Gullible

Gullible Book One Shu Daizi Copyright © 2023 Shu Daizi All rights reservedThe characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Contents Title Page Copyright Chapter One: The Carrot Plot Chapter Two: An Apparition Chapter Three: Costumes and Masks Chapter Four: A Pair of Pills Chapter Five: You’ve Got to Have Faith Chapter Six: A Sweet Morning Chapter Seven: The Truth in Theater Chapter Eight: Confidence Chapter Nine: Freedom Chapter Ten: Costumes Chapter Eleven: Quinn’s Room Chapter Twelve: Back to Reality Afterword Books By This Author Chapter One: The Carrot Plot ​ “Oh, god, Will! Did Newb puke in your shoes?!” ​ “No no no!” ​ Will jumped up off the couch, sending Newb, the chubby orange tabby, scampering off his lap and down the hallway. Will ran to look at his sneakers over by the door. They were fine, not a hint of cat puke. He turned back to glare at his sister. ​ Samantha was on the old, tattered recliner trying not to laugh and failing. ​ “Guuuuulible!” she taunted in a sing-song. “But, now that you’re up, go get me that bag of carrots. I’m hungry.” ​ Will sighed dramatically, but he wasn’t really angry. This had been a more or less daily event in his life since well before Sam went off to college. She was three years older than he was and she had always delighted in her duty as his elder sister to tease and embarrass him. Mostly she loved playing on how he would believe just about anything she said. And now that she was back home for summer break, she was pulling the same old tricks on him. ​ He walked into the kitchen to get the carrots from the refrigerator. There was never a doubt that he would. To be honest, he would have gotten them if she had just asked. Maybe without terrifying poor Newb, but still. ​ Back in the living room, Sam sprawled back and flung a leg over the arm of the recliner to try and get any extra contact with the breeze that was kicked up by the old beat-up box fan in the corner. She was a long, lean woman, so she had a lot of long, lean limb to sprawl. ​ “You really should learn to be more suspicious, you know? I nearly feel bad about leading you around by the nose like that. But I’m too hot to move, and I knew you’d jump.” ​ “You want anything to drink?” ​ “No thanks, I’m good.” ​ He walked back in and tossed the cold bag of baby carrots on Samantha’s lap before heading back to his couch. He plopped back down on his part of the couch, feeling the sweat flow heavier from his brief movement. ​ It was a brutal summer and they didn’t have an air conditioner to make things more bearable. Even if they did have a window unit or something, there was no way Karen would let them turn it on. The electric bill was one of the ones that came in at the end of the month and would determine how well, or even if they would be able to eat before the paychecks came in. And Karen was away for weeks at a time, so there was no way they could even ask if they did have one. ​ It wasn’t always that dire. Will could sometimes get an extra pizza for the family from his job, and Vicky could get some stale muffins and the like that the cafe was going to throw out, but it wasn’t ever easy. ​ As Will tried to find a slightly less baking part of the long couch, he looked back to Sam. He thought the world of his elder sister. She was the most incredible person he knew. She busted her ass to get into college with two big scholarships, academic and athletic, large enough to cover almost everything. She still had to work a few campus jobs, and with that schedule plus soccer practice and game travel, she had to sacrifice that ideal party life to make ends meet, but she was taking her life in her hands, and getting what she wanted, and he respected that so much. At least, that’s what Will thought her life was like. He knew she was working hard, but he didn’t know how many hours she was putting in, and how thin she was stretching herself to keep everything together. And summer was even worse. They shut down the dorms, so she had to come home and commute to her on-campus jobs. Her hopes for a little bit of a social life at college were dashed pretty quickly. Her scholarships were good, but thanks to a couple tuition and fee hikes she was barely holding on. Luckily, there was a professor who understood her position and was willing to let her pick up more hours running some labs for her, but those were just more hours she wasn’t studying. Or making friends. Will always thought of Sam and Vickie as his sisters, and they always thought of him as their brother, but it wasn’t that simple. Their family tree was a tangled unknowable mess. Sam was the daughter of Karen’s first husband, who was apparently twenty years older than she was. She married him right out of high school. Will was actually adopted. Karen’s husband insisted on it for some reason, and Karen obeyed. Within the year, he passed away. Karen had a new boyfriend almost immediately. Vickie came along faster than seemed proper, technically Karen’s only biological daughter. But it became clear that the father was not the