Saving Each Other

"Do we really want to go to that side of town?" Ada asks Emma as they begin their quest for junk food. It's the last week of summer vacation, and the girls want to spend as many late nights up as possible before their underwhelming schooldays begin again. Unfortunately, that means that when the last cookie is eaten, you have to go out late at night to find somewhere to replenish your stock. "It's very late, and there will be a lot of creeps out." 

"Do you have a better option?" Emma responds annoyed. "I'm not driving an extra 45 minutes to find an open store."

Ada frowns, pulling her shoulder-length brown hair up into a messy bun. "Fine. But if my mother finds out, it's you who will have to answer to her." She is starting to regret not getting dressed to go out in public, only wearing her lace tank top and short Hello Kitty pajama shorts.

Emma starts up her car. "Geez, Ada, live a little, would you?" She comments with a chuckle. "You've been this perfect little angel since we were in Pre-K. It's okay to be a rebel once in a while."

Ada frowns in response. 

She knows that her mother will kill her if she finds out that she left the house at 2 a.m. 

The community they live in does not have stores open past 8 p.m., so it was either drive for almost an hour with little gas or stop in the rough neighborhood 15 minutes away and fill up on junk food. 

The two 17-year-olds chat about Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp as they anxiously wait to continue their movie marathon at home. Ada is mostly talking because she is nervous about the gas station they are headed to. It isn't necessarily a "bad" part of town, but it is definitely where the cops are called multiple times a day.

The gas station, Bob's Save A Lot, is a relatively small building that is severely rundown and made of brick. The building doesn't look like it has been taken care of in the past decade. 

"Why don't you go inside while I get some gas?" Emma states as she pulls her car up to a pump. Her tone is calm, but Ada can tell Emma is also anxious.

Ada glares at her friend. "Gee, thanks." 

"Calm down, will ya? It's not that big a deal. Nothing serious ever happens around here, you know that." Emma responds, trying to reassure her friend.

Taking a deep breath, Ada starts walking toward the brightly lit store. The parking lot is filled with nasty potholes, which are littered with cigarette butts and various candy wrappers. Probably the most off-putting sight for Ada is the bars that encase the windows. 

How welcoming… She thinks to herself as she turns to look at her friend, who is playing on her phone as she fills up her car. Ada can't shake the anxiety that clutches her chest as she hesitates before going inside. 

Opening the door, the contrast of going from dark to bright lights stings Ada's eyes. She is assaulted by the overpowering smell of lemon cleaner, which surprises Ada due to how poor the store looks outside. The annoying "bing-bong" sound alerts the clerk, whose nose is stuck in a college book, that a customer has entered the store.

Ada picks up a basket as she begins her quest for an assortment of junk food. Starting from one aisle, she grabs three different kinds of chips, five candy bars, and a couple of boxes of snack cakes. As she ventures down one of the aisles on her way to the soft drinks, she notices two boys speaking heatedly in hushed tones.

One boy appears to be around her age, with an athletic build. He is wearing loosely fitted clothing and sunglasses, which Ada did not understand the purpose of. Maybe he has a headache, she thinks to herself.

The other boy is wearing a black hoodie with the hood covering his face. Ada isn't able to determine the mysterious guy's age, but she assumes he must be relatively close in age to the guy he is whisper-screaming at.

"Excuse me," Ada states shyly as she passes the boys, who hadn't noticed her existence. Her face turns red as she walks past them in her revealing pajamas. She grabs a couple of different cold drinks and heads up to the cashier.

After unloading all the items from her basket, she turns to put the basket back and notices that the clerk still has his nose in his book. Ada walks back to the counter and clears her throat, trying to catch his attention while not being rude.

She smiles at the clerk as he pulls himself away from his studies. His nametag reads "Luke." A freckled man with huge bags under his eyes, Ada thinks he must only run on coffee. 

The slow beeping of each item being scanned makes Ada uneasy. She begins taking in the store. Behind the clerk stands a plethora of different kinds of cigarettes and beside him stand shelves of different types of liquor, along with contraceptives and other items they feel the need to hide behind the counter. She can still hear the two guys arguing, which makes her feel even more tense. The continuous beep of each scanned item finally stops.

"Is that it?" Luke questions with a sleep-tinted voice. 

"That's it."

"That'll be $26.07." 

Ada pays for her stuff while Luke fumbles with plastic bags to put her items in. Once everything is done, Ada grabs the bags and starts heading for the door.

She's only a few feet from the door when a man comes barreling in. His attention is fixated dead ahead, and he doesn't notice as he forcefully bumps into Ada, knocking her down.

A pain shoots through her head as it hits the cold, hard tiled floor. Her right arm burns and she can feel warm liquid running down it. Her arm had caught the side of a shelf, slicing it open. One of the bags she was carrying had split open and a drink had burst.

"What the hell?" Ada states in astonishment and pain. She scurries to her feet, trying to quickly gather her things while ignoring the aching throb piercing through her head. She glances up to glare at the idiot that came barging into the store to give them a piece of her mind (which she knows she won't do anyway), but she is suddenly paralyzed with fear.

Ada slid back down, sitting in a pool of cold soda as she watched the man that just knocked her down pointing a gun at the clerk who had his arms raised. Luke was now on high alert with a weapon waving in his face, as was Ada.

The gunman was acting frantic. His hand was shaking and he couldn’t seem to stand still for more than two seconds. He appeared to be about 30 years old, wearing a dirty muscle shirt and filthy pants. There were some holes worn in his baggy jean pants. He had a bald head with a couple of teeth missing and was skinny; malnourished skinny. Ada noticed he had an overpowering stench coming from him, something resembling burnt plastic and ammonia. It was obvious that the perpetrator was a drug addict.

