Mary and Steve were unloading the last of the bags from the brand-new SUV they had recently purchased. Mary gazed at their luxurious new property with pride. Looking over at her husband, who was hauling the heavy luggage like a pack mule, she said with a satisfied smile:
"Isn't it wonderful, Steve, that we finally have our own car and our own house? I was so sick of bouncing around from one rental to another—you have no idea!"
Steve looked at his wife with pure adoration and replied:
"Yeah, Mary, we can finally afford a few things now. The money Mom left me was a real blessing. We can finally live like normal people. I spent years working my fingers to the bone, and back then, we barely had enough for the essentials. Man, if only John were alive to see this! I still don't get why he went out on that lake in that rickety boat. Why did he need to go fishing right then? It makes no sense—he could barely swim. He must have been drinking."
Tears welled up in Steve's eyes. John had been his twin brother, and they had been inseparable. It had been over a year since the tragedy, but the wound was still fresh. At the mention of his name, Mary flinched. For some reason, she couldn't stand it when her husband brought up his brother.
"Honey, you really need to stop dwelling on the past. It just makes me sad and anxious, and you know I loved Johnny too. You two were so different! It was just fate, and we can't change it. We have to move on with our lives."
With those words, they entered the building and began heading up the stairs. Steve kept his eyes downcast, walking ahead in a somber silence, when he suddenly collided with someone rushing down the stairs. When Steve looked up, both men froze. The bags slipped from Steve's hands, tumbling down the steps to the feet of a bewildered Mary. No one could have seen this coming.
***
Mary had met Steve during her freshman year of college. He was the kind soul who had covered the cost of her lunch in the campus cafeteria. As luck would have it, Mary had been a few cents short, and she was starving. She had been raised by a single mother who struggled with alcoholism, leaving Mary to survive on a meager scholarship that vanished far too quickly. When she realized she didn't even have enough for a bowl of soup, Mary felt like she was on the verge of tears.
"Well? Are you buying something or not?" grumbled the cafeteria worker, a woman whose face was as greasy as the donuts she sold.
Mary searched frantically through her purse, hoping to find a stray coin, though she knew there wasn't one. she always tried to hide her money from her mother, who would routinely rifle through her belongings looking for liquor money. But that morning, Mary had been so focused on her upcoming exam that she had forgotten to take her usual precautions. It looked like she would be going hungry. Suddenly, the young man standing behind her in line placed some cash on the counter.
"I've got her covered," he said. "And I'll have the same."
A minute later, they were chatting away at a table, enjoying a full meal. Noticing how quickly the soup disappeared, Steve decided to treat her to something more.
"I had no idea girls could be this hungry," he joked. "I always thought you lived on yogurt and air, but you look like you could eat a whole steak."
From that day on, they saw each other almost every day. Steve was smitten. He began "accidentally" bumping into her at the cafeteria, the library, or on the quad. He was shy and timid, so he went out of his way to make these meetings seem like coincidences.
Mary liked Steve too, but for a very different reason: he had money. At first, she just wanted a decent meal, but her appetite for the finer things grew daily. Eventually, she was the one who suggested they start dating. She was desperate to escape the damp, dreary apartment she shared with her mother. While Steve was young and not yet wealthy, Mary saw his potential. More importantly, he had a well-to-do mother who was getting on in years. There was, however, the matter of his twin brother. They looked identical, and the brother was also an heir to the estate. But that seemed like a dead end; John was a party animal and the polar opposite of Steve. Their mother had made it clear several times that she wouldn't leave a dime to a "wild child" who would just blow it all on a good time.
A few years passed. Mary was finishing her senior year, with her final exam scheduled for the next day. A new life of luxury was within reach—just the day before, Steve had proposed. Furthermore, his elderly mother was now on her deathbed, which meant the inheritance would soon be hers. Steve adored her and would give her anything she wanted; she just had to play her cards right.
***
Her mother stumbled into the poorly furnished living room, which hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint in decades. She had started drinking early that morning and was in a boisterous mood.
"So, kiddo," she laughed, a hollow, drunken sound. "You pass that test tomorrow and then you're just gonna fly the coop, huh?"
Mary felt a wave of disgust looking at her mother, but she took comfort in the fact that it would all be over soon.
"Mom, you know I hate seeing you like this. You're destroying yourself."
Her mother just waved her off and collapsed onto the bed, falling into a stupor. With a heavy sigh, Mary went back to her books.
***
Steve and Mary were married shortly after. It was the most lavish event Mary had ever seen. Steve's mother had spared no expense; knowing her days were numbered, she wanted her favorite son to have a day he would never forget. John was there, of course. He and Steve had tried to pull a "twin swap" prank on the bride, but Mary had seen through it immediately. She watched the brothers interact, noting how deeply they were bonded. It seemed as though nothing could ever come between them. But even at the wedding, a dark plan began to form in Mary's mind. The fact that John lived alone out of state was a detail she tucked away, waiting for the right moment.
The days turned into weeks. Mary finally moved out of her mother's place. Steve worshipped his wife, working long hours to provide for her, though money was still tight and they were forced to rent. Steve's mother was fading fast. On her deathbed, she called Steve to her side and told him she was leaving everything to him. She said she couldn't rely on John, who was always off traveling and "wasting his life" instead of being there for her like Steve was.
