𝙇 𝙄 𝘽 𝙀 𝙍 𝘼𝙏 𝙀 𝘿

9 L I B E R A T E D 9

9 L 9

I entered the store first, then Onella followed shortly after by a ten minute wait. I was familiar with the store, and sometimes my mother and I actually genuinely shopped in here. Today, I wasn't here to do any real shopping though.

I walked towards my favorite section: the keychains and sunglasses. I found a few keychains that I liked, especially a purple sparkly one, and slipped it into the pocket of my sweatpants. The sunglasses turned out to be too bulky for my bottoms, but Onella probably could get them to put in her purse.

This wasn't a super fancy store, matter of fact, it was far from it. I knew the footage in the cameras was at least a decade old and the employees wouldn't blink an eye if we walked out the store with the whole damn register.

I shoved my hands into my pockets casually, enjoying the adrenaline building in me. This was better than smoking. Better than shrooms. I felt alive, and in control. As I walked past oblivious customers, I even felt mischievous. I knew something that they didn't. I could walk out this store right now and nobody would ever know I had taken these things.

This was the power of stealing.

Of taking what I want for myself.

I let out my best convincing sneeze, knowing that Onella could hear it across the quiet store. That meant I was heading for the dressing rooms, about to take the security tags off of everything I had stolen.

"Excuse you," I told a lady with her son as they hurried out of the dressing room and damn near pushed into me.

I squinted at her retreating figure.

Something bulky was underneath her clothes. I guess me and Onella weren't the only ones hitting up this store tonight. I let out the loudest cough I could muster, a rare signal for us to use. It meant, walk out of the door at the same time as the lady stealing...and sell her out.

It was less work for us, having to remove the tags, and unfortunate to the poor person in the store at the same time as us. Onella and I slowly began to head behind the woman, and her and her child tried to slowly retreat for the doors.

Watching her, she was extremely obvious about what she had done. I could only hope that me nor Onella ever seemed that way.

"Now," I grunted.

Onella and I walked through the metal detectors at the same time as the lady. The employees immediately cast us a disdainful look, and the lousy security officer walked to the front of the store.

The woman was trembling and her son sucked ferociously on his thumb. Perhaps they were poor. Perhaps they were homeless. My adrenaline high was starting to fade as guilt wanted to settle into my heart. But I looked over at Onella, and remembered that we couldn't risk getting caught either.

Two black girls stealing?

Not only would our families kill us, it would fuck us up for life. Obviously this woman's life is already fucked.

"She has items underneath her clothes," I pointed to the lady as the officer tried to walk towards me.

After finding everything the woman had, they didn't bother checking me and Onella out. We both sent the employees a polite smile, and then we were gone.

We left Main Street and stopped to sit on a corner.

"I just knew the guard was gonna check you, bruh. It felt like he was eyeing your pockets," Onella said, huffing. She looked out of breath, but I couldn't tell if it was because of our speed walking or because of our close call.

"Thank God he didn't," I smirked.

"I'll text Amy and Jeredine to see where they're at," Onella said, pulling out her phone.

"Let me put my stuff in your bag. My pockets are heavy," I complained.

"You're the one always stealing lame stuff. I went for the lipgloss, and the compact makeup shit this time. Stuff with real value, Liberty."

I rolled my eyes, but on the inside I was angry. She wants me to try and figure out my urges, but then criticizes my treasures. I'll steal something way better than her, and then she won't have shit left to say about anything.

Satisfaction twisted in my body along with a new adrenaline rush: We always stole in Lower Aster Waters...but what if I took things up a notch?

After we met back up with Amy and Jeredine, we snuck into Jeredine's room through the window and ate on the snacks Jeredine had scored from a convenience store they had visited.

I was irritated the whole night. Mad that even newbie Jeredine had gotten better stuff than me. Mad that the others thought that made me the perfect butt of all their jokes.

By ten, I grabbed all of my things and left as everyone was engulfed in a boring episode of the Office. I said good night to Jeredine's parents, and called my mom to come pick me up.

As I sat on the curb, letting the dark night swept through my hair, I let my mind think on overdrive.

A store in Upper Aster Waters that nobody's stole from. That would be the best score for me. I'll get things out of there that nobody in our group could ever dream of stealing from there. Then nobody will have shit to say about my urges...or the value of my treasures.

Some nights, the things I stole were heavy sins in my pockets, weighing down my soul. Other times, they felt like pieces of clouds, slowly floating me upwards into blissful adrenaline and tranquility.

"God help me," I whispered, staring out at the road.