Chapter 2: Everest Manor
1394 Words
His house was in the rugged part of town where more than ten homeless guys lived.
"Yo, Joey, you are back so early today."
Joe laughed unnaturally. "Yeah, there were not many things to deal with today, so I came back quickly."
"Well, yeah, it seems just a few things, only half a bag,” the guy eyed his bag. “Maybe you can only afford Ramen today." They all laughed.
"Oh, it is fine as long as I have food. See you around." Joe quickly waved bye.
When he entered his room, Joe was not in a hurry to take out the bag, but he plugged in the door bolt, leaned against the wall and carefully observed the situation outside through the window.
Fortunately, no one doubted his early return. Joe did not need to be nervous at all, because even if he never came back, no one would care.
After almost ten minutes of confirming that no one suspected him, Joe took out the purse and opened it slowly.
There were a lot of things in the bag!
There was a fancy wallet, which contained hundreds of dollars in cash, a few credit cards, a small makeup box, and a delicate small box, which contained a necklace with a pink gemstone pendant.
Joe felt ecstatic. He ruffled the cash; with this money, he would not have to pick up trash to live a life for at least two months! Joe envisioned a warm bath, buying new clothes, and having a big, hot meal. He could actually start living his life with this cash!
As soon as Joe carefully put the money in his pocket, he heard loud shouting outside, "Everybody come out, hurry up!"
Joe shivered with alarm. Could it be that someone saw he picked up the purse?
No way. He had checked, no one was there.
Although he was worried, Joe boldly opened his door and walked out. The more he hesitated, the more it would raise suspicion.
Several people were outside.
"What's the matter, Aaron?"
Holding a newspaper, Aaron was shaking in excitement, "Look, someone lost their purse."
"Damn it, what’s the big deal? Every day there are lost bags. Why make such a big fuss over it?"
"Yes, it is not a big deal, but the point is that the owner is offering a reward of 100,000 dollars to find the bag. Have you heard about this kind of news before?"
"100,000? Are you kidding me?"
"If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
Everyone gathered around Aaron to read the newspaper. Yeah, it was true.
Joe was stunned. The bag in the picture was the same he had inside his house.
He felt a burst of ecstasy go through his body.
He was going to make a fortune, a big fortune!
100,000 dollars, which meant he would not just stop picking up trash for two months. He could use the money to start a small business!
It seemed that the long-awaited "turnaround" of Joe’s life had finally arrived. Thinking of this, he could not help but laugh out loud in ecstasy.
"Hey Joey, what are you laughing at? Do you have the bag?"
"No, I don’t have that kind of luck. I just think it must be fake. A reward of 100,000 dollars for a bag!? I bet if someone finds the bag and returns it, the owner will not even admit it."
"Why? If the owner does not admit it, just don't give the bag back to him."
"And then he will definitely call the police and have the bag back in the end."
"Well, Joey’s words make sense, but since the owner has posted it, even he doesn’t give $100,000, he will give the finder something. Even a couple thousand are not bad, so everyone, hurry up. See who is lucky enough amongst us!”
"Don't waste your time. Didn't you see the address above? This bag was lost near Aurora Road. That is Andy's territory."
"Oh really, I didn't see that. Well, I guess Andy’s days have come. I hope he finds it."
"What are you happy about? Will he give you a reward if he finds it?"
"We won’t get even a penny but is it too much to ask if he buys us a bottle of wine, heck a sip will even suffice!”
"I don’t think so. Andy is rude as hell.”
After discussing Andy for a while, everyone went back to what they were doing hoping it had been their territory.
When Joe got inside his room, he made sure to hide the bag under the bed, covering it with his ratty old clothing.
For the next two days, he did not see Andy come back to his house. Aaron even called him, but he could not get through.
There were rumors that Andy must have picked up the bag, and got the 100,000 dollars. He would not have any need to come back to this hell if he became that rich. As they discussed Andy, they also cursed him; for how lucky was he to have gotten such a large amount of cash by luck?
Joe, however, tried hard to blend in. He was so paranoid that he thought everyone knew he was hiding the purse. He left early and returned late as usual, for fear of being noticed.
After a few more days when he felt that everyone had forgotten the news, he took the bag out in the middle of the night, covered his head with a quilt, and carefully checked the bag over with the light of his mobile phone.
This time he made a new discovery. He found an ID card in the wallet.
The picture was that of a young and beautiful girl, named Nicole, aged 20, who lived in the expensive part of this city. Joe stared at the girl; she was fair-skinned and beautiful, and rich, he thought to himself.
Joe’s mind immediately started conjuring images. Imagine if this beauty fell in love with you, Joe thought. Would she marry him out of gratitude? What a great love story that would be!
He was 22 years old and this beauty was 20 years. Both were just over the legal age for marriage. Maybe it was fate….
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Joe finally decided to contact her the next day to start this "destined marriage" as soon as possible.
Even if he could not marry the beauty, at least he could have the money, so he would not suffer a loss.
The next day, Joe dressed up carefully, put on his most decent clothes and dialed the contact number written down in the newspaper.
Immediately, he heard the voice of a mature old man. "Hello, this is Barret from the Andrew Family. Who is this?"
Joe was taken aback. How could a man answer the phone? Was he Nicole's father? But the voice sounded at least 60 years old, and Nicole was only 20 years old. The age gap seemed to be a bit large.
Was he her grandpa? Did he call the wrong number?
"Um…I found that bag,” Joe decided to mutter out.
Barret was surprised to hear that. "Really? That is great, where are you? I'll come to pick it up right away."
Joe breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed he did not dial the wrong number. "The reward you mentioned..."
"Sir, don't worry. If there is nothing missing in the bag, you will get the money we mentioned."
"There's nothing missing. Do not lie to me. I'm recording," Joe threatened.
"Please rest assured, sir. The Andrew Family would never go back on their words."
"That's good. I'll come over then, see you later."
"Send me your address and I will come to pick it up."
"No, I will just come myself."
"Do you know our address?"
"Isn't it the address on her ID card?"
"That's the address of the Andrew Family's old house. I will send you the new address."
"Well, alright."
Soon, Joe received the new address. He was taken aback at seeing the location.
That was the most luxurious residential area in the city- Everest Manor!
- Writer
