The City
It didn’t take me long to get my bearings and work out where I was. Although it had been eight long years since I was last there, I still knew every street and alley. As I made my way towards Gary’s apartment, I saw a reflection of myself in a show window. I looked terrible. My clothes were torn and bloodstained and I was filthy. My hair was long and lank, hanging over my unshaven face. I barely recognised the gaunt figure looking back at me in the reflection of the glass. I knew I couldn’t remain hidden for long looking like this, especially in my prison clothes. I made my way towards a residential area, looking for a garden with washing hung out. It didn’t take long and soon I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Although I was feeling hungry and tired, I had to quickly make my way to Gary’s house before the police got there to investigate. I briskly walked past streets of houses, not taking a breath to stop. I knew that it might take until nightfall to reach his house. As I was walking along, I realised that everything had changed. The houses were more modern, the shops looked brighter and the cars looked like they were from the future. I couldn’t believe that in just eight years, the whole of San Francisco had changed. Even the people looked different. Their clothes were more colourful and their hairstyles matched their clothes. I did not stay on the crowded street for long. I looked too out of place so I backtracked along the alleyways until I reached the area Gary lived in. I had forgotten which block of apartments he lived in. I went to the first block and checked out the names by the buzzers. Miraculously, Gary still lived there. I pressed the button and waited. There was a crackling sound and then I heard his friendly voice. When he heard it was me, he quickly let me in. We looked long and hard at each other, neither quite believing what was happening. Then Gary spoke. “I heard there had been a breakout but I never thought it would be you.”
“I wasn’t supposed to be in prison anyway,” I answered, grinning widely back at him. We sat down and chatted for a while. It felt good to be talking to someone, as the last time I had done so was before I went to prison. Since then I had refused to talk to anyone. I explained to Gary that the reason I had escaped was because I wanted to get Samantha back from the Snake-Man, who had captured her and was holding her in imprisonment. I also wanted to prove that I was innocent, and it was the Snake-Man who committed all the terrible crimes. Gary promised that he would support me, but I could tell by the look in his eye that he doubted anything would work. I was uncertain too, but I was so determined to get my life back that I would do anything. I spent the rest of the evening cleaning myself up, and trying to make me look different so that people wouldn’t recognise me. I decided that the following morning, I would phone the Snake-Man and tell him that I wanted Samantha back. Although he was an aggressive, violent and forceful man, I knew that if I did what he wanted, there was a chance that he would let Samantha go. I carefully dialled his number and waited. After a few rings, the Snake-Man answered. He had been expecting my call ever since he learned that I had escaped, and he was ready to make a deal for the release of Samantha. All I had to do was give him $30,000,000 by two week’s time, and she would be free. The Snake-Man laughed. He knew that it was an impossible task but, with Gary’s help, I was determined to try and get the money. Samantha was worth every penny of that and more.
Money Money Money
“How are we supposed to get thirty million?” I shouted at the top of my voice. My face was red and my hands were shaking vigorously. “I don’t even have one cent, so how am I going to get thirty million dollars?” I sat down on Gary’s old brown sofa.
“We’ll think of something,” replied Gary, trying to sound as reassuring as he could. After a long time of silent thinking, Gary finally spoke. “I only see one way to do this,” he said. I looked at him, hoping that he would come up with something sane. “We’ve got to rob somewhere expensive!” He shrilled gleefully. I stared back at him in horror amazed at his pathetic idea.
“Don’t be so stupid. The cops are after me, and it’ll definitely be the electric chair if they catch me doing anything wrong,” I mumbled to him.
“With my help, you won’t get caught and we can rescue Samantha. It’s the only way we can raise that amount of money.” I sighed. I knew he was right and I was desperate to get Samantha back. In any event, I was just as good as dead for escaping from prison. We both thought long and hard about where was the best place to get such a large amount of money from. It was Gary who came up with the best idea. “How about the racetrack?” he said. “There are thousands of people betting money all afternoon. They must take at least fifty million at the big race next week.” “Sounds good to me,” I said, and we quickly made our plans to steal the money. It wouldn’t be easy. There would be guards to get past, a vault to break into, and we would need something to transport the money in. The crowds would help to hide us, and hopefully obstruct the police whilst we made our getaway. For the whole afternoon, we were drawing where the volts were in the racetrack, and how we were going to get in. Gary was surprisingly knowledgeable about all of the security. He said that he used to work at the racetrack, but I still didn’t understand how he could be so skilled about where everything was. I didn’t bother hassling him about it too much, as I was so grateful that Gary was bothering to help me.
