Vault

Chapter 1

     I hate the color yellow. It always brings back bad memories. Like the time my aunt Valerie tried to stuff me into that ugly, itchy, yellow sweater for Easter. Or the time I ate a banana and had an allergic reaction, which made me swell up and turn red. The worst memory I have concerning yellow, though, is the day 13 year old me came home to find annoyingly bright, yellow tape labeled 'crime scene' wrapped around my childhood home. I can still remember every detail about that day. I had a particularly good day and even asked the girl I liked out. I couldn't wait to get home and tell my father how confident I was about it. The minute I stepped on my street though, all of it was out the window. Something was terribly wrong. Several police cars were parked around my house and a news station reporter was busily bossing around a man who was unloading an expensive looking video camera from his truck. I creeped up the sidewalk until I was suddenly stopped my a firm hand on my shoulder.

"This is a crime scene young man, you can't come past this tape." I glanced up at the man, trying to figure out whether or not it was really happening. His eyes met mine and recognition flashed across them. He gave me a strong look of pity and shook his head. He looked over his shoulder to call someone over it seems and I took this time to bolt out of his grasp and barrel into my house. "Raijin! Son, come back here!" I didn't take the time to think about how he knew my name, I just wanted to see my mom and dad. To confirm that nothing bad had happened to them. I felt myself stop suddenly as the strong stench of blood hit my nose, it felt like a punch to the face. Crime scene investigators were buzzing all around the living room, not paying a lick of attention to me. They were all focused on the horrific sight in front of them, chatting and taking pictures, comparing notes. There, laying on the floor, was the lifeless body of my father. His shirt soaked with blood from stab wounds that were all over his chest. At that exact moment everything seemed to shatter. My world crashed and burned. My mother was nowhere to be seen but I felt that she was gone too. Very slowly I backed up, several people seemed to finally notice me and make their way towards my direction but were stopped by a gruff voice.

"Leave the boy be, we got him." I felt a hand on my shoulder again and I looked up. It was the man from outside. He gently guided me away from the living room and back outside, onto the porch. I numbly sat down on the same swing I talked to my dad on the night before, wishing that it was all a dream. That I would wake up in my bed and walk downstairs to see my mom cooking breakfast and my dad reading the paper like he does every morning. It took me only a couple of seconds to realize that it wasn't a dream. It was all real, very, very real. Everything after that moment was a blur. A woman in an official looking uniform came and questioned me on my parent's, when I last saw my mother, if anyone had any motives to kill my father, ect. Another woman, who looked kind and was wearing jeans and a sweater, came and picked me up after I collected my belongings and anything I wanted to take with me. She brought me to a orphanage while they tried to track my dad's sister down, Karen, down. I was at the orphanage for 3 days before they could get a hold of her. She told them she wouldn't take me, she just couldn't. Her being my last living relative left me alone. So here I stayed. Almost three years later and I haven't heard from her since. Not that I've wanted too. A week and I'll be gone. A week and I'll finally have my inheritance, which I'm learning about at this moment. Its 3:27 pm and I'm sitting across from my parents lawyer, Calvin Warren. He's wearing an obnoxious yellow tie that matches his obviously dyed, thinning hair. He clears his throat a couple of times before opening a folder labeled, MARGARET AND DANIEL DELANEY'S WILL. My heart aches when I read it and I look up at his face. He wipes his forehead quickly with his handkerchief before clearing his throat yet again.

"In the will of Margaret and Daniel Delaney all of their possessions were to be given to their only son, Raijin Delaney." His eyes flicker up to mine for a split second before he looked back down. "Their house, all the money in their bank accounts, and vault 641 is to be given to Raijin on his 18th birthday." I sit up a little higher, a vault? Since when has there been a vault? What's in the vault?? I'm suddenly more interested in this than I was before. I can't remember my parents ever mentioning a vault when they were alive. If Calvin notices my confusion he doesn't seem to care because he moves on. "The sum of the money will be $294,000.21. The house may be sold if all previous debts on it are not paid, but, young man. The vault is all yours." I nod my head, adsorbing all the information. The money is good. I could live off of it for a while. Until I finish school and get a job. I was also going to sell the house anyways. But this vault... where would I find the vault....