Good morning everyone. I hope your Monday went well and your Tuesday looks set to follow. I started Monday in a good mood and it went fairly well. I am hoping that this sets the tone for the rest of the week. So the coffee is brewing and I am ready to start the day. Sooooooo, let’s jump into our morning prompt. Ready? Fabulous. Times set and we are off!
Okay this one started off as one thing and then completely morphed to something else. I think that the something else is something I will want to go back to. There is the germ of something there. It is buried, but it is worth revisiting.
Tuesday, April 5th: Blood oozed from the scrape.
Blood oozed from the scrape, I hissed at the pain, more annoyed than injured. I pulled my hand back. There was no way it was going to fit. I looked down between the boards. I saw the rouch surface of one of the wooden sides was spotted with my blood. Further down was the key I dropped. A shaft of sunlight shown through the window and through some trick of the light fel directly on the key as though it was spotlighting my mistake.
‘Crap.’
I hadn’t meant to drop it of course. I hadn’t actually known it was there. I was looking for keys though and even though this one fell out of a book unexpectedly I felt I should have been expecting it if only because I was looking for keys.
I leaned back on my heels, decided that my feet would go to sleep before I found a solution and pushed back sitting down on the floor completely.
This house was a mess. All through my life I recalled everyone saying the same phrase. “Uncle Kevin has his systems.’ It was said with fondness and the willingness to indulge. Uncle Kevin was practically a family legend. While the rest of the family was of normal, or even slightly higher than normal intelligence, Kevin ‘s IQ was off the charts high. His brain was practically a celebrity in some circles. His whims were indulged because everyone assumed he had some reason for doing the things he did because he was so much smarter than they were.
He then went off and used his big brain to make a lot of money. He was generous to the rest of the family always sending lavish cash gifts for holidays. I remembered getting the cards with the cash in them and banking the money for his own future plans. The cards were always addressed to my dear nephew. I doubted very much if Kevin knew my name.
Still in some ways he had shaped my life. When I came along they tested our IQs and I was brought in to speak with the councilor. Like Kevin my tests were abnormally high. I begged them not to tell my family, to let them believe I was average. I did not want to become like Kevin. He was respected and indulged but distant and cut off from everyone else. He lived in this house with its locked doors and hidden rooms alone, amusing himself with his games.
My wishes were followed and the rest of the family was ignorant of my scores. Oddly enough, even without that knowledge, I drifted away from the bulk of the family. I saved the money Kevin sent for my presents and even though I managed a scholarship, the money filled in where the scholarships left off. Most of the family didn’t see the point in further education since they weren’t as smart as Kevin. My path veered away from theirs as surely as if I had told them my secret.
Then came the call, Kevin had been hospitalized and since his gifts had allowed me to go to college it was my responsibility to help. I would have come without the reminder. The thought that the others thought I had to be reminded in order to come rankled, but I swallowed back the annoyance. I looked around the room. Something in here had to help me retrieve the key.
Ten til Midnight 