Morning all, below is a prompt from last year followed by my basic outline for the task. I have to say, I had fun with this one.
Thursday, April 24th: A hush fell over the room.
A hush fell over the room. All heads swiveled in her direction.
Emma felt their attention, could practically hear the questions in the silence. She had been gone for nearly thirty years. Why had she returned?
Emma found her lips twitching with a smile and ruthlessly swallowed back the amusement to keep her face blank. They knew why she was here of course. How could they not? It was the same reason they were all here.
She received a letter.
‘Letter,’ she thought wryly as she slid into one of the few empty seats.
She pretended not to see the older woman shift slightly away while giving her the side eye. It was quite a performance. Aunt Hester hadn’t technically moved from her seat, yet everything about her shied away. She also didn’t turn her head in Emma’s direction, yet Emma could see her watching out of the corners of her eyes.
Idly Emma wondered what they expected her to do. What sort of random act of crazy they expected her to perform. Since she was quiet while here and her only ‘act of insanity’ was to quietly leave, she wasn’t certain why they expected a performance now.
The letter, at least the one she received was more summons than anything else. It announced Theadore’s death of course, then requested her presence at the reading of the will. It offered several veiled threats of what might happen should she not attend.
A part of Emma wanted to stay away, just to see what sorts of things Theodore set up. She was so outside of his world that she doubted he could actually do her harm. But Theodore was nothing if not clever. He certainly wasn’t going to let death stop him from imposing his will, at least one final time. Emma suspected that even dead he could still reach out and affect her life. If anyone could it would be Theodore.
Besides, she was curious.
As the near complete silence broke up, shifting into soft whispers, Emma found she wished she had stayed away. She could have lived with the curiosity as well as anything Theodore decided to do to her from beyond the grave. She wasn;t certain she could survive being back here.
She didn’t belong here. She hadn’t belonged here even when she lived here. It was why she left.
‘I didn’t belong when I married John,’ Emma found herself thinking. All his family made that clear. After he died, she stayed with his family for a while out of a sense of responsibility. They killed any familial feelings she might have retained and she finally had to escape.
Theodore, undisputed head of the Wallace Clan understood that and let her go even though she knew many of the others expected him to offer reprisals. Before she left, she talked to him about it. He understood her reasoning and appreciated her coming to him before she made any decisions. She was certain that was why there had been no reprisals for leaving.
Perhaps that was also why she came back.
He was the only one of the Wallaces she had any respect for.
Not much seemed to have changed in the time she was gone. There were older faces of course, hers was showing a few lines as well even if she did make sure the grays were well dyed.
The cliques remained the same. She could identify them still even though the faces aged and new ones were added.
Nothing really changed, but as the Wallace family considered themselves the pinnacle of achievement, they would see no need to change. They were what other families aspired to. Change was for those who wanted to mimic them.
It was an attitude she remembered well and she could still feel it weighing down the air.
Emma allowed her gaze to sweep the room. There was no one here she missed. She expected there to be a few nostalgic moments a few faces she was happy to see. There weren’t. ‘Good I left then,’ she decided.
The room grew silent again. It wasn’t the shocked variety that heralded her arrival but the waiting, anticipatory kind this time. She turned to the front of the room and saw the family lawyer had arrived and taken his place at the front table. Behind him a television on a stand was rolled in.
‘Oh no,’ Emma thought. ‘Theodore you didn’t.’
She saw a few others wince at the sight of it as well. Theodore had always threatened to tell all of them exactly what he thought of everything and everyone when he reached the point of no return. As he was dead, cremated, scattered and his will finally made it through probate, Emma was certain this was as beyond the point as he could get.
‘At least I know why he summoned me here.’
He wouldn’t have wanted anyone who had ever been in his circle to escape the bald truth he planned to lay down once he was beyond reprisals.
There was relief in that. The mystery of her invitation solved.
Emma had to admit she had a slight amount of curiosity. Theodore had always been pleasant and respectful towards her, but she could never really tell what he hid behind those manners. They had a pleasant relationship when she was here and even after she left he sent her a card on Christmas and another one on her birthday. She sent one to him in return for both Christmas and his birthday. There was no other attempt to keep contact. The cards themselves conveyed only general well wishes, no real connection. It was just a simple reminder that once they were connected by marriage if nothing else.
Now she supposed she would find out what he really thought of her. She saw others reach more or less the same conclusion. While she was more curious than concerned, she saw differing expressions on the faces of others. Most looked more resigned than curious.
SETUP: Emma receives a letter requesting her presence at the reading of the will of Theodore. He was her deceased husband’s grandfather and she long ago left the family. Emma long ago left because the family didn’t consider her one of them. She returns for the reading and the lawyer brings out a television with a recording where Theodore can tell them what he really thinks of them. He has left each of them a small amount of money (less than they expected) and a small business opportunity. They are given a year, the person who does the best with the company gets a bigger inheritance.
COMPLICATION: Emma doesn’t want to compete, but the lawyer gives her a separate video to watch. He believes he was killed and that the person who killed him was the same person who killed John. The business he left her also has the clues he managed to uncover, if she plays along then she may be able to find the murderer. Gives detective who is contact.
RISING ACTION: All begin to play the game, some think it is unfair that Emma is allowed so they watch. She uses that as a way to watch them. She finds the clues, contacts the detective and as cover makes a go of running the business. Since she has to look like she is trying she puts effort into it and finds she likes it as it was well chosen for her. Wonders if all were chosen that way or if he is making it less onerous for her to search or if the murder is just a trick. Follows the clues.
MEANWHILE: Sabotage between those competing. No one considers her a threat, business wise but someone picks up on her investigation and tries to derail her.
CLIMAX: Figures out that the murderer was one of the cousins who thought John was being tapped to take Theodore’s place and thought the new will favored him. He planned to take it all but is trapped by Emma and her security cameras in front of witnesses.
DENOUEMENT: Emma did well with the business but came in second place. She got a reward and got to keep the business but one of the other cousins is taking over the family fortune. After she receives her prize they forget about her again and deal with their own crumbling family now exposed as not so fabulous (public embarrassment and proof of Theodore’s opinions of all of them.) Justice was served and ties officially severed.
Ten til Midnight 