Blood Money (1) | The Inheritance Games

LII. hoax

"Stood on a cliffside screaming 'give me a reason'."

Pacing up the staircase in the direction of my room, I clutch the letter from the old man in my hands. He said my mystery was just starting, so surely that means the mystery starts with the letter. Where does it lead? 

One phrase keeps catching my eyes. 'Climb the cliff and don't be afraid to jump', sure it's a metaphor to anyone else, but to a Hawthorne it's a clue. 

The sound of a loud thud from the direction of Uncle Toby's wing, I flinch. He died in a fire before I was even alive. That wing has laid untouched ever since. Hearing that bang, followed by several others is alarming. 

I slip the folded letter back into the pocket of my jeans and cautiously follow the creaking floorboards down towards his bedroom door. It was entirely bricked up, restricting all entry the second he died, the same way my Grandmother Alice's was. 

My skin is pale as I try to pad softly down the long corridors. The floors that are dusting due to having not been walked in twenty years. It's daunting. 

Trembling hands grasp onto a nearby vase, preparing to pounce round the corner and catch whatever keeps banging. 

I yell out as I run around the corner, charging at his wall with the vase. 

Avery, Jameson and Xander are all circling the brick wall now hosting a dent, likely on account of the massive sledgehammer in Xander Hawthorne's hands. 

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" I scoff with disbelief, placing the vase down and meticulously dodging pieces of wall all over the floor. 

"What?" Jameson frowns, not even looking remotely fazed. "You're deranged. All of you. Let the man rest!" I sigh, my eyes bulging. 

"He's-" Avery starts before Jameson jumps in, wrapping one arm around her and cupping her mouth with the other. "He's dead. He won't care." He blurts instead. 

"Who let Xan use a sledgehammer?" I sigh, walking over and confiscating the large tool. "He's scarily good with it, Spence. Don't ever get on his bad side." Jameson shivers. 

"At least wear goggles if- What am I saying! Maybe just don't do it at all?!" I emphasise. "It's for the mystery." Xander pouts, dawning a hopeful puppy dog expression. 

I stare with incredulous eyes and a gaping mouth. "What mystery would the old man ever leave you which involves breaking the wall to his dead son's bedroom?!"

In my moment of shock, Xander subtly slips the sledgehammer from my hands and offers a lopsided grin in return. 

"It's the mystery, Spencer." Jameson shrugs with a knowing smirk, thirsty for the mystery and more. 

"Fucking hell. I could find you three robbing a bank and you'd just claim it's for the mystery." I laugh humourlessly as I force my feet far away. 

Climb the cliff and don't be afraid to jump.

My mind repeats it over and over until something in me clicks. I know it's probably wrong, but even if it is, a part of me needs to for closure.

I race down the staircase again, jogging through the foyer and through the garage of unused cars until I reach mine. My pink jeep. I unlock it and jump behind the wheel, taking the route I know well from memory. I follow it, my mind barren of thoughts in a numb state. Part of me is barely sure if this is real or just a nightmare. 

Speeding down the dimly lit, desolate roads, my eyes don't dare blink. 

I pull the car over the same place I had that night, following the exact same route up the cliff.