“I’ve got the perfect plan,” Gary said after he had drawn about ten previous plans. We sat down to look at the plan and I memorised all the details. It was a brilliant idea, easy to carry out and should not fail. Gary still had a few contacts at the racecourse that owed him favours and there was also the racetrack owner’s daughter. Her name was Clarissa and she had two main interests in life; horses and Gary, although not always in that order. She also had one main hate; her father. Clarissa hated her father because he always treated her like a member of staff. He thought she was there to serve him. With her help, we would be able to bypass the security system and get into the main vault. Gary rang one of his contacts and organised an armoured van, security guard uniforms and wheeled bins to transport the money from the vault to the van. I wondered how Gary was able to organise this so quickly and conveniently. I also wondered why he was so willing to do an illegal job, which as far as I was concerned, he had never performed before. I certainly hadn’t, so I assumed that he was doing this for my benefit. I supposed that I was feeling so distrustful because I was so worried about robbing the racetrack, so I was blaming it on him. I should be thankful to Gary for doing all this work for me, as I would never have managed on my own. It was now only six days before the big race, and ten days before I had to hand the oblivious Snake-Man the cash. Although there was little time left, I felt that we were prepared for the worst already. Nothing could go wrong.
A Rich Robbery
The days before the robbery were incredibly tense. I had nothing to do except wait in Gary’s apartment and bite my nails. Usually, I never bit my nails but I was so nervous that I could help it.
At last, the frightful day came. I couldn’t eat breakfast that morning as my stomach felt like it was going to jump out of my mouth. It probably would have if Gary weren’t there for me, giving me confidence. We drove up to the racetrack at ten-thirty in the morning, as the main race was due to start at twelve o’clock. I could feel my hands and knees shaking, yet Gary seemed to be very calm. It was almost as if he was used to this sort of thing, but I knew that that wasn’t possible. I’ve known him inside out almost all my life. By the time that we had arrived, the race had almost started. We were in perfect timing, and I knew exactly what to do. I was feeling slightly more confident now, but still exceptionally nervous. We got out of the car, and walked in between two tall buildings, which led to the racetrack. There were people everywhere, and it was so noisy that I could barely hear Gary talking to me, and he was standing right besides me. We made our way to the toilets and changed into our fake guards uniforms. Gary then went to find Clarissa whilst I entered the main building where the vault was located. Although the guards could see me in their monitors, because they were Gary’s friends, they said nothing and let me pass. I entered the lift and pressed the button to go down to the basement where we would need a security code to get further. I began to sweat and my uniform felt tight on my clammy skin. I wondered whether Gary would be able to get the code from Clarissa. I waited five minutes that felt like five hours. My hands were now shaking and I was feeling sick. I wretched a few times and swallowed the bitter bile that came up into the back of my throat. I needed to get a grip on myself. Suddenly, Gary appeared with Clarissa. Adrenalin flowed through my body and my nerves turned to excitement. I didn’t have time to feel sick anymore. Gary keyed in the number and the large door slowly opened. Inside were hundreds of bags with carefully sorted dollars inside. I gasped. There was even more money there than we had first thought there would be. There must have been at least seventy million dollars, and it was ours for the taking. I gasped and took a feeble step forwards, though Gary pulled me back quickly.
“Have you forgotten about the lasers which set the alarm off if you go through them?” He shouted. I apologised, though my voice sounded so weak from joy that it only came out as a small squeak. I suddenly panicked. Gary never told me what to do about the security rays, and looking around, they were absolutely everywhere. Although I didn’t seem to know, Gary somehow did. He produced a small blue spray from his pocket, and sprayed it all around the room. Was he trying to suffocate us? It had a strong scent to it, and it was even worse because the room was only small. Gary yelled out, “This spray will stop the security rays from detecting movement. It’ll only last for about two minutes though. Hurry up and get the money out of here!” I quickly grabbed as many bags as I could hold, and rushed them out of the room to a large hall. There was so much money there that I didn’t know how we were going to get it all out in two minutes. I needn’t have worried. By the doorway was a large wheeled laundry bin with one of Gary’s friends standing by, waiting to take the bags from us. Gary had thought of everything and we now had enough money to release Samantha.
Samantha
The money was taken back to Gary’s apartment so that we could sort it all out. I felt like crying – I was finally going to get Samantha back, and there was so much money left over that Gary and I (and Clarissa) were going to be rich for the rest of our lives! Overall, we had collected over ninety million dollars, which was over three times the amount Snake-Man was asking for. I turned on the television in Gary’s lounge to see if they had noticed that the money was missing. They certainly had! On every channel, there were photographs of the empty vault, and they showed the film of the robbery too. The camera hadn’t caught any of our faces, as the smoke was too thick. They had also noticed that I was missing from prison, however, the photograph they showed of me was when I had a beard and moustache, and now I looked totally different. They would never find me if they didn’t have a clue what I looked like. I finally felt like my life was coming together again. All I needed to do now was give Snake-Man thirty million and get back my Samantha. I thought of her every day, and the more I thought of her, the more I missed her. Slowly and carefully, I picked up the phone, getting ready to dial Snake-Man’s number. The most memorable thing that I remembered about Snake-Man was the huge tattoo of a snake across his face. It was a brownish colour, and was curled up tight. The snakes face was always in a grimace, just like the Snake-Man. Snake-Man said that many years ago, he had a terrible argument with somebody who he couldn’t mention, and that person tied him up to a chair and tattooed a snake across his face. That was the only time I had ever felt sorry for the mean, wicked and nasty scoundrel. I did not feel any pity for him for very long. I remembered he ruined my life by sending me to prison for no reason. I shuddered, and cautiously dialled his number. It was not a long telephone call, but I learned a lot. Tomorrow morning, I had to go to the park with the thirty million dollars, and Snake-Man would be there ready to hand over Samantha. I asked Gary to come with me, and although he was reluctant, he promised to come.
