It was a cold Friday evening in Beethoven city and while other families sat around the dinner table, eating very delicious meals and enjoying each other’s company, the same could not be said about the Prescott family.
Instead of the dining room, they were all in the living room, having an important meeting and everyone’s focus was on the matriarch of the family, Lady Elizabeth Prescott.Though she was sixty-four years old, her beauty was still ever present, transcending from a youthful allure to the regal elegance that came with age.Lady Elizabeth sat gracefully in her opulent white and gold leather chair, with impressive designs that made it look almost like a throne, and in her presence were children and grandchildren,“Grandmother, these are the records of profits we’ve made this year and if you take a look at these other documents, you’ll see our expected profit margins for the next five years.” Said Austin Prescott, Lady Elizabeth’s first grandson, as he gave her two files.The moment Lady Elizabeth took the files from him, Austin wore a proud smirk.“We’ve just entered our one million dollars a month phase but by the time we get to year five of our current trajectory, we should be making an estimated twenty times that”, Austin added as he and everyone watched the Matriarch scan through the contents of the documents and was impressed by what she saw.“You have done well, my grandson. All the years you spent in those costly business schools was time well spent. I expect to see more from you in the future” Lady Elizabeth said, then set the documents Austin gave her to the side.“What about you, Victor? What do you have to show me?” Lady Elizabeth asked her second grandson.Victor, who had been waiting for that moment since the start of the meeting, grinned from ear to ear.He stood up, walked up to his grandmother while reaching into his suit’s inner pocket, and took out a tiny envelope.“Here you go, grandmother. Think of this as an early birthday present”, Victor said cockily, stretching the envelope to Lady Elizabeth.Lady Elizabeth took the envelope and grimaced.“What is this?” She asked.“That right there is what I call crystal gold,” Victor said proudly, eliciting Lady Elizabeth’s intrigue.“Crystal gold?” She asked, then opened the envelope and checked the inside.Her eyebrows raised when she saw the sparkle of what the envelope was housing.Wanting to see more, she turned the envelope over and poured the contents into her hand.Everyone who saw what had come out of the envelope was mesmerized by the allure. It was like nothing they had ever seen before.“Those are purple diamonds, the rarest type of diamond in the entire world, and I was able to acquire a moderate land site enriched with them.”“Oh?” Lady Elizabeth was shocked.A moderate land site? Purple diamonds were one of the rarest and most precious types of crystals known to man and Victor declaring that he had acquired a moderate land site of it was the equivalent of striking crude oil in the 1800s.It was a truly remarkable feat.“The locals of the land were more than happy to sell it to me and when compared with the value we are about to get from it, the idiots basically sold it for dirt cheap,” Victor said, then chuckled.“What’s the price range for something like this?” Lady Elizabeth asked.“Three times the price of a regular Diamond, grandmother. That tiny piece in your hand is worth at least fifty thousand dollars, and we have much more back at the site. Just wait until production fully starts. Our net worth will skyrocket.” Victor said, and Lady Elizabeth was pleased.She returned the purple diamond to the envelope and placed it on the side.“You have outdone yourself and exceeded all expectations, Victor. I was impressed by what your brother, Austin, had done, but I didn’t think you would outdo him like this. You really are a remarkable grandchild”, Lady Elizabeth praised.Proud of the praise he had received, Victor looked at Austin, who was filled with jealousy, and he grinned from ear to ear.From the looks of it, everyone in the family competed for Lazy Elizabeth’s love and the remaining family members who, at the start of the meeting, couldn’t wait to reveal what they had to the lady of the household, were now hesitant.They didn’t think they could outdo what Victor had just done.“Alright, who’s next? Victor has put me in an excellent mood, so the next person should—“ Lady Elizabeth said, but was interrupted when…“Grandmother, I have a wonderful business proposal for you,” Said Jeremiah Steel, the good-for-nothing stain on the Prescott family tree.He walked over to Lady Elizabeth, saying “This is a really good idea, Grandmother, and it will really help the community. My business idea is to open a free center where orphan kids can learn beneficial skills and trade so that they can fend for themselves—““Hey, bastard! Who permitted you to talk to grandmother like that?!” Victor yelled.