CHAPTER FOUR

She turned back on her heels, bearing an unreadable face. Something between a death glare and surprise. For a long moment her face rested in that state, until she finally pulled away from him. 

"Just go away. Even if I'm doing this, don't feed me that nonsense."

The boy hissed out with buried undertones of sarcasm.

"There's a lot more that you don't know, and it'll do you some good to know them."

"Like what? Is this some large scale money heist?"

"Well what do you know? You prayed for a million bucks. God's making you a good deal already." Kal smirked, his gummy smile out on full display for the shadows to see.

Kiara's almond eyes narrowed, masking her confusion. At this point it looked like he was just blabbing out nonsense to rile her up. That naughty son of a -

"Let's just go, will you?! Mom would be so worried." she said out in a fatigued voice, one that said she was so done with the whole day. 

Kal sped up his steps laughing, slinging arm over her left shoulder as soon as he'd matched her pace. 

"Let's go tomorrow night then. The faster, the better." 

"Isn't that too early? You're just telling me this."

Kal smiled manically at his clueless friend, whose childlike innocence played out through the horrified look on her pale face. She really knew nothing. 

"Trust me on this one." He reassured her with a simultaneous nod. She shoved her hands into the front pockets of her denim and kept up the pace, forcing Kal to speed up again. 

By the time they got to Kiara's home, the black haired boy waved her goodbye with a playful, mischievous smile. She waved back at the porch before kicking off her converse highs and dragging them indoors by the laces. 

Ms Johnson laid peacefully on the sofa, half drenched in sweat. Kiara visually strained in the usually dimly lit living area, barely making out the outline of the sleeping woman. Watching her lie there with all the worry alive and floating in her subconscious, felt like her heart was being passed through a shredder. Carefully ripping it in tiny, irreparable pieces.

Unless I go with Kal. We don't have much of a choice, Mom. 

Kiara knelt by the foot of the sofa, silently tucking the woman's loose hair strands behind her ear. She leaned into the gesture, finding comfort in her daughter's act of affection. Just as cool tears streamed out of Kiara's eyes. 

Hurt, stigma and guilt for what was about to happen. 

I'm sorry. 

-

The quietness that eluded the darkness was nothing compared to the silhouettes of the two tiny individuals running through it. Silent as hell, they made their way through the empty, dead pathway that led up to an enormous gate. Judging from the sheen of the metal even in the darkness, it had to be designed from extremely durable material. 

Just rich people things.

Kiara thought to herself while trolling behind Kal, whose lean figure looked a little bulkier than usual in an oversized pair of jeans and an old pale grey jacket. 

She slicked back her short curly ponytail for the umpteenth time that night, wiping her hands at the only pair of black denim she owned. Her heavily creased palms bled of sweat, the nerves eating her inside all the way out. 

"Um… Kal? Maybe we should go back…" She tapped at his small square shoulders while whispering inaudibly, causing him to grimace and fix his stand. 

He shrugged nonchalantly, pushing the loudly creaking gate open. The clink-clunk noise caught him off-guard; the last time he'd been here, the gates seemed to be oiled. The guards that tightly secured the house the last time while he crept around like a cat in hiding, were also absent. Just like he expected them to be. 

Perfect. 

The gates opened to reveal a slightly miniature version of el magnifico, plastered with

earthy colours that all appeared pitch black under the moonless, ultramarine sky. The two teenagers moved seamlessly, heading for the only entrance and exit to the large building when Kiara saw some droplets of water on the exposed back of her hand. 

Rain? 

The lean boy turned back to his best friend and fished out a bobby pin from behind Kiara's head of hair, letting out a tiny smile. It was gone as soon as it came, like it had never been there in the first place. She gulped as she watched the boy skillfully manoeuvre the pin to undo the secured lock while she held a small flashlight, although spending more time than she was comfortable with. 

He pushed the door open as soon as what was a slight drizzle escalated into an angry downpour, accompanied by heavy gusts of wind.

Curse that lying little forecast, Kiara cursed.

Their shoes were dampened in the time spent while breaking the lock, and they dragged their feet into the castle-like house, as Kiara thought. 

"Just don't say a damn word and follow me." Kal whispered as they began to trot across the vertical length of the wide space. It was wide enough to host a small ball, although a lot darker than the night outside. It felt polished, although empty. It seemed to lack the presence of a life besides the two 'thieves' dressed in cheap clothing. As it should, it didn't look like anyone lived here. Or anyone would willingly want to. It was creepy enough to be so hidden away from the public. 

"Ow!" Kiara whispered in exclamation, as she struck her forehead against a pillar that she'd somehow missed, while drowning in her own disorientation. 

Kal hissed in annoyance, grabbing the petite girl by the hand while they moved around in the space. 

