You owe me a breath

A table was covered with all sorts of weapons and telephones, and a group of five men were seated around it.

So today is the big day, and we all need to agree. We know the old man lives alone in this large house, so it will be easy to rob him. All we're going to do is make sure he's well tied up so we can find the house and take all the money inside. I'm sure we'll leave there rich.

Vodka, I want to be sure we don't kill anyone.

Whisky, don't act like a little girl. We're men, professional thieves. This isn't the first time, so trust us. Be sure of your initiation night as a professional thief. Then he burst out laughing. James and Rum, you'll pretend to be a couple of lost chaps. As for Beer, once we've checked the whole house, we'll let you in. For now, everyone goes back to their activities as if nothing had happened, Vodka.

They got up and left the room. James and Rhum worked as department salesmen in a large store, Vodka was a store salesman in a gas station, Beer was a gardener, every Monday cleaning the large garden of old Mr Roc, but Beer had never entered the house, Mr. Rock always received him outside, as for Whisky he lived alone and worked as a courier in a company in the town, every morning he came to drop off an order in front of Mr. Roc's large gate.

That evening, the gang sat around their table to finalize the plan. At 10:00 PM, they got into their car and headed towards Mr. Roc's large house, which was located outside of town. A few meters from the house, James and Rhum got out of the car disguised as hikers with backpacks on their backs, and then walked towards Mr. Roc's large house.

Once in front of the gate, which was wide open, they looked at each other with a surprised expression, then ventured into the large courtyard which faced the large house of Old Roc. Once in front of the house, James rang the doorbell, an old man of about sixty years old, elegantly dressed, opened the door, yes gentlemen, what can I do for you?,James spoke up. "We're hikers and we've gotten lost. We'd like to find a place to spend the night. Is it possible for you to put us up for tonight?" Mr. Roc looked at them intently, then smiled. "It's a pleasure to have visitors," said Mr. Roc, waving them in. James and Rhum went in. In front of them were the stairs, to their left a living room, and to their right the dining room.

Mr. Roc led them into the grand salon, and before them hung a large portrait of an elegantly dressed woman. Their eyes remained fixed on the portrait. Mr. Roc noticed their interest and approached with two glasses of whiskey. "Beautiful," he said, "my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Eleanor Beauvil. She managed to become a free slave long before the abolition of slavery." "Wow! She was beautiful," said Rhum. "Yes, and independent," added Mr. Roc. "In her time, not all women had the privilege of running an entire city."

They sat down and couldn't stop gazing at the portrait of Eleanor Beauvil.

Meanwhile, Vodka, Beer, and Whiskey were waiting in the car. They ate some sweets, then Vodka looked at his watch; it was 11:00 PM. Beer went to join the others. Beer got out of the car and headed towards the house. Once in front of the door, he rang the bell. Mr. Roc opened the door. "Beer, what are you doing here at this hour?" "Mr. Roc, I've come to see you because I have a problem. My wife is sick, and I have to take her to the hospital, otherwise she'll die," he said, crying. "Okay."

Calm down, Beer, give me a minute, I'll take you ahead," he turned, and immediately Beer hit him on the head, and Mr. Roc collapsed. Beer closed the door behind him and began to pull Mr. Roc's body, blood flowing from his head, and saw his friends sitting with glasses. "What are you doing here?" he said, shouting with all his might. They reacted as if he were waking from a dream.

We've been waiting for your signal for an hour already, what were you doing?" said Beer. "But we just arrived," replied Rum. He looked at them with their glasses in their hands. "I think you've drunk too much and leave me these glasses." He took his phone and called Vodka. The next minute, Vodka drove back into Mr. Roc's large property.

When they entered the house they found Mr. Roc tied to a chair in the dining room surrounded by James, Rum and Beer, what were you doing? You would have already finished searching this house for about fifteen minutes said Vodka, let's split up he said, whisky you stay here and you watch Mr. Roc, they separated and went in search of jewels and money.

Vodka opens the door and finds himself in a large office. He looked around and saw a large painting on the wall opposite the door. He rushed to move it, but couldn't. He put all his strength into it, but nothing worked; the painting was still in place. Then he stepped back to contemplate the painting, and there he saw a magnificent woman dressed elegantly in a style reminiscent of the Sixties. "How beautiful she is!" he said.

Meanwhile, James and Rum went upstairs along the corridor. James and Rum were surprised to see large portraits of a woman who resembled the woman in the portrait they had seen in the living room. They looked at each other. James continued and went to open the door opposite them. It opened and it was a bedroom. On the bedroom table, he saw chests with women's jewelry and luxury watches. Rum shouted, ''James come see! I think we've hit the jackpot!" He started.

He lifted the first jewelry box, but as he went to lift the second one, it slipped from his hands. At the same moment, Rhum heard a door open behind him. When he turned around and started shouting at the top of his lungs, James, Vodka, Beer, and Whiskey rushed to join him. They were all surprised to see a beautiful young woman standing right in front of them.

