Felicia woke up to a knock at the door; the fog of drowsiness slowly fading over the course of the following several seconds. Just long enough for her to reach the door, press her eye near the peephole, and still require a moment for everything to come into complete focus.
Identifying her guest, she quickly unchained the door and opened it.
"Hey. Come in." Felicia said quietly, almost whispering. She pulled the door open just enough for the tall, lanky man waiting outside to slip through. His name was Max. He and Felicia went way back; all the way to fourth grade, when they were in the same classroom. Their friendship had stayed platonic ever since, which always surprised Felicia. Even through college, which they had both recently graduated from.
"Oh crap, did I wake you? I figured you'd be up, it's after noon."
She closed the door quickly behind him. "Don't worry about it. I couldn't sleep last night."
"Ah, right, the big day is today. I take it you're nervous?"
Describing her current state of mind as nervous didn't quite articulate it. She let Max know it. "Put it this way: I got about an hour of sleep, and I threw up... three times? I'm a disaster."
Max smirked as he sat on the sofa with a thud. The same sofa Felicia was dozing on not a minute earlier. He lifted up a pillow that had clearly been dragged out here from the bedroom. "What, was the bed too comfortable for you?"
"I needed to drown out the thoughts in my head with some mindless TV. What are you doing here, anyway? I need to get ready to go," she said, more quickly now as she realized she would need to leave soon to make it to the lawyer's office by 1 p.m.
"Right, I won't be long. I just wanted to tell you good luck."
"Thanks. I might need it. Hey, do me a favor, don't come in here, I'm going to change." She hurried over to the bedroom and left the door open a crack.
"Got it." After a beat, Max continued his pep talk. "Don't stress about it too much... You know your Nana loved you the most. Plus she knew how much this meant to you."
"Yeah, but my bitch of a sister had been buttering her up ever since she found out what Nana was going to pass down. I heard from my aunt that she had her will altered just a few months ago."
Max's eyes widened as he looked in the direction of the bedroom. "Oh... well then. That complicates things."
"And now you know why I've been up all night."
"Plotting a way to kill your sister without getting caught?"
Felicia laughed, stepping out of the bedroom in a modest black dress and heels. "You should have come over last night when I needed this kind of distraction. Now I need you to get out, I've got a date with my future."
Max stood up and joined her at the front door to the apartment. "Well let's hope your future is tall, dark and handsome then."
"Screw that. Let's hope my future is rich." Felicia took one more look at her apartment, and Max couldn't help but notice a squint of disapproval in her eyes as she looked over the cramped living quarters, before closing the door.
*****
Anderson, Briggs & Associates was the only game in town when it came to legal matters in the village of Ciranna, Nebraska, population 2,056. The law firm had a spacious office on the main drag downtown, taking up half a block. Felicia parked her car, making her way inside the front door of the office with hardly a minute to spare. The nice old lady at the front desk motioned for her to head toward the back of the office, where there was a sizeable conference room. As she reached the door to the conference room, someone at the front of the room was gathering everyone's attention.
"Alright everybody, alright, settle down. We have a lot to get through, and I know some of you have come a long way so you're likely anxious to get this over with." The buzz in the room dwindled, but was not exhausted.
There were over thirty family members in the room - some sitting, some standing, all talking quietly amongst themselves. Felicia noted all of her grandmother's children were in attendance; five sisters, all sitting next to each other toward the front of the room. This included her mother, who noticed her and smiled, giving a slight wave before going back to chatting off a sister's ear.
Sure seems more like a party than a will-reading, Felicia thought to herself.
"My name is Barry Anderson, and I'll be walking you all through the process today. Now, typically, things like this don't happen in an office, with all of you present. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I just mail a copy of the will to each relevant beneficiary. However, given the, uh... significant... assets we are dealing with here, several close family members agreed it would be best to get everyone together to discuss what was in Natalie Owens' will."
Nods of approval from each of the five sisters, whose plan this clearly was.
"Before we start with the will itself, a couple of items from me. Know that at the end of today's reading, a copy of the complete will of Ms. Owens will be provided to each of you to read through in detail at your leisure. In fact, I recommend doing exactly that. Ms. Owens took great care to add detailed notes to each of the beneficiaries, but my focus today will solely be to communicate who receives what from the estate."
