What It Entails

Naomi was restless.

After her father passing, she was put on the role of cleaning out his possessions. It didn’t feel right to her. She could hear the yelling of her father as he scolded her about touching what wasn’t hers. But she knew he was gone. Gone and in the ground.

She was shuffling through some boxes her father had left behind when something caught her attention. Most of her fathers belongings were diaries he had written detailing his adventures and accomplishments.

This one, however, stood out.

The book read “Between The Gates” as described on the spine and front. As mundane as the book felt, there was something else that made Naomi curious...

She opened the book.

Flip,

The foreword and introduction. A standard first page to any novel dedicated to ones inspirations in life. Naomi’s father had scratched the name of dedication and had written hers in place of it. For a father who’s demeanor was like that of stone, he still had a soft spot for his only daughter.

Flip,

flip,

flip,

The book continued as it normally should.

Flip,

flip,

flip,

Naomi had now reached the middle of the book, and her eyes grew tired from sitting through and staring for what felt like hours.

Flip,

Flip,

Something fell out.

Naomi’s eyes had shot up in slight shock. She looked down and discovered another book, a small and discreet black journal it seemed.

Her curiousity quickly took hold of her as she picked up the little black book and opened the first page.

There were names written, along with several records of an exchange of money. Many were as much as ten thousand, with no reason written as to who or why this money was circulating. Naomi continued to flip through the small journal, taking note of every detail. One page caught her eye, however.

There were three numbers matched with the letters X, Y, and Z.

Naomi, being a bright student in college, knew coordinates when she saw them. She pulled out her phone and typed them into an app, in hopes of finding what lied at this location.

It was her backyard.

She hurriedly put the journal into her pocket, and made her way to the backyard.

As she neared the area where the item layed, she begun to think about what could be down there:

“What could he have possibly been hiding from me..?”

“Did he write about any of this in his diaries..?”

“Why do I feel uneasy about this..”

Naomi, lost in thought, had already started digging before her hands hit something. It was plastic. Not old, but was buried for what looked like a few years only. It was a tube, labeled with packaging tape that read,

“TO ___________ “

The dirt and rainwater had smudged the name entirely. Naomi couldn’t make it out but nonetheless, began opening the tube.

She shook it, and out came three bundles of money, held together by rubber bands.

Naomi was taken aback. She knew of her fathers career and certainly knew he couldn’t have made this much money in such a short amount of time.

She unwrapped each roll and counted them.

$100,000.

Her eyes lit up with millions of thoughts invading her mind.

Where did this money come from?

Why did her father hide this money?

What was he planning to do with it?

Her thinking and thought process was halted by a car pulling in.

“That must be mom”, Naomi said to herself.

She filled the hole she had dug up, wrapped the money back into the tube she had found it in, and headed inside to wash her hands.

When she walked in, however, her heart stopped and her eyes lay cold towards the window.

Outside, who she thought was her mother pulling in, was actually a jet black car with tinted windows so as to not see who sat inside.

Naomi felt uneasy.

She started to turn around, when instincts told her to get down.

A gunshot.

A billet fired through the window.

Naomi was frozen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she looked to see someone coming out the car.

In their hand they had what looked to be

A little

Black

Book.

The same Naomi had found earlier that day.

-END CHAPTER ONE-