Falling For My Neighbor

“There. That’s the last box.” I drop the small box of yarn and kick it to join the mound of boxes in the new living room. Leaning against the wall, I slide down and take a chug from my water bottle. I am done. Almost. I have finally finished unloading my things from the U-Haul truck I rented out front. My new life is officially starting tomorrow and there is still sooo much unpacking to do!

As I take a small break, I peek at my phone. Shit! It’s already 4:39pm. I jump up from my spot on the floor, toss my water bottle onto my sofa and bolt out the door. After locking up, I race to the rental and jump inside to make my way to the closest U-Haul location. I read that they close at 5pm on Sundays and it is almost a 20-minute drive to the one nearest me. I push the pedal down and go as fast as I dare, praying to make it there in time and avoid having to pay for an additional day.

15 minutes later and I am pulling into the lot of U-Haul thanking my stars I’ve made in it time. I swear, whenever you’re in a hurry, it seems like everyone else on the road is determined to drive at a snail’s pace.

Sliding out of the U-Haul, I make my way to the office portion to hand in the keys. I take a seat on the bench outside and pull up the app for a cab to come grab me when I realize I forgot to grab my bag from the truck.

Remembering that I left it unlocked, I jog over to the truck, open the door and start rooting around for my bag. As soon as my fingers close around the strap and pull the bag to my chest, I hear the sound of a gun being cocked.

I freeze instantly, knowing that any sudden movements might startle the person and cause them to shoot. In my calmest voice I spoke, “Please don’t shoot. I won’t fight you. Just tell me what you want.”

I read somewhere that you were more likely to survive a robbery if you kept the person talking. I just hope that it had some truth to it.

“Don’t talk to me! Just shut up and give me the bag!” He has a younger voice and sounds nervous.

While I can only hope that means he will be less likely to shoot me and just take my bag and flee, I know nerves and a gun are a dangerous combination. I don’t have anything valuable in the bag anyway, just some gum, my license, and about 10 bucks. It’s my back-up purse for a reason. I’m just glad I left my actual purse at home.

I take a deep breath to steady myself. “Ok, I’m going to turn around and hand it to you. Let’s just keep a level head here.”

As I’m talking, I start to turn and that proves to be a mistake. The guy lunges at me and grabs my bag, pulling so hard that it throws me off balance. My hand gets caught up in the strap and with me being unbalanced, he must assume I’m attempting to fight back because he smacks me across the face with the gun, rips the bag away and takes off running.

I see stars as the ground rushes up to meet me. Grunting from the impact, I hear the sound of footsteps racing toward me. Someone shouting and warm hands probing my head are the last things I remember before everything fades away and my vision goes black.