CHAPTER ONE

Kal was distracted. The warehouse looked to be especially busy that evening, seeing as he'd been hauling large carton boxes almost twice his size into the delivery trucks that came and went without a break. 

The large warehouse was a very wide space tinted brownish red, and had boxes stacked one on top the other to make ten steps each of cosmetic products awaiting shipments to its left and right. The workers came and went time and time again, downing black overalls and matching hiking boots. 

However, Kal could not be perturbed. He had bigger issues in mind. He'd worked here a little over a year, and his tiny wage was just about enough to feed his stomach and pay his rent. Definitely not worth it for this disaster of a job. If only they could afford to pay minimum wage, he would gladly accept the name "Cargo boy", like Kiara called him. 

Kiara. 

He couldn't contain his own excitement and nerves at the thought of her name. She'd been with him a long time, now don't get him wrong because he wasn't interested in her. At least not in the way you're thinking. 

If this was going to work, the only person he could trust was Kiara. He'd been deliberating on how to tell her about what he was thinking about, and the only time he could was when she was free from work. 

Which should be right about now. He thought aloud, letting out a small huff as he mounted the last box of his shift onto the white delivery truck. Stepping down from the truck, he swept his jet hair backwards, earning a hearty chuckle from the driver. The sun had gone down, only soft rays shone to illuminate the area. 

"It's tiring eyy?!" The driver shouted from his seat, poking his head through the wind down glass. 

Kal laughed back, throwing a slight nod in his direction. 

"It's a lot better now the sun's gone down." He replied to the older man. . 

"You know, if you want I could get you a licence, y'know? So you could drive around town delivering boxes instead of loading them on." The man said again. "Life ain't supposed to be this difficult. If only those goddamn guys on top would cut the shit out and make things easier ey, that'd be a great America!"

Kal laughed uncomfortably again, tired of hearing the man's shrill voice. He shut the hind door and walked to the front door where the man sat, preparing to turn on the ignition. 

"Worry about your problems first," he said sarcastically, adding a smooth chuckle to the mix. The light hearted man looked taken aback, before cackling out. 

"Silly boy!" the man laughed back. "See you in a bit, kiddo!"

He waved the older man goodbye, swiping out his phone as he made his way through to the half emptied warehouse. It would only remain that way till night, when new delivery arrived. But by that time, Kal would most certainly be working the pizza delivery. 

He swiped out his phone from one of the large pockets of his black overall, checking the time. 5:15pm. I'd better text her now before I forget. 

Sitting down on a tiny bench, he removed the mitten-like glove from his right hand while typing away his message. 

"Dude I've got something for you. Wanna hang later tonight?"

He leaned back a little, stretching with both hands above his head. That earned him a loud crack, he could have sworn he felt his bones shift. His phone screen lit up. 

The lean black haired boy was smiling to himself as he read the message that popped up on his phone screen. 

"Yo airhead, you'd better not waste my time with nonsense tonight. Mom's gonna make dinner, so come over at ten."

In his excitement, he opened up his keyboard, already typing back a reply. But he stopped midway. 

I don't have time for this. We'll just talk later. 

Smiling one last time, he shoved his phone into the pockets of his grey overall and slid back on the glove. His ten minutes break was over before it even started. And some delivery trucks had arrived while he sat there texting. 

This is stupid, I can't live like this. 

Sighing tiredly, his mind drifted off to other things as soon as he grabbed the first box. 

I can't wait.

It was ten seventeen when Kiara yawned tiredly, forced awake by the clanking of pans and spoons. The room was dimly lit now, only illuminated by a single fluorescent bulb that hung from the low ceiling. A single sofa took its home by the left corner of the room space, adjacent to the front door. And while that was the only piece of sittable furniture in the small enclosure, there was a tiny table made of polished wood that had been beaten down by time, sitting off centre in the room. She pushed away the blankets she drowned in on the sofa, finally kicking off her shoes. She had fallen asleep on the sofa. 

Soft aroma travelled through the room from the kitchen where a blackish pot of half prepared Philly pasta skillet sat on the low heat stove. Kiara moved slowly to the dark kitchen, now relying on her night vision and eyes blurry from sleep to navigate her way through. The major source of lighting was a small desk lamp that sat on the kitchen table, where she finally sat down again. 

"You're awake", The plump woman piped, stirring the contents of the pot rigorously. She was a curly haired brunette that looked to be in her early forties, but her youthfulness had been stolen by grief and suffering. Just like an older version of Cinderella. Her once life filled eyes were now sunken and dark, the only thing familiar about her features was her young, bunny toothed smile. 

