The Locked Box

Monica pushes the gas and they’re off. “You should really stop smoking, Mon, you know how bad it is for your health!”, Cármen tells Monica. Monica laughs and takes another puff from her cigarette before throwing the cigarette out of the car window as nonchalantly as possible. “So, our little Gabrielle April Weaver, uh? What’s it like to be an escape artist? Do you feel satisfied now?”, Monica asks Gabbie while looking at her in the rearview mirror with the most awkward smirk on her face. “Yes, I guess?”, Gabbie answers hesitantly. “But of course you do, you had the help of the most amazing escape artist”, Monica quickly adds while she pokes her shoulder into Cármen’s arm a couple of times. The girls laugh quietly, yet awkwardly. “But honestly, Gabbie, where to?”, Monica asks Gabbie. “Let’s head back to Cármen’s house, I’m sure we’ve missed a clue somehow, we need to figure out where Angéla is”, Gabbie replies while looking at Monica via the rearview mirror. Monica nods her head and punches the gas.

After ten minutes, they arrive in the street where Cármen lives. “Wait…”, Cármen shouts, “be careful, park over there next to the tree. Juanita might see us, we have to be careful. The house is still a crime scene”, she quickly adds. “Oh Carmelita, you’re always such a tough girl when it comes to escaping, but when it comes to breaking and entering, you’re suddenly such a wuss”, Monica says while laughing under her breath. She quickly gets out of the car and lights a new cigarette. Gabbie and Cármen quietly get out of the car and scan the area. “Listen, since you’re so scared, how about you two go inside, I’ll keep watch, I’m good at that”, Monica assures them. Cármen waves her hand across her face wildly to wipe away the cigarette smell. “Okay, but if you see anything suspicious, let us know please”, Cármen replies. Monica just nods her head twice and looks around her and blows smoke in an artistic way. Cármen and Gabbie slowly walk up to the house she lives.

They sneak back into Cármen’s ransacked house under the cover of darkness, looking for anything the intruders might have missed. “You’ll start upstairs, and I’ll stay here?”, Cármen asks Gabbie. “No. We have to stay together. In case something happens or someone shows up unexpectedly, we need to stay together. Please”, Gabbie quickly replies. Cármen smiles, “Okay hon, let’s do this! Girl power”, she replies while giving Gabbie a wink. They start sweeping the floor, moving broken flower pots around, picking up the smashed TV, and when they were about to give up to move to the first floor, Gabbie spots something unusual underneath the couch from the corner of her eye. “Cármen, is this yours? I don’t remember it being there”, Gabbie points at a small box, which looks like a strongbox. “No, that’s not mine”, Cármen replies. They both move closer to the couch and wait for a few seconds. They look at each other, not knowing what to do now. “Let’s call Monica, Gabs, she might know what do do?”, Cármen asks, doubt in her voice. Gabbie walks up to the window on the front of the house, here is a clear view of the full street. She scans the surroundings, she can see the car they arrived in, but not a trace of Monica. “She’s not near the car nor anywhere I can see, Cármen”, Gabbie replies. Cármen does not reply, it is silent for a couple of seconds.

“Okay let’s open it ourselves, come, come”, Cármen breaks the silence and waves at Gabbie to come over. Gabbie sits next to Cármen on the floor. They both look at the strongbox. “Wait, it has a fingerprint lock? How do we open this? Whose finger is needed to open it?”, Cármen asks. Gabbie laughs, “put your finger on it, Cinderella, we will see if your finger fits the lock!”. They both laugh. Without hesistation, Cármen places her finger on the lock. It is quiet for just two seconds, but those two seconds feel like eternity. And all of a sudden, the strongbox unlocks. The girls let out a gasp of air and stare into each other’s eyes, shocked. “Are you sure this is not yours?”, Gabbie asks loudly. “I swear, Gabs, I have never ever seen this in my entire life!”, Cármen replies. She quickly pushes the box on the floor in front of them. It is slightly open. Gabbie bends over forward and tries to take a peek inside, but cannot see anything inside, “I think it’s empty, Cármen“. Cármen slowly moves her hand towards the box and pushes the top cover open. It slams open on the floor with a loud bang. The girls look at each other and back at the box. “What the… What is this?”, Gabbie asks confused.

The girls inspect the items they just found in the strongbox. “It seems like old letters, but who are they from?”, Cármen takes a couple of letters from the box and starts reading them. “Gabbie! Gabs… Oh my god”, Cármen’s face turns pale and drawn. Gabbie looks at Cármen, trying to figure out what just happened. “These are letters from Margret, to Miguel, talking about needing souls for their farm, their business, it is basically a confession, here read this”, Cármen adds while pushing one of the letters into Gabbie’s hands. It was true, the paperwork revealed a dark, generational secret, which explained why Gabbie’s family was targeted in the first place. “But who placed this lockbox in here, with my fingerprint?”, Cármen asks. The girls look at each other in complete fear.