A Curse From the Sky

Marley and Ross made their way off the basketball court. Marley was dribbling and rambling on about the new girl at school, Sara. Ross was distracted, sending Sara DM’s back-and-forth, making plans for this weekend. Too distracted to hear Marley was interested in Sara as well.

"Are you listening?" Asked Marley. Just as Ross looked up from his phone, a bag crashed to the ground in front of the two boys. Marley and Ross fell back instinctively on impact.

"What the hell?" yelled Ross.

They both looked straight up. They were near no buildings, saw no plane, or helicopter. Could a drone have passed by or is this from somewhere higher than the clouds?

Ross went toward the bag.

"Don't touch it! It could be a nuclear weapon or some shit!" Marley said.

"We'd be dead by now dumb-ass!" Ross shot back.

"Holy shit!" Ross busted out.

When he turned to face Marley, he had 2 giant wads of cash in his hands.

"Put it back, hurry! Let's get out of here! " Pleaded Marley.

"Ring, ring, ring!" A phone began ringing inside the bag.

"Ah!" Screamed Marley, who was on the verge of a panic attack.

"What's with you man? Calm the hell down! Damn bitch." said Ross, scolding Marley as he usually would.

"Hello?" answered Ross.

"Hello,” said the ominous voice on the other end of the line. The caller was clearly using an app or some device to alter their voice.

The mystery caller continued "Listen closely."

Ross motioned towards Marley to come closer, for him to hear as well. Ross looked around and when he saw they were still alone, he put the phone on speaker.

"In the duffel bag you have before you; along with this cell phone, you'll find a business card, a Little Black Book, a gun, and $20,000." explained the synthesized voice.

"OK." said Ross, Shushing Marley before he could say word.

"All the stuff is here."

"Good. How would you and your friend like to make an easy $200,000? " Asked the mysterious caller.

Shocked by this proposal, Ross's mouth dropped as he looked over to meet Marley's eyes. Unaware, the expression of shock Marley had on his face was not about the money, but at the fact that the caller knew he was also there with Ross. " Something is really wrong here," thought Marley.

"Hang up, hang up." Marley whispered.

Irritated by Marley's cowardice Ross pushed Marley away, knocking him to the ground. He lifted his fist signaling that he was going to kick his ass. Marley got backup and began to dust himself off. At that point, Ross had taken the phone off speaker and moved several feet away.

" No, it’ll just be me." Ross said into the phone. "OK great!" Speaking with a burst of adrenaline in his voice, before hanging up and running over to the bag.

"Ross!" Marley shouted out as Ross was taking the Little Black Book out of the duffel bag. He pulled a pen out from the spine of the book and scribbled something down. Then franticly zipped up the bag and threw the strap over his head and across his chest.

"Ross wait!" Marley shouted again." Where are you going?"

"Don't worry about it! I wouldn't want you to piss your panties! Pussy!" Ross fired back, annoyed by his worried friend.

"Go to hell! When do bags of money fall out of the sky and how did they know I was with you?" Marley snapped back.

Ross, now ignoring Marley, typing an address into his phone.

"Ross what the hell are you doing?" shouted Marley, who was now convulsing from anxiety.

"Look they needed me to sign my name in that book and drop off this bag at some building by the piers! Easy money!" Explained Ross.

"Nothing is easy! You know that!" screamed Marley.

"Oh yeah! Sarah will be, after I drop a bag at dinner with her Saturday!" said Ross, with an evil twinge in his eyes.

"Sara?" asked Marley. "New girl, Sara? Sara that I have been talking about for 2 weeks now! " Marley asked, now shaking out of anger.

Marley charged at Ross. However, Ross was much taller and more athletic. So as smooth as an ocean breeze, Ross slid out of the way and then as if with one swift motion, punched Marley as he turned to face the target, he had just stormed past. The force of Ross's fist with the speed in which Marley turned, caused an impact that laid Marley out for 5 minutes. Long enough for Ross to get to the Subway.

Marley attempted to call him several times, but assuming he was on the train it kept going right to voicemail.

Marley was fed up, so he left one message saying, "You’re an idiot! I’ll see you tomorrow."

Marley woke up to his alarm the next morning. He noticed a missed call and voicemail at 3:00 a.m., from an unknown number. Marley played the message, and it was a recording of himself repeating "Nothing is easy! You know that!" Over and over, “Nothing is easy! You know that!”

Freaked out, Marley disconnected the call. He tried Ross but, was met with a recording indicating that the number is no longer in service. Marley went to run out of his room, and that was when he noticed the duffel bag by his chair.