I Robbed A Rich Girl (Part 2)

Melanie came through the door with a roll of duct tape she pulled from the back of her pants.

By that time, I was able to free my leg from the door, and kept my P250 aimed at the young couple.

“Don’t make me use this thing, okay? Just keep still and follow our demands.”

“What do you want?!” Leah asked. “Is it Daddy’s money?!”

“Of course I want your father’s money,” I said, as if it was obvious. “What else would I want?”

Melanie had finished tying Leah’s boyfriend’s hands behind his back.

Next up was Leah herself, who made it easy for Melanie by putting her hands behind her back.

Though that didn’t seem like enough for Melanie. She pulled her arms back hard, then pulled on Leah’s blonde hair.

“Ow!” Leah yelled, before calling Melanie a word that starts with a B and ends with an H. “What are you doing?!”

“Oh, nothing~ Just getting a bit of payback,” Melanie said with a sweet voice. She was all smiles as well.

And it was kind of scary, if I’m being honest.

“Payback?!” Leah yelled. “Payback for what?!”

“From when you, Kristy, and Charles would push me in the halls and spread nasty rumors about me around the school! Don’t you remember?!”

Leah seemed like she wanted to rebuttal, or at least say something, but stared at the ceiling as if she was digging through her memories.

Her face was still confused in the end.

“I don’t remember!” She said, sounding a bit guilty. “I’m sorry either way, because I did that to a lot of girls!”

“Ugh!”

Melanie’s face grew red in anger.

But at that moment, Leah’s boyfriend—who was besides Melanie, slammed his shoulder into her and pushed her off the bed.

“Ack!” Melanie yelled. The duct tape and revolver dropped besides her.

The man somehow got to his legs and was finding balance on the bed as Leah fell face first onto her blanket.

I couldn’t see Melanie at that point. She was on the ground on the other side of the bed but from the looks of it, the man was getting ready to jump on her.

So I rushed over to the bed, jumped on, grabbed the back of the man’s shirt, and pulled as hard as I could.

The man tried to jump but was pulled back and he fell onto the bed, bouncing Leah and me as his girlfriend squealed.

Huff…huff…huff.

The man was so heavy. The pull had me exhausted.

But the man wasn’t.

He rolled onto his stomach and tackled me while I was trying to catch my breath.

“Oh, geez!”

The tackle brought a ton of pain to my chest and the man was now on top of me, though he couldn’t do much since his hands were tied behind his back.

That’s when I took drastic measures.

With my pistol still in hand, I grabbed the man’s black hair and whipped him with the butt of my P250.

It was an instant knockout.

“NOOO!!!” Leah cried.

It was awful to hear her cry, but it had to be done.

I pushed the man off of me.

“Aw, geez,” I started. “All I wanted was some money, not for us to get into a fight with some macho man.”

After racing to my side to see if I was alright, Melanie’s brows furrowed as she stood by Leah’s side.

She raised her hand. It looked like she was going to slap her.

“Mmph!”

Leah winced as she turned to the side with her eyes closed.

“Melanie…” I said. I wanted to tell her to stop, but she did it on her own.

She lowered her hand and her shoulders dropped. She seemed a lot more relaxed and in control of herself.

Then she sighed.

“I’m not gonna slap you,” Melanie said. Her voice was weak and she sounded ashamed of herself. “Just tell me where you and your father’s cash is at. Then we’ll leave. I promise.”

Leah nodded and followed Melanie's demands.

“There’s some money in my purse and on my desk. I think there might be some more money in my closet.”

I rummaged through her purse and desk. Leah was telling the truth. There were plenty of bills that I snatched up.

“What about your father’s money? Do you know where he keeps it?”

“Y-yes,” Leah nodded. “Daddy usually keeps his money in his closet. He has a different wallet for every coat. There’s sure to be some cash there.”

I walked towards Melanie.

“Do you want me to get it?” I asked.

“No…” she said in a low voice. “I’ll do it.”

