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A loud thud on the front door made Carl jump up from his seat, knocking the ash tray off the arm of the chair and in to Kyle’s lap. He looked out the window and saw two police officers at the front door. ‘Fuck. Wake up; the pigs are at the door’.
Kyle opened his eyes and saw a pile of ash and squashed joints on his lap.
‘Why is there ash on my lap?’
‘Hash? Yeah, I’ll have some of that’ said Scott wiping his eyes and stretching his arms in the air.
‘We need to get out of here, we must have been spotted last night by the shop’ said Carl as he grabbed his bag, making sure the knife was clean.
‘Chill out dude, they’ve got nothing on us’ said Kyle as he lit another joint.
Carl knocked it out of his hand.
‘There’s plenty on us, use your bloody brain. Open the skylight; we can get out on the roof’.
Kyle reluctantly pushed open the skylight and hauled himself up on to the roof.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Making a coffee, why?’ replied Scott, filling the kettle.
‘Get on the roof, unless you want to get arrested.
Scott grunted as he pulled himself through the skylight. Carl looked out of the window and saw another police car arriving. He looked at the knife on the side and thought for a moment before putting it inside his jacket and pulling himself through the skylight and on to the roof. ‘What now?’ asked Scott who was about to spit on the police. ‘Follow me’.
Carl ran along to the back of the building and jumped across a small alleyway to the street behind. Kyle made the jump and landed next to him, but Scott tripped on a loose brick and tumbled in to the alleyway, letting out a yelp.
‘You ok mate?’ said Kyle.
Scott looked at his ankle, which was sticking out more than it should.
‘Don’t think so, I’ve fucked my ankle’.
Carl rolled his eyes.
‘Can you get up?’
Scott tried to get up but the pain made him fall back on to the floor.
‘We can’t leave him there’ said Kyle lowering himself in to the alley.
‘The pigs will be looking for us; we can’t hang around here playing nurses’ said Carl.
‘If we leave him then he will get arrested’ said Kyle as he slid down a drain pipe and landed next to Scott.
Carl tutted under his breath as he looked around the alley and spotted something at the end. He ran along the building and slid down the wall, but lost his grip, sending him crashing on to the bonnet of a delivery van. He saw the door was open but no one inside. He rolled off the bonnet and winced in pain from a bruised back. ‘Oi, get away from my van!’
Carl looked behind him and saw a large man carrying a parcel attempt to run towards him. Carl jumped in the driver’s seat and threw the van in to reverse, jerking it backwards towards the delivery driver.
‘Shit!’ shouted the man as he launched himself sideways to avoid being hit.
Carl put it in first gear and floored the accelerator, turning the van in to the alley.
‘Get in the back’ said Carl.
Kyle smiled as he helped Scott in to the back of the van and sat down amongst the parcels.
‘Sweet, there’s got to be some good stuff in here’ said Kyle as he ripped open some boxes.
Carl accelerated out of the alley almost hitting the driver, who once again flung himself out of harm’s way and in to an open bin. ‘Thanks for getting me mate, think my ankle is screwed though, I might need to go to hospital’.
Carl was trying to think what to do.
‘We can’t go to hospital, the police will find us. Don’t worry, I have an idea’.
‘Do you need me to help with anything?’ asked Graham.
Harry walked in to the hall as saw that they had been burgled.
‘Oh no’.
‘What’s the mat...oh, shit’.
Harry walked through in to the kitchen and saw the dog bowel.
‘Oscar? Here boy’.
‘Look at the state of the place. Those bastard kids have been in Harry, I’m sure of it. Have they taken anything?’
Harry went in to his bedroom and broke down in tears.
‘They have taken Hazel’s jewellery. A lot of that was her mothers. Oh gosh, this is awful’.
Graham looked out of the window and saw Oscar digging a hole in the garden. He opened the window and whistled. Oscar looked up and ran towards the window.
‘I’ve found Oscar’ said Graham as Oscar launched himself at the window, knocking Graham to the floor.
‘Oscar, so glad you’re safe’ said Harry, burying his head in the thick fur.
‘Why don’t you go and make yourself a cup of tea and I’ll start tidying up in here. We need to phone the police again’ said Graham as he went to work picking up the furniture.
