Stanley

578 13 2
                                    

I was about three feet deeper  when I heard Hector's voice. He came back sooner than I expected. "Wow, you really been workin'. Coming down," he said before landing beside me, "Ty, you still there?"

I looked up to see Tyler sitting at the edge of the hole, her legs dangled like windchimes as she shielded the wind in attempt to light a cigarette.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled with the white stick dangling from her lips. She sighed and glanced down at me with a smirk, "Hey, Caveman. Miss me?" She took my face in her hands and pressed her forehead against mine. Without hesitation, I leaned in for a kiss. She swerved and whispered in my ear, "You smell like onions." Her tone was passive, as if she told me I smelled like sunblock. I snorted and I kissed her cheek instead. She buried her face in my neck and giggled.

"Ahem," Hector caught our attention, "Let's focus. The sun is almost up. Tyler, I need you to be look out. Make sure no one is coming." It was like the twins had switched roles. Hector was suddenly the commander in chief, living up to his potential as the oldest by two minutes.

"Perhaps later, Romeo," she stood to her feet and lit another match, only for the breeze to take over as she brought the flame closer to her lips. She cursed, "Screw this. I'll be over here."

"You better not be in a hole," Hector called out to her. In a hole is exactly where she was.

"Where else am I supposed to light this thing?"

"You could always quit!" he spoke as he dug deeper.

Tyler huffed, "If you've been through what I have, you would start smoking! I need this!"

Hector and I grew doubtful as we dug deeper without finding anything. "We need to make it bigger," I told him.

"How do we know Kissin' Kate Barlow didn't send her gang to dig it back up later?"

"We don't," I said as I worked my shovel into the hole's edge. We hit something hollow. It beat like a drum against the shovel's metal edge.

Hector smiled, "What's this?" He dug into the side more to uncover a large chest, covered in 100 years of desert dust.

"Woo!" We celebrated finding what we came for. It took the strength of both of us to pull the chest from the dirt. I called out to Tyler, "You gotta see this!"

My excitement faded as I heard a familiar voice at the hole's edge, "Thank you, boys. You've been a big help," The Warden stood with her hands on her hips, Pendanski to her right and Mr. Sir to her left. Mr. Sir had a grip on Tyler's flannel shirt with one hand and the other hand over her mouth. I grew furious as I saw tears fall from her eyes.

Prepared to demand he let her go, I saw fear grow in his eyes as he said, "Woah, get back!" The Warden and Pendanski did the same. Tyler, free from his grip jumped back as well before clapping her hands over her mouth.

That was when Hector and I saw them. Several yellow spotted lizards covered the chest we held between us. A few of them jumped from the chest and onto our jumpsuits. I looked up at Tyler as she mouthed, "I'm sorry."

We sat in custody of the poisonous lizards, for what felt like eternity. Hector's eyes stayed focused on the chest.

"Hey, Stanley," Pendanski jeered, "Your lawyer came by yesterday to get you. Turns out you're innocent. Too bad you were here!"

"Maybe we should just shoot 'em," Mr. Sir suggested, hand firmly placed on his pistol.

"The lizards or the kids?" Pendanski asked.

"If you shoot them, you better shoot straight," Tyler threatened. She held her shovel like a baseball bat, making Pendanski shutter as flashed back to his last encounter with her twin brother.

Desperado: A Holes FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now