“Have you gone mad, boy?! How dare you interrupt our meeting to bring up your useless ideas?!” Yelled Malcolm, Lady Elizabeth’s only son, and father of Austin, Victor, Mirabel, and Gwen.Jeremiah quickly looked at Malcolm.“But, uncle, I think my idea is a good one. You know those kids don’t have anyone to look after them and, since our family is fortunate enough to have all we have, I think it’s only appropriate to—“ Jeremiah said, but was interrupted when, from behind, Lady Elizabeth grabbed the television remote and threw it at the back of his head.Though she was sixty-four years old, the elderly woman was very strong and agile.Her projectile was enough to injure Jeremiah on impact, and he could feel the wetness of the blood dripping down the back of his neck.“Grandmother, why did you do that?” Jeremiah asked, turning around to see the hateful sneer the elderly woman had.“You good-for-nothing monkey! It’s already bad enough that you’re the illegitimate child of my late husband, but you always try and put yourself in our dealings like you’re actually part of the family.”“But grandmother—“Lady Elizabeth slammed her fist on the chair, making a loud thud.“I am not your grandmother and don’t you ever call me that again!” She warned, the veins on her neck making their presence known.Lady Elizabeth was correct. Because Jeremiah was the child of the dead patriarch and his mistress, she was more like his stepmother than his grandmother.Jeremiah only called her grandmother because he was the same age as her grandchildren, and it felt better, but she never appreciated it.Just then, Jeremiah’s mother came rushing into the living room. The yelling from the family members had called her attention from her quarters and she knew it had to be about her son.“Jeremiah, what’s wrong?!” Michele Steel, Jeremiah’s mother, asked as she got to her son’s side.She gasped, her expression turning grim after noticing the blood stains on the back of his neck and shirt collar.“What happened to you, son? How did you get injured so badly?” Michele asked, then accidentally kicked the remote on the ground.She wondered what the tip of her foot had just hit, only for her to look down and see the bloody remote. “Jeremiah, is this what injured you? How?” Michelle asked as she went down and picked the remote.She was smart enough to know that a remote like that could only injure Jeremiah the way it did if it was thrown at him, so by sneaking glances at the rest of the family, she wondered who had done it.Immediately, Lady Elizabeth said with an emotionless voice “I did it. I threw the remote at your useless son, so now that you know, what are you going to do about it?”The moment she heard the confession, Michelle froze. Her entire being became fearful. H
They couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Did Gwen seriously just say that she had killed someone while driving? “Where did it happen?!” Lady Elizabeth asked hurriedly. “Not too far from here. About seven minutes from the gate”, Gwen replied, pointing in the direction of the street that the body would be on.“And did you check to see if the person was actually dead or not? Sometimes you can hit something and it’ll still be alive.”Gwen’s eyes widened.“Oh my god. I made a mistake and didn’t check, grandma. What if he is alive and is in so much pain and agony because of what I did? I can’t believe I messed up so badly” Gwen cried even more, realizing the massive error she had made.Lady Elizabeth quickly consoled her.“It’s not your fault, my darling. Something like this has never happened to you before, so it’s expected that you will make a mistake. Everything will be fine, so clean your tears” Lady Elizabeth helped wipe Gwen’s tears from her eyes.“Okay, Grandma, I’ll be stro
“What?!” Jeremiah exclaimed, utterly shocked by the statement. Everyone looked at Jeremiah and they didn’t say anything. They were okay with using him for the task.“Come here, boy!” Lady Elizabeth instructed, and Jeremiah’s eyes blinked rapidly. He was being forced to involve himself in the situation, and he didn’t know what to do about it. He hesitated to move and then noticed that his mother was also holding him. She didn’t want her son to join the cover-up for murder. Lady Elizabeth looked at Michelle who was trying to prevent Jeremiah from moving and she frowned.“Hey witch, what did I tell you about interfering in my affairs?!” Michelle gulped.“You told me not to, Lady Elizabeth” she replied.“Then what do you think you’re doing—?!” The sirens got louder.“I don’t have time for you at the moment, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that your actions will go unpunished. Now, you have one second to let go of that bastard, and he has less than three seconds to come here o
