by Ws Greer
Words are nice. That’s why I hate them. I like action. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies more than action. So when I see one of Darleen’s hands shift from its place on the desk, I act on it by pulling my ten-inch survival knife from my pocket and stabbing her in the hand, effectively nailing her hand to the table. The blade only goes into the desk about an inch, which makes me frown behind my mask. The desk is made of strong metal.
Darleen lets out a blood curdling scream at the top of her lungs, and the other girls let out shrieks of their own. That’s against the rules, so I let go of the knife and pull out my own nine millimeter, aiming it at the brunette manager, which makes her bite her tongue.
I return my attention to Darleen and slam my hand over her mouth, squeezing her face with every muscle in my hand and forearm, turning her pale, freckled skin even whiter.
“Ssshhh,” I say in her ear as she quiets down. “Were you not told to keep your hands on the desk?” She doesn’t move. “Oh Darleen, this wasn’t part of the plan. But the plan allows for contingencies, which means I will stab more holes in multiples places on your body if you move again. If you scream again, I’m going to take this knife out of your hand and slide that beautiful jagged edge across your throat. Do you know why, Darleen? Because you can’t scream if I sever your vocal chords.”
The panic in poor Darleen’s face turns her as white as cocaine on a black table top, and I know from that look, she’s not going to make another peep, and that puts a smile on my hidden face. This is more fun than I thought it would be. The fear I feel coming off of all of them washes over me and fills me with excitement. But I don’t have time to soak it in We can bask in our success once this is all over, so I swallow everything down and refocus.
“Alright, enough chit chat, ladies!” I begin again as I remove my hand from Darleen’s mouth and tuck the gun back into my pants. “It’s time for us to bid you farewell, however, you still have something between your legs that my partner and I came here for.” I hear the blonde woman gasp. “Oh relax, you pervert, I’m talking about the money in the safes. Nobody cares about your pussy. Now, we just so happen to know that those safes require your fingerprint to open. So, my partner and I will address you one at a time, and when you’re told to move slowly, you’ll scan your print, open the safe, and quickly fill our bag with the money. Sound like fun? Wonderful. Let’s play!”
One by one, Nix makes each woman scan their index finger and open the safe, starting with the blonde. He keeps the gun pushed into her neck while she empties the money into the trash bag, then moves to the next manager while I retrieve my gun and aim it at the woman he just left. It all runs as smooth as a baby’s bottom, and before we know it, I’m pulling my knife out of Darleen’s hand and hopping back over the counter. Nix and I run down the street to another corner where we parked my mother’s car in the alley, and toss the bag in the trunk before slowly driving away from the scene of the crime in the opposite direction.
“I can’t believe we pulled it off,” Nix says from the passenger seat of Whitney’s crappy Toyota. “I can’t believe it!” he shouts with pure joy as he folds up his balaclava and Michael Myers mask and the car comes to a stop in front of his house. “Solomon, we did it, man.”
“Yes, we did,” I reply with a smile, which morphs into full-on laughter. “We did it! And they have no clue who it was. They’ll never know!”
Nix and I laugh and bask in our accomplishment for a few minutes longer before he finally gets out of the car. Before he closes the door, he bends over and looks at me.
“You’re the only person I trust, Solomon, you know that?” he asks with a grin on his bearded face.
“And you’re the only person I’d ever call a friend. I don’t take that lightly. Now get the hell out of here, you freaking behemoth,” I reply.
Nix smiles at me and nods before saying, “I’ll see you soon,” and closing the door. He walks up the steps to his house as I drive home and park the car where Whitney left it, although she probably wouldn’t notice if I moved it. Once parked, I walk to the trunk and remove the trash bag full of cash. I usually walk to my room through the front door, and even though Whitney is inside as high as a kite—which is why I was able to take her car without her knowing—I still decide to enter the basement through the outside door that rests in the space between our house and the neighbor’s. The last thing I need is Whitney seeing this money and shooting all of it into her veins. I’m not sure I could keep from hurting her if she did that. This money will not go to her drug habit. This is mine. It belongs to me and Nix. We earned it by taking it.
