You Brought This On Yourself

The plan included five. 

One to make a diversion.

Two to keep the people at gunpoint.

One to shove the money into the bag.

One parked outside as the getaway.

I was one of the five who held a gun against a group of people. Some in their evening dresses, others in their black suits. I noticed a small child pressed against its mother. The mother held on tightly to her child as soon as we pulled out our guns.

“Nobody move.” said Carter. He was the brains, our leader, in this operation. He aimed the gun with a steady hand, towards a man. The man’s jaw was clenched as he raised his palms slowly to prove his submission. 

Carter aimed his gun at the other people, the ones who were settling into shock. 

A robbery? In plain daylight? No. Not now. Not in this small town.

I did the same as Carter, although my hands shook noticeably. Carter glanced my way, his eyes narrowed. 

He didn't trust me. Which was why I wasn't parked outside as a getaway. 

No, that was Ben. He was Carter's right hand man. Ben wanted to be a part of the robbery, in the action. But Carter had turned him down. He trusted him more than the rest of us. So he was outside. Waiting.

Ruby always had a flair for the dramatics, so she was chosen as the one who would cause a scene, drawing away attention from at least one of the tellers. Ruby pretended to convulse on the floor. It was our best diversion yet. It had worked, drawing everyone's attention.

We chose today because there were only two bank tellers. And few people. Only four today. Plus the kid.

It was ten am. 

Let me backtrack to the beginning. 

I met Carter and his little possé a few weeks ago. 

I was with my friend Ella. She was sick with the flu, so she phoned me. Her parents were out of town. I was in her kitchen, preparing some food, when I heard a knock on her door. 

It was Carter- but I didn't know his name then. 

That's when I first met him. 

He was startled when he saw me. “Hello, my name is Carter. Is Ella here?” 

He was so cordial and polite and he was handsome. Naturally, I was flustered. 

“I'm her friend. She's sick right now.” I said.

“I'm her cousin.” He said. “Carter.” He held out his hand to me and I took it. 

“I'm Grace.” I said. We held onto each other's hands for longer than usual. Now we were both flustered and I found it endearing. He had come around to drop off a post for Ella's parents. “I didn't know Ella was sick. I'll come over again and bring her something.” He said.

I don't want to get into it, so the gist of the story was that Carter and myself spent a lot of time those few days together caring for Ella and then he introduced me to his friends.

Ben, Matthew and Ruby. As I spent more of my time with them, I noticed odd things. They were roguish and believed themselves above the law. 

Ruby was kind to me at first, but the moment she noticed something between Carter and me, she shut me out. Ignoring me at times.

And then Carter leaned in once, to kiss me and I backed off.

He was offended that I had done that to him. 

So then he wouldn't stop. He had been with Ruby before, and Ruby had told me once that he lived an  immoral life. Full of lies and deceit. “How did you even meet the guy?” She had asked.

I hadn't replied. I was stunned and it had sent shivers up my back.

One day, I walked to Matthews place, which was where they liked to hang out most.

By then it was too late. I had spent weeks with them. I couldn't just disappear. They knew everything about me.

I knocked on the door and there was no answer.

I made my way down the steps and heard a car screech to a stop in front of us. They all poured out of the car. Carter was drunk with ecstasy. Pure glee written all over his face. Behind him, Ben and Ruby carried a plastic bag. Some money spilled out of it. 

They stopped abruptly as soon as they saw me. Ben and Ruby stopped smiling. It wouldn't take a genius to connect two and two together. The newspapers had news about recent robberies. And I had just caught them.

“Grace.” Carter said, his smile was still there. Matthew shut the ignition from the car and stepped out.

“Well you've caught us.” Carter said. His eyes shuttered then, the smile and ecstasy that was there only moments before was gone.

He neared me and it took everything in me to not run away screaming. 

There was a reason they chose Matthews house. It was shoved in the corner of an empty and vacant neighborhood. The houses spread out by hundreds of feet. This was the country after all. And right now, there was no one else here.

He placed his arm around my shoulder. And I clenched my jaw, to  stop my teeth from chattering. 

“Stay with me, and nothing has to happen.” He said. 