The old woman passed away a few days later. Steve was devastated. John rushed home for the funeral; despite his reputation, he had loved his mother dearly and would have been there for her in a heartbeat if she had actually asked. But she had simply wanted her sons under her thumb. John was an adult building his own life, having recently landed a great job in another city. Before John headed back home, Steve shook his hand firmly.
"Don't worry, John," Steve said in front of Mary. "As soon as the probate is settled, I'm giving you half. We're brothers. It belongs to both of us."
"Don't worry about it, Steve," John replied. "Let it be the way Mom wanted. I don't need the money."
"I won't hear it, John. It's the right thing to do."
"Well, you've always been as stubborn as a mule. I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"
With that, John grabbed his suitcase and left.
As soon as he was gone, Mary decided it was time for a serious talk. She kept her voice soft and persuasive.
"Steve, how much did your mother actually leave you?"
"Quite a bit. Enough for a nice house, and enough left over to live comfortably for a long time."
Mary's eyes lit up with a cold, hungry light.
"And what was all that talk about giving half to John? Don't you think you should respect your mother's wishes? She chose to leave it to you because she didn't think he was responsible enough."
Steve held his wife and spoke at length about his love for his brother and his sense of fairness. Mary realized then that the moment the money hit the bank, Steve would give half of it away. She couldn't let that happen. She hadn't married him just to watch half of her future fortune walk out the door.
***
A few months later, when the grief had subsided and Steve was busy with the legal paperwork for the estate, Mary put her plan into motion. She set up a romantic candlelit dinner for when Steve got home from work. Near the end of the evening, she steered the conversation where she wanted it to go.
"Honey," she said with a flirtatious pout, "we never even had a honeymoon. The timing was always wrong, but I think we can finally get away! And don't even try to argue—we deserve a break after everything we've been through. I already booked the trip. We leave in three days. I wanted it to be a surprise for your birthday."
Steve couldn't say no. She was right; they had been through so much. A week later, while Steve was enjoying the ocean, Mary locked herself in their hotel room. With a predatory smile, she picked up his phone. She found John's name in the contacts. After a few rings, he picked up. Mary's smile vanished, replaced by a mask of tragedy. She began to sob into the receiver.
"John? Oh god, something terrible has happened! We're on vacation... I was napping on the beach, and Steve was swimming... when I woke up, he was gone! It's all my fault! I'm the one who wanted this trip!" She was hysterical, puting on the performance of a lifetime.
John was frantic, demanding to know what happened.
"He drowned, John. They searched for two days, but they never found the body. I can't stay here anymore. I'm at the airport... no, don't come, I can't handle it. I'll call you if I hear anything."
As soon as she hung up, her face went cold. She wiped Steve's phone, deleted all his contacts, and then dropped the device into a glass of water to ensure it was fried. Half the job was done. Now she just had to wait for her husband to return from the beach.
She used some eye drops she had bought earlier to make her eyes red and streaming. When Steve returned to the room, worried that his wife wasn't at the beach, he found her "collapsed" on the bed in tears. He rushed to her side, kneeling by the bed. That was when she began her second lie.
"Oh, Steve!" she wailed. "I forgot my sunscreen and came back to the room. Your phone rang—I wish I hadn't answered it! It was John's girlfriend. Something happened! John went out on a boat, they found the boat empty... Steve, your brother is gone!"
Steve lunged for his phone, but it wouldn't turn on.
"I dropped it in the sink when I heard the news," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry! But I gave her my number, so she'll call me if there's any news."
Steve was catatonic with grief. He couldn't understand why his brother would have gone out on a boat when he never liked fishing. He wanted to go and join the search himself, but Mary convinced him it was pointless and that the authorities would notify them if a body was found.
The rest of the trip was a somber affair. As soon as they got home, Mary pushed to liquidate the inheritance as quickly as possible. She lived in constant fear that John might show up. Luckily, Steve didn't remember his social media passwords, and the notebook where he kept his recovery info had "mysteriously" disappeared.
Mary told Steve she couldn't stand to live in their city anymore because everything reminded her of his mother and brother. She convinced him that selling everything and moving to a new state was the only way to heal. It was a stressful year for her; she had to keep up the charade with John, who called her daily for news until he finally gave up hope. Eventually, the property was sold, and they moved far away to start their "new life" with a very large bank account.
But fate had other plans. John had decided he was done living out of state and wanted to return to his roots. It was hard for him to go back to his hometown, where everything reminded him of the life he had lost. He had selflessly decided that his "deceased" brother's wife should have the entire inheritance; he figured it was what his mother would have wanted anyway. John and his girlfriend chose a new city to settle in—and as luck (or fate) would have it, it was the exact same city Steve had chosen. Perhaps there really is a twin connection that draws them together.
***
When the brothers saw each other on those stairs, they nearly lost their minds with joy. They stood there in the stairwell, hugging and crying, piecing together the stories they had been told. With every word John spoke, Steve's expression grew darker. He turned to confront his treacherous wife, but she was already gone. Mary had vanished, running as fast as her legs could carry her.
It wasn't long before Mary ended up right back where she started—in a cramped apartment next to her mother. She had been greedy, reaching for the stars and losing the ground beneath her feet. As for the brothers, once they recovered from the shock, they split the inheritance and built happy lives with people who loved them for who they were, not for what they owned.
0 comments