Squid Game Shit
Daily Special 9: $100
Ty looked at the hundred-dollar bill and then back at Dante, cocking an eyebrow.
“You just found it, huh?”
Dante was a clever kid, no way was he running around picking pockets or some shit, but that crisp benny was not something you’d find lying around on the street. Not in this neighborhood, anyway.
“It was in the wall outside Vito’s. I went in for a slice after school and when I came out, there it was. Sticking out of the bricks like someone put it there on purpose!”
Ty sighed deeply and held his hand out for the hundred. Dante didn’t want to hand it over, but he did, reluctantly.
“And you think it was meant for you, kid? That some rich dude just goes around sticking bennies in walls? Either you interrupted a deal or this is some phony shit. Who taught you to go around picking up what ain’t yours? Come on, Dante, you know better than that.”
Dante cast his eyes downward, feeling reprimanded though Ty’s voice remained neutral. Never one to be cold to his little cousin, Ty ruffled Dante’s hair before he held the bill up to the sky, passing it over the sun. The Benjamin passed inspection, with the shadow face and the shiny thread all looking real convincing. But there was something else: something stamped on the back in red ink.
“You read this?” Ty asked Dante, pointing to the stamp. The bill was fresh from an ATM, didn’t even have a fold or crease in it, and the stamp looked somehow professional.
“That means it's a fake?” Dante asked, peeking at the stamp. “Aw man, I wanted to take auntie out for her birthday with it. That’s on Sunday.”
Ty tried not to smile. Kid finds a hundred bucks and the first thing he thinks to do with it is take auntie out for a birthday dinner. What a class act, at fucking twelve years old.
“Nah, I think it’s real. But someone put a message on it. See, it’s got a location and a time on it. Tomorrow at two in the morning, East 49th Street and King South.”
“Should we go?” Dante asked Ty eagerly.
Ty looked at the kid and then back at the bill. Something wasn’t adding up here.
“You joking, Dante? What’d I tell you about being so damn trusting?” Ty handed Dante back his money. “You’re gonna spend some of that today to break it. Let someone else find that message and deal with it. You finna end up kidnapped in some sicko’s rat race? No way. We ain’t falling for any of that Squid Game shit.”
Dante pocketed the money and shrugged. “I dunno, that guy made a ton of money from Squid Game. I bet I could win us a house playing tag and duck-duck-goose.”
Ty shoved Dante in the shoulder playfully. Dante’s dimpled, boyish smile could’ve lit up a whole room. Nobody needs Squid Game money with a smile like that.
Thank you Ravyne Hawke for today’s fiction prompt: “You find a $100 note with a message stamped on it in red. Where did you find it? What is the message stamped on it? What do you do with the money? Write a scene or a complete story [in exactly 500 words].”
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