"Yeah mom, I didn't hear when you got back." She grumpily answered back, wrapping her stray hairs into an uptight bun. 

"You should change first then. I know you're tired, but how was work?"

"Just here and there, nothing eventful. Oh, and Kal's coming over tonight."

The woman whipped her head to face Kiara, a slight beam on her face. What?

"There's enough food for everyone so it's okay darling." She chimed sweetly, turning off the stove. Kiara smiled at her again, then gently placed her head on the wooden table. Closing her eyes, she sharply jolted when the door burst open, revealing a leanly built figure in the shadows. 

"You should really shut your doors at least, the freaking thing's open every time!" The figure wailed in amusement. Kiara rolled her eyes as she snapped sideways, seeing her best friend walk in and straight to the kitchen table. Kal. 

"And you dickhead should learn to knock on my door. Is that so hard to do?" She sneered in playful annoyance, rolling her eyes as she slapped his hand away while he tried to poke her cheek. 

"Hi, Ms Johnson! That smells amazing!" Kal chimed, ignoring the sleepy girl whose head rested on the table. "And I'm so hungry to be honest." He said theatrically, clutching his brown jacket in playful fainting. Kiara groaned and sat up properly, rubbing her eyes awake before going over to the stove, where her mother put out the dishes to be served. 

Why did grotesque looking dishes have to be the most delicious thing she could afford? She asked herself, mentally slapping herself. The food wasn't disgusting at all, it just appeared like it was made from Shrek's leftovers. Literally. 

Kal tagged along, grabbing one of the ceramic dishes and walking back to the table where he had sat before. Kiara took one of the two dishes left, the other of which belonged to her mother. 

Ms Johnson watched the two of them munch away at the spiral cheese coated pasta, smiling in content sadness that she could not provide any better for the curly, brown haired nineteen year old. 

While they ate, Kal appeared to be dazed and spacing out as he repeatedly picked at the food. He seemed to hesitate for a bit, before stabbing his fork at the pasta only to repeat the action again as he furrowed his brows, creating deep creases in his forehead. 

"Hey, you okay?" She asked curiously, noticing him snap out of his daze. 

"Uh yeah. I'm good. Can I talk to you for a bit outside?"

"Like, right now?" 

"Yeah, like right now."

She peered into his eyes with questioning eyes of her own, placing a bit of the pasta in her mouth. When he wouldn't stop staring, silently persuading her to get up from her seat, she huffed a breath of downfall and finally dropped the fork. 

Standing up, he made his way to the open door with Kiara trailing behind him like a lost puppy, confused as to what the hell was going on that night. 

Outside the porch, he leaned against the wall where what used to be grey oil paint had peeled off, leaving the cheap limestone walls bare to mechanical weathering. As Kiara followed, she watched the lean boy twist and turn uncomfortably. 

"You look like you need to take a shit. Do you need a stress ball?" She joked with a sly smile, now folding her arms around her chest. 

"Haha, real funny." he answered with a straight face, leaning even deeper against the listing building. 

"What's up? You said you had something to tell me."

" Yeah about that. So I've been thinking about something. I got some crazy intel…" He started, giving a small pause. 

"Okay, what's this about?"

"Apparently there's some place in town, where… y'know… things happen, y'know?"

Kiara frowned. "Is this some sort of joke? What do I know?"

"Alright spicy, calm down. We're best friends right?"

"What's that got to do with this?"

"You know we've lived this horrible life together. It's so frustrating that, that nothing ever goes well right?"

"I know it's frustrating as hell, but what're we going to do about it? It's fate, Kal. And we live it."

"No. No no no, Kiara. We do not live it, we change it. Come on, you're better than this."

Kiara frowned even further, tightening the arm wrapped around her. 

"What's going on? We've never talked about this before. Yeah I get this life is so fucked, but that's what we see. Nothing's gonna change alright?"

"But what if something could change? What if we could live in a fancy neighbourhood and live like the rich kids ey?"

"You're spitting nonsense now and I'm done here." She half screamed in frustration. Kal stopped her. 

"I just need your help."

"You'd better be serious with this."

"Yeah I am", he continued with dark eyes. The darkness was clear in his voice. "Let's rob a house, together."

Kiara's expression slowly morphed from a poker face to one of pure, unadulterated terror.

"What?"

Her hands fell.