02
That night, “Missing” posters were plastered
all over town.
The local news was reporting on Billy’s
disappearance, and there was a reward of
fifty thousand dollars.
L
In a time when people were making a few
hundred bucks a year, fifty grand was an
insane amount of money.
I wondered if Billy was worth fifty thousand.
Would the kidnapper send him back when he
figured it out?
But after seeing the posters, I knew there was
no way Billy was ever coming back.
Compared to fifty thousand dollars, saving a
kid’s life didn’t even enter the picture.
Six months passed, and with so many other
cases popping up, Billy’s case got put on the
back burner.
I thought about how Billy had pushed me
I thought about how Billy had pushed me
towards the kidnapper last time, and then
took off.
I was just learning from him.
After all, we were brother and sister.
Deep down, we were the same kind of people.
I started using my brains to come up with
ways to make money, distracting my parents
and helping them slowly move on from losing
their son.
Dad patted me on the head, beaming.
“Maggie, you’re our lucky charm! You’ve
helped Mom and Dad make so much money.”
I giggled. “Dad, those rich people on TV all
く
have houses with swimming pools and
garages. It’s awesome!”
“Mom and Dad, let’s get a bigger house,
somewhere with rich people. Maybe we can
even make some business connections and
make even more money!”
“They say you’re the average of the five
people you spend the most time with.”
My parents were blown away.
They decided right then to buy a house in a
posh neighbourhood.
They had enough money to pay for a new
house, but they were worried that if Billy
came back, he wouldn’t be able to find them.
く
I had to get rid of that thought.
Wipe his memory from their minds.
“Maggie’s right. Nothing’s more important
than your connections.”
The next day, Mom and Dad went house
hunting.
They did their research and ended up
splurging on a fancy house on a hilltop, where
all the big shots in town lived.
I grabbed a plate of Mom’s homemade
cookies and made sure to introduce myself to
all our neighbours.
I was polite and well–behaved, and I got to
く
know everyone pretty quickly.
My parents ended up landing a bunch of
small projects, which helped them build good
relationships.
When I thought the time was right, I piped up,
“Mom and Dad, maybe we should adopt a
brother? You guys are always working, and
you don’t have time for me. It’s lonely being
alone all the time. I wish I had someone to
play with.”
Why a brother?
Because I needed to completely replace Billy
in my parents‘ hearts.
I also wanted to make sure that if he ever did
come back, my parents wouldn’t give him all
the credit for everything I’d done, just
because he was the boy.
No way was that happening.
Right now, I was the apple of their eyes, so
they’d agree to anything I wanted.
