by C. L. Brees
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I have been kind of an asshole lately, I’m just stressed out about finals coming up in a few weeks, which could either raise or lower my rank,” John replied.
“Ok, this is definitely a pleasant conversation, so let’s try to keep it at this level until we get to school. After that, I don’t care if any of you murder one another,” Alex sighed as he pulled into the parking lot of the 7-11.
After parking the car into a space on the side of the building, Heather and Amy both jumped out of the car and headed around the side of the building towards the front door. The front doors opened, letting a gust of cool air blow out the door towards them. Amy enjoyed that feeling each time she entered the store. The two headed towards the back of the store to the coolers to get a soda.
“So, do you think I should get John and Alex a soda this morning?” Heather asked.
“I don’t think it would hurt to get them something. I mean, hell, if they don’t want it, I’ll definitely take it,” Amy replied as she grabbed two sodas, one for her and one for Alex, casually glancing towards the clerk behind the counter.
Heather noticed the looks she kept giving the clerk and finally asked, “you have a crush on him, don’t you?”
“Yeah, he’s so hot,” Amy answered.
“He hasn’t asked you out yet? Don’t you come in here every morning and flirt with him?” Heather asked as her left eyebrow raised a little.
“Nope, he hasn’t asked me out yet. But maybe he’s gay,” Amy wondered as they both laughed.
“Well it is always a possibility now-a-days,” Heather said as she grabbed for Amy’s wrist.
“I need to get something really quick, meet you up front?” she asked as she walked away slowly.
“Sure, I need to grab some chips for homeroom today,” Amy said as they parted ways.
Amy watched as Heather walked towards the front of the store, she laughed when she saw her fixing her hair in the reflection of the window. She turned away to continue shopping, when suddenly there was a loud commotion coming from the front of the store. Amy looked up again and saw two men dressed from head to toe in black clothing standing in the front of the store. It almost reminded her of the city’s SWAT team. One man had what looked like a machine gun, while the shorter guy was waving a small handgun around like a toy, hollering at the clerk behind the counter. The taller man fired two loud shots into the ceiling tiles.
Panicking, Amy quietly crouched down low while the shorter guy walked over towards the front door and locked it. Amy was having a hard time understanding what the men wanted through their thick accents. Eventually she was able to make out the one man’s words as he demanded the cashier to open the register and stand clear.
The other man yelled out into the store, “If anyone in here messes with us, we will kill you. Just stay where you are and none of you will get hurt.”
Amy just kept down very low to the floor, praying that it would be over soon. She scooted across the floor to the soda coolers, hoping to get far enough away from the gunmen in the front of the store. When she finally made it to the back she saw a nervous woman embracing her son, who was trembling with fright.
Amy whispered softly, but assumingly, “Don’t make any noise and hopefully they’ll go away when they get what they want.”
Amy reached inside her pocket for her cell phone. She knew in her mind she had to do something to get out of this situation. After a moment of trying to maneuver her tight pants, she flipped open the phone and dialed 911. Amy concealed the phone in the potato chip stand that she was propped up against. She peeked around the corner of the stand, spotting the shorter gunman patrolling the aisle. She knew he was coming her way and tried her best to not look at him. The man stood above her and reached down, yanking her blonde hair and bringing her to her feet.
“Ouch, stop it, you’re hurting me,” she cried.
“Oh does that hurt? Perhaps I can take care of that for you,” he mocked as he pointed the gun to her temple.
“Ok, ok, calm down dude, what can I help you with?” she questioned with a whimper in her voice.
“Where’s the phone at, bitch!” he screeched.
“What phone? All I have is my purse, dude. I’m 18, you think I am going to have a cell phone on me?” she responded.
“Don’t lie to me, what’d you do with the phone? And don’t lie this time. I could see everything in the mirror up there! You were fumbling with something in your hand,” he exclaimed.
“I shoved it in the stand right here. Please, just don’t hurt me,” she pleaded.
The man rushed over to the potato chip stand, knocking over and scattering chips everywhere across the floor. The cell phone fell on the floor, opened as if a call was connected. The robber leaned over and picked up the phone off the floor. “911 Emergency” was displayed across the screen. The sound of the operator repeatedly asking, “911 what is your emergency” could be heard. He marched back over to Amy, who was emotionally distraught, now that she had been caught.
Within seconds, the man reached out his arm, lifted it up his handgun and smacked her across the face with it, sending her flying to the floor. Filled with shock and adrenaline, Amy stood back up quickly, ready for the fight of her life. However, the man had a different punishment for her out-of-line behavior.
“You know what, little girl. I don’t do well with women. In fact, I’m not going to kill you over this. Oh no, I want you to pick out who is going to die here today. Because you’re a stupid bitch, you just cost someone their life,” the man declared in his harsh, strong European accent.
“No, no, no, I’m not good at those kinds of things, sir, maybe someone else in here would be glad to pick someone out for you,” Amy suggested, shaking with fear.
