Just My Luck

Pilot

Charity woke up, relieved that the sun had not risen yet. Days before, she had woken up in pools of sweat from the sun staring at her while she slept. She got up, looking out the fogged window pane. She knew that this day would be different from any previous day.

Walking into the bathroom, she looked at herself intentionally. She didn't look any different. Same matted chestnut brown hair. Russet golden eyes. Long eyelashes, and chapped lips. Sleepless eyes, and a small beauty mark under her left eye. Her face wasn't pretty, but it could've been worse she thought. She washed her face, but couldn't seem to shake this feeling. A dark cloud was looming over her. But, every cloud has a silver lining, she thought.

Riding down the street on her beaten pink bike, she listened for the calming ring of the chain. When her destination came into view, she slid her bike on the uneven grass, and walked to the whitewashed brick wall.

"Hey Kid." smirked an older girl, bringing a stub of a cigarette to her pale lips. Charity stood up against, the wall, mimicking her position.

"So, we heading out Shelby?" She asked, pretending that she couldn't care less what the answer would be.

"In a minute." She replied, savouring the smoke, before flicking it on the cement ground, and pressing it with the ball of her foot. She started walking almost immediately, leaving Charity to catch up in her dust.

Charity left her bike, walking in the damp morning air. A chill ran up her spine, but she shook it out, ignoring the unsettling feeling that lingered in her core.

The bells sung in delight as she pushed the door open. She was hit with the usual musty smell of the corner store.

"Hi Jean." They said in unison, walking past the cash register uneventfully.

"Morning girls." She mumbled, not looking up from the latest gossip magazine she pulled off the rack.

They walked towards the back of the aisle, looking through all the useless cheap junk. Shelby grabbed a deck of cards, looking it over, then dropped in her knee high leather boots. Charity did the same, slipping hair bands and accessories in her bra.

After taking a few more things, they walked to the back, and climbed through a hole that had been punched in the wall late at night by a drunken fight.

When they got out, they smirked at each other, casually whistling, as they walked down the street, passing an elderly couple, and a woman breastfeeding an infant.

At the end of the road, some elementary aged kids were playing on the playground. They were concealed in the fenced in yard of the preschool. Shelby walked up to the fence determined.

"Hey you guys!" She smiled, a warm glow in her eyes and cheeks. They immediately stopped what they were doing to look at the intriguing stranger. She pulled out a little doll, and they started to walk closer.

"Hi!" She repeated, "you guys like candy right?" There eyes widened, nodding. She pulled out more things, and they started to reach their tiny hands through the holes in the chain link fence.

"It's a dollar a piece." She smiled, the fake niceness in her voice more obvious this time. Charity gladly took the quarters as they piled up. A little boy came up looking sheepishly.

"I don't have any money." He said.

"Sorry hun." Charity replied sympathetically, "you can't have one then." His face fell, and Charity's heart went out to him. She knew what it was like to want something all the other kids had.

"Listen kid, if you don't have the money, scram!" Shelby spat, not even concealing her attitude anymore. He slumped his shoulders and walked away.

Sitting on the edge of a road island, Shelby and Charity counted the money they made, cherry red suckers in there mouths.

"We made so much money! Those plastic dolls are a real seller huh?" Shelby beamed.

"Yeah," Said Charity distractedly, "how much did we make though?"

"Almost fifty bucks!" That was a lot of money, considering they were selling Knick knacks to children.

"That means our new total is... $473!"

Charity could do so much with the money she would make with half of that. She was thinking of new shoes, or a phone. Shelby was probably thinking of clothes and lip gloss.

"I know we only do this once a week... but I think we should go again tomorrow." Shelby said.

"But, wouldn't that look suspicious?" Asked Charity.

"They're kids. They don't even remember there address. All they care about is toys."

"But... what if a someone sees us." She thought.

"It hasn't happened before, so I doubt it would happen now. They're to busy gossiping about who's single."

"But what if—"

"We'll be fine. Just don't draw attention to yourself. We'll be in and out, like always."

Charity thought this response over, and nodded. They could get to their goal faster, and no one would know. This was the best idea they had, had in a long time.

But, then why did she still have that bad feeling in her stomach?

"Okay." She said. Standing up.

The next morning, Charity got up with a hop in her step. The dreadful pressure in her stomach hadn't gone away, but she pushed it down further with a bowl of cornflakes. The walk this morning was more bearable with a full stomach.

Shelby was in the same spot, smoking another cigarette, her pale skin blending in with the wall behind her. They went through all of the motions of their routine again, and the kids didn't bat an eye at them. Some of them were new, some of them had been there yesterday. When the deed was done, they parked themselves on a bench in the shade of an old maple tree in the empty park.

They had made even more money, and were so close to there goal. It was all over, and they hadn't been caught.

Charity was smiling a big grin, when her heart dropped.

With the glint of the mid afternoon sun, she could see an RCMP parked in the usually empty parking lot.

"How are we supposed to get out of here now Shelby."