Blurred Memories

Act Two

Robert awoke in the morning with a jolt. His eyes represented that of a man who has not had sleep in weeks. He glanced tiredly at his clock; it read 11:48 a.m.

What... was that... he whispered to himself in a concerned tone. He grunted as he lifted himself off his bed, and walked into the bathroom.

Robert looked into the mirror, and stared into the reflection of a man that was himself. His scruffy beard seemed to get scruffier, and the bags under his eyes dropped even lower than last night's.

When he was finished washing his face, he scooted back to his bedroom, where he sat on his bed. Robert stared off into his wall, when he finally reached for the handle of his nightstand.

He slowly pulled out the shelf, and before he could scramble through the contents inside, a sound filled the air of Robert's home. Faintly, he heard a ring. He lifted his head from the sink, turned off the water, and listened closely.

It was coming from downstairs.

Not changing, he walked down his wooden stairs, creaking with every step, until he reached the point of origin: It was his cell phone. He grabbed, and stared at the caller I.D., which showed a picture of a man with bright green eyes and wavy hair. Under the picture was the name: David. Giving a sort of weak sigh, Robert answered the phone.

"Hello?" he said tiredly.

"Rob! Hey, how you doin'?" David said cheerily.

"Peachy. Why are you calling me?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right. We got another job."

"Yeah?" Robert now sounded awake, and interested. He pushed aside old newspapers and trash from the kitchen counter and leaned against it. A newspaper fell, which opened to the headliner, which read, "WIDESPREAD CRIME IN THE EAST." The date read: August 5, 2017.

"Oh, sorry, did I say 'we'? I meant, 'you.'"

"Excuse me?" Robert said, frowning.

"The boss is getting more and more jobs each day and now I have to take one on myself too."

Robert sounded annoyed. "Great."

"Don't worry, I think you can take it."

"I didn't say nothing about me takin' it, Dave."

"Fair enough, now will you shut up so I can give details?"

"Sure, go ahead." Robert situated himself on a seat near a table. On this table we're scattered pictures of houses and money bags from previous jobs. The corner of the table was chipped.

"It's a house in Wells—a blue house. The address is 22517, and has a grey fence surrounding it. Got no security as far as we know, but inside lays a man by the name of Kevin Stuart."

Kevin Stuart, Kevin Stuart, why does that sound familiar? Robert rummaged through the pictures on the table to see if he could decipher the name. "O-okay, keep going."

"—Got some son or something, but he should be out of the house—our spies say he usually leaves the house at night."

"W-what if he's inside the house while I'm doing my job?" said Robert, hardly paying attention.

"You know the rules, Rob," said David assuredly.

"Right right, t-the rules," Robert said, now looking frustrated. "You guys gotta picture of this Kevin? Or his kid?"

"Yeah actually, here I'll send it to you."

Robert got a notification on his cell phone.

"You got it?" asked David.

"Yeah, I got it—thanks."

"Well, that wraps everything up, good luck. Your job's tonight, and you know the drill: Get as much money as possible, don't get spotted, and just have some fun, dude!" David said enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Dave. Take care," and with that, Robert hung up the phone.

He looked at the picture David sent him; it was of a man from a distance. His face resembled someone with long blond hair, and wore a suit—he must've been going to work, thought Robert.

Robert closed his cell phone, and walked back upstairs. Sitting on his bed once more, he saw that he had left the shelf of his nightstand open. He then reached inside.

There was a woman—a beautiful woman who had hazel eyes, and dark brown hair. Her smile was pearly white, and next to her was a clean shaved man with well-kept hair, and a similar smile to the woman. In between the two was a girl; she had her hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a dress with flowers on it.

Robert recognized this dress. He suddenly had a memory in which he found himself tossing this girl in the air at a park, holding her hand and playing with her at a playground. She was wearing the exact same dress. He viewed the little girl rush through the playground, when she got her dress stuck in a nail in the wood, and it ripped.

"Daddy..." said the girl, as she began to cry.

"No no, don't cry, shh, it's okay, baby girl..."

Just then a woman came into view, shouting what was inaudible at the moment. But it did sound like she was shouting a name... but whose was it?

Robert came back into the present, still staring at the picture. His eyes left the three, and noticed on the corner of the picture was a date: 6/14/ 97.

He tossed the picture back into the shelf, closed it, and sat once more in silence. The birds outside chirped happily, the sun out and shining.

You didn't have to go through that... Robert thought to himself, closing his eyes. I'm so, sorry. Come back.

Robert then heard a voice that caused him to jolt upwards. It was a woman voice. She said, in a sweet voice: "Robby...."