And so I made it by a few more weeks, with the pretense that I was completely all right with all of this. They stole money from gasoline stations and a few family run stores and left a trail of threats in place. Which was why the cops didn't do anything or know anything about the group of five stealing money.

My father was at work all day. And when he finished up he would go to bars. My mother was always with her friends and she could care less about anything. Her world fell apart when she found out her husband had been having an affair. And me, I was already an adult at nineteen. I worked as a secretary in an obscure newspaper column. Carter and his friends waited for me once I finished up.

“New operation.” Carter said. He had come to resent me in the few weeks after I discovered them. He wanted me only because he always got what he wanted. And it infuriated him that I didn't give him what he wanted.

“I'll be the getaway driver.” I offered, as Carter finished his plan. 

“Nice try.” He said. “No. Ben will be driving.”

So it was settled.

Fast forward to today, but a few minutes earlier.

I had grabbed some of my mother's opiates and smash then with a rock I had found outside. 

Ben was a snacker. Especially when he was nervous. In front of the car he had a stash of chocolates. Hand made by his grandmother or something along those lines. I slathered some of the drug onto the chocolates. Unless he looked closely at them, which he wouldn't, they still looked normal. I brought them into the car and placed them in front of him.

“Hey, thanks, Grace. You see, Carter? Without these, the operation is a complete fail.” Ben had said, once we were all in the car.

Now, I hoped he was as high as a kite.  All I needed was to shoot at Carter's leg and run out, take the car and drive up to my cousins up north. Write about it to my parents-maybe- and continue with my life. The plan wasn't a bad one. 

Ruby stopped convulsing and remained on the floor.

“The girl needs help.” Said the man, as Carter aimed the gun at him next. The man was furious, but also afraid. 

“What are you going to do? There's nothing you can do for her.” Carter said. Then he turned his head for a second to hurry Matthew up. “Hurry it up back there.” Carter said.

We only had two guns. 

Matthew had shoved both bank tellers to the group we were aiming our guns at. So now there were six people. Plus the kid.

“Keep steady,” Carter said, sparing me a glance 

“My stomach.” Ruby started, moving quickly to an upright position. She ran to the restrooms. I stifled a smile. I had laced her drink with slow working laxatives. They finally took effect.

The whole group looked at her, shocked. 

“She tricked us.” Said a man. He glared at the pair of us. “Just wait till the police--”

“Shut up.” Barked Carter.

The man shut his mouth. 

Now it was my time to act. I aimed the gun at Carter. 

“Run all of you.” I said to the people. They didn't wait, they scrambled out of the building.

“Matthew-” Carter began. He was stunned. His body taut like a wire.

“Shut up.” I hissed. “You brought this on yourself. I walked out backwards, facing him. There was no way I would turn my back to him.  

“Lower your gun, or I'll shoot your leg, I swear-” I started.

“I'll kill you.” he said, with venom in his voice. 

“Drop it,'' I said, faltering.

“You ruined everything.” he continued. I shot at the ceiling and that was enough to startle him and Matthew, who was still collecting the money.

I ran out, my hand clenching the gun tightly. 

“Grace, damn it.” said Carter as he ran after me. 

Ben was knocked out senseless on the driver's seat. With all the force I could muster I shoved him to the side where he landed unceremoniously onto the passenger seat. There was no time to shove him out of the car. Carter was coming. I aimed the gun at Carter and pressed on the trigger. My hand reverberated with the force of it. It left my head spinning as I climbed into the car, my entire body shaking.

 I had shot his leg. He was crying out in pain.

“Goodbye.” I said stupidly. I didn't want to go to jail. 

Carter's mouth was agape. He couldn't believe what I had done. He was crying out in pain.  He was yelling obscenities and cursing me out.

His eyes blazed with anger as I turned the keys that were ready for me in the ignition. Matthew had ran outside the building too now, with bags in hand. I slammed on the pedals.

“When I get out, I will get you back for this- do you hear me?” he yelled as I drove away.

I glanced at Ben's body. I could dump Ben's body in a street before he became lucid.

After a few minutes I reached the interstate. Only then did my shaking hands become steady. And I allowed my tears to spill.