Innocent Devil’s Harem Ch. 17

Grabbing the chest and envelope, we headed back out to the car. Once we were all in, and Serenity was holding the wooden box in her lap, the first thing I did was open the letter, surprised that it was a very simple note, written in my mother's elegant handwriting. The sight of her script made me nostalgic and somber, though I tried to push it off for now.

"Huh," I said out loud, attempting to keep my voice even. "It says I need to open the chest in private."

"Can I see?" Gabriella wondered, prompting me to hand the letter back to her. She then began reading it out loud, word for word. "The combination is Kai's birthday. Not to be opened by the bank. Not to be opened by anyone other than Kai. Open in private." She then handed it to Serenity. "It's literally just a list of bullet point instructions."

Serenity accepted it, only for her eyes to instantly fill with tears.

I immediately reached over and rested my hand on her shoulder, prompting her to bend her arm at the elbow so she could reach up to rest her hand on mine.

"What's wrong?" Gabriella whispered in concern, shocked by the abrupt shift in our demeanors.

I took a deep breath, really trying to not get emotional myself. "My mom wrote this," I said simply. "We both recognize her handwriting."

Her emerald eyes widened in surprise. "Oh." Her expression dropped. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Serenity shook her head, taking a deep breath as she let go of my hand to wipe her eyes. I went ahead and let go too, deciding to shift into gear and begin pulling out, with her sniffling before focusing more intently on the letter.

We were all silent for a couple of minutes, before I finally spoke up once Serenity carefully placed the letter back in the envelope, likely planning on keeping it. After all, even if it was my own mom's handwriting, she would still treasure it as something representing all our parents.

"I wonder what's in it," I commented, glancing at Serenity. "I'm fine with all of you being there when I open it," I added. "But probably best if we do it at home."

"Definitely at home," Serenity agreed, sniffling again. "Although, it's fine if you open it alone, Kai. You can always show us afterward."

Gabriella immediately agreed. "Yeah, definitely. We can wait to see."

I frowned as I considered that, beginning to slow down since there seemed to be a traffic jam up ahead. "I mean, I can't imagine why I'd need to be alone, unless..." I paused. "Well, unless they really did know about me. But even then, it would be fine since you both know my secret now."

Serenity shrugged. "There's probably no harm," she agreed. "So I guess we'll do whatever you want when we get home."

I nodded, concentrating fully on the road now, scanning ahead to try to see why we were all stopping. And then I saw it -- an accident at the intersection just ahead, though it couldn't have happened too long ago, since no emergency vehicles were in sight and we were stopping only a couple hundred feet away.

Honestly, I was surprised I hadn't heard it happen, knowing there were so many sounds around right now that I tried to keep my focus closer, so that I could concentrate on the people in the car with me.

Attempting to see between the traffic and through windows, I was able to piece together that it looked like an SUV and semi-truck had basically had a head-on collision, appearing as if the SUV might have tried to make a turn in front of the semi, with the truck swerving in such a way that the trailer tipped over and landed on another car, crushing the top.

"What is it?" Serenity asked, likewise trying to crane her neck to see. "An accident?"

"Yep," I agreed, sighing heavily. Part of me reflexively wanted to jump out and help, but what could I do? Probably nothing except draw attention to myself. Not to mention, we were a decent distance away, and I was sure there would be others already out of their vehicles, trying to assist.

Best to just stay with the car and wait until they started redirecting traffic. This definitely wasn't the first accident we'd passed on the road, and it wouldn't be the last.

However, I couldn't help but notice the faint scent of blood, seeming to grow stronger in my own perception, allowing me to pinpoint the exact location, coming from the SUV. Figuring it couldn't hurt to at least focus my senses and see how things were going up ahead, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, wading through the plethora of scents and sounds.

Immediately, it felt like someone punched me in the gut.

My heart froze solid in my chest.

All my senses instantly focused on one sound.

On one scent.

A scared whimper of pain, coming from the partially crushed car underneath the semi-trailer, the voice so familiar that I recognized it even though I'd never heard her make that exact sound. Her scent equally just as terrified, her normally floral aroma suddenly the only thing I could smell.

Gabriella shocked me by speaking up before I could, her nostrils flared, her vivid green eyes wide.

"Avery..."

-

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Submitted: December 3, 2020 to Literotica (Copyright Kaizer Wolf)

Edited: August 11, 2021