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The Dumbest Criminals

by Rasheal Timm, Oregon, USA, Age 15

 

The day turned to night, the street lights made it hard to see the stars. I sat in the cool grass thinking of what it would be like to be an astronaut. Soaring through the sky, leaving the earth. And for a split second not have any worries. Being able to admire the night sky without the sirens of distant cop cars, fire trucks, or ambulances. It would be nice to be far away from a troubling place.
A car pulled into the driveway breaking my train of thought. A guy in an Armani suit and a kid wearing, a metallica t-shirt, a plain pair of jeans, and sporting coverse. They walked up to the door. He's so a skater, I thought, he even had a shaggy skater hair do. They knocked on the door; my dad answered in the way he did when a major executive from his work came over. After an hour or so, the guy walked out, but the kid didn't. I became curious so I got up as the guy was pulling out of the driveway. I dusted myself off as I walked up the walk way to the front door. I open the door and walked into the living room. There the kid was sitting on the sofa drinking lemonade.
"Do you want lemonade Annie?" she asked signaling me to sit down.
I turned looking at her, "no thanks, I'm tired I'm just gonna go to bed," I said turning around to walk upstairs.
" Good night," said the kid on the sofa. I didn't answer, I turned my head ninety degrees then proceeded up stairs.
When they finally went to bed it was 11:30pm. I pretended to be asleep. My door suddenly opened.
" Your not asleep; I know you pretend all the time," said the kid.
" What do you want?" I said rudely giving myself away.
" To know why you hate me so much," he said entering my room. I sat up and turned on the light.
" I don't hate you, who told you that?" I said confused.
" Nobody did, nobody had to," he said sitting backwards in the chair in front of my desk like I usually do.
" Forget it just go to bed," I said shutting off the light and laying back down. When the door shut I tried going to bed. But our conversation kept repeating in my mind.
I woke up the next morning not remembering I went to bed in the first place. I sat up, then looked at the chair. There was the kid sleeping uncomfortably in my desk chair. I stood up and quietly grabbed some clothes. I decided to take a shower. I was in the middle of my really comfortably warm shower when I heard noises from downstairs. I quickly got out of the shower and slipped on my clothes. I ran into my room there was the kid. He was awake and alert. We were the only ones in the house, my mom and dad usually go out on saturdays. So that leaves only the worst possibilities. I crept down the stairs stopping at the bottom step. The kid stood behind me. I heard rough voices in the kitchen.
"Burglars," he said grabbing my hand. We ran upstairs. He walked into my room and opened the side panel to reveal a safe room.
I became curious, I was the only one that knew about the side panel, not even my parents knew. Then all of a sudden he comes along and already knows it. Then it hit me; he's psychic I thought as he pulled the steel door open. He pushed the green button on the room's wall. As the door was slowly closing we caught a glimpse of one of the burglars faces.
" Boss, there are kids in the safe room," we heard just before the door shut tight.
" What are we going to do now?" I asked him waiting for orders.".......What's going to happen to us?" I asked.
" Nothing, everything's going to be all right," he said going on.
" There's one foot thick steel surrounded by..." he said being cut off.
" Is that what you see?" I asked folding my arms.
" What? See? I looked it up on the internet," he said confused.
" Listen dude, I found out that you're psychic, you don't have to hide it," I said understandingly.
He let out a huge laugh. "First of all my name's Zach, second I'm not psychic," he said laughing at my stupidity.
"You're not........then how did you know where the safe room was?" I asked feeling like a total idiot. "My parents didn't even know about it," I added.
" Do you even know why I'm here?" Zach asked probably thinking that I'm a total retard.
"No," I said shaking my head side-to-side.
" Didn't your parents tell you?" he asked confused.
" Do you honestly think if my parents told me I would be asking such stupid questions?" I asked thinking Captain obvious.
" Sorry I thought they might have told you, since my dad talked to them three days ago," he said.