Once downstairs, I lock both the exterior and interior doors, and tuck the gun and knife between my mattresses, before grabbing the black trash bag and turning it upside down on my bed. My heart races as I watch the cash cascade onto the black sheets. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and I just stand there staring at it. Going in, Nix and I knew Cash N Check only puts five grand in each safe to minimize the loss if they were to ever get robbed by people like us, so I know how much is here. Fifteen-thousand dollars. Nix and I will split this sixty-forty—I was the one who came up with the idea after all—and who knows how things will be different now? I can tell you this though—they will be different.
Looking down on this money and knowing that the chances of Nix and me ever getting caught are beyond slim in Strawberry Mansion, fills me up with a new found confidence. I can never be without money like this ever again. I won’t go back to being completely broke now that I know I can do this and get away with it. There’s no sirens blaring in the distance, no police banging on the door. There’s nothing but the sound of my heart beat and the smell of money in the dark basement. We pulled it off.
Confidence is a funny thing, and confidence in a person like me can change everything. It has changed everything. This is the beginning I’ve been waiting for. I might as well call today my birthday, because Solomon King is just being born right here and now. And the world better watch out.
ABOUT 30 DAYS ago, Nix and I officially became criminals. I like saying that word. Criminals. Criminals! We’re criminals who’ve actually committed armed robbery. A felony! Since that awesome day, Nix and I have spent time together spending our money and watching as our reputations grow. People don’t know anything, but then again, in Strawberry Mansion, nobody “knows” anything about what bad people do. “Knowing” something could get you killed, so everyone turns a blind eye, but deep down inside, we all are aware of what people do to survive inside Strawberry Mansion.
Not only have we enjoyed the nervous glares being thrown our way, we’ve also be thinking about what our next step will be. Fifteen thousand dollars split between two people doesn’t last all that long, so now it’s time to start thinking about what the next gold mine is. We’ve had a few talks and are already putting small things in motion. We did it once, so we know we can do it again, as long we’re as thorough and careful as we were the last time.
In the past month, I’ve also enjoyed quite a few days like today—days where Reina and I are able to spend time together, just the two of us. I can admit that I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to Reina, but there’s something about her that I just can’t shake. I’ve told her everything there is to know about me, and she even met my junkie mother this morning. The only other person on earth who I’ve introduced to Whitney is Nix, so the fact that I let Reina see her is a big deal for me. She gets it. She gets me. I didn’t think that was possible until I met her, so whatever this is between us, it’s not to be played with.
I’m not even sure Whitney really knew what was going on when Reina came to the door this morning. Before the doorbell rang, Whitney and I sat on the couch watching the news. My mother had her usual blank stare as she began rubbing her arm like she always does when she starts to get the itch for more “medicine.” She had a large blue sweater on that she swam in, coupled with black shorts that I couldn’t even see because t
he sweater was so big and long, and the shorts were so small. I sat next to her half watching the screen and half watching her body language change before my eyes as she started to ache and scratch her skin, the need to inject herself growing with every passing minute, and I must’ve told Reina to hurry up a thousand times in my head before she actually arrived. When the doorbell rang, I jumped up off of the couch and ran to the door, mainly so I could distract my mother from her addiction. Reina knows all about it, obviously, but she doesn’t need to see it. I shouldn’t even be seeing that.
“Whitney, I want you to meet someone,” I said to her as I started to pull the door open.
“What? Solomon, this isn’t a good time. I look like a mess,” she argued, but I didn’t care, because she always looks like a damn mess.
When the door opened, Reina stood in front of me with a sleek black jacket and thick blue jeans. Her blonde hair was beautifully wavy and resting over her shoulders perfectly. Those blue eyes reached out and stabbed me right in the heart as she looked up at me with a flawless smile and pearly white teeth. How could something so beautiful come to be on this ugly earth?
