No one ever really knew how Adam acquired millions of dollars. Some say he just happened to grab the right lottery ticket, or that he had questionable business partners, or even that his second cousin was the king of some far off kingdom that no one seemed to know the name of. There were always speculations and rumors, yet no one really knew the truth, except me of course. If there is one thing that I can assure you, Adam Thanatos did not win the lottery.

         I grew up with my mother and father alone until I was about nine or ten years old. It was at that point when my parents decided to adopt a son. At the time he was brought home, he was two years younger than myself, and I could already tell that something was off about him. Instead of playing with the neighborhood kids, he stayed inside all day in his room drawing pictures. One day while I was playing with my friend Sam, the sky grew particularly dark and dreary, and I decided to go home. As I walked along, I felt the rain touch my skin as it gently soaked my hair and shirt. I looked to the darkening sky as I thought of my brother, and felt sorry that he did not feel comfortable in our home. I was absorbed by the quiet around me. The rain grew heavier until I reached my doorstep. A loud roar of thunder caused me to jump and then sprint inside to be greeted by my brother with a devilish smile upon his face.

         At first I did not know what to think. His drawings were plastered all over the walls and covering the windows. They were only composed of two colors; black and red.
“Hi Adam, what are you up to?” I said, attempting to hide the worry in my voice.
“Nothing much, I’ve been drawing all day,” he replied.
“That’s cool, would you mind telling me what this drawing is?” I asked him as I ripped one off of the window.
“Put it back,” he asserted, now rushing toward me. The last thing I remember was seeing the image of a woman dressed in all white clothing with dark black hair and devilish eyes upon the paper in my hands, and that was the first and last time I would ever speak to my brother.

         Adam grew up to be the favorite in our family because he was successful in school and extremely handsome. Throughout high school and college, many important people and girls came to visit Adam, yet I never seemed to see the same person twice. Before I knew it, Adam had left our house and changed his name.

         My parents were devastated that their precious boy had left, and so they encouraged me to stay in contact with him. The next time I heard from Adam, was at his wedding. He was to be married to a woman named Penny. Now, although Adam was successful, at this point in his life, he did not have much money. Many thought that this marriage was a gimmick for Adam to gain more money. Penny’s father was a big name on Wall Street, and her mother was a fashion designer. Regardless, Adam and Penny were married and hundreds of people attended. I can clearly remember seeing Adam that day. He had changed very much, excluding his dark, devilish eyes. He shook my hand and gave a half smile as he turned his head to the side. In the public eye, Adam and Penny were happily married, but the ‘love’ that he claimed to have for her was not at all genuine. Five months later, Penny had died of a heart attack. That is, what people believed was a heart attack.

         One year later, I received another invitation in the mail for Adam’s second marriage. This time, he was to be married to Margaret Peso. She was a Mexican girl whose grandparents started a popular chain of restaurants. At this point, Adam had gained a small amount of money from his last wife’s will, but he still seemed hungry for more. I attended this wedding as well, and noticed the same behavior between Margaret and Adam. The way that Margaret looked at Adam showed that she felt very passionate about their love and clearly trusted him. I cannot say the same about Adam’s eyes. Only three short months later, Adam found Margaret dead in her kitchen. He claimed that the waitress at the restaurant that they had been to the night before gave them strange looks as she delivered the food. This process repeated itself many times with Mary who had been attacked during a robbery, Susan who was hit by a car, Clara who overdosed on her prescription, and Amy who had just simply disappeared. Somehow, with each of these relationships, Adam seemed to gain more and more money. Soon, Adam changed his name and moved away. I lost track of him for a while, until one day I was dining at a restaurant while on a road trip with my good friend, Alex. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Adam sitting alone. He was dressed in proper clothing for a wealthy man, and twisted the ring on his finger several times when finally, our eyes met. This time, I noticed a sense of remorse in his eyes. He seemed lonely, and full of regret. I got up from the table and walked over to him.

“Adam?” I asked. He turned his head and stared back into my eyes. Once again, I saw the wickedness of his nature appear on his face. I sighed and walked away.

         A few years later, I opened the newspaper and my eyes were immediately drawn the headline, “Local Man Named Hadean Johnson Claims to Have Won the Lottery”. For the last time, I saw the devilish, glowing eyes of my brother on that very page.