Friday 10 June 2016

Alissa Part 2 - Chris' Perspective




I count to 30 seconds, holding my breath again, drowning in agitation, overwhelmed by fear. My pores are soaked, from all the perspiration. I’m watching him struggle to start the car, we both can’t afford to get caught here. 

“Drive! Drive!” I could feel the tension spreading through my head like ink on paper but I had to take control.

“Fuck! I’m trying.” Time was ticking away; the engine just wouldn’t start. No matter what Omar did, the engine would just growl back at him.

“Argh, this stupid piece of shit!” Omar hysterically hit the steering wheel.

“Omar!”

“Omar!”

He was broken. He wasn’t responding to me, it was like is mind had drifted elsewhere. If it was anyone else I would have just left them behind, but with Omar, I just couldn’t, after everything he had been through with his wife and now daughter. After all, we are doing this for Alissa even though I have my own shit to take care of.

““Oi! Omar, get it together we can’t stay here for much longer.”

Again, I shouted as I got out the car making sure I didn’t drop the small bag I was holding. The bag contained 10 diamond stones worth 700 thousand pounds that we just stole from an exhibition. I planned it, so there was no way we would fail, but after doing the hard part we are stuck here.

“Omar! Listen, if you don’t get out that car, Alissa won’t get the money she needs.”

Alissa was Omar’s little girl. I told him about this heist so he could pay for her medication. After his wife died, things got very tough so I have been helping him out when I can. He isn’t in my line of work but he had no choice and I needed help.

“Yeah, let's go”

I had just started jogging as he scampered out of the car. Omar wasn’t fast like me, so I had to slow down just so he could keep it.

It was bloody hot, probably 24 degrees or so. It felt as if I was running through hell itself; wearing all black made things even worse. If that bastard car did what it was meant to do, then we could have driven to the pickup point. Instead, I’m cutting corner after corner to get to our rendezvous. Sweat started to trickle down my face straight into my eyes, they were stung by a mixture of salty sweat and the contact lenses I was wearing.

“Chris how much further man, we’ve been running for long bruv!” Omar had finally caught up with me.

“We’re almost there, nobody can see us I know these back roads like my own dick.”

“Really nigga!”

Omar always liked to kill my jokes, he knew deep down if he was a bitch he would want this dick. I’m used to his disciplined fatherly ways but I refuse to change when I am around him. My phone started vibrating, which meant everything was going according to plan.

“Chris, I just saw you turn into the alleyway, I’m coming round in one minute. Just before the next turn I’m going to pull up so jump in”

“Love for that, make sure the doors open straight away.”

I was relieved because for a second I thought I was running around this place aimlessly. Chris must be shitting himself, thinking I have no idea where I’m running.

 “Three, Two, One…”

Right on time a white van pulled up in front of us and just like I had asked the backdoors opened simultaneously. “Get in quick!” A voice said and with that, we lunged forward into the van.

“We made it, thank God.” I celebrated in the van; I knew we would complete this heist thanks to my brilliant planning.

“Was this your plan all along Chris? You should have fucking told me!”

“Relax man, I didn’t tell you because you would have started asking too many questions and you know that shit annoys me.” Omar as usual moving like a little bitch, he needs to learn how to go with the flow of things. I’m tired trying to get in a comfortable position amongst all this crap around me and he’s just yapping away.

“True, I have to thank you for everything bro. You know it means everything to me that you agreed to do this for Alissa.”

“You know I got you both always bro! It’s going to be a long five-hour journey back to Manchester so make yourself comfortable mate. I’m going to sleep, as breaking into places is tiring.” My eyes started to give way, I could just about make out what Omar was saying to me. In fact, I couldn’t give two shits.

“Chris, wake up already we’re back in manny.”

Slowly and reluctantly, I removed my hat from my face. I blink, close my eyes, and blink again. “That was quick, I was about to fuck this model man!” I hated people waking me up, especially when I was going to fuck bitches.

A few minutes later the van parked round the corner from Omar’s house. The driver was just some random guy that happened to have a van, and needed money, so I paid him the 200 pounds as agreed then off he went.

“Okay… so this is the plan, I’m going to meet the buyer in two days so if you want you can come.”

“Yeah no worries I’ll come with you, just let me know where and when.” Omar didn’t ask any questions like he usually did which frankly was a first but I knew it was because he wanted to see his daughter. We went our separate ways.

By the time I got home I was soaking wet from the fucking rain. Parking near Chris’s house was a bad idea; it left me with a 20minute walk home. All I wanted to do now was shower, eat and sleep.

“Christopher, is that you?”

“Maya! You know I don’t like that name stick to Chris man.”

