“They’re boring.I want excitement.I could manage your account.All you’d need to do is?—”
“Do you know how dangerous filming forScream and Steamis?”Timothy seemed anything but dangerous, but it was in his blood…and I’d stuck my cock in his mouth for him to suck like I wanted him to turn me into a straw.It was impossible for me to edit a video without getting hard and jerking off at least once.
“But the money,” my brother whined.
“No.I am not working with you because I’d end up doing all the work, the same as I do now.As soon as I’ve saved up enough, I’m moving out.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I do.You want to use me so you can fit in with your new, rich friends.Tell your sob story to our parents.Maybe they’ll understand and loan you some money until you come to your senses.”
“All you do is work and play on your tablet.”
“Yes, because I’m saving up to get the fuck out of here.Santa!Listen to yourself.”I shook my head.“If you want more money, find a better job, or pick up a second one.”
“I want to be a streamer.”
“Then offer to manage one of their accounts.”This wasn’t my problem.The sooner he wasn’t my problem, the better.But I’d talk to our parents on the way to work because I was tired of them listening to him and expecting me to solve his problems.I refused to bankroll his lifestyle or let him anywhere near myScream and Steamaccount.
Chapter20
Timothy
The glowbeneath my bed didn’t disappear even after two days.Yesterday, I’d found my childhood money box in the back of my wardrobe, still full of money.I’d already put the two hundred that had been there in my wallet.
More cash.
I now expected to find it everywhere I looked.
Babysitting Taya last night had been weird.I wanted to ask her if she still believed in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy.I’d researched them, and every article talked about the magic of childhood and extending it for as long as possible.Only one had mentioned how sorcerers, who worked for kings and queens, emperors and pharaohs, had once used that magic to create the seven wonders of the world and other magnificent things.
I’d fallen into a bit of a research wormhole after that, even though it was all historical.It was also my history.Today, I’d gone to the library and searched for news articles related to my mother and her disappearance.There was no mention of foul play, only that she’d vanished.Everyone assumed she’d run off with a boyfriend, abandoning her husband and son.However, a year later, after she hadn’t touched any of her bank accounts, there’d been another investigation.I remembered the cops talking to me and asking if my parents fought.I’d lied and said no because I didn’t want Dad to be in trouble.
I stared at a box with my name on it, but no address, from a store I’d never heard of.It had been in my room when I’d gotten home from having a few drinks with workmates at the end of our shift.If Dad had put it there, I’m surprised he hadn’t seen the glow under the bed…maybe he couldn’t.
Could Taya?
I was too scared to ask.What if she went through and damaged Farrow’s world by accident?Could I use her to make bigger wishes?I didn’t know how to do that, and I didn’t know where to start, as I didn’t remember what my mother had done to me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember.
I knew enough that the mind locked away traumatic memories.Or at least it was supposed to.My mind was not locking away anything to do with Farrow.Instead, I was counting the days until he returned and anticipating what he’d make me do next.
I was half-hard imagining the possibilities, and I didn’t want to count the number of times I’d enjoyed the memories.It was kind of embarrassing how a monster was giving me the best orgasms of my life.
The lack of address bothered me as it meant the box must have been hand-delivered by someone who knew where I lived.I used my key to slice open the tape on the box and paused before opening the flaps.A tingle ran through my fingers, nothing as sharp as electricity, but it gave me the same buzz.I frowned, almost afraid to open it and discover what was inside.What if it was from friends of my mother, and they’d found me because I’d been looking up Santa, aka sorcerer Nicholas, and other magic-related things?
Was that magic I was sensing?
Or was I just weirded out, a little tipsy, and imagining things?
I couldn’t leave the box sitting unopened in my room because Dad would ask about it—I had no doubt he searched my room whenever I wasn’t home, which tempted me to leave a butt plug in the bathroom for him to find—and my curiosity was too strong for me to go to bed and assess it in the morning.
Fuck it.
My life had already skidded so far off the road it was supposed to be on, that what did a few more meters, or a couple of spins matter?
I flipped the flaps open and jumped back as though expecting something to leap out at me.Nothing moved, which was rather anticlimactic.I grabbed a ruler from my desk and gave the contents a jab.Packing paper rustled, and I flicked the top layers onto my bed and peered in.
