The Night Guard

“Are you sure we should do this?” Aria whispered.

“Yeah,” Tyler replied. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“We’re only seventeen! I haven’t so much as stolen a Kit Kat, but you expect me to rob a mall?”

“Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. Trust me, I paid off my Tesla using stolen money.”

“That doesn’t make me want to trust you.”

“So here’s the plan: We’re going to find a way in, and then we’re going to find the most expensive jewelry store and steal that stuff.”

“Doesn’t sound much like a plan…”

“Just trust me. You do trust me, don’t you?”

“I don’t know…”

The Night Guard walked through the humongous halls of the mall. With every step, his keys jingled against his leg, and the sound softly echoed throughout the dark, deserted store. He fidgeted with his flashlight, dropping it a couple of times. As he turned the corner, he saw a shop area that was still lit. He walked toward it and saw the owner of the store locking up displays of jewelry. The Night Guard was impressed by some of the price tags on those cases. This shop’s prices ranged from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars.

“Sorry,” the man said to the Night Guard as he fidgeted through the many small keys on his key ring. “I’m still a little new here. I need to practice locking this all up faster.”

“Here’s a tip, put your keys in the order of when you lock them.”

“Hey, that’s actually smart. Thanks.” He locked the last case—one with a single diamond necklace—and then put out his hand toward the Night Guard. “I’m Julian, by the way.”

“Mark,” the Night Guard replied, shaking the outstretched hand.

“Nice meeting you. See you later.”

“See ya.”

“Look—someone’s opening that door. Come on, Aria, quick!”

Julian threw open the front door of the mall. It wasn’t hard to find his car—only three cars were parked in the whole lot. He knew one of them had to be Mark’s, and the other was a Tesla, so he definitely knew that one wasn’t his.

Behind him, hidden in the shadows, Tyler and Aria raced for the slowly closing door, but still trying to keep their footsteps muffled. Tyler caught the door an inch before it closed, and then held it open for Aria to get through. He closed it quickly, and the door was shut and latched before Julian turned around and wondered what all that noise was.

“Come on, down this way,” Tyler called to behind him.

“I know I’m coming… What’s that noise?”

Tyler stopped momentarily. The noise was a rhythmic jingling of keys.

“There must be a Night Guard,” he explained. “But don’t worry, he’s probably young and kinda dumb.”

Once Julian got to the car, he reached into his pocket and then swore out loud. He realized he had left his keys inside. He jogged back to the mall and reached for the door, but it was latched tight and wouldn’t budge. Swearing again, he pounded on the door in hopes that Mark would hear him.

“What’s that?” Aria whispered, stopping in her tracks as she heard a loud pounding echo through the whole mall.

Tyler turned around. “I don’t know—and what are you doing, standing in the middle of the hall? We’re supposed to be sneaking through the shadows and all that. Get over here!”

Aria quickly slid over to Tyler’s side as he kept creeping down the hall. He stopped at the next intersection and pointed to a shop down the hall by quite a bit.

“Do you see that shop?”

“Which shop?”

“The shop I’m pointing to.”

“I don’t know which one you’re pointing to!”

“Really? It’s not that dark?”

“Yeah, but the direction you’re pointing to is too vague!”

Tyler sighed. “Okay. I know there’s a shop down that hall that is a jewelry store. It’s fairly new. The previous owner of that space sold stuffed animals that were never more than seven dollars. But now, everything in that store could add up to almost a half million dollars.”

“But if we take everything they’re going to notice!”

“They’re going to notice no matter what. So either go big or go home. We won’t get caught, I promise.”

Mark heard the pounding of the door echoing. He thought maybe it was Julian; perhaps he forgot something. Mark turned around and swiftly walked the opposite direction. He passed Julian’s shop and then turned a right into the next hall.

“Hold your breath and blend into the shadows,” Tyler whispered quietly to Aria as the jangling of the Night Guard’s keys grew louder and faster. The Night Guard turned into their hall. They stayed perfectly still until he passed them and turned the corner into the hall they had come from earlier.