Mr. Anderson took a moment before continuing, considering his words. "Lastly, and most importantly, please refrain from dramatic outbursts as we proceed through the will. Ms. Owens specifically requested this in her instructions to us. We can discuss things as reasonable adults. Agreed?" As he looked around the room, polite nods were provided by those in attendance. Felicia also noticed, however, that several family members in the room started to look nervous.
Here we go.
"First and foremost, and one of the most significant components: Ms. Owens' home and land. This property is to be split five ways, among all five of Ms. Owens' daughters." The five in the front of the room smiled approvingly at each other, squeezing each others' hands briefly in muted celebration.
Many more items were assigned over the next twenty-or-so minutes. Several sentimental knick-knacks, distributed largely evenly among all of the family members in attendance. Some more major items were discussed, like the two vehicles she had owned. As the meeting wore on, the group seemed to get more fidgety in their chairs. It was clear everyone was eagerly anticipating learning who would receive the grand prize of the day. Something more valuable than all else Natalie Owens had ever owned in her life combined.
"And finally..."
All heads in the room, some of which had been looking down at their phones, snapped their attention to Mr. Anderson.
"...let's talk about Ms. Owens' digital assets. There are several components here, but it appears Ms. Owens has made it easy for me. Access and ownership of all email and social media accounts are to be transferred to Felicia Summers. Access is not to be provided to any other member of the family. She was quite explicit about that."
Barry Anderson paused here for a moment, letting that final bequeathment sink in. All eyes turned toward Felicia, who had snuck halfway up the conference room by this point to get a better vantage point. Felicia, for her part, could do nothing but utter, "Huh. Well, then. Thanks, Nana." She then quickly looked back at Mr. Anderson expectantly, who took that as his cue.
"And that's everything. Like I said, there's a lot of detail in the will itself, so please do take the time to read it in its entirety. You can get your copy from Michelle at the front desk on your way out. Feel free to take your time here in the conference room. We don't need it for another hour. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you so much for coming today, especially those of you who travelled from far away. Please drive safe."
With that, Mr. Anderson of Anderson, Briggs & Associates started collecting his copious notes together again from the conference room table. The rest of the room was silent, as each family member seemed to be waiting for someone else to say something. Once the lawyer left the room (though well before he was out of earshot), one of Felicia's cousins stood, looked right at Felicia, and said quietly, "You bitch."
Gasps filled the room, and the aunt to whom this cousin belonged rolled her chair over and slapped her arm. "You apologize to your cousin right now. That mouth of yours will have your Nana turning over in her grave."
The cousin, who Felicia had just remembered was named Erica, looked unimpressed. "She is, though. Do you realize what Felicia has control of?"
"Of course we do, dear," said one of the more distant relatives, a son of Natalie's only sibling. "That's no reason to go calling people names. Besides, with those social media accounts she could quite literally ruin your life. You should keep that in mind."
Felicia had listened to enough by this point, and marched out of the room before Erica could even retort. Still, eyes followed her out of the room. Michelle had a copy of the will in-hand at the front desk, ready for Felicia to grab in stride on her way out the door. She quickly got into her car parked down the street, shut the door, and thought.
It's really happening! I can't believe she chose me. I have so much to do to pick up where she left off. Where do I even-
Before she was able to organize her thoughts, a loud shattering sound pierced the air. The front windshield on the passenger side was smashed, though not yet broken through. Shards of glass from what looked like a bottle were sliding down the hood of the car. Felicia looked around frantically, and saw her sister down the sidewalk, running toward her car.
"That channel is mine, Felicia! MINE! Do you hear me?" She started pounding her palms on the passenger side window. Felicia quickly locked the doors, started the car, and sped off down the street.
Once she was able to get a mile away, checking her rear-view mirror obsessively the entire time, she allowed herself to take a full breath. I can't believe I forgot about my sister, she thought. That's probably not the last attack I'll have to deal with. Not even the last one this week. Such is the danger of being the owner of the world's most popular, and lucrative, YouTube channel.
She pulled up Max's number on her phone and dialed, ready to spread the good news.