A man pressed weakly with his left hand against the inferior right side of his chest. A sliver of light glanced off a gleaming wet blade of the scalpel held in his right hand.
He saw anger in his eyes now whenever he looked into his bathroom mirror. The perfect hair that had graced his head was now completely dead on one side. He blamed it on his ex-wife and her thieving ways.
The man had tried to make friends with his ex-wife. He often invited her to join him for coffee and cake at the local Starbucks. She would politely decline, offering an excuse. The man had so much to hide he almost accepted the excuses, but never actually came to understand why his ex-wife didn't want to be friends with him at all.
He was a man of many contradictions. He had been a recovered alcoholic who now associated with various people's drug use. He had been a man of many lies. Up until the current day, he had been a man of secrets. He had never intended to go into the attic to look for the gifts of the economy.
His daughter Elizabeth, better known as Bo, was a trim, rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed nine-year old girl. A girl not even two years older than the man's own daughter Julia.
Julia was a gorgeous, golden-haired, affectionate child. She, in fact, had been born late in her mother's term pregnancy by the man. Julia's mother had demanded that she be induced after what was, in reality, a very minor nightmare. The truth was that Julia simply wanted to be born too late, thus guaranteeing her father would be as attached to her as she needed. She would never be jealous of anyone Elizabeth had. Julia was a cutie. Even her father, who was a very ugly man, could see that. He couldn't believe he had bred someone so damn pretty.
Julia was a mystery.
The man had discovered the gifts of the economy when he had entered the nursery of his new house, just to make sure everything was ready for when his daughter was born. He had hidden the gifts of the economy in the attic. There were eight of them. Beautiful wooden boxes, decorated with colored stones. The man thought it couldn't hurt if his daughter had some toys to amuse her. He had been so careful about double checking to make sure no one had seen him put them under the rug. Now, he was certain that someone had.
For years, he had hidden money and other things in various places. Bags of unspent cash had been hidden in the attic. He had been paid in small, untraceable bills in case one bag was lost or stolen.
His ex-wife had been careless, she had left her underwear on the couch to air out. The true reason his hair was growing back with two different colored patches was because of that. He had been so afraid of the changes in his life he had broken out into a furious sweat looking for the cause of the fire. The fire that had burnt the man's wife's undergarments. Those clothes were the gifts that he had given his ex-wife.
The man had taken the gifts of the economy to his childhood home. Julia's birth had dented his wife's trust in him. It had sparked an argument. He had fought his ex-wife all the way. She had yelled, threatened to call child protective services on him, yelled, and swore she would take back their daughter if he didn't give the gifts back. He had taken the gifts to his childhood home. His ex-wife had insisted that she had seen him put the gifts in his house. She had called child protective services. Child protective services had originally been called when she was pregnant. Child protective services had reported Julia to be the spitting image of the man's ex-wife.
The man is a man of secrets. He has been a man of lies. He has been a man of contradictions.
The man had come to this house to take all of his money. He knew that he would die today. He had written a will, leaving his assets to his daughter, Julia. His child must have been switched at birth. That was why she was so beautiful, so smart despite being the child of an ugly, drunk, dishonest man. That was why his marriage to Julia's mother had ended up in a violent arguing over the man's alcoholism. The man didn't believe he had been an alcoholic. He was already in the habit of drinking by his twenties.
The man came to this house to take all of his money. He had taken the gifts of the economy to his childhood home. He had intended to rebury them. He couldn't believe that his ex-wife had the audacity to call child protective services on him after all he had done for her.
The man was a driver. He drove his daughter Julia to school every day. He had found the gifts of the economy ahead of time. He had planted them in that house so his child wouldn't have to sit on the dirty, germ ridden bus. He hadn't intended for that woman to marry such a beautiful girl. He had done everything to make sure she didn't. It never occurred to him that Julia wasn't his daughter.
Life was full of mysteries and dangers but the man had not expected this. He didn't know how his ex-wife had gotten into his house. He didn't know how she had found his room under the stairs. He didn't know how she had gotten into his hidden room in the attic. He didn't know how she got into his safe, or why she had stolen the gifts of the economy.
He could tell someone was watching him. He knew that she might have been a spy. He had taken Julia's gifts and hidden them in his childhood home. He hadn't wanted his ex-wife to have them. It had suddenly occurred to him his ex-wife might be an alcoholic.
The man had spent his life as a driver. He drove people from A to Z. He had never even placed a bet in his life. With the gifts stolen from his house and replaced, he couldn't help but think of the idea of a lottery. He knew that it was against the law and he had attempted to win the lottery only once. He had obtained the numbers and put it in the lottery. He had won the lottery but had not managed to collect it.
He had tried to switch to the number 1 or 19. He wasn't sure which. He couldn't allow his other daughter to have the amounts of money they had. He couldn't let his daughter have any of his money. It was in an anonymous account. The man had changed his name and moved out of the country. The lottery owner had posted the winning numbers. He had changed his name back to his real one and had moved back to his country. He was certain someone would have tried to win the lottery using his name. He was certain the amounts his now-doubled child would receive would be insufficient.