As Luke was desperately trying to grab the money to put in the bag, the air was suddenly filled with the sound of sirens. Blue flashing lights could be seen illuminating the environment as they approached the store. Tires squealed in the parking lot as the police arrived and a few continued their chase as they passed the store.

The gunman ran towards the door, freaking out. He locked it as he watched in horror. “Dammit, Chase!” he exclaimed as he started pacing. His getaway driver must’ve freaked out, leaving his pal behind to fend for himself.

“Why are the cops here?” The armed man started with panic. “You! Did you call them?” The gunman demanded, pointing the pistol at Ada, who was cowering on the floor. “Let me see your phone!”

Ada found it hard to breathe as she patted the pockets she didn’t have. Her voice caught in her throat as she tried to speak. Her hazel started forming tears as they shone with fear.

“Give it to me!”

“I-I left my phone in the c-car.” She finally managed to stammer. Her heart started racing as her breathing became erratic. Ada could feel a pain in her chest. Am I having a heart attack? She thought to herself, working herself up even more.

He lets out an irritated grunt and turns his attention back to the clerk who was still fumbling with the bags. “You! You had to have done this!”

“No, sir!” Luke pleaded. “I’ve been trying to help you this whole time!”

“You have a panic button back there, don’t you?” He started accusingly.

Luke put his hands back up as the gunman approached him. "Please, I—"

“Is there another way out of this damn place?”

"There is a back entrance but—"

The gunman grabbed the bag full of money and headed in the direction the clerk was pointing, but a few seconds later he was back in the lobby with everyone else. “This was supposed to be simple! What is going on!?”

“This is the police! Come out with your hands up before someone gets hurt!” A policeman’s voice echoed over a loudspeaker.

Ada remained sitting in the same spot, hugging herself. She was terrified, trapped inside her own little world, yet very aware of everything happening. Why is he this surprised that the police are here? Did he honestly believe a robbery was something easy?

“Please release a hostage in good faith, so we know we can work with you.” The policeman’s voice called again.

The unnamed armed man was pacing the room again and winging his gun around haphazardly. He then points the gun at the clerk. “You have to tell them to go away.”

"Okay, I wi—"

A deafeningly loud bang filled the room.

The clerk stared at the man in astonishment as blood sprayed the cigarettes that were behind him. Luke slumped down to the ground, now hiding behind the counter.

Ada gasped. Bile began to rise in her throat. Her heart was racing, as another sharp pain went through her chest. She wanted to scream, but no noise could be heard.

“Shit!” The man stated aggravated. He looks around the room and sees Ada. Terror filled her eyes as the gunman approached her. “I didn’t mean to do that! My hands are so shaky; it was an accident!” He began explaining quickly as if he were a small child in trouble with their parents for something minor. “You saw that it was a mistake, right?”

Ada remained where she was but found herself slightly cowering away from the man.

“Are any hostages hurt?” The policeman’s voice cut through the air.

The room fell silent as the grotesque man stared wildly at Ada.

Clank.

“What was that? Who is there? Show yourself or I’ll shoot!” The man stated, shouting at the back of the store.

“Don’t shoot!” A male’s voice says. “We are just two teenagers. We don’t want any problems.” The boy with the sunglasses says as he and the guy wearing the black hoodie walk to the front of the store with their hands up.

“Let me see your face!”

He pulls down the hoodie.

“Both of you get up here and sit on the floor with your hands where I can see them.” He demands.

The boy in the hoodie glanced at Ada and mouthed the words, “Don’t worry,” before sitting down next to her with his friend following behind him.

“Take off your stupid glasses boy. You’re inside and it’s dark outside!”

An hour passed with no news from the cops outside. The three hostages sat in silence as the addict walked around the store frantically. When he came back to the front of the store, the boy in the black hoodie spoke.

“Isn’t your name Jessie?” he questioned.

“Yeah, and who are you?”

“Oh, dude. I’m Ewan. You used to date my sister, Claire.”

“Oh wow. How’ve you been man?” Excitement filled his voice. “What is she up to?”

“She’s living in New York.”

“Wow. Hey, is your cousin or brother still around?”

“Nah. They are in prison.”

“Dang, dude. That sucks.”

The phone rings. Jessie stares at the phone.

“Go ahead and answer it,” Ewan says. “The police just want to know what you want and then they will give it to you.”

“Yeah?” Jessie thinks for a moment, scratching the side of his head. “But they won’t let me go free, will they?”

Ewan glances over at the counter where Luke used to stand. “You won’t know unless you try, right?”

His eyes wander away from the phone and to Ada. A hungry look in his eye. “But if they won’t, then I might as well get some while the gettin’ is good.”

Ada looks over to Ewan, wondering what he could’ve meant. Ewan’s eyes look back at her, worry filling his beautiful brown eyes.

Jessie lunges at Ada. She lets out a scream as he grabs her by her injured right arm.

“Dude, seriously, don’t be stupid! Just leave her alone!” Ewan yells, starting to get up.

Ada struggles against his grip, breaking free and falling to the floor. “Sit back down before I shoot you!” Jessie replies angrily to Ewan as he grabs Ada by her hair and drags her over toward the counter.

Screaming, Ada pleads. “No! Please no!” She did not want to see Luke’s body. Her feet were now slipping in his blood that seeped through the crack between the floor and counter. She was thrown towards the counter and his hand grabbed the back of her head, shoving it hard onto the top. She cries out in pain from her face hitting the countertop.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Jessie demands. “Get off me!”

“Jason, grab it now!” Ewan’s voice calls.

Ada closes her eyes, knowing that she would die as the three men wrestled over the gun.

Bang. Bang. Bang.