[b]Kim Judd[/b]
[hider May 25th, 2015]
“I swear Kim I saw him walking with her, she is a total bimbo.” Kim rolled her eyes, thankful Esther couldn’t see her through the phone.

“I’m sure they aren’t dating Zach has better taste than that.” Kim said, careful to not sound hurt.

    “Yeah right. He broke up with you Kim. Clearly he has to reevaluate his taste.” Esther snorted, and Kim could tell that her friend was irritated. 

    “Can we not talk about this?” Kim asked. She opened the fridge and started digging through the limited supply of food for something to eat.

    “Yeah, sorry. Look uh I wanted to tell you that Desmond is running the meetup group now. I got totally outvoted.”

    “Ugh! Seriously?” Kim found a jar of peanut butter and some bread. She checked the bread for mold spots, when none were revealed she started spreading the peanut butter. “Oh shoot, I forgot I’ve got to go Esther I have an interview in an hour.” Not true, but she was planning on going to the home to check on her mother.

    “All right. I’ll talk to you later love. Good luck. Mary sends hugs and kisses.” Kim smiled, Mary was a sweet kid and she missed her, but Riverbank had gotten toxic, Kim had needed out.

    “Give her my love.”

    “I will, she’s asking when you’ll visit.”
    
    “As soon as I have a job and three days in a row off.” The two said goodbye and hung up. Kim ate the semi stale piece of bread. She pulled on a light wind breaker and headed for the door. Sitting just inside of the entryway was suitcase. Briefcase rather Kim corrected herself. It looked like it could have been one of Zach’s. Her hands started shaking, and her keys clattered to the floor, Kim didn’t pick them up. Stepping around the briefcase as if it were a bomb, Kim checked the door. It was still locked, the chain dangling down. She locked that, turned around and stared at the briefcase. Only Esther had a spare key and she lived four hours away, well four if accounting for traffic and construction. Kim looked at her phone log. Esther had called from her landline, probably one of the last in Riverbank, but it was necessary for the TTY hook up for Mary.

    Plans forgotten Kim knelt beside the suitcase, without touching it she looked over the polished surface, not a single print apparent on it. Tempted to call the cops about it Kim stepped away for a moment. She spun her phone between her fingers debating. Finally Kim picked it up, gently, as if she still expected it to explode. She carried it into the kitchen and placed it on the island. 

    Kim let it sit there for a full ten minutes, just watching it, chewing on her thumb knuckle. She stopped chewing and pulled the only stood up to the counter. Kim paused and got up, she searched through drawers until finding what she was looking for, a dental mirror, one of her father’s still floating around amongst the other aged junk her parents had owned. Kim twirled in her fingers like her father had taught her when she was eight. 

    After a moment more of debating Kim found a small flashlight, checked it to see if it worked, it did, then sat down again in front of the briefcase. There Kim shined the flashlight over the edges of the briefcase, this revealed nothing, not even a stitch out of place. What Kim did know was this briefcase was not one of Zach’s. That made her feel better about it. He hadn’t found her, not that it would be hard. She had moved into her parents retirement house.

    With a heavy exhale Kim clicked the buttons, she didn’t open the briefcase, not yet. She ran the flashlight around the edge again, barely lifted the top. She ran out of hands. Kim bit the flashlight and picked the small mirror up, sliding through the tiny crack and checked for wires or anything out of place. She spotted the green first. Forgoing anymore caution she opened the briefcase the rest of the way. 

    Inside a stack of money. She didn’t count it, she didn’t need to. It was more than she had ever seen in one place. Not more than she had had at one point, but more than she had ever seen physically before. The difference between the numbers on a screen and cold hard cash was clear in that very moment. Next to the stack was a letter, tri folded and in a simple envelope. With shaking hands she picked up the envelope, flashes of Anthrax scare news headlines crossed her memory. Her hand went back where her phone rested on the tile counter. She picked it up, held the phone for a full minute, then put it back down on the counter. Kim took a deep breath and then opened the envelope. No powder fell out. She exhaled, opened the letter and read it.

Dear Miss. Judd,

Congratulations! You have been chosen as the choice receiver of an all-expenses paid trip to the Wolf Manor! Located in Bavaria, Germany, this estate has been passed down from generation to generation. As part of the Wolf family's tradition, a lucky few has been selected to stay at the luxury home for two week, from 11th of June to the 21st, to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

Enclosed you will find your passport and some money that we hope will cover your expenses: in particular, be advised that there will be many events hosted at Wolf Manor over your stay and, as such, we recommend purchasing primarily formal wear. You should also find attached flight details: a private jet will be issued, and therefore a ticket is unnecessary. ID, such as the passport which will already be present, is all that will be required.

We hope you will accept our offer, as we very much look forward to meeting with you.

Sincerely,
Michael Aust

Secretary of The Wolf Estate 

That had to be a joke. 

With her phone Kim checked the cost of a flight to Bavaria. Almost three thousand dollars. Between that, the money in the case, who in their right might would spend over eight thousand dollars to have her go anywhere. She hadn’t applied for any contests. Hadn’t told anyone where she was living except Esther, and Esther couldn’t have kept something like this from her. She would have called and asked about it a million times by now. ‘Did you win? Tell me you won? You deserve it girl.’ No, not Esther. Maybe Mom? She could have before... But surely she would have done it for both of them. As a pair they would have traveled happily, but not now. 

Kim opened the other contents. Her passport. A ticket, for a local private airport. A party popper? This was just ridiculous. Kim’s phone chirped reminding her that she was supposed to be somewhere. She replaced everything carefully back into the briefcase, closed it and picked up her phone. Her keys were still on the ground in the entryway. Kim picked those up and left the small house. It was stupid. A joke.

She stopped, maybe she should take the money to the bank and see if it was fake? She went back inside, opened the briefcase and took the money out. Kim put the money in her purse and left the house again.

Her first stop was at the library, there she talked to the head librarian about an opening, there was none. 

Her second stop was to the home. “Where’s Phil?” 
Avoiding meeting her mom’s eyes, “At the store.” Kim lied.

Her third stop was to the grocery store. She charged for the T.V. dinners. 

Her fourth stop, fifteen moments before closing was at the bank.
“They’re real, are you going to be depositing it?” Kim shook her head and left back for home.

There she sat with the book she had been reading, but tonight she didn’t read it. Instead she stared at the briefcase.
[/hider]

[hider June 10th 2015]
Kim ordered a cab, had him pick her up at the store four blocks away, and didn’t give him her name. She had kept enough of the money to make sure bills were paid, and that she wouldn’t have to worry about what happened while she was traveling. Her heart was racing, she had never done anything remotely close to this before.

The airport was small, private and unlike any of the other airports she had been to before. The plane ride itself was luxury. She had been used to being shoved in between her parents or strangers, this was perfection. 

On the flight she napped a bit, read a bit, and watched the world slide beneath them. [/hider]

[b]June 11th 2015[/b]
The plane landed, and Kim disembarked. She stretched, and adjusted her watch to the correct time. Kim chewed on her thumb as she was directed to a waiting room. It was comfortable looking, but her stomach was doing turns. She avoided alcohol, but sipped at a club soda instead. Kim hated the bitter taste of it, but enjoyed the bubbles. 

She had been on a plane for the last 14 hours, and despite sleeping was tired. Nine hours was a lot to lose. 

Kim finally took a seat after a few minutes to wait, for whatever happened next.