Chapter2
Damien
Damien’s brother had always told him that one day he would end up in jail. His brother, Wesley, was only two years his senior but sometimes seemed about ten. It had always been that way. Damien was always the mischievous one, curious about how far he could push himself as well as the boundaries of society. He hated rules and structure and liked nothing more than getting away with doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. They were both clearly intelligent from a very young age but Wesley knew what to do with that intelligence while Damien felt that he never found an outlet for it.
He refused to be a ‘suit and tie’ kind of guy and hated nothing more than the idea of working behind a desk in a stuffy office. He wanted freedom. So it was no surprise that it was Damien who had fallen in with the wrong crowd. The ‘cool kids’, he used to say, even though looking back he could see that there was nothing cool about them. They taught him all the things that he knew well today – how to steal and how to lie his way out of anything.
By the age of eighteen he had joined a group of misfits that called themselves ‘The Poison Ivy’s’ and their mission in life was to cause chaos upon anyone they deemed to deserve it. Back then it was mostly just a bit of fun. They were bored teenagers without anything else to do with their lives. They got together once a week, drank beers and swapped stories, then they’d go out and see what damage they could do. It was here where they discovered that having a job wasn’t necessary because stealing was a far quicker way to get money. Also, it was more fun, depending on who they stole it from.
They made it clear that they would only steal from those that deserved it – which generally meant rich men in suits or anyone who gave them attitude. Each time they’d run back to their meeting spot – Tom’s garage – and throw the wallets into the middle of the group. Then, they’d add the money up and divide it between them. That had been Tom’s idea. To divide the money equally. He said it would solidify them as a group and to make sure that nobody is better off than the next. They wanted to be equal in a world where inequality was rife. That was until the day that they found an extra wallet hidden in Tom’s back pocket. He swore that he had just forgotten about it but it was clear that he hadn’t. In that moment, it was as if everything they had worked together as a group came crashing down and from then on, it became each to their own.
But working alone wasn’t nearly as fun and soon Damien found another group to work with. They were big drinkers and their crimes were a little bit more severe than the ones that Damien was used to. They also stole but they didn’t just take wallets. They broke into cars, into homes, into shops – and it was here that Damien discovered that it wasn’t just about the money. It was about the thrill. There was something about the feeling of getting away with doing what you were not supposed to do that brought him back to his childhood. How he hated rules. He liked this group. They didn’t pretend to be best friends.
They all had the same goals and motivations and, while they often worked together, they also had no problems with working on their own. It was around this time where Damien and his brother had stopped talking. His brother worked hard, owned his own house and was starting a family and wanted nothing to do with Damien, who was the very opposite to him. Damien said that he didn’t care. He preferred to be alone.
And he was alone one day when a man in a suit that he had previously taken a wallet from came hurtling at him down the street. The man must’ve been watching him. He knocked Damien to the floor and then pulled out a gun.
“Whoa, man, please don’t shoot me. I just took your wallet, that’s all.”
“You can’t go around just taking people’s wallets. How can you think that it’s okay to do that? Don’t you know that I worked hard for my money? Don’t you think that it’s not fair that I had to tell my kids that someone assaulted me? How dare you!”
“Dude, please put the gun away. I can get back your wallet.”
“It’s not just about the wallet.”
And in that moment Damien knew that this man had been pushed too far. He could see it in his eyes. Damien wasn’t the first person to have done this to him, but Damien was the one that had set him over the edge. He knew by looking into this man's eyes, that he was about to pull the trigger. So it was to his great relief and surprise that someone came up behind that man and knocked him to the floor. That man was Tom. From then on, he and Tom became friends again and he knew that he owed his life to him. Tom joined his gang and the two started to do everything together. No more going out alone. They joined forces and only ever worked as a team. They had done that for almost twelve years. Twelve long years until Damien simply couldn’t do it anymore. He was thirty years old when he went up to Tom and said, “I’m out.”
