This piece is something that I wrote some time ago. Not necessarily the best piece of work I have ever done, nor necessarily indicative of the rest of my writing, but it does have some elements that I can identify that are definitely my style. Arguably it's not the best thing to start off with, but I thought it'd be nice to put something in.
It was originally written for a short story competition, but when I read the winning pieces of that competition, it was obvious that they were looking for stories that were of an entirely different genre. Regardless, I hope that someone enjoys it.
The rhythmic pounding of Tyler’s heart threatened to drown the words coming from Aimee’s mouth. She slammed her fist down on the table startle him from the trance, and met his stupefied gaze with an angry glare.
“Tyler, pay attention!” She growled. “You have to concentrate if we’re going to do this properly. And we need to do it properly to pull it off.”
“I’m a little tense,” he admitted, struggling to quell the minute quivering of his hands. “I’m not sure whether we can do this. I don’t know that it’s a good idea.”
Aimee locked eyes with him, boring into his skull with her penetrating stare. “I know it’s a good idea, and that it’s going to work. You just have to make sure that you do what I tell you.” She licked her lips seductively, anticipating the outcome of the evening. “It’ll be all worthwhile.”
Tyler’s resolve withered with Aimee’s determination and innuendo, unable to contend with her passionate conviction. He reached forward and brushed her dark hair away from her face, then dropped his hand to cup her chin. Intoxicated as ever by her steadfast beauty, Tyler found himself nodding in unconscious agreement.
“Just trust me,” Aimee said, taking his hand in her own and lowering them to the table. “I’ll make sure everything works out.”
A resonant glow of courage filled Tyler as Aimee simpered at him, the corners of her mouth upturning in a striking infatuation. Her influence infused him with an innate inner strength that was as foreign to him as her impetuous nature. Aimee was overtly capricious in action and speech, presenting a strange dichotomy in her personality in contrast to her unwavering affection and determination. His heart quivered as he forced himself from his admiring introspection. “I trust you,” he whispered.
She laughed musically as she subtly beamed again. “I know you do.” Her expression instantly turned hard and she struck his hand. “So listen carefully! No more dreaming.”
Aimee wistfully described the plan to break in, her fingers dancing across sketched map of the grounds that Tyler knew without seeing. The house was more like a mansion than anything else, three expansive levels of bedrooms, bathrooms, staterooms and entertaining areas, all purported to be bedecked in the garb of the extravagantly rich. Aimee’s voice spoke grandiose tones, but her voice lowered to a mere whisper as she came to their prize.
“They are kept in a safe in the master bedroom, though I trust that you’ll be able to open it without much trouble?” The glint in her eyes betrayed the implicit trust she had in his ability.
He rolled his eyes in mock disdain. “I do it for a living,” he said. “Of course I can break into it.”
Aimee’s face broke into her subtle smile. “Good. We don’t want them to slip through our fingers.”
“Don’t worry, “ Tyler assured her. “We’ll get the diamonds.”
Aimee’s face flashed with fright at his words, as though the diamonds were a fleeting dream, and talking of them too loudly could cause them to vanish from existence. “Yes, we will. Let’s just make sure we do this right.” She ran over several final points, details that were insignificant in Tyler’s mind, but Aimee impressed the importance of even the smallest things.
She stopped talking and looked at him squarely. “Are you ready?” She asked.
Tyler merely nodded, not wanting to provoke further talk. Aimee understood and they both walked towards the mansion in silence marked only by the delicate smother of their feet on the soft grass.
The low stone fence surrounding the grounds proved only a minor nuisance to scale with their rope. Navigating their way silently towards the building through the throng of gardens was a greater challenge, the mass of dried leaves yearning to fill the night air with passive crunching. They approached the door tentatively, Aimee vigilant for any indication of another person’s presence as she motioned for Tyler to work the lock. Normal key locks were not Tyler’s specialty, but he still had the expertise to pick the lock in a short time.
