The Chase

Thea Brooks looked down into the open casket in disbelief. She couldn’t believe Addie was actually gone. Adelaide Fairbanks had been her saving grace since she was sixteen years old.

Growing up in her uncle’s house after her parents died during 9/11 was the closest thing to hell on earth. Her uncle was a lazy, abusive alcoholic who only cared about getting money for more alcohol.

Losing her parents at seven years old was hard enough, then being forced to live with a soulless human being was more than anyone could handle. That’s why she ran away at sixteen and ended up at the Fairbanks Estate.

Thea ended up breaking into the mansion to steal some food only to get caught red handed by Adelaide.

“Long time, no see Thea.”

Thea jumped at the voice and turned to see piercing blue eyes that flitted between her and his phone.

“Hey there, Elvis. How’s life in jolly ol’ England?” Thea smirked as he narrowed his eyes at her.

Presley Fairbanks, nicknamed Elvis by Thea, is Adelaide’s grandson and only living relative left. Presley’s mother died during childbirth and his father died a few years ago due to a heart attack. Presley spent every summer at Adelaide’s home as a child, because his father was busy working at his law firm. Once Thea moved in, she spent a lot of time with Presley when he came for the summer.

After Presley’s father died he took over his father’s law firm and moved to London, England.

“England is fine. What have you been up to lately?” Presley asked.

“Taking care of your grandmother as she slowly succumbed to sickness while her only living, blood relative was nowhere to be found. You never answered any of my calls. Yet, here you are. No doubt the only reason you showed up today was to get the inheritance and be on your way,” Thea said sternly.

“You have no right to accuse me of being shallow and greedy! I loved Gran. She was the only family I had that actually cared about me. My father was cold and only cared about money. I became a lawyer, because he wanted me too. He left me with that firm and I had to be an adult and be responsible.”

“You didn’t have to abandon her! You could have visited during the holidays at least! You could have put someone in charge so you could be with your grandmother while she was dying!”

“Excuse me,” Another voice interrupted.

Thea and Presley turned to see a man in his fifties, dressed in a nice suit and holding a briefcase.

“Are you Thea Brooks and Presley Fairbanks?” The man asked.

“Yes,” Presley and Thea answered simultaneously.

“Wonderful, my name is Marcus Jones. I was Mrs. Fairbanks’ lawyer. I was hoping to schedule a time with you both to read her will.”

The group agreed to meet the next day for the will reading then sat through the funeral service. Neither Thea or Presley spoke another word to each other the rest of the day.

The next day Presley, Thea and Marcus Jones gathered in study of the Fairbanks Estate.

“Now, as you know Mrs. Fairbanks was an eccentric woman. When she got sick she came to me to update the terms of her will. She gave me strict instructions of how everything would be distributed. Before we get into that, she left a note attached to this little, black book. I will first read the note.

Dear Thea and Presley,

Life has not been kind to you both. Thea, when I found you stealing food in my kitchen I saw a scared and lonely little girl, but I also found a feisty and strong, young girl who was willing to fight for a better life.

Presley, my dear grandson. Your mother died before she had a chance to live and the pain of her death caused your father to be overwhelmed in his grief, which resulted in him being cold and distant.

I tried to shower you both in love and show you that life is worth living. However I am afraid I did not do as well as I should have. Presley you do nothing, but work at that law firm that is draining all the life from you. Thea, you gave up your dream of being an artist to become a nurse in order to take care of me when I became ill. You both gave up your lives because of someone else’s expectations or needs.

Therefore, I am determined to make sure you both experience life. I have left everything to the both of you in equal measure. However, there are stipulations and actions you both need to take before everything can be passed down to you.

First: I have left a black book with instructions in it. You must follow them exactly or else you will not get a dime of the inheritance.

Second: You both must take a month off of work starting now in order to follow the instructions I left in the black book.

Third: I have left you $20,000 of the inheritance that must be used for whatever expenses are needed in order to complete the instructions in the black book.

Fourth: You must complete the instruction in the black book together. No exceptions. No excuses. No loopholes.

Finally: Marcus Jones will be accompanying you both to make sure you follow every instruction correctly. Once you have finished, everything I own will belong to you both.

Thea and Presley stared aghast at Marcus after he had finished reading the letter.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Thea exclaimed.

“There is no way this is legally binding,” Presley boomed.

“It is all legally binding and I have already made arrangements to take the month off for myself,” Marcus said calmly.

Thea and Presley spent the next hour arguing with Marcus until they realized there was no getting out of the request.