Maya is my wife. We have been together for…well, to be honest, I don’t actually know. We have two girls that are annoying but I love them to bits and couldn’t imagine my life without them.

“Whatever Christopher! So how did your job in London go?” She said as she walked downstairs.

“Yeah it went well. We almost had a scare but everyone pulled through.”

Maya doesn’t know what really went down and if she did… she would leave me and take the kids with no hesitation. I went to prison for a few months, just before our first daughter was born. When I got out I promised I’d leave my old habits behind but having a criminal record makes life hard in terms of getting a job. We have also gotten into serious debt so this heist is meant to clear it all.

“Well done, when are you going to work again?”

“No idea, but hopefully soon.” I scratched my head whilst walking away from her. I hated lying but it was for the greater good.

“Don’t walk away from me! We’re not done here… so what do you mean you have no idea? Isn’t this a permanent job? You do realise we’re in fucking debt, Chris! I had to beg those debt collector officers to come back in a month!”

“Look, Maya, I’m taking care of it. Just fucking trust me!” I hated arguing with her. Although I despised her calling me Christopher, whenever she’s mad she calls me Chris.

“Take care of what? You’ve been saying this for over a year now and still nothing Chris. How am I supposed to raise another child living like this?”

“Wait, what? What do you mean another child?” I was in shock.

“I’m fucking pregnant Chris!” echoed through my eardrums. I froze… I couldn’t believe what Maya had just said. Overwhelmed didn’t come close to how I felt. Tears began to trickle down her eyes, all I could do at this point was go to her and hold her.

“I promise that things will be better. Things will be changing soon.”

Hours gradually passed by, Maya and I decided to order Chinese and watch a movie since the kids were at her sisters for a few days.

“Can you hear that?”

“It’s the film, stop being a scared you’re a grown woman.” I laughed out loud

“No seriously can’t you hear that knocking noise.”

I lowered the volume of the film just to piss her off but to my surprise, she was actually right.

“Okay, since you were right you go check who’s at our door at 2am.” I was being dead serious but she gave me one of her looks.

“Okay, I’m going. Shit man the things I do for you!”

I dragged myself down the stairs reluctantly taking my long umbrella with me. Once I got to the door the knocking sound noise stopped but to make sure it was all clear I asked if anyone was still there.

“Who’s outside?”

“Open up I want a word with you.” A stern voice penetrated through the door

“I’m not opening the door, fuck off or I will call the police!”

“I am the police so open the fuck up or I’ll arrest you right here, right now!” Confused, to say the least, I didn’t know if this was real or not. I wasn’t sure what to do.

“Christopher! Who is it? What’s all that shouting?” The last thing I needed was Maya to know what was going on.

“It’s Omar, going to have a quick chat about something.”

“Look! I haven’t got time to be doing this, I know what you did in London earlier on. I know your history of petty crimes which I could bust you for right now but I want to make a deal with you. So have I got your attention?”

Suddenly the air felt thin, and I started finding it hard to breathe. My heart was banging against my chest. All I could possibly do now was hear him out.

“What’s the deal?” I gulped

“From the information I have I know you’re in debt and that you owe a dealer a large amount of money. That’s you why stole the diamonds. Am I correct?”

“Yes.” I agreed through the door.

“Okay, I know your partner Omar was a part of this heist as well. So at the moment, the both of you are looking at roughly 10 years each but that’s not including your other petty crimes, which would take it up to 15 years for you.”

I slowly sat down on the floor with my back against the door. I was absolutely finished, how could all of this happen after everything I have been through. My mind was spiraling out of control, but I realised he never said what the deal was.

“So what is the deal?”

“It’s simple. Double cross Omar and I’ll have your 15-year sentence cut down to 5 years which could be cut down further for good behavior.  Your debt will be cleared and your family will be relocated out of harms way.”

“What! What you’re asking me to do is wrong I can’t.” This felt like one big nightmare, I didn’t want to believe any of this was really happening.

“Think of your unborn child.”

My brain has stopped working like some sort of emergency shut down. Seconds later, I found myself pondering about how he knew about my unborn child. Did he plant a bug in the house to listen out for things or has he been keeping tabs on me for a while now?

“Look here’s a card with a number, when you decide to call me, we’ll go from there.”

A white card with a number written on it just like he said was slid under my door. The silence that fell afterwards was an indication that he had left. I picked myself up and staggered back upstairs into the bedroom. I found Maya fast asleep; she must have fallen asleep waiting for me to come back up.

