A Wish From The Devil

Chapter 2: Like a Broken Dam.

Too much luck can sometimes be unlucky, even for the lucky ones…

I was woken up by the constant dripping of water on my forehead and at first, I ignored it since I somehow thought it was all a weird dream.

I didn’t hear my alarm ring and I immediately assumed that it simply wasn’t time for me to wake up yet.

However, that was until it got worse…bad enough for me to suddenly jump off out of my bed as I tried my best to wipe away the water streaming down my face while looking at the drenched clothes I wore in despair knowing fully well that there was nothing that could be done.

Dressed from my neck to ankles, I wore a black shirt and black pants which was the agreed-upon uniform for the Job, I was to do that morning only to quickly take it off one after the other as I held back the urge to sneeze, while standing beside my bed-the only furniture I owned as I battled against the cold already sipping into my bones,

“It would have been better if I hadn’t worn it before going to sleep,” I said murmuring to myself as I wondered how such a good idea unexpectedly turned into a bad one before picking up the exact clothes I had worn to the meeting the night before with the intention of putting it on.

One whiff and I immediately tossed it back among the small pile of dirty clothes I was yet to wash. Instead, I turned my face to the only pair of seemingly clean, red and yellow clothes I had folded right beside the dirty ones on the wall.

Frowning with a look of annoyance on my face, I put the set of clothes on while still thankful for the fact that my phone alarm hadn’t rung which immediately meant that I still had a lot of time to spare,

Still, out of curiosity, I go over to the small and only window in my room, sliding back the thick curtains hanging in front of it which was the only thing left behind by the previous owners of the room I lived in, almost like an apology for the other million things they damaged in the room.

In a single swipe, I brush the curtain aside only for me to instantly freeze in shock as the bright light of a new morning happily streamed and danced on my face,

“f**k!” I mentally cursed even though I immediately heard my own voice echo in my ears. The meeting time was 6:00 and we were all supposed to be at the bank by 8:00, early enough for the bank to be open but not early enough for a lot of customers to be around.

“f**k!” I yell aloud this time around, dashing towards the floor underneath my bed where I usually placed my phone which was the only valuable thing I had, just in case I got unwanted visitors in the middle of the night.

I pick it, swiping up and down expecting to see the time flicker on the screen only for it to continue showing me the same black and broken screen I saw without showing any intention of turning it on,

"Fuuuuuucccck," I yell again, tossing the obviously broken phone on the bed before darting to the wall, to pick up the only pair of shoes I had.

Quickly, I put it on thankful that it was black and it kind of went with my red shirt and yellow pants,

As quickly as I could, I dashed out of my crumbling apartment, making sure not to look up or try to access the damage to the leaking roof, since even if I knew the size of the problem that didn't change the fact that I had no money whatsoever to fix it,

I pull open my door, silently praying to whosoever was listening that I wasn't too late and I actually made it in time for the heist, when the moment I slammed the door closed behind me, preparing to insert the key to lock it, the only warning I got was a creak, right before the handle slowly fell apart,

"Wow..." I uttered, watching the door slide back open, before taking a quick look around to check how much bad luck I had left to last me the whole day.

I take one look at my open door, trying to see my entire room and belongings through the eye of a thief, only to conclude that if anything was stolen then it most likely meant that the thief was not only poorer than me but apparently even their good luck was definitely more than mine,

I turn around, heading towards the stairs leading to the first floor as I quickly passed the other apartments right beside mine since the storey building was such that I was probably the only one who hadn't seen the four walls of a prison cell even though with my recent career change, I would most likely join them,

I climb down the stairs and in mere seconds, I'm out of my building, racing in the direction of the nearest bus station,

Puffing heavily, having run as fast as I could, I get to the bus station only to find it completely empty. Looking at the bus routes, not only had the 7:00 bus left, the 8:00 one was gone too and the only option I had left was either to wait patiently for an hour for the next bus while the rest of my gang finished the heist without me or for me to run three miles as fast as I could,

"Fucccckkk...," I yell out loud, stomping my foot as hard as I could on the ground, wiping the dripping sweat from my forehead, contemplating what to do next.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning. The kind that made people moan at the colour of the skies whenever they felt the wind gently sweep through their hair and clothes.