The next day Thea, Presley and Marcus were on a plane to Canada.

“Here is the book, you can both look over it,” Marcus handed it to Thea.

The book was small but well made. The black leather was worn from being used often.

The first entry were instructions for Marcus to schedule a meeting with Thea and Presley and get them started on their first destination.

The second entry read:

Thea and Presley,

I am doing this to take you both on an adventure across the globe. Traveling the world is a great way to enjoy and experience what life has to offer. I am sending you to five destinations. At each destination there will be a number that matches a page in the book. On that page will be the location of your next destination and an itinerary for that destination. You will spend five days at each destination.

“I can’t believe she is making us do this. This is ridiculous!” Presley huffs.

“I think it’s kind of funny actually. She is forcing us to take a vacation and have fun,” Thea mused.

“I have fun!” Presley protested.

“Oh yea? I’m sure you are such a party animal; bar hopping and clubbing all over London!” Thea said sarcastically.

“I go to the cinema, go to classy bars and throw a dinner party every now and then,” Presley murmured.

“Oh! My mistake, obviously you are a wild man!” Thea laughed.

“I doubt you go out on the town often.”

Thea’s laugh turned to silence as she glanced out the plane window.

“No, I spent all my time trying to help the woman I owed my life to. I wouldn’t have lasted long on my own. If it wasn’t for Adelaide I’m not sure what would have happened to me.”

Presley’s response was cut off by the announcement of the plane about to land.

Five weeks later...

“I can’t stand this anymore!” Thea screamed as she thundered into the hotel suite.

“We have been to Canada, Italy, Ireland, Japan and now Australia! I’m sick of this dumb goose chase and this stupid black book!”

“Obviously, Gran took drastic measures to make sure we took a vacation. Why she did all of this; I have no idea,” Presley sighed and slumped onto the couch.

“Thanks for stating the obvious Elvis.”

“You know what? I have had enough of your attitude, Thea! Why do you always ruin things?”

“Me? Why do I always ruin things? What about you with your pompous attitude that everything and everyone is beneath you!” Thea yelled and threw a pillow at him.

Presley stared at Thea in shock.

“Is that really what you think of me?” Presley asked softly.

Taken aback by his soft tone, Thea took a deep breath then walked over to him.

“No, at least I didn’t when we were younger. We always got along so well as teens and then your father had his stroke. After that, you changed: you were always so serious, never goofed around with me again and you rarely smiled.”

Thea sighed and looked at her feet.

“You also broke my heart,” Thea whispered.

“When did I break your heart?” Presley asked.

“Senior year, I was going to tell you about the crush I had on you. That day we went out with a group from my school and one of the girls was flirting with you. She asked you why someone like you always hung out with someone like me. You laughed and told her it was because I lived with your grandma and that you had to be nice.”

“I said that?” Presley asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Thea nodded.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember that at all.”

Thea shrugged. “It’s ancient history, but thank you.”

“I will admit though, this wild goose chase has been a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed traveling the world with you Thea,” Presley said with a smile.

“Yea, I guess this trip was worth it. I had fun with you too, Elvis.” Thea smirked as Presley rolled his eyes.

“Well it is about time!”

Thea and Presley jumped at the voice. Thea screamed when they saw the source of the voice.

“Addie?” Thea choked out.

“Gran? How are you here? How are you still alive?”

Adelaide Fairbanks stood, alive and well, in the doorway of the hotel suit with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

“I faked my death, obviously,” Addie shrugged and walked toward them. “I was tired of never getting to see my grandson and watching you two work yourselves to death was heartbreaking. Therefore, I set all this up with Marcus. I pretended to be sick for several months and a doctor friend of mine was able to give me some serum that slowed my heart-rate enough so it seemed like I was dead.”

“I figured the only way to get the two people I love most in the world together would be at my funeral. Then, because you two don’t have social lives, I made you go out and take an adventure. So I left the little black book full of clues and money to cover your expenses.”

Thea fell onto the couch and Presley rubbed his face, roughly with his hands.

“You are insane!” Thea exclaimed.

“I can’t believe you went to such drastic measures just to get us to take a vacation!” Presley shouted.

“Darlings, I’m an old and lonely woman, and you two don’t appreciate your youth enough. Plus, it was entertaining,” Addie chuckled.

“I can’t handle this. You are insane and I’m leaving,” Thea said and started walking out of the room.

“I’m leaving too. I can’t even look at you right now, Gran,” Presley said and followed Thea out.

The last thing they heard was Adelaide’s loud cackling.