A Different Life

Katrina was 19 years old when she received the news that her parents died in a car accident. She was away at college when her oldest brother, Jamie, called to tell her the news. She was in shock as her parents rarely drove. They lived in the city and were in walking distance of both their jobs.

Jamie explained, “We need you to come home so we can all go to the lawyers office and go over the will.”

Katrina was able to utter, “I’ll be there in three hours.”

She immediately went to the bus station and bought a ticket, without packing a single one of her belongings.

Once home, she and her three brothers, Jamie, Trevor, and Alexander took time to grieve. Katrina having the hardest time of all. They were all able to pull themselves together a couple of days later and meet with the lawyer for the reading of the will.

It stated: “There is to be no wake or funeral, no obituaries. Just mourn us on your own time, in your own ways, and carry on with your lives. We want you kids to bring our ashes to the lake we used to go camping at when you were young, and spread them near the shore. Jamie, the house now belongs to you. If you choose to sell it we ask that you share the profits from the sale with your brothers and sister.

“We also have a storage locker a few towns over, you are all to go there and go through our belongings together. You will find the key to the locker in the sewing kit that is on the floor in your mothers closet. The key is taped under the second tier shelf.

“Lastly, we love you all.”

The four siblings found the storage place for the key odd considering none of them had ever seen their mother sew nor knew she even had a sewing kit. But they did as they were instructed, located the key, then proceeded to the storage locker.

Katrina thought to herself that things seemed off, why would her parents have a storage locker and what would be so important that they had to go there and go through? Her parents had lived a quiet life; her father had worked at the local factory on the night shift, and her mother had been a maid at a motel. The siblings had grown up with the things they needed and went without the latest and greatest of things that they saw their peers with. It never really bothered any of them, it never seemed to matter much that their parents never really had money, they were happy and kind, and that had always been enough.

Once they arrived at the storage facility, they found the locker number that matched the one on the key: opened it and found next to nothing. It was the size of a walk in closest, about four feet by six feet. There were shelving units mounted to the three walls. Amongst the shelves were multiple duffle bags and rows of cardboard boxes. In some of the boxes, the objects seemed to be collectibles, but most of it just seemed like junk. There were a few jars of coins, some small paintings, figurines, and on closer inspection toys from the siblings' childhood. Old stuffed animals, action figures, and baby dolls long forgotten, that their parents had cared enough to keep. Then they began to go through the duffle bags.

What was found amongst the duffle bags shocked Katrina and her brothers. In two of the duffle bags there were assortments of drugs: pain killers, antibiotics, insulin vials, blood pressure pills to name a few. There were two other duffle bags, one held large sums of cash, at least twenty thousand dollars, and the other held stacks of the same little black notebook.

All of siblings looked at each other and said aloud, “This can’t be right.”

Alexander spoke then, “These bags can’t be mom and dad’s, maybe someone else got a key to this locker and put them here.”

Jamie piped in in agreement, “Yeah, there’s no way these bags are theirs!”

Just as Trevor tried to offer a solution on what to do with the bags, Katrina found a letter tucked into the pages of one the little black notebooks. She interjected, “Hey guys, listen to this:

“My darling children, if you’ve found this letter it means your father and I are dead. Whatever they told you caused our death is a lie. We were murdered. Our other life finally caught up to us.

“What I’m about to tell you is going to sound crazy and I’m sorry I’m not there to tell you the truth in person. My maiden name is Gonzalez, and my family runs one of the infamous Mexican cartels. You father and I were both born and raised in Miami, we are legal citizens and so are you four, but your grandparents are not and are still in Mexico. We met when we were sixteen, not long after your father accidentally became a member of our cartel.

“And while that story is funny and one I would love to tell you about right now, I simply don’t have the time. What you need to know is this: while I was growing up my family was one of leading cocaine dealers in the world, something I’m far from proud of. But once I came of age and your father and I were married, I told my family things needed to change or I would be leaving the family and the business, which are basically one in the same. They agreed and we moved away from cocaine to pharmaceuticals. We now control the black market of these drugs. And in the US especially, we supply them to those that can’t get them otherwise. Whether it’s to clinics or directly to consumers, we get people the drugs they need albeit at a price, but we provide a much more honorable service than we used to.

“When we got pregnant with Jamie we took a step back, we moved from Miami to the house we raised you all in. We changed our last name, we kept a low profile. And from behind the scenes we quietly helped continue to build my family's empire, your family's empire. A legacy, one that you all will now be a part of. In the bag with the money, you will find passports for each of you and an address for my parents compound in Mexico. Take them and the money and the little black books, our ledgers, and go meet your family in Mexico. Learn this business from those that taught me.

“We’ve known our time has been running out for a few months now. Others in this business are not happy with what we have done and how we’ve changed things. They’ve been hunting us and those who work with us for a while now. One by one they tried to pick us off, with some they’ve succeeded, with others, they’ve failed and in turn made stronger. I wanted a normal life for you all and managed to at least give you the start of one but in order to keep you safe, this is the world I must bring you into now. Your grandparents and aunts and uncles will protect you and teach you everything you need to know. Please know above all else, that we love you more than you will ever know. Stay strong and stay safe. Love, Mom.”

Trevor asks, “ does this mean mom was never a maid and dad never worked at the factory??”

The other three just looked at him and busted out in laughter, half in shock, half because they didn’t know what else to do.

Alexander muttered under his breath, “What the actual fuck!?”

Jamie said, “This is insane you guys, what do you guys want to do?”

Katrina spoke next, “I think we are going to Mexico. That’s what mom and dad wanted. After that, I want to find the people that killed them and make them pay.”

The brothers looked between themselves and slow smirks began spreading across their faces. All three of them in awe of their little, once meek, sister. She was coming into her own and ready to take charge.

They all said in agreement, “Mexico it is.”