She walked out of the room and now it was just me and Leah.

“…”

“…”

Awkward…

That’s what I wanted to say.

The room was spacious, but I decided to stand by the door that I had just kicked a hole into. And I was staring at her in general as her boyfriend was out cold next to her.

“Hey, um,” I started. “I’m sorry about—well, you know…”

I was staring at her boyfriend, who was starting to snore loudly.

“Right…him…” Leah responded. “It’s—it’s okay.”

“Really?”

“No.”

Leah faced the window as she spoke.

“Yeah, I should have expected that answer. Sorry, it was a dumb question.”

Man, at that moment, I was wishing for Melanie to run back to the room and tell me it was time to go.

It would even be better if I heard sirens coming from outside so I could rush over to Melanie and make an escape.

But neither of those things happened. I was still just stuck in the room with Leah and her now snoring boyfriend.

“Are you new to this?” Leah asked. “This home invasion gig.”

I was taken aback and scratched the back of my head from discomfort. It seemed like this wasn’t the first time this happened to her.

And I felt like I had to give her a response, so I did.

“Yeah,” I said, truthfully. “I’m only doing this because—”

“Of that girl?” Leah asked, finishing my sentence.

“That, and also…” I was starting to grow red from embarrassment.

“But also what?”

Leah’s head tilted to the side. She was curious.

“Well…breaking into someone’s house was also something on my bucket list.”

“…”

Leah was quiet for a moment. She seemed puzzled by what I just said.

Then…

“Pfft!”

She laughed. It was quiet but strong, as if she was trying to control her volume.

“I’m sorry~I’m sorry~but that has got to be the stupidest reason to rob somebody.”

“Ha, I guess you’re right.”

I awkwardly chuckled alongside her.

“I just thought that since the world was gonna end, why not rob someone?”

“Yeah?” She laughed.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve always thought about it.”

“Really?”

I nodded.

“You‘re such an oddball.”

I chuckled, then heard footsteps coming toward us.

Melanie walked into the room with a leather jacket full of money inside the pockets.

“I got the money,” she said with a weak smile.

“Great,” I told her. “We can finally leave.”

I waved at Leah, which was such an odd thing to do, since—you know, I was robbing her and everything, but she didn’t seem offended.

We were about to leave her bedroom when Leah called out to us.

“Wait,” she said.

The two of us turned.

“What is it?” Melanie asked, her voice was soft but sharp. “If it’s about your hands, I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna let you free.”

“I know,” Leah said, “and I’m fine with that. It’s just that…”

“Just what?” I asked.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” she said to Melanie. She sounded sincere and was choking on her words.

“And I’m not saying this just because you have guns and are robbing me. I truly am sorry.”

I saw Melanie begin to shake in discomfort and I pulled her towards me as Leah went on.

“I don’t know who you are, and I’m sorry for that too,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks, “but it’s been 6 years since I did all those hurtful things. I was a kid then, but I’m not anymore.”

Leah hung her head low.

“I’m not looking for your forgiveness, but I hope you know, Miss, that I truly am sorry.”

Her apology was heartfelt and honest. I could tell.

And it sucked because I really wanted to hate Leah, and I did hate her until now.

I felt sorry for her. But she still got physical with Melanie and did so for years. So I felt like I should still hate on her. It was a weird predicament I was in, but what mattered more was Melanie and how she felt.

I called her name, hoping that she was going to say something.

But she didn’t. She was quiet for a few seconds. Then she took a deep breath.

“Can you take this to the car?” She told me as she placed the leather jacket full of cash in my hands. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. I just want to have a talk with Leah before we go. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, of course.”

I walked down the stairs, out the backyard, and down the street. I got into my old Toyota Corolla, threw the jacket in the back, and stared at the night sky.

I saw the giant asteroid in the sky and sighed.

This was not how I expected the night to go, but I was glad that I was able to get away from it all.

My exhaustion was getting to me, and I took off my ski mask before falling asleep.