“Whitney, this is Reina,” I said to my mother, but I never took my eyes off of Reina, because why would I want to take my eyes off of Reina just to look over at my junkie mother, who I’m sure is only a few minutes away from her next hit of heroin.
Whitney looked up at Reina and I could see she was both impressed with the way Reina looked, and jealous at the same time. She looked her up and down in a way that made my skin heat up like I was standing next to an open oven, but then Whitney straightened her own hair with her fingers and stood up straight to extend her hand for Reina to shake. I watched the two of them in awe that the meeting was actually happening, but then I made sure to cut it short so Whitney couldn’t embarrass me with her nonsense or scratching. I told Whitney we had to go and that we were taking her car since she wasn’t about to use it, and she didn’t argue because she knew what she was about to do once we were out of her hair. Reina was polite and said goodbye just as I was closing the door behind me and breathing a sigh of relief that the whole thing was over without any craziness from Whitney. As we drove away, I let out a loud exhale, and headed for the highway.
“So what’s the latest on your little boyfriend?”
“Excuse me?” Reina snips, and I struggle to hold back a smile.
“Your little boyfriend. What’s his name? Charlie?” I suddenly feel Reina’s eyes burning into the side of my face as I drive.
“Do not call him my boyfriend. Ever,” she says in a low tone that sounds much more intimidating than I ever knew she could sound. I keep my eyes on the road, but the smile breaks through and lifts up the side of the mouth. Reina notices it, scoffs, and looks out her window as I feel the sudden shift in her mood.
“He, like everybody else who lives in Center City, is the bane of my existence. It’s hard dealing with him when my parents are always trying little sly ways to force us to be in each other’s company. They talk about how great he is, and he sticks his tongue between his fingers while glaring at me behind their backs. They don’t have a clue how horrible he is, then they force us to hang out together. Just two days ago he was at the house for dinner. While we ate, he tried to rub my leg under the table.” I suddenly feel my blood go from calm to boiling. Reina notices. “Don’t worry, I jabbed him in the hand with my fork and he stopped.”
“Interesting,” I reply, struggling to sedate my rage. “Sounds like I need to take a trip to your part of town.”
“No, Solomon. Center City is a hotbed for assholes who feel like they’re better than everybody. They’d spot you coming a mile away because you don’t look like anybody else in Center City. You probably couldn’t get a hundred yards in without someone having the police following you. I can handle Charlie. I appreciate you worrying about me, though.”
“Is that what I’m doing?”
“You tell me.” Once again, I feel Reina’s blue eyes burrowing into me, but ignore it and press my foot on the gas.
Forman Mills Mall isn’t a big one, but it has some nice stores in it, and I decided to bring Reina here since we’ve got nothing else to do. Reina’s outfit looks much too nice walking next to me with my black sweats, but I have a brand new black and green Eagles sweater that holds its own. Nonetheless, Reina still stands out, and as we make our way inside, I already see people’s eyes shifting over to us. One nosy person sees us, then nudges a friend, who looks over at Reina like he’s hungry for her. Reina’s talking to me right now, though, so I do my best not to let it distract me.
“Are you listening to me at all?” I hear her say, interrupting my train of thought.
“Of course I am,” I answer quickly, but she knows I’m lying.
“Right,” she says with a giggle. “I was asking if your mother was getting any better.”
I take a deep breath and let it out with a drawn out whoosh.
“Whitney can’t get better,” I tell her. “You can’t get better if you can’t admit something’s wrong with you. So, no, she’s not.”
“I see. She doesn’t know about Cash N Check?”
“Of course not,” I reply after a frown in Reina’s direction. “The last thing I need is Whitney stealing my money and using it to buy her medicine. She doesn’t know, and she never will.”
“She doesn’t go into your room snooping around?”
“What? No. My mother may be a junkie, but she knows who her son is,” I answer confidently as we turn a corner and enter a space filled with people.