It was now time to go to the park with Gary and the thirty million dollars, and get back Samantha. I wasn’t at all nervous now. I felt strong and proud of Gary and myself. I couldn’t wait to see Samantha again. I imagined her to be weak and feeble, as Snake-Man had treated her so badly. When we got there, I spotted Snake-Man sitting on a bench with Samantha, though they seemed to be chatting happily. Perhaps he was trying to be nice to her in front of me. Although I was quite a long distance away, I could already see the huge tattoo across his face. It was hard to miss. Gary and me approached them bravely. I handed Snake-Man the suitcase, which contained thirty billion dollars. Seeing Samantha made my eyes water. When I handed him the money, I expected Samantha to come leaping in to my arms, but she didn’t. In fact, she looked disgusted to see me.
A Ruined Life
“She’s yours Luke,” the Snake-Man said happily, grinning from ear to ear.
“What on earth are you talking about?!” protested Samantha. “You said that I would be yours forever Snake-Man. I love you now. Not Luke.” I couldn’t believe my ears. Had I escaped from prison and robbed the racetrack for nothing? I had tears in my eyes. Samantha also had tears in her eyes, but not for the love of me, for the love of Snake-Man. My heart felt as if it had just been ripped apart in to a million pieces. I thought that Snake-Man had captured Samantha, and was torturing her. Now I had risked my life to save Samantha, and all along her and Snake-Man were secretly in love. But it wasn’t a secret anymore. Snake-Man was about to walk off with his thirty million dollars, when he suddenly spotted Gary.
“Hey,” he said. “You’re the evil nut who tattooed my face!” Gary laughed out loud. “You deserved it,” Gary said. “You didn’t pay me, so you got the consequences.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Firstly, I gave Snake-Man thirty million dollars, and Samantha didn’t even want to come back to me. Then, I find out that Gary tattooed that awful snake on Snake-Mans’ face because Snake-Man didn’t give Gary money. My head was spinning, and I didn’t get what was going on. “Sit down Luke,” Gary instructed to me. I obediently sat down on the bench, feeling numb and hurt. Samantha, Gary and Snake-Man all looked like they had something to explain to me, and it was definitely something big. Gary spoke in a calm, low voice. “Luke, I think that you should know the truth now,” he said. What was he talking about? I didn’t understand what was going on. He continued to go on. “Since I left school, I’ve been doing robberies, occasionally having to murder someone to stop myself getting in to trouble. Many times, I’ve robbed the racetrack that we did yesterday. I felt that it was the easiest one for you. Anyway, I didn’t work by myself,” Gary said. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Snake-Man worked with me.” I stared at Gary, then Snake-Man. They were looking at each other with hate. Snake-Man continued with the story. “We once did a major robbery. We collected over seven billion dollars, but I lied to Gary and took most of the money for myself,” the Snake-Man confessed guiltily. Gary said, “I got really mad at him. I was so mad that I drugged him and then tattooed a large Snake across his face. Snakes are a sign of terrible misfortune.” For a moment, it was silent, but then Samantha spoke. “When I met you, Luke, I had been having an affair with Snake-Man for a long time before that. I saw him in all my spare time, but one day he said to me that I had to decide between him and you. I chose you, but Snake-Man did a terrible thing.” I already knew what was coming next. Samantha carried on talking, and I could see tears in her eyes now. “He set you up to go to prison, but I didn’t know that. I thought that you really did kill all those people, so I left you and went back to Snake-Man.” I didn’t feel sad now, but very disappointed. I couldn’t believe that Samantha thought that I killed people. I would never have done a thing like that.
“Why do you still love Snake-Man?” I asked Samantha in a feeble, weak and depressed voice. Samantha looked at me right in the eye, and said, “He can afford me.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Samantha used to be such a sweet girl. Gary used to be such a trustworthy friend. I had suddenly lost my girlfriend and best friend and did not know what to do. An evil thought came into my head. Since I had already served time for murders I hadn’t committed, I might just as well do some murders to justify my imprisonment. I knew Gary always carried a gun in his inside pocket and I pretended to stumble against him whilst secretly grabbing it. The first person I killed was Snake-Man. Samantha screamed, and somehow, the sound of her grief brought me some small sense of pleasure. Gary was the next to die. He didn’t deserve to live after all the lies he had told me. I finally pointed the gun at Samantha. She smiled at me but I wasn’t fooled this time. As she stepped forward to embrace me, I shot her through the heart. I wanted hers to be broken as mine had been. I picked up the bag with the money and left as quickly as I could. Walking away from my terrible past, I looked forward to a bright and happy future. With the money, I had plastic surgery to alter my looks. I bought a large, secluded chateau in France and now spend my days in luxury. There is no-one special in my life. I will never trust anybody again. Perhaps this is my punishment for murdering my best friend, my girlfriend and the Snake-Man.
Story by Davina Gee
Artwork by Gayathree Ganeshalingam
