I unfolded the cheque for about the hundredth time today, still staring in shock at the numbers looking up at me. The amount of money written on the paper was far more than I could ever imagine winning, let alone earning in my entire lifetime no matter how many jobs I took up. If it weren’t for the bank seal in the corner and my name in elegant scrawl beside the words ‘to the order to:’, I might’ve thought it all a horrible, unfunny joke. But this was real. Though it had been two days ago I now, it still felt incredibly surreal that I was the winner of the September jackpot.

“Hey, Frankie, have you seen my grey jacket? I swear I put it in the dryer last night…”, the sound of my brothers voice approaching my room startled me from my dumbstruck daze. I quickly stuffed the cheque under my pillow and readjusted myself into a sitting position just as he entered the room. I looked up quickly to see my brother, Dante, leaning against the doorframe. He peered down at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Everything good, Frankie? You lookin like I caught you in the middle of a crime”, he said, still looking at me questioningly. As much as I wanted to yell at him about knocking before entering, I knew it was an unfair ask. The bedroom, the only bedroom in our one bedroom apartment in fact, belonged to both of us. Dante’s bed in the corner of the room and his closet stuffed with clothing was proof enough that he could come and go as he pleased.

I scratched my head sheepishly and avoided his gaze.

“I er- yeah I’m all good. I thought you had left for work”, I said quickly, hoping he couldn’t sense the nervousness in my voice. A part of me wanted desperately to tell Dante about the cheque under my pillow but I knew better than to do that. Dante, though he was the most caring and protective big brother who constantly looked out for me, he had one major vice in life. Dante couldn’t seem to hold on to a reasonable sum of money for long periods of time. His gambling addiction nearly made us lose the apartment on several occasions, and I couldn’t trust him to not immediately dig his claws into the money if I did show him the cheque. Though it was me who had played moms lucky numbers, it had been Dante’s $20 I had borrowed go buy the ticket. Because the lottery ticket was bought with his money, there was no doubt in my mind that he’d want equal shares of the cash. It wasn’t selfishness keeping the money from him, it was in his best interest that I at least waited a while before telling him.

“Oh?”, Dante questioned. A wolffish grin spread across his face and he waved a hand.

“Okay, okay. I’m heading out. I’ll leave you to do… whatever naughty things it is you wanted to do”, Dante said, a laugh on the edge of his words. I felt my cheeks blaze at his insinuating words but I didn’t correct him. It’s not like I could exactly make up a better excuse for my jumpiness.

Dante slipped into the room quickly and grabbed the navy jacket laying on the floor near my closet.

“I’m just borrowing your jacket, okay? I’m heading out now. I’ll probably be back late so lock up behind me. Bye Frankie”, he said, pulling the jacket on and standing by the doorway.

He paused and turned back to look at me, his expression considerably darker.

“Hey, uh… I’m sorry that I lost my last paycheque at Rita’s. I promise I’ll cover electricity if you can pay rent this month”, he said, eyes downcast.

I bit my lip, knowing that the money I had won would be more than enough to pay rent and electrical builds for the entire year. Though I had been pissed at Dante for losing the money at Rita’s poker bar, it was cruel to reprimand him now that I had the money to make up for his loss.

“Yeah, yeah, no problem”, I said finally. Dante said his thanks and quickly left for work.

When I was sure he was gone, I pulled out the cheque again and marveled at it. The first thing I’d do with this is pay off all our overdue bills and buy groceries, but then what? How do I use this money to improve our lives without drawing suspicion?

I played with the frayed edge of the paper and considered my choices. Our younger sister, Pricilla still lived with dad in our old apartment, maybe I could sent some money to her. After mom died and our family got fractured into two halves, I avoided visiting dad and Cilla. Dante and I still never made up with dad after the big fight that caused us to move out, but I still chatted with my baby sister now and then. Just last night she called me in tears about how she won’t be going to college because like Dante, as though it were a genetic trait shared between father and son, our father also had a money problem. He had apparently gambled away all of the college funds our mother had set aside for Cilla, something that made me burn with with rage. Maybe that’s another thing I’d do- pay for Cillas college tuition. I could make it look like a scholarship from an anonymous donor or something.

Yeah, that seemed like a good start. But what do I do with the rest of the money? How exactly does one spend five million dollars while pretending they still earn minimum wage?