The day was just beginning and already the people on Makinson’s street seemed to be in a hurry as they went about their business and so did the employees of ‘’Silverlight Bank’. The bank was located right in the centre of the otherwise empty street surrounded by small shops and businesses. It was a privately managed bank with a lot of aged shareholders with Old money and old age who didn’t have anything against hiring men and women closer to their age.

It was eight-fifteen, and already most of the employees were already around, except one who seemed to be having a peculiarly unorganized first day, as she ran in patting down her hair and clothes, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as she could,

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she sang, dropping her bag at her workstation, the moment she got behind the counter, thankful for the fact that she saw no customers the moment she entered through the glass-made front door.

“I would have been here earlier since I was told that 7:50 was the arrival time for all employees but something came up at home and then I had to take my daughter to school,” June continued speaking as she tried to explain further the circumstances surrounding her lateness to her supervisor, an old lady who hadn’t stopped looking at her in a disapproving way the moment she walked in through the front door of the bank.

“Nah, I understand family comes first right? But as long as this doesn’t happen too often then both of us will be getting along just fine,” replied Mrs Thompson with a now visible smile on her face before moving away from June’s cubicle seeing as there had really been no reason for her to have been there in the first place,

“That was close. For a minute there, I almost thought she was going to spank you,” Sarah, the owner of the cubicle right beside June’s at the counter said while poking her head over the thin wooden demarcation between them,

“But your luck is definitely good because she might be a stickler for the rules but she’s way better than the others and you’ll definitely get to meet them, though most likely sooner than you would wish to. My name is Sarah, by the way…what’s yours?,”

“June. And it's nice to meet you, Sarah. I’m glad to see another friendly face here…”

“another? Oh darling, don’t be deceived. All these Old hags staring back at you from where they are standing are going to be smiling with you in less than three hours, telling you about their cats and the family issues they’re having with their daughters-in-law,” Sarah said trying her best to whisper the last part before continuing,

“But know this if you take nothing else from what I say. They will use everything they have and know about you to attack you and it's not even because you’ve done anything wrong or because they don’t like you. Instead, its mostly because you’re fresh meat and they are just bored,

“I don’t know Sarah?” June replied in a clearly sceptical manner while whispering back even though she didn’t like the idea of talking about the new colleagues, she intended to befriend nor the idea that the half-dozen of cupcakes she stayed up all night baking was to give them was for nought.

“Well…because when I came for my interview…they were the ones who whole-heartedly welcomed me and willingly made coffee for me. Why would they bother doing all that? Why not just show their animosity from the start?’

“Well, like I said boredom,” Sarah said as she typed away on the computer in front of her opening up the “Candy crush game” on it with every intention of continuing her last game from where she stopped.

“Look, take it or leave it. I just don’t want you to be caught unawares,” she continued in a rush, wanting nothing more than to direct her full attention to the now opened game in front of her only for Sarah to hear the sound of the glass doors opening along with the sound of the no longer functioning metal detector right in front of it,

“Oh Goody, our first set of customers” muttered Sarah sarcastically underneath her breath, the moment she heard footsteps heading towards her,

“Oh they are heading towards me,” June quietly exclaimed, since she was in charge of deposits and considering how small the town was… a lot of people were more interested in withdrawing their money than giving it to the bank.

“That’s good, that’s verrry good,” Sarah immediately uttered before focusing all her attention on finding a stack of blue oranges that she could connect together, thankful that they weren't at the bank to complain since she would have had to attend to them,

A little anxious, having to attend to a customer on her first day, June took one look at her outfit to ensure that nothing was out of place before looking up to attend to the three men who walked towards her, each carrying a black bag of their own,

“Good evening sirs, what can I do for you all today?” she jitterily asked while paying close attention to their informal black outfits wondering why they came into the bank together and not one after the other or better still, choose just one person to deposit whatever money they all seemed to be carrying,

“A lot actually. You can call me Mr T.” replied the tallest of them, the one right in front of her whom she assumed was the boss since the other two chose to stay quietly behind her, looking at the roof and everywhere else but towards her direction,

“Can you kindly point us in the direction of the manager’s office? He asked with such a crooked smile on his face that June immediately knew that the man in front of her rarely smiled,