“Oh a wiseass are we, come on, we’re going up front,” the man commanded as the other man walked out into the store.
“Oh, who do we have here?” the taller robber inquired.
“This is the skank who called the cops. She’s going to decide who we’re going to kill here today. Alright, come on little girl, who’s it going to be?” the man holding the gun to her head asked.
“Look, I told you. I can’t decide that. Why don’t you decide? You’re the one with the gun, not me,” Amy pleaded as the man let go of her hair, letting her fall to the floor.
“Very well then skank, I’ll make that choice for you right now,” he yelled at her.
Amy lay on the floor with her eyes closed as tight as she could get them. She could hear someone jiggling the front door to the store, but she wasn’t sure what was going on. The two men stood above her, speaking to each other in a foreign language Amy didn’t recognize. She guessed it must be Russian, only because it was so harsh. She knew it definitely wasn’t German, as she had taken two years.
Suddenly, a round of shots went off. The sounds of glass disintegrating and ricocheting bullets filled the air. Blood curdling screams echoed through the aisles of the 7-11, muffled by the automatic gunfire.
Amy curled herself into a ball as tightly as she could and prayed for the gunfire to stop. Abruptly, it became very quiet again. The sound of a man whimpering could be heard close by, but she didn’t know who it was because she was too afraid to open her eyes.
The pronounced footsteps of the gunmen were heard a moment later running across the tile floor towards the door, and a loud crashing sound followed. Amy opened her eyes just in time to hear the sound of screeching tires racing out of the parking lot.
On the other side of the store, Heather was sitting up against a stand of Pepsi, when she saw the two men exit the store. She quickly jumped to her feet and headed towards the door to see if she could get a look at the getaway car. Already pissed off by the whole thing, she would make certain that these guys were captured for fucking up her day.
As she was running towards the door she passed Amy lying on the floor. From a distance it just appeared that she was in shock, but she hadn’t been injured.
�
�I’ll be right back, Amy. Don’t move,” she said as she raced towards the door.
By the time she arrived at the door, which had been completely blown away, the getaway car had already disappeared into the sea of cars during morning rush hour. “Damn it! They got away,” she yelled as looked down to the ground to see the bodies of a man and a woman lying in the parking lot in a pool of blood. Their bodies had been riddled with bullets at the hands of the two men. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex and John standing on the sidewalk, staring at the bodies.
“What in the hell is going on in there?” Alex asked hysterically.
“Uh, hello, the place was just knocked over,” Heather screamed through the glassless doors of the store.
Heather swiftly whipped around and ran back to focus her attention to Amy, who was still lying on the floor shaking.
“Amy, Amy! Are you alright?” Heather asked as she shook her.
“Heather, yeah, I’m ok. My face is a little sore from where that asshole pistol whipped me, but more or less I’m just a little shaken up is all. They shot someone, didn’t they?” she asked. Heather extended her hand to Amy to help her to her feet.
“Well I know for sure there are two people out front who are dead. Let me go check the rest of the store really quick,” she declared as she surveyed the scene.
Heather walked up to the front counter to find the third victim slouched over with several bullet holes piercing his body. Heather turned back to Amy, putting both of her hands up in a motion signaling Amy to stay put.
“Uh, Amy, you might want to stay over there. I don’t think you want to see this mess over here,” Heather suggested nervously as Amy struggled to stand up to her feet on her own.
Heather rushed back over to Amy and stood with her.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” Amy wailed.
“Yeah, I’m sorry Amy, I know how much you liked him,” Heather comforted her as three police cruisers pulled into the parking lot.
Amy had calmed herself to the point to declare, “Oh god, let’s hope you-know-who doesn’t show up. I don’t think any of us need any more drama today!”
“Oh, I know. After all the shit that went down between him and Alex a few weeks ago, there might be a fourth victim if he comes anywhere near this 7-11 today,” Heather agreed.
Meanwhile, Alex and John stood outside, watching as the police cruisers arrived. John nudged Alex in the side and pointed towards the police SUV which had just pulled into the parking lot.
“Ah shit, I guess you couldn’t escape him today,” John chuckled.
2
“Alex, keep calm! What are you going to do?” John inquired.
“What I’m good at doing when I see him these days: ignore him! That’s the easiest thing to do. I can always talk with another officer; I don’t need to see him right now,” Alex rolled his eyes. “Lord knows I’m still dealing with all his shit he dumped on me a couple weeks back.”
At that moment, four police officers rushed up to the doors of the building with their assault rifles drawn. Two of the officers pulled John and Alex aside while Mike and his partner made their way into the store.
“Ugh, I can’t stand that guy! Would you like me to distract him for you?” John hastily inquired as Alex’s ex, Mike, began making his way towards them.
“Yeah, please keep him away from me! I’ll wait over here to talk to another officer. Go, intercept him before he gets any closer to me,” Alex demanded as Officer Greene approached Alex.
