“EVERYONE DOWN!” BAM! “THIS IS A ROBBERY! I WANT EVERYONE BY THE COUNTERS!”
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Shots go off and everyone hit the floor. Susan drops to the floor and starts crawling towards the counters with everyone else in the bank.
“HURRY UP!” The masked men start pushing people to get them to the counters faster. Once everyone is lined up by the counters, the men start taking out big bags. “Alright, now everyone put your phones, wallets, and jewelry in this bag. Where is the manager of the bank? I would like to make a large withdrawal.” There was almost a noticeable smirk as the man laughed at his own joke.
“In the bag, ladies and gentlemen,” The second man started walked along the line of people as he yelled at people to put their items into their bag. “Lady, if you could– Oh, nevermind. Yeah, you can keep your stuff.” The masked man tripped over his own feet as he ran over to the man, who seemed like the ring leader.
“Wolf! Wolf! That’s her,” He pointed over at the woman who sat on the floor confused with the patrons around her.
“What do you mean?! Who?”
“Her!” The second man points his finger over at the woman again. ” She’s on the no harm list!” He whispers. He looks completely panicked as the man called Wolf looks over at Susan. “What do I do?”
“Get everyone else but her,” Wolf pushes the man back as he starts making his demands to the bank manager. “Fox, Tiger, you guys are with me. Ox, Dog, stay here. Don’t make any stupid moves, or Dog here will start shooting.” Wolf disappears to the back with two of his men plus the bank manager.
Susan watched in confusion as the two men actively avoided the area she was in. She moved to get off her knees into a more comfortable sitting position.
“We told you not to move!” One of the two men pointed their gun at Susan. The man nicknamed Ox looks at his partner.
“Dude, did you not just hear me? She’s on the No Harm List!”
“What the fuck does that mean? I’m new to this!”
“THAT MEANS IF YOU HURT HER, YOU’RE FUCKED. THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST JOB!”
“Why?”
“Why should I know!? I’m not the boss!” Dog starts pacing back and forth. “Why did you have to be here?” He directs the question at Susan. “Don’t answer! Don’t speak! The less I talk to you the less I will get questioned.”
“Good afternoon! This is Officer Blake Jones. Can someone pick up the phone?” A voice on the loudspeaker is heard from the outside of the bank. Immediately , a phone begins the ring.
“What the fuck? I’m gone for not even FIVE MINUTES and the cops decided they want to talk?” The ring leader comes back, looking extremely annoyed. “We got what we’re here to get, let’s get the fuck out of here.” He gestured for Ox and Dog to follow him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you are free to go.” Everyone got up and started running towards the doors. Susan stayed seated, watching the men disappeared. “Oh,” Wolf turned around, staring straight at Susan. “You’re on The Tsun’s List.” He turned and ran towards the back.
“Tsun? Where had you heard that man before? No way, it can’t be-“ Susan ponders as she gets up and grabs her things before making her way out the doors.
“Ma’am, ma’am, Are you already?” An officer comes running up to her as she comes out of the doors.
“Huh,” Susan looks at the officer. “I’m sorry officer, yes. Yes, I’m fine–”
“Come this way, we want to get your checked out before you go on your way,” The officer leads her to the ambulance where she gets a quick look over.
“Will–will those people get caught?”
“We’re going to do our best, ma’am. The teams are inside looking for evidence right now.”
“Right, okay. Thank you,” She allows herself to be led to a tented area where EMTs were looking over the the hostages for injuries.
Hours later, Susan finally makes it home after talking to officers at the station, meeting with her friends and family to let them know what had happened during the day. On her porch, was a bouquet of roses with a letter sticking out. She looks at it with great caution before unlocking her door and picking it up.
Closing the door and locking it, she places her bag on the couch before making her way into the kitchen. Placing the flowers on the counter, she begins to look for a vase to put the nice roses in. Once she finds the vase, she plucks the letter out of the roses and opens it.
It reads:
My dearest Susan, I apologize for what happened today. I hope all is well.
-Anonymous
“Anonymous?” Susan reads out loud. She sets down the letter and begins to get cut the stems of the roses and placing them in the vase. Setting the vase of roses in the dining room, she walks to her room and throws herself onto the bed. Closing her eyes, she drifts off to sleep.
Writings by Emily 