perfidiousness | a short story

2 | Tyler McAllister

It's been around a week since the incident and Val and I find ourselves standing on the ashy ground with our already dirty shoes staring straight ahead of us to have our eyes explore the scenery in front of us. It wasn't much of a house anymore. The upper half of the walls have been melted away and the once wild garden which used to frame the house giving it a blast of oranges, pinks, and blues during summer was not nothing but a pile of dust. Val wanted to come out here because she wanted to find evidence that might prove that we didn't do this.

"Come on Tyler, aimlessly kicking around rocks isn't going to help us in court" she complained. She was right though because she found something in the corner of her eye. A tiny bit of orange fabric seemed to be stuck between one of the dry bushes. She picked it up and examined it which caught my attention.

"Hey isn't that from one of Miller's shirts? I swear I recall him wearing an orange shirt" she questioned while grabbing a hold of the piece of textile and studied the material. She pointed out a small detail on the torn-out piece that resembles the icons displayed on that horrendous ginger attire of his. Although I wouldn't consider it attire, just because he's rich doesn't mean he prances around in suits all day long. In fact, I knew it wasn't anything from anybody rich.

Ten minutes later we found ourselves walking towards "The V Coast", the richer part of town, where on 78 Lilac Street there was a grande white villa under the name of David Miller who is also known as Jacob Miller's father. His house was a modern minimalistic 4-story tall paradise with a lagoon-sized pool in the ginormous backyard. The front yard had neatly trimmed hedges with an explosion of flowers from tulips to hibiscuses. David Miller was the most powerful lawyer in our entire town. He was a real shark, he has never lost a trial. Some feared him, some adored him. It didn't matter because if he was a king we were all just pawns. The Harvard Law valedictorian was senior partner of one of the most successful law firms in Ohio however when his wife, Melissa, died from cancer he couldn't bare to stay there anymore and decided to move here.

I tried convincing Val to not go and confront Jacob because he would definitely involve his father and sue us and strip us of the 37 combined cents we owned. However, Valerie is stubborn and still felt she had to talk to him.

It's been what feels like forever and Jacob is still denying doing anything, as expected. We aren't getting an answer out of him but Valerie wouldn't budge. She just kept on asking and asking and asking. I was growing sick of it.

"I don't know what else to say, I didn't blow up the damn house! As I've mentioned a hundred times already, I was at Tracy's party!" Jacob at this point roared at Valerie who may have put up a strong facade but I could see she was beginning to feel doubt in her judgment.

"Come on Val let's just go" I suggested as I stood up from the barcalounger in Jacob's living room.

After some hard glaring at the height-deficient boy in front of us, she finally gave in and walked out of the house with me. On our way out we met eyes with a silver-haired older guy in a suit walking in towards the house. He gave me a small nod as he passed by and into his home. I didn't respond as to not make it obvious that I've spent some time meeting up with him, Mr. Miller, recently. He has agreed to help me financially so that I can finally go to college. Princeton, my dream college ever since I learned how to think. I was on the right path with my 4.0 GPA and the amazingly colossal-sized list of volunteer work I've done to boost up my college application. However, ever since that one night all my chances turned to dust and here I was, a 16-year-old high school dropout relying on instant ramen to keep me alive. If only I never went out with her then maybe, just maybe, I still would've had a comfortable bed to slumber in.

-

The following days were slow and gloomy. It was like going on about life wearing gray-tinted glasses. Valerie could not get over that Junior Miller had nothing to do with the blown-up house. I had just come back from meeting with David Miller when I saw Val sitting on the couch just simply staring at the wall contemplating what only God knows. She probably didn't even notice that I was gone because all she has done is mope around.

I took a seat next to her and didn't say a word as I was still thinking about my meeting with David. We discussed our plan and he said that the money was all set and ready to go. I just needed to wait until the authorities came into the picture. I was still not 100% sure of this plan but I was in a desperate situation and was willing to do whatever it takes to get out of this slum I'd caught myself in. I cried out for help and in my luck or not Mr. Miller heard me and helped. I couldn't be more thankful I just wished there was another way to go through with it.

What does he have against her anyways? I thought as I glanced over to the woman in question. Valerie had her torn-out frizzy brown hair tied up and her eyebrows slightly bent to display her current inward feelings. I was beginning to think she didn't even notice I'd come home until she turned to face me which caught me off guard and broke my trance of staring at her. We sat in slightly uncomfortable silence while I tried to ignore the deep gut-wrenching feeling I felt as I thought of her. As I said, I really wished there was another way to go through with this.