“Thank you,” Julian said as Mark let him inside the mall. “I forgot my keys in the shop.”

“No problem. I can come with you to get them.”

Aria and Tyler got to the shop, but the door was, of course, locked.

“How are we supposed to get in?” Aria asked.

“Don’t worry, it’ll come to us. This happens to me all the time. What we need is a key… or a distraction to get the Night Guard on the entire other side of the mall… actually, for the best results, both.”

“Okay, well even if we got in there, we’d still need the keys to the jewelry cases.”

“That’s why I have this,” Tyler said, pulling a pocket knife from his pocket. Then he looked past Aria’s shoulder and saw two figures coming down the hall. He slowly crouched down and backed away. Aria saw what he was looking at and did her best to imitate him.

“What’s that over there?” Julian asked Mark. “I think I saw some movement.”

“I think I saw it, too…” Mark pulled out his flashlight and shined it over the hallway. There was nothing. “Hm.” Mark put away the flashlight.

“That was a close one!” Aria whispered harshly to Tyler as they now crouched against the opposite wall. “They almost saw us!”

“But they didn’t! This is the most exciting part of the job! Aren’t you so lucky to be dating me?”

Aria didn’t respond to that. She only frowned, though it was so dark Tyler couldn’t see it.

“Look, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to sneak into that shop once they unlock it. Then I’m going to take the most expensive thing I see and we’re out of here. Hold my stuff for me.”

Tyler tossed his keys, pocket knife, and phone to Aria, sneaking away before she could stop him.

Julian unlocked the door and went to the other side of the shop and found his car keys by the cashier counter. Mark followed him inside.

“Got what you need?”

“Yep,” Julian said. “So I’ll be leaving—for real this time.”

Mark chuckled slightly. They left the store and Julian locked it behind him. Mark walked with Julian back to the front of the mall.

Tyler stood up.

He was inside the store now. He had slipped behind the Night Guard and the shop owner and hid behind a shelf until they left. Now, he walked around the shelves of jewelry around the shop. He couldn’t read most of the price tags in the darkness, so he searched for whatever seemed most expensive.

He spotted a a few diamond necklaces.

Unfortunately, his pocket knife was still with Aria. So, instead of taking the necklace, he grabbed two entire display cases filled with diamond necklaces. They were awkward to carry, but Tyler was able to get a grip on both of them as he dragged himself to the door.

Easy, Tyler thought. The job is done.

He reached for the door handle.

It wouldn’t move.

Tyler tried harder, but the door wouldn’t budge.

Through the shop window, Aria watched as Tyler struggled with the cases and the door. One case fell from his arm and hit the floor, scratching its wooden edge.

She couldn’t hear what he said next through the glass, but she knew it had to be one of his worst expletives.

Tyler set the other case on the ground and mouthed two words to Aria.

Help me.

Aria stared at him. She shrugged, as if to ask how.

Tyler pointed toward the window and then made a small poking motion with his hand.

Aria looked down at the things Tyler had given her. His keys. His phone. His pocket knife. The knife was what Tyler wanted her to use.

She looked back at Tyler. Aria slowly put everything into her hoodie pocket and shook her head.

Tyler’s expression changed instantly. A beautiful mix of confusion, disbelief, and outrage all in one, that Aria both thought were more priceless than the diamonds he carried, but also didn’t want to ever see again. She knew she was guilty, which she felt even though Tyler deserved it.

Before she could change her mind, Aria turned around and ran.

She heard the Night Guard’s keys jingling somewhere down the hall. She slid into the shadows and crouched as he passed, only slowly crawling down the hall until he was gone.

When she finally reached the front doors, she pushed one open as quietly as she could.

The mall was silent behind her.

Outside, two cars sat beneath the parking-lot lights. Aria ran toward Tyler’s Tesla.

She unlocked it using his keys, climbed inside, and drove away, only vaguely wondering what fate would come to Tyler.