"What's your plan from here? Are we gonna keep the circles going?" She piped, her shrill tone laced with fear and sarcasm. 

"Shut it," He half snapped, halting on the spot. "The rain's gonna be our distraction. There's a small room behind the stairs, that's where I'm gonna go. You head upstairs, search for whatever valuables you can find and get down here in fifteen minutes. We gotta leave quickly, so -"

"Why're we splitting?!" She interrupted, her sweaty palms now shaking frantically as they spoke. 

"We need to cover more grounds right?" He shot back, now pointing to a small window by the end of the hall. "If anything happens, you leave through there."

With that he pushed her up the stairs, while he made his way to the door he had pointed out earlier. Snapping the lock open, he entered the small room where many suitcases lay twelve cases high by all four corners of the room. Whipping out another finger sized flashlight from the black backpack he'd carried all night, he walked to the farthest right corner of the room, dragging down one of the coal black suitcases. He looked around it hurriedly trying to find its opening, only to be met with a combination lock at the very end. 

Fuck.

He fished out a pocket knife from the bag, slithering the suitcase open. Flipping it open, the sight was beautiful. 

Ten bundles of hundred dollar bills.

-

Kiara stood in front of the open door for a solid minute, staring inside the newly opened room. The room smelled of freshly cut wood, absurd for a house that Kal had claimed to be uninhabited. A single desk lamp was turned on, dimly illuminating the grey painted room. 

She walked in and saw that one of the windows was slightly open, allowing rain water to stream down the window pane. 

You shouldn't be doing this, it's not sightseeing. 

She let out a huff of air and walked up to the single drawer in the room, drawing it open to find a shit ton of jewellery in it. A lot of gold, and black diamonds littered around. Smiling awkwardly at herself, she grabbed a handful of the jewellery and shoved them into a small foldable bag she'd kept in her pockets. 

She flinched when she saw a flashlight pointed in her direction, only to hear the familiar bubbly laughter of Kal. 

She rolled her eyes, hissing as the boy walked up to the drawer where she stood. 

"I think I got enough." She whispered again, opening up the bag for him to see. He smiled contently, doing a small victory dance with her. Then he pointed to the very full backpack he carried, smiling in amusement. 

"And we have a million dollars here. We're rich, spicy!"

"That's sick. Oh my God that's a lot. Is this right?" She spoke up in evident surprise and fear. He nodded and took her by the hand while they left the room, shutting the door quietly and stopping in their tracks; frozen in place by a loud ring of a deep gruff voice screaming in frustration. 

"Find the bastards!"

Oh my God. 

She could feel the panic build up her chest, her breathing becoming slow and erratic as Kal, who'd been startled himself, pushed them both back into the room and shut it closed. 

"What the fuck, this wasn't supposed to happen!" Kal whisper-yelled out, aggressively running his hand through his black hair. 

"We're gonna get caught, aren't we? We've been caught!"

"Shut up!"

The curly haired brunette fell to the floor in both shock and sheer panic, jolting back up like a possessed animal. And startling the boy who was already flipping the half closed window open.

He removed the backpack and threw it down in the rain, startling the already terrified girl. 

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"We're gonna jump, alright? We can't stay here, and we can't leave by the front door." He whispered back.

Silently saying a prayer, Kal glanced down at the height one last time before jumping out the very high window. She bit back a scream while unsolicited tears streamed, as she rushed to the window to find Kal sixteen feet on the ground, clutching his left shoulder. 

The lean boy looked up at Kiara, who'd been tongue tied while she watched, crying. He was soaked in water as he held the now injured arm. 

"Kiara, jump!" He yelled up, but she just stared back at him. 

"I can't!"

"Just fucking jump!"

"I'm gonna die, you bastard!" She cried out, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she dropped the bag. The door suddenly kicked open, revealing a large man with a large flashlight. She couldn't see his face in the darkness, but she could feel him sprinting towards her.

In one shrill cry, she screamed and flew out the window, almost tumbling as she fell and landed on her feet.

The impact was severe, as she could hear her dominant ankle twist and crack in the process. The tears only got worse as she tried not to scream any further. The lean boy helped her up as they limped to the back of the house. The fence was short, and Kal threw the backpack over it again when they heard many footsteps heading in their direction. 

"Can you climb?" He shouted in the darkness under the heavy rain, the brunette shaking her head vigorously as she cried. 

She could see Kal shake his head and throw her an apologetic pout, before swiftly scaling over the fence. 

"Kal!" She yelled out, struggling to stand up and horrified by what had just happened. She could feel many different emotions at once, before yelling his name one last time with no response. 

The next thing she could see was a cluster of blurry flashlights pointing in her direction. 

"Found the bitch!"