" What?" I said confused. "I can't believe they didn't tell me," I said hysterically. I hope their ok, I thought.
Meanwhile their parents received a phone call. "Hello?" her mother said in her sweet-as-sugar voice.
" Mom, someone broke into the house! Get the cops! And whatever you do don't come alone. Please mom get help!" I said trying to warn her and save ourselves at the same time.
"Ok, honey, are you ok?" she asked concerned.
" Yeah, we're in the safe room I never told you guys about," I said thinking that if they are mad about keeping the safe room from them I could always throw the Zach thing in their face. "Mom, I can't chat, just get the police, ok?" I said changing the subject.
" Yes, honey be careful," she said starting to cry.
" Ok," I said before hanging up.
" Why couldn't we just call the cops," he asked confused.
" Because my parents would have came home before the cops got here," I said hardly believing he even asked that question.
" So," he said obviously not getting what I'm thinking.
" So?!" I said starting to get annoyed with him. "Zach! We don't even know if they're armed or not! My parents could probably be shot or worse!" I said clearly making a point.
" Ok, I get it," he said hand signaling me to calm down.
We were silent for about fifteen minutes. "You never told me why your here," I said breaking the awkward silence.
" I'm doing an essay on my favorite place and I picked your house, which use to be my house until my mom died," he said searching through his memories.
"That's how you knew where the safe room was. You must have had my room when you lived here," I said finally understanding.
" I did, my mom said she wanted her little boy to be the safest," he said with a goofy happy look on his face. " I miss her and this place is where I had my memories of her. Oh, I'm sorry I slept in your room last night. It's just I can't sleep in the room my mom died in," he said fidgety.
That kind of caught me off guard. "I understand," I said empathetic.
" How are we gonna get out of here?" he asked looking at the monitors. I noticed that we had cameras.
" The cops are gonna take too long, we need Alyssa," I said reaching for the phone.
"Who?" he asked confused.
" Alyssa," I said dialing her number.
" Hello?" Alyssa asked.
" Alyssa, put your cell phone on vibrate and come over. Hide in the bush by my window without anyone seeing you. When you get there call this number back, its important," I said sounding urgent.
"Annie what's wrong?" she asked concerned.
" I'll explain later, ok, bye," I said.
" Bye," she said just before I hung up.
We waited patiently for her call. Finally the phone rang I picked up.
"Ok, what now?" Alyssa whispered.
" When I tell you, climb through the window without a sound," I said observing the monitors. "Now," I said as soon as all the guys were in sight. I pushed the button and the door opened then. I heard footsteps going up the stairs. I hid under the bed. Zach must have saw on the monitors because he closed the door. There Alyssa was as the guy walked past.
" Hey, you," he said chasing her around the room. Finally he caught her and wrestled her to the ground. She looked at me shocked. I signaled her to be quiet by putting my index finger against my lips. Then he pulled her to her feet and turned her toward the camera in my bedroom. I quietly slipped out from under the bed. I grabbed the lamp off my bed stand. I slowly and quietly crept toward him. Then hit him over the head (being careful not to hit her) and knocked him out cold. Zach opened the door and all three of us climbed out of the window. We ran to the neighbor's house.
After an hour, the cops and our parents showed up. "Mom!" I said running from the neighbor's house to my own.
" Honey, did they hurt you?" she said inspecting me for any blood.
" No," I said. I sat there for ten minutes trying to get my mom to loosen her death grip. Zach just stood there laughing. "What are you laughing at?" I asked attracting my mom's attention.
" Oh, Zach are you ok?" she said hugging him just as bad. He looked at me hard. I couldn't but laugh. Now Zach, Alyssa, and I are best friends. We are pleased to know Zach got an A+ on his essay. Now, Zach visits his favorite place more often. He realized he remembers his mother more being at the house than staying away from it. Even his dad comes to visit. Watching the burglars that were outsmarted by three teens being hauled away in a cop car was the best moment of my life. Besides, it makes a good story to tell.