Harry went in to the garden and looked at his shed. Oscar had followed him and brought his pink ball to throw.
‘Not now boy, there is something important I need to do’.
Harry unlocked the shed door and went inside. He pulled back the tarpaulin and picked up his shotgun. Oscar cocked his head at him. ‘What have we got left boy? My dear Hazel has gone, the house has been violated and I don’t have many days left. This is something that I can control’.
Harry picked up the gun and sat down on the floor. He checked it was loaded and aimed it towards his head.
‘Now, don’t you worry about a thing boy. Graham will look after you very well. They own a shop you see and have plenty of treats. You’ll have a good life there’.
Oscar licked his hand as Harry closed his eyes and went to pull the
trigger.
‘Harry!’
Graham ran in and grabbed the gun from Harry.
‘What are you doing? You can’t kill the dog!’
Harry opened his eyes and saw Graham looking terrified, holding on to Oscar.
‘No, I wasn’t going to shoot Oscar. I was going to shoot myself’. ‘What? You were going to kill yourself?’
‘I have nothing left now Graham. Hazel is gone, the house has been ruined and I don’t want to live anymore’ said Harry breaking down in tears.
Graham put the gun down and gave Harry a hug.
‘I know things have been bad, but you have me and Heather; we’re not going anywhere. And Oscar needs you too’. Harry looked at Oscar.
‘I’m so sorry boy. I love you very much’.
Oscar gave his face a big lick.
‘Let’s get you both back to mine, and then I’ll get back to the hospital and check on Heather’.
‘Thank you. For everything’.
‘Where are we?’
Carl switched off the engine and got out of the van.
‘Please tell me we’re near a hospital, my ankle is twice the bloody size it normally is’ said Scott holding his leg in the air.
Carl opened the back door and ushered them out. Kyle helped Scott out of the van and looked around at the empty warehouse. ‘Where are we?’
Carl opened one of the doors to reveal a couple of old sofa’s, a fridge and a TV.
‘I used to stay here sometimes when I fell out with my mum. Has everything you need and no one ever comes out here. The place has been derelict for years’.
Kyle helped Scott on to sofa and opened the fridge, pulling out a cold beer and throwing it to Scott.
‘Put this on your ankle, it’ll stop it swelling’.
Scott opened it and took a few swigs first.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about this place? It’s awesome’.
Carl sat down and opened a beer.
‘Because it was my own private space. Somewhere I could get away to if things got too much. I couldn’t trust you to keep quiet about it anyway’.
Kyle ignored him and started to roll a joint.
‘How long are we going to stay out here for? Won’t the pigs still be looking for us?’ asked Scott.
‘Just until things calm down. Hardly anyone comes out this way so we’ll be fine for a couple of days’.
‘A couple of days? What the fuck are we going to eat for three days?’ said Kyle, almost chocking on his joint.
‘There’s some food in the cupboard behind the TV. I always kept a supply of snacks up here. Shit, how would you survive if it wasn’t for me looking after you’?
Kyle opened the cupboard and pulled out some crisps.
‘I’d survive fine. I’d just rob a shop if we ran out of food. Sure there must be one nearby’.
‘Nope, no shops for five miles. This building was built during the war and no one has used it since. Told you, no one comes out here so why would they need a shop? Dumb ass’.
Kyle flung a beer towards Carl, just missing his head and smashing in to a wall. Carl grabbed the knife that was on the floor and put it to Kyle’s throat.
‘Don’t you ever do that again, do you understand?’ Kyle nodded his head and didn’t say a word.
‘Chill out mate, he was only messing around’ said Scott looking worried.
Carl let go of Kyle and pointed the knife to Scott’s ankle.
‘I suggest you shut up as well or I’ll really fuck up your ankle. You idiots are the reason we’ve had to hide out here, and you’re the reason the police are after us. I told you both not to use a weapon in the robbery, and then you go and stab someone, so consider yourselves lucky that you’re still here’.
Scott and Kyle sat in shock for a moment, not sure what to say. ‘Just calm down ok, everything will be fine. Have a go on this’ said Kyle as he passed Carl the joint.
Carl took a long drag and sat back on the sofa.
‘Just give me time to think’.