Officer Greene stood next to Alex and stared at the aftermath of the shooting, shaking his head in disbelief. “Hey Alex, what in the hell happened in there?”
“Hell if I know Joe. The girls went in like they do every morning, something went down, they got stuck in there, and after I realized that something wasn’t right, it was too late. I didn’t want to contaminate your crime scene by walking through the blood in front of the door to find out exactly what happened. The girls might have an answer for you. All I saw was bullets come through the side window there. John and I ducked, and when it ended we jumped out of the car and ran towards the door.”
“Did you see any cars leaving the premises in a hurry?” the officer questioned, jotting notes in his memo pad.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was a late model van, it didn’t have any back windows,” Alex began, “It was white two-door. I didn’t get a tag number or anything. I wasn’t really sure what was going on at the time.”
The officer grabbed the radio on his shoulder and started to call in the facts he had learned from Alex. “Great, let me go really quick and dispatch that information.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the parking lot, John was distracting Mike from going over and bothering Alex.
“I see that Alex sent you over here to keep me away from him, huh?” Mike asked John.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mike. He just felt it necessary to speak to another officer, you know, in lieu of conflict of interest shit.”
“Ok, you’re a smart one, I like that. So what can you tell me about what happened here?” Mike finally asked.
“Not a whole lot really, just that I saw bullets fly through the window, and then I saw two guys run from the building and get into a white van and haul ass out of here.”
“Did you get a tag number or anything else about the two men?” Mike inquired.
“Nah, I didn’t really know what was going on. It all happened so fast, I just ducked down in the backseat of the car and when I heard Alex get out of the car, I followed him to make sure he was safe,” John recalled.
“Alright, wait here for a minute,” Mike said as he walked over to another officer.
The two officers stood over near the front door of the store talking about some official business. The police escorted all the hostages from inside the building and everyone assembled far enough away from the front door that the police could tape off the crime scene.
John glanced over to where Amy and Heather were being questioned. He cracked a half smile at them to assure them that everything would be fine. After a few minutes, more police and ambulances arrived at the scene, as well as the medical examiner. Ridgewood Hills being such a small suburban town, a triple murder was definitely going to be the topic of the month. After a moment of thought, John turned back around to be greeted by Mike again.
“What’s up?” he asked John.
“Nothing, just checking on the girls, I have to make sure they are ok,” he said as his half smile turned into his signature somber expression.
“I’m going to need to take you four down to the police department with me. Don’t worry, we’ll contact your parents there and call school to let them know you probably won’t be going today,” Mike reassured as he escorted John over to a detective car.
John knew he wasn’t under arrest, but this was sure dramatic for not really knowing anything, he thought to himself. Alex and Amy went in a separate car, and a few minutes later Heather was put in the backseat with John.
“What is going on, John?” Heather asked.
John tried to calm Heather down, even though he wasn’t sure himself. “I think they want to question us more and have us look at mug shots or some shit. It’ll be ok; we’ll be done in no time.”
“I sure hope you’re right. My parents are going to go ballistic when the cops call them to say I’m down at the police station and they need to come get me.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Like I said, we’ll be out of there in no time,” John assured her as the police car quickly zoomed out of the parking lot.
Meanwhile in the other car, Alex and Amy looked at each other as they sat in the backseat in silence.
After a minute, Amy leaned her head upon Alex’s shoulder and broke the tense silence. “Alex, the clerk, he’s dead, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know for sure, Amy. Did you see him at all standing outside?” Alex asked.
“No, I didn’t, and Heather wouldn’t let me go near
the front counter area at all. I can only assume he’s dead,” Amy began to weep. “And to think I was going to ask him out on a date today. He was a nice guy,” she spoke quietly as she looked at Alex.
“Are you serious? I didn’t think you were that interested in him, I mean, after John and all,” Alex replied.
“Yeah, John and I are done, I know that. But there comes a time when you have to move on from stuff like that and start over,” Amy reminded him. “I think maybe I’m still in shock. That’s why it hasn’t really hit me that I could have been the one shot. I mean, the fucker had a gun to my head…”
“Oh my God, you didn’t tell me that. Why did he have a gun to your head?” Alex inquired.
“He wanted me to pick the person who was going to get shot and die,” she recalled as she began to tear up again.
“Shit, that’s pretty messed up, Amy. If you need to talk about it more, you know I’ll be here to listen,” Alex comforted her, putting his arm around her shoulder as the car pulled up the police station.
“Well, it looks like we’ve arrived to our new home. Isn’t it lovely, honey?” Amy joked, desperately trying to lighten to mood.
“Oh yes, all my airline miles and here we are, prison,” Alex laughed.
“I wonder how long this is going to take. I really should be in class today; I’m missing an important German lecture today. It’s going to be on the finals,” Amy scoffed.
“I’m sure you can get notes from someone in class. This is more important right now—doing the right thing and helping bring two murderers to justice,” Alex said as Mike brushed past him.