It wasn’t easy to just go ‘out’ – not easy at all. For one, he’d made a lot of enemies along the way. For another, his ‘friends’ were now worried that he’d clean up his act and suddenly decide to spill the beans on them. And nobody wants to be told on, especially when getting told on would probably lead to jail. For Damien, it had happened slowly. After telling Tom that he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore he realized that it wasn’t going to work that way. Nothing was that easy. It was Tom who had advised him of this. The only way to truly get out was to start making yourself less visible. To go on less calls, to do less things, to have the odd excuse as to why you couldn’t attend a meeting. It was especially difficult when you were still involved with the Poison Ivy group because they didn’t take kindly to people who wanted to opt out.
For them, becoming a part of the ‘gang’, so to speak, was for life – it was like getting a tattoo without the choice of cover up or removal. And for a while, that was exactly what Damien had done. He’d backed off. Bit by bit. Until soon he was only out on the streets maybe once a week or once every two weeks. He’d found a job working for a carpenter and found that he actually quite enjoyed working for his money. Not only that but he found that he was good with his hands. And for the first time in a long time, he found himself belonging to a society that he never though he would belong in. Then, he moved to a different part of town. It wasn’t too far away – he still couldn’t afford things like plane trips. But it still meant he wasn’t accidentally bumping into gang members. And he was now closer to work. He’d made up something about needing to be there for family and they had accepted it. Family was the one thing that they all agreed was important. Well, some more than others. In a different part of town, with a new job and finally a new apartment, Damien found his new life start to unfold.
It had taken a long time for him to finally feel at ease out in the world even though years later, he still found himself looking over his shoulder each time he went out. And admittedly, he still sometimes considered taking the easy way out whenever he walked past an easy target. He’d get so close to doing something that he knew he would instantly regret and then he’d pull away at the last minute. He still wasn’t sure if he could ever truly shake off a past that had come so easily to him.
And then he met Hazel.
Hazel Josephine Rose was one of the most beautiful girls that Damien had ever met. She had dark brown hair that swished as she walked, darker eyes that held genuine kindness and a smile that was hard to ignore. From afar she looked quite normal. She was slim but not too slim, tall but not too tall. And yet, when Damien had seen her up close, he had known that she was going to be trouble for him. Trouble because there was no chance that he would be able to stay away. He couldn’t quite place what it was about her that had entranced him so much but she captivated him from the very beginning. Damien had been with plenty of girls in the past, and many could’ve easily passed for models. And yet it was Hazel that he thought about when he went to bed at night.
He had met her at a coffee shop. She’d been sitting with her head in a book and he’d walked past and knocked his coffee all over her. It hadn’t been on purpose. A waitress had walked past at the same moment and bumped him.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
It had gone all over her white blouse and some of it had landed on her book. He noted with interest that she had wiped furiously at the book and didn’t seem too worried about her clothes.
“Oh, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” She hadn’t even looked up. She was still trying to wipe the book.
“Here, let me help you.” He had grabbed a cloth from the counter and dabbed it over the book. He thought about dabbing her blouse too but figured that it wouldn’t go down so well. Especially given to where the stain had formed.
“Oh thank you, you shouldn’t have.” She had finally locked eyes with him and in that instant Damien had wondered if there truly was such a thing as love at first sight. It must be lust, he had thought and tried not to look at her now see-through top.
“Hang on, let me get you a coffee.”
She had protested but he had dashed up to order her a cup and then ordered himself another one at the same time. He brought them both to the table and then sat down. She didn’t seem to mind that he had now suddenly invited himself over.
“Thank you,” she said and took a sip, closing her eyes as she let the caffeine take hold of her. He did the same.
“The coffee’s good here. Although you wouldn’t think so the way I just threw it all over you.”
“That’s okay, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a caffeine shower.”
“And? Any good?” he asked.
“Hmm… not so much. Definitely better to drink it.”
“Great, I’ll keep that in mind. So, what are you reading?”
“Oh,” he noticed that she was blushing, “It’s a children’s book. Uh… I’m a teacher. I like to read the books first so that I know what’s going to happen before I read them out loud. You know, in case they have questions and stuff.”
“What age?”
“Seven to eight.”
“So how was the book?”
