Broken Stars

THE ESCAPE

Two men were stealing and pocketing stuff from the shelves. They seemed to be looking here and there,unaware that they were being watched. Sunshine's face turned red with anger.
"We should tell the owner at once", she says.
I nod.
We were at the far end of the store. I walked through two rows to reach the counter but as i was about to turn at the last one which had the counter in front i saw that the men were already there and one  of then was pointing a gun at the owner.
"Give us whatever money you have!", he shouted.
His voice was grave and he was shorter in height than the other one. The owner was scared though he tried his best not to show it.
"I will call the police if you dont leave right now!", he said trying to sound fierce.
I ran back to the way i came. Sunshine was sitting on an oil can. She stood up quickly.
"I heard a shout. What happened?"
I told her everything that i saw.
"Oh my gods! What if he shoots someone?".
"I dont know", i reply.
I took out my phone to call the police but it was dead.
"Damn! Do you have your phone?", I ask Sunshine.
"I left it in car. Did you see Tris and Rue?".
I shake my head.
The mans  voice was loud enough that anyone in the store wouldve heard it. It meant that Tris and Rue wouldve heard it too, wherever the hell they were.
Oh my gods Rue!
What if they come in front of the robbers? The guy has a gun and he can shoot anyone. I went back to the counters way and peeked again from the edge of the row. Tris and Rue were nowhere to be seen. Then i noticed a screen on the left top of the counter. It was showing all the camera footages in the stores. I risked going nearer to get a good look at it so that i can see where Tris and Rue were.
I spotted them at once.
They were at the last row of the other end of the store. Tris was standing while Rue was doing exactly what i was doing, peeking at the footages.
In any other normal situation i wouldve smiled and pointed it out to anyone around me that, see? shes my sissy.
Rue and Tris waved at me and beckoned to the back of the store. I gave them a thumbs-up.
We were lucky that the men werent paying attention to the footage or they wouldve seen  us. I quickly went back to get Sunshine and led her to the back where we were to see Tris and Rue. There was a distance of almost 8 feet between us.
"Come on", Rue whispered to us.
"No we cant. Theyll most probably see us", i reply.
"Then what do we do now?", Tris asks.
"Just take Rue back home and we'll catch up later".
"No im not gonna leave you behind", Rue says with her arms crossed.
"You have to. You guys are closer to the exit and you can leave without being noticed. While we will have to cross this distance between us and if we do that there is a 98% chance that theyll see us".
She scowled knowing that im right.
"Alright then we'll meet you guys later", Tris says  and takes Rue by the arm and leads her away.
Just as the door mustve closed behind them, i assumed as we cant see them, the mens patience with the owner gave away.
"Alright, youre not givin' the money huh?", the shorter one with the gun says.
He motions for his partener, the taller one.
"You go and check those kids who were here when we came in. Bring 'em here. He wont give anything unless we shoot some of his customers".
"Those kids left. I saw them leave", the owner said.    

"Hes lying. You go and check", he said to his partner.

The taller man started walking towards the first row of shelves but sunshine and i were already running,not towards the exit but towards the back of the store. We reached the place where we had seen the robbers for the first time and i looked around.

Where to go?

There was a forgotten door behind the oil cans,one of them on which sunshine had been sitting earlier. We quickly pushed the oil cans aside. I opened the door and we hurried inside.

It was a storeroom. There was a small window on one of the walls and the faint light coming from it was enough to show a cupboard. I opened the door of the cupboard. There was enough space for the two of us to sit with us legs bent. Sunshine went in first and then i climbed in,closing the door behind me and everything went black.

AFTER 20 MINUTES:

I had no idea how long weve been sitting there. sunshine was starting to having problems with her breathing. We heard someone outside and we didnt knew if it was the robbers or someone else. I just wanted to go home. 

There was a loud noise outside as the door of the storeroom opened. Sunshine covered her mouth with one hand held mine with the other. I tried not to picture the horrors of what the next moments held as the cupboard opened. It was the owner of the store.

"You both can come out. Theyre gone", he said.

I sighed loudly with relief. Ive never been so thankful in my life. I climbed out of the cupboard and helped Sunshine out. I kept my hands on her shoulders as she tried to keep her breathing even.

"Its ok. Lets go home and you can take your medicines", I said.

"Something wrong with her?",the owner asked.

"Cancer",Sunshine replied before i can say something.

The owner nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"I saw you both go into the storeroom from the footage. I thought you would be safe here. But when that robber came to check here, i thought he would open the door and find you guys. And thats when it hit me, some money no better than two kids lives. So i gave up and gave all the money to them".

" Im sorry", I said.

"It aint your fault. There is this old saying that everything happens for a reason. This mustve happened for a reason too".

He gave us a few chips and two cokes for free even though i tried to give him money.  It had started raining so we took a cab to our house ( as we both lived in the same street so it was the same thing). 

We got out and i paid the money. Sunshine stood for a few minutes at her front door and we both stared at each in silence. i was completely soaked in rain but i still stood there.Then her eyes turned glassy and she came forward and hugged me. We held each other for some time then she said good night and went inside.