Story: The Will to Kill
By: Brianna Katsuda
“This could be it,” Avery proclaimed.
“Please stop talking so loud, mom can still hear you,” Anna whispered.
“If she doesn’t get better soon, I’m going to pull the plug.”
“Can you please keep your voice down? We should talk outside.”
They walked outside of their mother’s room and onto the patio overlooking the acres of land.
“I can’t wait much longer, I need the money now,” Avery demanded impatiently while trying to light his cigarette.
“I don’t really feel comfortable doing it anymore. Maybe we should wait and see if she gets better.”
“If you actually cared about mom, then you wouldn’t want her to suffer and slowly rot while we wait for her to wake up. It’s going to be a quick and painless death for her anyways.”
“But what if she—”
“What could possibly happen? You know there’s no chance she’s going to wake up. She would want us to do this, so let’s stop wasting our time arguing and come up with a plan.”
“Okay, I guess you’re right, as always. Let’s do it tonight and get it over with, I can’t see mom suffering for any longer. I’ll distract the doctor outside of mom’s room before he comes inside. You can unplug the machine, make it seem like it was an accident, and then escape out from the patio.”
“Wow, for once, you finally have a good idea. I can’t believe you even doubted me in the first place, don’t you need the money too? Before mom fell into a coma, she told me that you lost your job last week.”
Anna held her gaze at the floor and sighed, “Yeah, I did. I have my third job interview tomorrow, and if I don’t get this one then I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“See, even more reason to do this. If you do land a job it’s probably only going to be minimum wage anyways. But if we both get our shares, I’ll stop asking you for money. Now, I’m going to go through the rooms and collect all of the valuable items while you stay here and pretend to check on mom, okay?”
Anna nodded and both of them walked back into their mother’s room. As she looked around her mother’s room out of pure boredom, she saw pieces of paper sticking out underneath a jewelry box, as if it was hidden there for a reason. Anna walked to see and sifted through the papers. Most of them were legal documents but the very last paper was her mother’s will. She read through the whole paper and then stuffed it back into the stack of legal papers before Avery walked into the room.
“Hey, look at this,” Avery cackled, as he held up a diamond set of jewelry.
“Where’d you get that from?”
“Where do you think, dummy? I told you, I’m looking through all of the rooms for items that can sell.”
“Sorry, I forgot.”
“Wow, I’m getting a little hungry. I think it’s time to celebrate with my favorite dish.”
“Prime rib and lobster tail?”
“Yes, make it for me right away, before I starve to death!”
Anna quickly went to the kitchen and started cooking the lavish dinner for Avery, as he continued to go through each room. By the time she was done cooking the meal, it was already dark outside. Anna carefully walked upstairs to her mother’s room and set the dish down on a table.
“Wow, it’s finally done. Next time don’t take so long, we have to start getting used to living like the rich,” Avery grumbled as he stuffed his mouth with prime rib.
“I’m sorry, but there won’t be a next time,” mumbled Anna.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Can you speak louder, you’re always so quiet when you talk.”
“I said, ‘there won’t be a next time’!”
“What’s do you mean? What’s happening?” Avery stuttered as his breaths became shorter.
“Did you ever see what mom put in her will?”
“Yeah, but I—”
“So you knew all along that I was never even going to get any part of the share. You would spend all of the money on drugs anyways.”
“I would’ve gave some of the share, I promise! What did you put in here?” Avery panted while his fingertips began to turn blue.
“The two items that you’ve loved more than anything else: heroin and alcohol.”
Avery collapsed onto the ground with a thud. She then put on two gloves, dragged him next to her mother’s plug and then placed an empty bottle of whiskey and a bag of heroin next to him. Anna then heard the doorbell ring, she took a deep breath, glared at her mother angrily, and then unplugged the machine.
Anna quickly took off her gloves and travelled downstairs to open the door for the doctor to come in.
“You would not believe what my brother just did,” Anna cried.