That's Not Our Money

"What do you think is in it?" She asked him, looking at him from the corner of her eye and crossing her arms over her chest. He hummed and shrugged, adjusting his cap and kicking the brown box.

They had been taking an impromptu walk, right after the shouted had started at the dinner table, and had stumbled upon a small brown suitcase along the coast. It was half-buried in the sand, covered with seaweed and a dead jellyfish, and a horrible smell wafted in the air around it.

"I dunno… maybe it's a bomb?" He proposed, smiling when she scoffed beside him and shook her head in disagreement.

"You're stupid. We would've been dead already if it was a bomb, as we've been kicking it for the past ten minutes." She explained, "I think you should open it." She added with a smirk, and he looked at her suddenly like she was crazy.

"N-no way, you open it." He pointed at the bag, simultaneously back up from the shore and shaking his head. "Come on, Lilia, you suggested it anyway."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll open it. But I get first dibs if whatever is inside is cool, bucko."

"Fine, fine." He said, raising his hands in surrender and backing up even further as she walked towards the bag. The closer she came to it, the worse the smell got, and she resisted the urge to gag as she squatted down next to it. She picked at the zipper that was crusted over with barnacles and slowly pulled it back to unzip the bag, water gushing out and deflating the bag as she did so. "That reeks," Drew noted behind her, and she rolled her eyes again.

"No dip, Sherlock." She mumbled, throwing the unzipped top back to expose the insides. Sitting in the middle of the bag, there was another sealed and waterproof black bag, making her huff and unzip that as well. "Drew, come here." She called out, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small black notebook.

Gravel and sand crunch behind her as he marched over, squatting down beside her and peering at the journal. She was familiar with this journal, as she used it for many of her notes in school. Moleskin or something…

"What's that?" He asked her.

"Uh, a book?" She responded, almost mocking him and laughing as she turned it around to inspect it. He just scoffed beside her and sat back on the sand, "Maybe it's someone's diary…"

"Don't be a chicken; read it!" He poked at her, making her grunt and sit back with him. The pages fluttered open as she flipped through the pages, all filled with nearly illegible handwriting and tons of numbers scrawled every which direction. She hummed as she turned it in different directions, trying to understand precisely what filled up literally every single page.

Drew reached for it, taking his own turn to figure out what it said, while Lilia leaned back to the bag to continue to investigate its insides. Under where the journal had been, there was a brick of clear wrap that protected something inside. She dug her fingers into the kitchen-grade clear wrap and tore it apart, not holding back that loud gasp as she uncovered what was inside, then slapping Drew's arm behind her to get his attention.

His jaw dropped, the journal falling from his hands too, and he leaned forward as Lilia had, "Is that… real?" He asked her, and she shrugged wordlessly before reaching into the bag and pulling one wad out.

It was money. Lots of money. As Lilia thumbed through one of the small stacks, they all turned out to be $20 bills, maybe a hundred in each wrap. She was just as speechless as he was, not quite sure if this was real either or just a prank. It might not have looked like much to just anyone, but there were at least ten wads of these, or possibly a considerable chunk of money upon looking closer. Both of their minds raced with what this meant, or maybe what they could blow this newfound wealth on.

"Maybe someone needed this." Lilia spoke, "We should… turn it in?" She added, almost like she didn't want to follow through with her own suggestion.

Before Drew could respond, voicing his disagreement with her plan, car engines were revving behind them up on the banks. Both of their heads swiveled around to the sound, their hearts pounding at the sudden scare. They turned to look at each other.

"Run?" He asked her, nodding his head with a scared voice to the rock piles near them, and she nodded quickly.

"Yep… run." She got up after him, kicking herself into third gear and kicking up sand behind her as she ran across the beach. Drew dove behind one of the large rocks buried in the sand, Lilia following close after him and punching his shoulder when he began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You run like a chicken." He chuckled silently, and Lilia turned to hit the back of his head this time.

"You talk like a chicken." She mumbled, raising her head slowly over the rock to see what was happening. There was now a group of men dressed in all black suits and tinted sunglasses on the beach where they had just been standing. There were maybe seven of them, all looking like siblings with their dark hair and scowls on their faces as they looked around. Lilia saw them talking but couldn't tell what they were saying at first.

One of the men talked on the phone, gesturing his hand around as some other men dug through the suitcase and held the money. "Is it all there?" They heard him call to the men, and they looked around before nodding slowly. He said something else and then put the money back in the bag, picking it up and walking behind the main man to a black van parked up on the bank.

Lilia slunk back down beside Drew, huffing and looking at him, "I guess that wasn't free money then." She joked, feeling his shoulders shake as he laughed beside her, "But… I don't think they're good at counting." She added, pulling two wads of cash from her pockets and presenting it to him. "What do you say we go to The Diner and buy our own thanksgiving feast?" She proposed, grinning at his shocked look, and he nodded quickly, grabbing one of the stacks and running from her.

She laughed and ran after him with the other stack, ready to sink into a food coma.