stockholm syndrome

ch 7 - four minutes

wednesday, november 26,  2008

"there's too many people in here, luke." i mumble, nervously.

"deal with it! we don't have many options, now do we?"
i groaned, "this could be dangerous."
"listen here, dumbass. this is never safe. get your fantasies out of your goddamn head or you can sit back and i can do this myself."

he's been acting like an ass since we last visited his mum in the hospital.
"get this one for me, man." i suggest.

he rolls his eyes, "take care of the people. distract them if you can. if not, we might need to be getting a tad bit comfortable here."
it took a while to catch his drift, and when i had, i was discouraged at first thought.

"what the hell are we supposed to do, take them with us?"
"mike. tonight, you have nothing to do with this. buy yourself a water, make some fucking friends, will you?" luke sneered, entering the front door slightly after i had.

he nods in my direction, as i make my way into the slight crowd of others in the shop, consisting of maybe seven, or eight? it was quite a lot if you're taking this neighborhood into consideration.

i avoid the magazine and newspaper section without a second thought, oblivion is my strategy. it's better to be questioned by the police and really not have a clue what they're asking. lying hasn't necessarily been my greatest strength. anyone i've met can agree on that one.

"we're here on behalf of ashton irwin." the memory of that day kicks back into my head, and this time, i can't ignore it. not one bit. the image of ashton's figure continues to enter and flash through my every thought, blocking my surroundings out as if they weren't to exist in the first place. "lay a fucking hand on him again, irwin." i back slowly against the cooler section, the icy cold slide door chilling my back as i prop myself against it.

"fuck, this is cold." i curse, hoisting my knees to my chest, burying my head in my hands.
"if you need to sit, don't sit on the arctic circle of the joint." i hear from my front, and i clear my head before looking before me.
she smiles at me, and i laugh slightly back, before she takes a seat next to me.
"are you alright?" the girl asks, sympathetically.

"i'm okay."
"do you uh- mind?" she examines me with her eyes, a deep brown.
"uh- no. you can, sit. not that either of us should be, anyways."

"i don't suppose we should."
i purse my lips and scrunch my hair off of my face.
"what's your name?" she asks, peering around this dump.
"michael." i sigh, knocking the back of my head against the cooler once more.
"that's a really lovel- wait." the girl stutters, "do you see that?" she points to the front register, where luke's gun is pressed against the jaw of the cashier.

"holy shit. come- get over here." i whisper, grabbing her hand and dragging her behind the farthest isle to the door.  

"what the hell is going on?" she cries.

"would you shut the fuck up? the whole point of this is so nobody sees you."
"sorry..." she looks down to the ground, and doesn't take her eyes off of it.

i nod, and signal her to stand up slowly. "i'll be back."
i leave our previous location, acting oblivious to the situation as much as i possible could.

as i approach closer to the register, luke and i lock eye contact. he glared back at me aggressively, almost as if he was staring straight through me entirely.

his grasp grows tighter on his trigger, wrapping his forearm across the cashier firmly.

"here to play hero, now are we?" luke's acting skills were far more skilled than my own.

"take your fucking money and leave. none of us asked for this." i scratch the back of my neck, awaiting his response.

"i don't plan on taking much longer," his grasp tightened dramatically around the young kid at the register, "will we?"
the boy muttered, "look. i'm new here. i don't have the key, yet."
luke nods, and flicks on his safety, and pulls the trigger, startling him. his name happened to be stephen, according to the print on his breast pocket. the noise caused heads to peek from every corner, like raccoons facing the daylight.

seemingly uneducated, stephen looked around as much as luke would allow him, not being able to even twitch his neck, or it would be snapped within his hold. i had assumed he thought the bullet landed elsewhere, and he was searching for it.
i remain still, however, speechless. for what seemed like hours. i could hear a pin drop.

luke spoke once again. "give me my fucking money. get it. i don't care if you have to break it."
"it's pretty durable." stephen tensed in his clutch.
"let me make this clear." luke began, "i have a sick mother. she's going to die. i need the goddamn money, to save her. is that hard enough?"

"i'm sorry about your mother." stephen said. "it's a four digit code. my manager had told me it during my first week. i wrote it down somewhere. i'll find it if you'd let me."
luke took a deep breath, "i want this in four minutes. any longer, and you might not be so lucky."
the clatter of luke's combat boots against the tile floor was deafening in this silence. his bottom half was concealed behind the counter, as well as stephen, now pulling out his instruction manual and madly turning each page. i counted the steps he had taken back: one, two, three, four, five, six. six steps backward.

my eyes were glued on the clock on the left wall, above the stock. where i left that girl. i can guarantee you that she's watching me, and if not that, listening to every word break through the room.

"here, i- i got it." stephen stumbles through his words as the clatter of luke's boots roll forward in an echo; one, two, three, four, five, six. now standing where he was once before.
"what is it?" luke spits, keeping his eyes on the prize.

"seven, four, nine, three." stephen said, "i'll get it for you."
and so he did. after the money was collected, luke placed his gun carefully back into his waistband, and enclosed his new earnings into his drawstring.

luke had stepped out of the building, and people began to emerge from the isles, and stephen spoke, his eyes containing no fear.

"don't call anyone. people will go to great lengths for the people they love."

nobody spoke. we didn't need to. we understood. i watched body after body file out, but i waited for the woman i was sat with briefly earlier.
"hey." i sighed, tucking my hands into the side pockets of my jeans.

"hey." she replied.

"i- have to go."
"that's okay. good-bye michael."
"good-bye; wait. i never got your name." i stuttered.

"alice." she smiled. "my name's alice."

im really proud of this chapter. i dont know. don't ask, haha. xoxo