I immediately agreed to the terms that she went along with it.
I'd already completed two years at a junior college and needed to move on if I was going to finish my degree. Rosy was supposed to start college this year, too.
Tuition for a kid even at a state school was out of reach, for two, it was laughable. That was what had finally pulled mom out of the stupor she'd been in since dad died. Not that I blamed her. They'd married when she was
nineteen. He was the love of her life. I'd never been in love, never even had what I would consider a long-term girlfriend. What mom and dad had was something special.
Especially when many of my friend's parents were divorced or on their second or third families. Yet… seeing the effect dad's
death had on mom, I wasn't sure I even wanted to experience that kind of love. As a family, we were still struggling with the aftermath.
So when Uncle Flynn's lawyer had called, he'd done this each year on the memorial of Uncle Flynn's passing, I'd answered the call. When he said that there was an inheritance and it would make it possible to pay for our
college tuition, mom had listened.
Well… that was what got her to listen, but I insisted we needed this no matter what. I'd taken over helping mom make sure the bills were paid. I knew what I was talking about when I said our financial state was in tatters. There were still medical bills from dad, while mom still wasn't ready to go back to work.
We didn't have much in the way of a choice. Damn cancer sucks, and the inheritance was a way out of the deep hole of debt we'd accumulated.I'd even gotten a key to the locked shed. It was my inheritance from
my uncle. What a kick in the head. The thick metal key had been handed to me wrapped up in a crumpled piece of paper. When I opened it to read it, all I got was:
"Welcome to the Multiverse. Good luck. They're counting on you."
Bizarro, I know, but my sister didn't even get that much—not that she seemed to care. With it came the dead-eyed stare of the lawyer going over my uncle's will with us. The terms stated his firm was literally going to check up on me and make sure that I was living in the shed. The trust fund my uncle had set up wouldn't be made available to mom until I was situated in it.
There was a further clause stating the firm would continue to monitor my living habits to ensure I kept to the letter of the word and remained in the shed. It was all a little creepy. I still needed to get set up for the new university. The lawyer had made an initial payment to get Rosy, and I registered, but we were going to have to pay the rest of the tuition, buy books and all that. I was planning to try to walk on to the cross-country team. Not as cool as football, but
more my speed.
I was a nerd through and through. Although, I took after dad in height and had at least a touch of my dad's athletic ability. Oh, and I wasn't the super smart build your own tech company and retire at twenty-five kinda
nerd. I was more the D&D, VR gaming, LARPing on the weekend kinda nerd.
It didn't help that at 6'3" and 172 lbs. The nickname—Scarecrow— had stuck throughout most of my high school career and on into the localjunior college which I'd attended. Oh, well, at least I got a fresh start at a new college.
Moving to claim my uncle's home, in The City of Angels popular known as Los Angeles was a far cry from the various military bases where I'd grown up, but whatever mom needed.
Besides, 'Racer' wasn't that bad of a school, and it was within a few minutes' drive. The car ride home was only twenty minutes, but it felt longer as my mind raced through the weird turn of events. I turned on the radio to try to fill the silence.
It happened to be on a news channel. The broadcaster was talking about a story from somewhere in Europe which had caught the
world's attention.