Hearing the voice, Jeremiah’s eyes widened.He had been so enthralled in the chaos of what he was doing that the loud noise of the car’s engine had drowned the sound of the police cars driving towards and surrounding him.They had turned off their sirens and headlights to make sure he didn’t see them coming, and now he had nowhere to go. “The police? What are the police doing here?! I thought grandmother was handling the situation—” Jeremiah panicked but was interrupted.“This is your final warning! Turn off the engine and come out with your hands up. Refuse and we’ll be forced to use deadly force”, Officer Prince warned.Immediately, Jeremiah turned off the engine.“Good. Now, come out with your hands up and do it slowly. Any strange movement and we might be forced to put you down—““Alright, I’ve heard you! I’m coming out!” Jeremiah yelled, then took his hands out of the car first.“As you can see, my hands are empty and outside the car. I am coming out too, so please don’t shoot”
Jeremiah picked himself up and then returned to sitting on the welded steel bench inside the holding cell. One by one, Jeremiah watched the other detainees get their bail paid and leave their holding cells and each time, the fear in his heart grew because he knew what was installed for him at the end of the night.He wasn’t going to be bailed out and would be sent to prison to rot and, because of the severity of the crime he was being framed for committing, he would have an instant target on his back. More time passed and something switched. Instead of fear, what grew in Jeremiah’s heart became hatred for the entire Prescott family members. The only one spared was his mother.They had committed the crime and also framed him for it and all he could think of was getting revenge on every single one of them. If the opportunity ever presented itself, then he was going to take it with full force and not look back. Finally, the police station closed and Jeremiah, being the only detainee
The man got closer really fast and started to aggressively wear Jeremiah his shirt. Even though Jeremiah tried to fight him, the man’s chaotic strength was just too much. Within seconds, he was able to wear Jeremiah his shirt.Jeremiah was very confused. Why did his new cellmate just switch their shirts? He wondered but wasn’t given the time to think more about it because the man hurriedly grabbed his hands and started chanting something.“Hey, let go!” Jeremiah yelled as he tried pulling his hands free, but was shocked to realize that his hands wouldn’t budge. He tried pulling his hand free some more, but still nothing. Something that was beyond the cellmate’s grip strength was keeping both his and the man’s hands together, but Jeremiah had no idea what that was.Panicking, Jeremiah looked at the cell door where he could still hear the strange type of knocking. He grimaced after realizing that it wasn’t just regular knocking but rather sounded like a form of code.However, he didn’
“Wake up” echoed an eerie voice at the back of Jeremiah’s mind.“Huh? Who said that?!” Jeremiah asked internally, feeling like he was surrounded by multiple entities.“Food. We can sense delicious food and it is so close. Our hunger rises, now WAKE UP AND FEED US!”Jeremiah gasped, panting as he regained consciousness and opened his eyes.‘What was that? What was that voice and presence I just—?’ He thought but paused when he realized something.“Wait. Why is everywhere so dark?” He asked himself, then grimaced because he felt something covering his head.“What’s this on my head? Wait, is this why everywhere appears so dark?” Jeremiah tried to take the sack off his head, but to his surprise, his arms were cuffed behind his back, so he couldn’t move them. “Looks like I’m still handcuffed, but why?” He asked himself, wondering why he was still handcuffed when he had already been taken to his cell and had been released from his cuffs.He also realized that he was sitting on the floor.“
Jeremiah's widened eyes fidgeted. A spine-chilling cold washed over him as the sight of the aged gentleman begging for his help caused his entire body to vibrate with shock and disbelief.His bones became weak for a moment, and, as a result, he fell backwards. Although, he was already sitting on the floor and, as such, didn't and couldn't fall far.However, Jeremiah placed his left forearm behind himself and his right palm beside his body, using both to barely prevent his entire back from touching the floor. Jeremiah looked up and saw the bodyguard staring down at him with a no-nonsense expression. A sight that eliminated any idea of this being a joke or prank being played on him.Panting, Jeremiah stared at the back of the aged gentleman's head, and knowing what it meant, he understood the gravity of what was being asked of him. "Umm, I don't know what to tell you, sir, but I can't help you," Jeremiah said, hoping again that the man would listen."Doctor Michael, all a mortal man,