One of Two // JJ Maybank

the gold: four

we waited until dark to get the gold from our house. me, john b, and sarah were cramped in the front of the truck, while terrence, stubbs, and cleo, i finally learned her name, were in the back. we pulled up to the entrance of the gated community as john b spoke. "all right, this is it." he said, pulling up slowly.

the three in the back covered themselves with a tarp as me and sarah sat in the front, still pissed at john b, well mostly sarah. she turned her head to john b. "you lied." she said.

john b looked to her while driving up to the gate. "i am very aware of that, and i am very sorry." he replied. "and i shouldn't have gone."

i scoffed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "is the gold even there, john b?" i asked with a sarcastic chuckle, looking out the window.

he hesitated as sarah glared at him. "uh.. i think so." he replied slowly.

sarah threw her hands up in the air. "you think?" she said as we approached the window to enter through the gate.

we stopped and there was a security guard on the phone, who stopped to talk to us. "i'm actually coming to pick up my leaf blower from, um..." john b trailed off and looked to me and sarah.

we both rolled our eyes. "bay line." we whispered to him.

john b looked back to security and smiled. "bay line." he repeated. "i do a lot of work over there."

security nodded and waved his hand. "yep. go ahead." he said going back to the phone.

we all sighed of relief as john b drove through the gate, towards the house. he parked in front of the fountain of me and sarah's house as everyone got out. "let's make this fast." sarah said, closing the door on her side. i went into the plants and started looking for the spare key, while everyone else got the bags out.

"gotta be pretty rich to have a waterfall in your front yard." terrance said. i rolled my eyes and grabbed the shell the keys were in and started shaking it. "full of surprises aren't you two, miss rich." i didn't respond, neither did sarah as i got the keys out of the shell. "i absolutely love what you've done to the landscaping."

i shook my head as me sarah looked at each other with weird looks on our faces as i unlocked the front door. i let out a sigh as soon as it opened. "get in." terrance said to us. "we don't have all night. go."

i glared at him before i motioned my head towards the inside of the house. we walked inside. it smelled like the salt from the sea, making me miss coming here. we walked towards the vault as sarah and i squatted down by the keypad. "okay." sarah started.

terrance leaned against the wall. "showtime, girlie." he said impatiently. i rolled my eyes trying to think of the passcode to dad's safe. sarah looked to me. "you best remember that combo." she tried one but it didn't work.

i dragged my hands down my face. "um, try dad's birthday." i said slightly worried none of these combinations would work. sarah shook her head as the vault beeped.

"i knew i should've never listened to you." terrance started again.

i groaned. "just shut up and let us think." i shouted. terrance frowned at me before i turned back to sarah who tried to hold in a laugh "try it again." sarah put in dads birthday again and it didn't work. i tapped my chin trying to think. "use rose's birthday."

sarah put the combination in, pulled on the door but it didn't work once again. "chop-chop." terrance said. "if you don't get it open, i get my 50k consolation, okay?"

she turned and glared at him, as i scoffed. "we're trying." i retorted. i thought again for a moment and a small smile slipped on my face. "our birthday." i whispered.

sarah nodded, putting on our birthdays. march 14th. the door beeped as sarah turned the vault lock and it unlocked. a sigh of relief came out of my mouth. sarah opened the vault door and there it was. all 400 million in gold, in one place. "nice job, girls." terrance said with a chuckle.

he grabbed a piece of gold, looking at it carefully. "wow." cleo said impressed, looking at me and sarah with a smile as we stood back with john b.

terrance looked back at me and sarah. "i'll be damned." he mumbled, and he turned to stubbs. "go get the bags, stubbs." stubbs didn't move for a second, admiring the gold in front og him. "go get the goddamn duffel bags!" he shouted at stubbs, who quickly left.

"guys." stubbs said and we all looked towards him. "security's here!"

"fuck." i mumbled to myself. john b quickly closed the vault door as stubbs held the back door open for us, but before me john b, and sarah got out, terrance shut the door on us. 

i banged on the door as he stared at us. "terrance!" john b shouted. "what are you doing?"

he locked to door from the outside and looked back up at us. "you're the bait that's gonna slow them down. see you later." terrance said as he left quickly, following cleo and stubbs.

i pulled at my hair, looking at john b and sarah. "they're coming!" i said loudly. we all ran and hid behind the huge couch in the living room. 

we heard the door open and the cops entered the house. i pressed my back against the couch, holding my breath. sarah asked john b a question but she got shushed. john b looked to me and sarah. "i'll go upstairs and distract them." he whispered.

sarah shook her head quickly. "no. no. you'll get caught." she whispered back. 

john b sighed. "what else do we have?" he asked quietly. "spencer, stay with sarah."

i nodded and looked up for a second, thinking. then it hit me. "we have a boat here, in the cove, behind the property." i whispered. "we'll get the keys. meet us as soon as you can, okay?"

john b nodded as me and sarah got up and sprinted, trying to avoid the cops. we went out the side door from the front of the house, we climbed down the huge wall and i dropped down, landing on my knees. 

i quickly got up and ran to the one palm tree that was by us. sarah followed me closely, watching our surroundings. "give me the keys." we heard.

we spun around quickly to see terrance, who was pointing a gun at us, cleo, and stubbs. i held up my hands with the keys, gulping, standing close to sarah. "don't play with me, rich girl." he said sternly. "give me the keys!" me and sarah just glared at him. "you play silly games with me, baby, you get silly prizes. don't try me." 

i put down my hands, holding the keys tightly. terrance motioned to stubbs to get the keys. i stepped back as stubb grabbed my wrists harshly, trying to get the keys out of my hands but i fought. i tried prying his hand off my wrist. "no! no!" i yelled as he managed to open my hand to get them out.

terrance and stubbs started running to the boat as me and sarah turned to cleo, who i was actually starting to like her spunky attitude. she hesitated and started going backwards. "i'm sorry." she shouted as she ran towards the boat.

"we need to get john b" i said to sarah as we started to climb back up to the estate. we watched from below as john b was being dragged and hit by the cops. we quickly ran towards the side and stopped for a moment. the cops had our dad on the phone, video call. if they showed john b, who knew what would happen. i turned to sarah. "turn on the sprinklers."

she nodded and opened the power box right next to her. she pressed a few buttons and soon enough the sprinklers came on. i grabbed her hand and shoved her inside the hose hut. i heard footsteps approach as we held our breath, not making a single sound.