Now that I was in bed I couldn’t stop thinking about the police officers deal. There’s still no proof that he was one, but with everything he said there’s no reason he would have lied. I just can’t give up Omar, I’ve known him since I was 14. He is my best friend… he’s had my back when nobody else did. He is practically family but I can’t afford to risk my family’s wellbeing and I need to see my new born child. These thoughts played in my head until I slowly drifted to sleep.

I found myself awake again a few hours later thanks to my phone ringing. I let it play out for a bit before answering since my ringtone was my favorite song.

“Bro! We have a huge problem. The police know we were involved but they can’t prove anything yet. We need to get rid of them diamonds tonight!”

So the early hours of this morning actually did happen, but how could Omar have known we were fucked? The only way is if the police officer that approached me approached him in a bid to double cross me. My head was spiraling out of control, I had to make my decision as soon as possible or prison would be my new home for the next 15 years.

“What! No way, I can’t afford to go prison my wife will take the kids away from me. I’ll set up the meet for tonight I’m so sorry things had to come to this bro.”

My mind was made up, I knew what had to do.

“Who were you talking to?” Maya walked into the room in her towel.

“Just Omar.”

“Well, I just want to let you know how proud I am of you Chris. I know you’re making a real effort.”

All I could do is smile but I felt sick to my stomach because I was going to betray my best friend. I spent the rest of the morning tactically planning out how I would go through everything. Once I figured out my move I was satisfied although regret plagued me. It came to the afternoon, which meant it was time to call back this number on the white card.

“I see you’ve come to your senses.”

“Listen up, I don’t know what kind of games you’re trying to play over here. I know you went to Omar to try double cross me, so by the sounds of things you are desperate. So this is the new deal, I give up the dealer and Omar for the 5 years in prison. My family get their debt cleared as well as being relocated from harms way.”

“Okay but I know this already.”

“I’m not done, I also want Omar’s daughter to get the kidney transplant she desperately needs and any medical attention for the foreseeable future. I want this all in writing or everything is off.” My heart was beating fast and my throat was getting dry.

“You’re smarter than you look but okay deal. Your car has a tracking device when you get to the dealer for the exchange, hug Omar and that’s when we’ll come in.” With that said the phone line went dead.

I took in a deep breath and let out a loud roaring sound. Maya wasn’t home so I didn’t need to hold back on how loud I was shouting. That phone conversation was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. My plan wasn’t over yet as now I had to inform the dealer that the exchange would need to happen tonight. Calling him wasn’t the best idea so I messaged him, surprisingly he messaged back within seconds with “Ok.” Now that all the hard work was over and done with, the only thing left to do now was eating, sleeping then to hit the road.

After waking up from my nap, it was time to pick up Omar but before then I made Maya stay at her sisters with the kids. If anything happened to them because of this I would never forgive myself. She didn’t ask any questions, which was odd but I think she knew I had to take care of something important.

Now in the car with Omar, I was in no talking mood at all. The stars in the sky were nonexistent, between us and the road arose puffs of grey fog. It was really happening, this was serious… I was going to fuck up this friendship for life. Is this how Judas felt? The silence in the car made me believe that my heartbeat could be heard, every gulp I took felt like an indication of my guilt. I felt as if I was going to crack, but I couldn’t. I made the best possible deal for Omar and me.

“We’re here,” I couldn't bare to look at him, I just wanted things to be over and done with quickly. This location was almost in the middle of nowhere and very spacious. Ahead, I could see two black vans with people standing in front but I couldn’t make out how many people exactly. Moments later we found ourselves face to face with what were three men including the dealer.

There in the middle stood the main man, this being the third time I’ve ever laid eyes on him. I’ve always wondered about the wrinkles on his face, but too scared to say anything about them. His eyes look like they had killed many men with how lifeless they appeared to be. Me stealing these diamonds for him was the debt I owed him for fucking up a drop a few weeks ago. In his hands, he held two big suitcases but I didn’t flinch at all when he lowered both to reveal the money. I knew I wasn’t seeing any of it, so nothing for me to get worked up about. Just by seeing Omar’s facial expression I knew he was full of joy, which killed me even more. I brought out one diamond from the bag to prove we had it.

“Let's do this and be on our way,” I said whilst putting the diamond back in the bag. My heart was racing and my hand with the bag was shaking. I turned to Omar handing him the bag and hugged him, “Sorry I had no choice, I can’t lose my family.”

“Freeze! Don’t move you are under arrest!”


A swarm of cars pulled up and had us all surrounded; everything seemed to move in slow motion. Omar turned to me; his face said it all as he fell to his knees in anguish. Only then had I realised what I had actually done. I couldn’t look at his face whilst driving here but now I knew, if I looked him in the eye I’d vomit out of disgust. Did I do the right thing?

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