|Gangster|

o n e

Helen

"Jack! I'm off to Target." I scream in the empty hallway. He must be playing video games with his girlfriend.

Though I'm sure it's not the video games he plays with her.

"Okay! Love you sister." He yells right back, his voice gruffy for some reason.

Right.

I grab my fur coat, swaddling myself with it. Writing a note for Jack to eat the remaining Lasagna I made last night if he's hungry, I stick it to the counter and walk out of the door.

Soon, I arrived at Target. I greeted some of my co-workers and set off to work.

"Hey H, how's it goin'?" A friendly voice cheerily says. My head snaps up to meet the blue orbs of my oh-so-gorgeous admirer, Simon.

"Hey Simon." I smile at him.

"So.. have you thought about it?"

"About what?"

He stares at me incredulously, "Our date, Helen."

Oh, the date. Simon had asked me out a couple times but I always denied or refused, playing excuses like "my brother needs me for his homework", "I have to visit my grandma today" or "My foot is broken."

"Urm..," I trail off, trying desperately to think of an excuse.

But I didn't have to.

The sound of glass breaking and sirens buzzing is all I heard before I saw three men, all clad is black tailcoats and masks came rushing in. One of them placed a revolver over Penelope's head, urging her to scoop out the money and throw it in their baggages.

Then, another man entered through the open door. He looked careless.. like he hadn't actually acknowlegded the fact that a robbery was very much occuring at the moment.

"Sir, how much do we need?" The one with the black mask directed the question to him.

Oh, so he's the boss. What a surprise!

The man impercebtibly, nod his head and for some reason, the black masked man knew exactly what to do.

During this ordeal, I hadn't even realized I was still standing on the spot, transfixed. All of my colleagues had either exited the shop, hidden underneath tables with their hands crossed over their heads or were sobbing quietly with tremblings hands, concealed from sight.

It was also not very startling that my eyes met his.

He looks shocked or.. impressed? His eyes trailed down my body, lingering a couple of times. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He smirked in triump. Sadist bastard!

What was wrong with me? I needed to move and hide! I had to run away from here but I couldn't.

You did it before, don't do it again. Try to be brave.

You're acting stupid! He's a criminal. Hide. From. Him.

No, you need to face the dangers or they will kill you.

He's going to kill you.

He won't kill you.

The voices in my head were making me dizzy. I decided then, I wouldn't hide. Not again.

He walked in my directions, the sound of his boot clicking making the hair on my neck stand in anticipation. What was he going to do with me?

He stopped just a few inches from me, standing there with a sneaky smirk on his face.