“It’s the glass office at your right, while the assistant manager’s own is the one by your left,” June replied trying to help as much as she could only to be surprised to immediately see one of the men who see behind Mr T, turn and immediately head towards his right,

“It’s okay if you want to see her, but I’m sure I can help with anything that has to do with deposits,” said June as confidently as she could with a genuine smile on her face,

“Oh don’t worry. I’m definitely going to need your help for the next thirty minutes or so but first I’m going to need you to put both of your hands on the table,” whispered Mr T, the man standing directly in front of her, right into her face while leaning closer to her until they were barely a breath apart.j3

“Excuse me?” exclaimed June, alarmed at the words she was almost completely sure she just heard,

“Young lady, I hope you won’t make me repeat myself again,” said Mr T in a calm and somewhat sad tone, moving his right hand underneath his shirt only to slowly drag out a 9-millimetre pistol with a long sigh as if performing such a magic trick had taken all his energy,

Without saying another word, and with trembling hands and quivering lips almost at the brink of tears while doing her best to overcome the sudden shock she currently faced, June slowly raised her hands, placing them gently on the table with the full realization that a gun was being pointed at her head.

*******

“Everybody down,” Tom yelled as adrenaline pumped through his veins powered by the massive puff of methane bravery he had taken the moment he woke up. He then carefully watched as everyone in the bank gasped in varying degrees before bending their heads either underneath their tables on under their hands as if that could somehow render them invisible.

“If I see anyone raise their heads or stand up for whatsoever reason then I won’t be able to guarantee that person a safe trip home,” he said clearly listening to his own voice echo through the small structure of the bank,

“The doors have been locked and I made sure to Jam the security alarm,” Jack said the moment he got to Tom’s side, holding a gun of his own as he unconsciously wondered where Ray was and what could have possibly delayed him,

“Here’s the manager and the vice-manager,” Billy yelled at Tom and Jack while heading towards them with a smirk on his face, pointing his gun to two old women while using it to push them forward as they whimpered and pleaded with gags over their mouths,

“good,” responded Tom in a nonchalant tone before surveying the employees around him with his eyes, easily spotting one or two of them trying to peek from where they bent, close to the ground,

“Now everyone, listen up,” Shouted Tom at the top of his lungs as he moved away from where he had been standing in-between Jack and billy, slowly moving to the centre of the room,

“You all know what we want and what we’re here for and I can tell you one thing. If you all do exactly what we tell you to do, then there would be no problems,” he ended in a somewhat caring voice before he suddenly began speaking again,

“But… if not? Well then, you all know the saying that the wages of sin is death,”

Already as he spoke and without being told Billy took a bag with him already emptying out the almost empty small wads of cash he could find on the counter, in the drawers and even in the bags and purses of the employees of the bank,

“That’s all I found,” he whispered in Tom’s ears showing him the bag he held in his hands as they both clearly had a dissatisfied and disappointed look on their face,

“Well that’s not going to do,” Jack said all the way from where he stood without bothering to lower the tone of his voice,

With a pissed off expression on his face, he turned towards the two gagged women beside him who were in charge of the bank, pointing the pistol in his hand at the one closest to him on his right,

“Where the f**k is the money?” he asked c*****g the gun in his hand loudly enough for everyone in the bank to hear as he pointed it at the head of the woman whose hair was already starting to turn grey only for him to watch her eyes bulged out wide in fear as she began visibly shaking, as she was unable to do talk and barely move with her hands and mouths tied.

“I will not repeat myself. Where the f**k is the money?” Jack said raising his voice a little more the second time around, making sure to move the gun until it rested on the forehead of the old woman in front of him.

Tears pooled in her eyes and it seemed like the expensive pearls she wore on her wrist and neck couldn’t save her as she kept on stretching her hands out towards him, pleading with the man in front of her to at least allow her to speak by removing the gag in her mouth.

Feeling the cold metal of the hard gun pressed against the skin of her forehead was the last straw. Mere seconds had merely passed by when she suddenly discovered that her bladder was suddenly full, she then tried to hold the waterfall back but she couldn’t just as she couldn’t stop her hands and body from trembling with fear.

Like a broken dam…her bladder was set free.