“My parents know who I am too, but they still come into my room unannounced. I think they get a kick out of it. Especially my mom.”
“Yeah, parents suck and I don’t want to talk about Whitney and what the fuck are you staring at!” I cut off my sentence and yell at two guys staring at us as we walk past the food court. I can see that I startled Reina, but I held it in as long as I could. These two guys have been following us since we walked into the mall, and it’s obvious they don’t know me—a fact that helps fuel my anger. They both have clothes on that are twice their size and they’re probably only in their twenties, which is apparent from their smooth faces and carefree attitudes. Both of them are black—one light-skinned, one dark-skinned with huge earrings in his ears. I can spot drug dealers from a mile away, and these two fit the bill: baggy clothes, expensive Jordan brand shoes, cornrows, and tons of jewelry. Friends of Davon’s, perhaps? Cousins maybe?
“Who are they?” I hear Reina ask as I watch the two of them walk over to one of the many white tables in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken and sit down.
“I don’t know,” I reply, still staring at them as they glare at us, seemingly amused that we’re aware of their interest in us. One of them gets up and goes to order something from the chicken restaurant while Reina and I take a seat a few tables down from them. We’re surrounded by people eating their food and enjoying their time at the mall, but all I can see is these two guys who’ve followed us from the entrance to here. My vision is like a tunnel, and they’re the only two things at the end of the darkness.
This is one of the things I like about Reina. After spending quite a few weekends in a row down here with the peasants of Strawberry Mansion, she’s starting to take on qualities that remind me a lot of myself. She’s fearless, and doesn’t take any crap. Half the time, she handles issues before I ever have to, and I love that. Reina furrows her brown and glares at them just as boldly as I do. When the darker one comes back with their food, the four of us go into a drawn out staring contest, and it puts a smile on my face. Every day is fun in Strawberry Mansion.
“I should go introduce myself,” I say to Reina.
“I think they deserve to meet you,” Reina replies with a smile, before leaning back in her seat and getting comfortable like she’s about to watch a good movie. Could she possibly be any more perfect?
With a quick smile at Reina, I get up from my seat and make my way over to the tab
le. My boots echo with each step and my confidence grows the closer I get to them. When one of them sees me coming, he tells his friend with the giant cubic zirconia earrings and they both watch me approach. I take a seat in one of the empty chairs next to the darker guy, then I reach over and pick up a piece of chicken from his plate and take a big bite out of it.
“Yo, what the hell, son?” the light-skinned one snips. “You trying to get killed, white boy?”
“Oh yummy. Now that is a tasty piece of chicken,” is my answer, followed by a full smile, showing all of my chicken-covered pearly whites. “You don’t mind sharing, do you?”
“Have you lost your mind?” the dark one snaps. I guess he really wanted that drumstick.
“Yes, I have! Is it that obvious?” I answer, still smiling. Then I yank my survival knife from my pocket and slam it on the table. The sound of it echoes over the scattered voices in the food court and the two wannabe gangsters nearly jump out of their skin as people at the tables closest to us start to watch. “How about now? Now is it obvious I’ve lost my mind?”
I see the light-skinned one moving like he wants to grab something in his baggy jacket that I can’t see, so I focus on him.
“By the time you pull out whatever it is you’re thinking of reaching for, I’m going to have sliced your friends throat wide open with this knife, and all the chicken he’s chewing right now is gonna come cascading out of the wound. And after I beat the living shit out of you, I’m going to make you finish chewing it for him.” Just like that, the light one stops moving and the fear that I love so much makes its presence known in his facial expression.
“Now I don’t know why you two have been staring at us,” I continue, keeping my hand on the knife and my eyes on the light one sitting across from me. “But if I look over here again and see you gawking, we’re going to have a very public problem.” The two of them look at each other and then back to me. I simply smile at them both before getting up and walking back over to Reina, never once glancing behind me to see if they’re watching. I know they are.