Who are you? And what are you doing here? Where is my father? They all looked at each other, then turned their gaze to Beer. Without hesitation, Vodka pushed her into the bedroom, lifted her up, and threw her onto the bed. He shouted, "Beer, bring me something to tie her up with!" And he did. They tied her to the bed. The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, "Leave me alone! Where is my father? What have you done to my father?"

"Shut up if you want to stay alive," Vodka said angrily. "James, you stay by the door and don't mess around." Then he went downstairs and continued searching for the money and the jewelry.

James heard a noise in the room, like something falling. He entered and found the girl tied to the bed. He stared at her intently and approached her, then lowered his trousers. Meanwhile, Rhum left the room with two chests of jewelry and luxury watches. He noticed James was no longer at the door and hurried over, entering the room where he found James on top of the girl. "What are you doing?" he shouted. Rhum didn't stop and continued, then abruptly stopped. He sat up, and James saw the girl half-naked and tied to the bed. Rhum had tied a handkerchief over her mouth.James felt his urges awaken and did the same. Rhum went downstairs, adjusting his trousers. Vodka and Beer passed him, their eyes suspicious. Vodka questioned him, "What have you done?" "Nothing!" he replied, glancing furtively at his friends. "Damn it!" Vodka shouted. He ran up the stairs, entered the room, and found James getting dressed. As for the girl, she was crying and screaming in pain, but no sound came out of her mouth. Rhum had made sure to tie a handkerchief over her mouth. "Damn it, what have you done? We already came here uncovered, and now you're turning this girl upside down!" Vodka said angrily.

Rum and Beer had followed him, what do we owe Beer, he hurried towards her and removed the mouthpiece attached to her mouth, daddy she cried, daddy where are YOU?, what have you done to my father she said crying and screaming, you will pay for this, I curse you all you will die in a wrong way, taken with anger he shouted, shut up and at the same time shot at the young girl, who received the bullet in the head.

Meanwhile, Whisky heard the gunshot and rushed to join the others. At the sight of the scene, Whisky shouted, "What have you done?" and began to cry, "We're done for!" Vodka shouted, "If I hadn't killed her, she would have denounced us!" They went outside and made sure to double-lock the door behind them.

Everyone sat around the dining room table. Whisky, visibly traumatized by the girl's body, he wasn't following the conversation and seemed lost in thought. "What's next, Vodka?" he asked. "You said we just had to take the jewelry and leave without hurting anyone. Now you've made us murderers." Vodka got up from his chair and went after Whisky, whom he punched. Beer, James, and Rum rushed to separate them. "We're thieves! Stop being such a wimp!" he shouted, and went back to sit down in his chair.

Whisky sat up and remained seated there for a few minutes. Whisky began to feel watched. He looked behind him and no longer saw Mr. Roc. "Guys!" he said in an annoyed and frightened tone. But they were focused on discussing how they were going to make the girl's body disappear. "Guys!" he shouted for the second time, but no one looked at him. As if for a second he was invisible to their eyes, then for the third time he shouted, "Guys!" frightened. "What do you want, Whisky?" replied Vodka angrily. "Look at the chair!" said Whisky. "What's wrong with this damn chair?" he replied to Vodka. And then all three looked at each other as if they had the same thought and shouted, "Where is Mr. Roc?"

Vodka headed straight for Whisky. "What have YOU done now?" He got in front of him and grabbed him by the shirt. "I didn't do anything," replied Whisky, frightened. Trembling, Beer, and the others rushed to separate them. "Calm down, think a little," said James. "We only had our backs to Whisky for a second and he would have untied him without us knowing." Whisky hurried to pick up the rope that was on the floor behind the chair. "Look," said Whisky, and showed them the rope, which was still tied just as Beer had done.

"So where did he go?" said Vodka, at his wit's end. "He didn't just disappear like that," he added, heading towards the large window. He saw a man starting a few meters from the house in the garden, looking in his direction. He frowned to get a good look. At the same moment, Rhum put his hand on his shoulder. He looked towards his friend, who asked him to calm down. Vodka looked level through the window and saw no one.

Then they heard footsteps as if someone was going up the stairs, the sound of footsteps was so loud that Whiskey put his hands over his ears and started shouting stop, when he opened his eyes he saw James pushing him from left to right, ARE YOU OK? , YOU started shouting like a madman he said.

Then they heard something like someone walking upstairs. Everyone looked at each other, without thinking twice. Vodka ran and took the stairs. The others did the same. They didn't see anyone enter the room above the dining room and there they found that the room was filled with portraits of different people dressed elegantly. Some portraits seemed empty, just a colored background without a person. They looked at them with a feeling that something was missing from these paintings, but none of them commented. They turned around and saw again a large portrait of Eleanor Beauvil who looked at them with an air of superiority. Everyone felt intimidated by the beauty of Eleanor Beauvil.