“Kind of cute to be honest. I’m starting to reconsider my goal of finishing War and Peace. Might as well stick to just kids’ books. They’re short, sweet, funny and filled with life lessons that you only quite understand when you’re an adult. It’s the school's book, which is why I was so worried about messing it up. I’m not really supposed to be taking the books outside of the school.”
She had whispered that last part and Damien had felt instantly bad that this was the worst thing that she had done in her life. What would she think if she knew what he had done?
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul. So, you haven’t told me what the book is called?”
She’d turned it over to show him and he had burst out laughing.
“When the cow went missing and the chicken had gone astray.”
“Also,” he had said between laughter, “adult books just don’t have the same amount of creativity when it comes to their titles. You know what, you’ve swayed me, I think I’m going to start reading children’s books now too.”
“Oh, you will not be sorry.”
And just like that the two of them had spent the next two hours chatting. Two more cups of coffee and no food, and they had basically staggered out of the café as if they were drunk.
“This high on caffeine thing is fantastic!” she exclaimed, her arms swinging wildly in the air. And when he had asked for her number she had agreed. Just like that.
Hazel Josephine Rose was the most beautiful girl that he had ever met – inside and out. The only problem was that she was too scared to fully let herself go, too afraid to trust again, all because of some asshole ex-boyfriend that didn’t know a good thing if it was staring right in front of him. And boy was she a good thing. The two of them had become friends who flirted just on the edge of no return. This went on for a good few months and Damien couldn’t imagine his life without her – even if they were nothing more than friends for that time. He wanted more but he didn’t want to push. And then, one night… one glorious night… she had allowed him in. And just like that, they were an item.
When Damien met her parents he thought that he had finally figured out what he wanted in life. He knew what he had been missing all along and he could also see just how much he had messed up. He had thought about his brother, who had once been his biggest ally, and knew that he had hurt him a great deal. For twelve long years, he had pulled away from society and never once allowed himself to love or be loved. Until Hazel.
But if there was ever such a thing as karma, it had come back to bite him on the backside, because the moment he thought that his life was finally where it should be, it all changed right before his eyes. All because of a past that he couldn’t seem to shake. All because of one phone call that he should never have taken.
The phone call. It was at Hazel’s lovely family lunch where his phone had rung. An unknown number he hadn’t thought twice about picking up. The last thing he had expected was for Tom to be on the other end. Tom who he hadn’t spoken to in almost two years.
“I need your help, Damien.”
“Tom, what the hell man? You know I’ve left all of that. How did you get my number?”
“Come on, Damien, you know there’s always a way.”
“What’s wrong, Tom?” Damien had sighed.
“Look, things have gotten bad around here. I’ve gotten myself into a whole heap of trouble and I am desperate for some money. I kind of agreed to help some guy out and I need your help.”
“What did you agree to?”
“He wants me to rob a bank for him.”
“What the hell, Tom?” Damien had said again. “That’s a lot bigger than just stealing wallets.”
“I know. Look, the bank opens super early on a Monday. 6am. So the plan is to go in early, like be there even before it opens, point the gun at them, get the money and go. The public doesn’t have to get involved and nobody needs to get hurt. In and out. A quick job.”
“Have you lost your mind? It’s a bank, dude, there’s going to be security.”
“Well, here’s the crazy part. We’ve been watching that bank for quite some time now, and for some reason the security only arrives at 6.30. Which gives us a full thirty minutes to do what we have to do. We can be out of there before anyone finds out.”
“Why do you keep saying we?”
“Damien, please. I need your help. I can’t do this by myself. You’ll get a big portion of what I get. I promise.”
“It’s not about the money, Tom. I’ve moved on. I actually have a job that I like now. It’s taken me a long time but I’ve finally gotten my shit together. I really don’t need this.”
“Damien, I hate to ask you this and I promise it will be the one and only time. But… you owe me.”
And Damien had sighed then. It was true. He owed Tom. Tom had saved his life. He couldn’t turn his back on him. Not after that. It will be quick, he told himself, in and out and then I’ll be in the clear for good. Then I can concentrate on a future with Hazel.
But Tom had been wrong. The security had arrived at ten minutes past six. Just as they were about to leave.