IN THE HANDS OF FATE

The banking hall fell silent after the first round of shots. Everyone’s attention was instantly pulled in the direction of the gunshots. They knew the sound, and they knew what it meant, given the environment around them, but they wanted to confirm it. It didn’t take them long to find the origin of the sound and the person who had triggered it. The bank customers watched in horror as the robber turned the gun in the direction of the other guard in the banking hall and squeezed off two shots. The guard was slow to pull out his gun. Both bullets hit him square in the chest. 

With both guards down, the robber pointed the gun at the roof and fired off two shots. The customers and bank staff didn’t need anyone to tell them what to do, they dropped to the floor and spread their hands out in front of them. The robber motioned for the staff behind the counter to join other customers in the hall and they promptly obeyed the figure clad in black from head-to-toe. They would have to remain alive to find out what the robber wanted.

Once everyone in the bank was gathered in the hall, the robber searched the room, and once the individual being sought was spotted in a secluded area of the banking hall, the robber started to move in her direction. 

“You, up!” the robber shouted at the manager of the bank. When she didn’t respond out of fear for her life, the robber kicked her in the side of her torso. “Up!!” the robber repeated. “Don’t play games with me!” the robber warned. 

The manager quickly rose to her knees. She looked up at the face of the robber and although it was hidden behind a ski-mask, she recognized the robber’s eyes instantly. The face confirmed the suspicion she had when she first heard the voice.

The manager chuckled. A smug look spread across her face. “I would never have predicted that our first meeting would be under these circumstances.”

“That’s life, love.” The robber said with a shrug. “It’s unpredictable.”

“I don’t know what you want, or why you are here, but I will have you know that I won’t make this easy for you. I won’t let you get away with whatever it is you have planned.”

“Well, I’m the one with the gun, so whatever you will or won’t do will depend on whether I let you live.” The smug look on the manager’s face was substituted by a scowl. “There it is,” the robber said, snickering. “That’s the look I expected to see.” The robber moved backward to increase the space between the both of them. “Give me your bag.”

The manager scoffed. “Who do you think you are?” there was a hint of irritation on her face as she said, “You think you can just waltz in here and order me around? I answer to nobody. This is my turf.” She folded her hands in front of her and turned her face away in defiance.

“You will do what I say, when I say it. There will be no further questions if you want to survive this encounter.” The robber said. “Give me your bag, madam manager.”

The manager maintained her position and hissed. The robber had had enough. In an instant, the sole of the robber’s boot rammed into the side of the manager’s face. She was thrown off balance and she landed on her side with a loud thud. She thrashed around on the ground as she tried to regain her sense of orientation. The kick had been so swift, and it had had much more force than she could have expected. 

The robber was on-top her in an instant. Blood started to issue forth from her mouth and nose as the robber continuously stomped on her face and her chest. When the robber stopped and gave her room to breathe, the manager didn’t need any more instructions. She was in enough pain to know that defiance was futile. The robber meant business. 

“Where is your bag?” the robber asked again. The manager promptly pointed in the direction of a door off to the right of where her desk was located. “What’s behind that door?”

When the manager moved her lips to reply, she felt a huge wave of pain. “It’s the storage room. We keep our personal items there.”

The robber grabbed the manager by the scruff of her neck and helped her to her feet, then led her into the storage room. Seconds later, the robber pulled out a silver mid-range smartphone from the manager’s bag. She checked it to ensure it wasn’t secured by a passcode, then she pocketed it and turned to the manager. 

“Please, just leave.” The manager pleaded. She was leaning on a shelf by the wall and trying hard to not move her face as she spoke, but that did nothing to hold back the pain. “Please, just leave me here and go.”

The masked face shook vigorously. “No. I brought you in here, I will return you to your desk. Then I will leave.” The robber motioned in the direction of the door with the hand that held the gun. “Go.” The manager slowly pushed herself off the shelf, turned her back to the robber, and began to hobble towards the door. “This could have been a whole lot easier,” the robber said as the manager neared the door. “But you just had to be a bitch.”

The people lying on the floor in the banking hall would later report to the police that they heard the sound of three gunshots come from the storage room. They would also report that they didn’t see the robber leave the banking hall and they didn’t couldn’t tell what the robber really wanted with the bank or with its manager.

***

“I’m really excited about this holiday you planned, babe!” he said, bouncing in the passenger seat. “We are going to have so much fun on this trip!”

She had a grin on her face as she nodded in agreement. They were in her coupe, speeding down the interstate highway towards the setting sun, on their way to an impromptu weekend getaway. He had reacted to it just as she expected him to. As long as it wasn’t coming out of his pocket, and as long as he could have whatever he wanted while they were on the trip, she knew he would willingly set everything aside and oblige her. “Yes, we will.” She replied.

“I know this must have cost an arm and a leg, babe, but I promise you, I’ll make it up to you one of these days. I promise!”

She scoffed, then she turned to him and said, “That’s what you always say, love. That’s what you always say.”

“It will be different, this time. I promise it will.” 

She returned her gaze to the road and buried herself in deep thought.

“This is what we really need! This is what we should have been doing for a long time! Getaways! If we spend more time together, loving each other and taking good care of each other, you won’t have the time to make all those silly accusations you always make.” He turned to her and said, mockingly, “How many have you made so far? Ten? Fifteen?”

“We both know they are not silly accusations.” She challenged.

He chuckled. “It’s a silly accusation in my book if you can’t present me with any proof.”

“Well, I have proof this time. So maybe you can finally quit denying what we both know to be facts.”

He hissed. She was getting on his nerves again. “Where’s the proof then? Show me the proof, girl!” He stared at her with a confused look when she reached inside her handbag. Was she serious about having proof?

“This is your proof.” She said as she handed him a silver mid-range smartphone. His demeanor changed the instant he saw the phone. He recognized it. He knew who it belonged to. The only question he had was how she laid her hands on it. He moved his gaze from the phone to her face, and then back. “Go on, open it. We both know it’s not secured by a passcode.”

He exhaled, then he pressed the power button. He instantly recognized the image on the screen. It was the image of a naked man taking a photo of himself in a mirror. He knew the man in the photo, and he knew that the photo had been sent the previous night during a steamy session of sexting that had gone on for hours.

He raised his eyes and stared at the road ahead as more pressing issues occupied his thoughts. It was then that it occurred to him that the highway was flanked by thick and towering bushes. “Babe, where are we going? What do you have planned?” 

She shrugged. “I have a bottled of premium-quality wine sitting in the fridge right now, cooling off. In a two to three hours, I will return home to that bottle of wine and I will sit with it till sleep comes for me. As for you, your evening is in the hands of fate. Life can be very unpredictable, so only fate knows exactly what the night holds in store for you, love.” She turned to him and flashed a smile.

He reached for the door-handle and made several attempts to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried to lower the window, but asides from making a clicking sound, the controls did nothing. So he turned to her and the only other door in the car, and said, miserably, “Babe, I’m sorry…”

“Shush, my love!” she interrupted. “We are only about a minute away from your final destination.”