Light filtered into the building through the multitude of windows, and their eyes barely had to adjust to the slight increase in darkness as they entered the main hallway. A silent understanding passed between them as they split directions, Tyler heading directly for the master bedroom while Aimee scouted the rest of the rooms.
Deliberate footsteps padded quietly upon the wooden floors as Tyler made his way towards the central staircase, the route ingrained in his memory from the map Aimee had forced him to study. A sudden creak arrested his movement, the disturbingly loud noise causing Tyler to anxiously check his surroundings. He halted for several moments before eventually convincing himself that he was alone. Tyler’s pace quickened to mount the stairs, then proceeded in a careful haste along the hallways to his destination.
Everything in the master bedroom was laid out as Aimee had described, lavishly adorned with refined beauty, sophisticated in its appearance without becoming haughty. Making his way to the back of the room, Tyler had no doubt that the painting covered the safe he was seeking. The troubling question of how Aimee had come by such details was a tinge of worry, but he ignored the thought as he revealed his objective.
The safe glared openly above the regal décor of the room, its bright steel lines breaking the muted aristocratic tones of the bedroom’s appeal. His fingers gently grasped the dial, and he caressed each click of the lock with his measured rotations. Scant time passed before the lock slotted into place, and Tyler pulled the door open as his fingers trembled in exhilaration.
The red cylinder cried for attention over the papers lying in the safe. Tyler pulled it out and uncapped it in a single, swift motion, exposing the treasure inside. An inimitable twinkle confirmed that the cylinder held the diamonds, and Tyler emptied some into his hand and marvelled at the clarity of their sparkling majesty. He stood momentarily spellbound before replacing the precious stones and sealing the container.
“Hold it right there!” The man’s voice pierced the silence with stern authority. “I’ve got my gun trained on you, and if you try anything, I will shoot. Raise your hands, slowly.”
Tyler was frozen in shock and fear, unable to will his body to move above the twitching that racked him.
“Raise your hands!” Yelled the man.
The tension seized Tyler with an unbreakable grip, his mind fleeting between ephemeral thoughts that disappeared before he could grasp them. Time passed in an instant, but dragged on for an eternity.
“Put your hands up now!” Screamed the man. He was slowly getting closer, taking measured steps in Tyler’s inaction.
A deafening crack split the air, the unmistakable sound of gunfire assaulting Tyler’s ears. His nerves utterly spent, he whirled about as he threw his arms in the air. A surreal image etched itself in Tyler’s vision as he took in the scene before him. The bloodied mark above the man’s dull eyes scarred Tyler’s memory as the lifeless body fell to the ground. Aimee’s face was implacable as she stared through the sights of the pistol she held in her rigid arms.
“What have you done?” Tyler stammered.
“What I needed to,” she answered coldly. She pointed the gun at him. “Now throw me the diamonds so I can get out of here.”
Emptiness filled Tyler’s mind as he struggled to comprehend her words, but the ominous barrel pointed at him left no room for misunderstanding. “What?”
“Throw me the diamonds, Tyler. I’m leaving. Alone.” Aimee eyes were stony with determination, an ineffable intensity evident in her harsh glare. “I will fire this gun again if you don’t.”
“But…” Tyler still wrestled with the depth of her betrayal.
“You fool,” she said disdainfully. “You really thought I was in with love you, didn’t you?” She chuckled callously, causing a chill to course through Tyler’s body. “I thought you might have realised, but obviously I was wrong. I’m surprised that you’re so unbelievable stupid.”
The bile in Tyler’s stomach burnt fervidly inside a pit of growing desolation. The gnawing illusion that he had suspended shattered brutally to slice through his heart with deadly efficiency. The effortlessness of Aimee’s lie had imbued him with an overwhelming passion, which now served to tear him apart as the ugly deception revealed the true intent of all her words and actions. He lifted the diamonds up reluctantly, “It was all just for these?”
“Just for those?” Aimee asked. “Just for a few million?” She looked incredulous. “It’s not a trifling amount. Well worth the small risk I’ve had to take.”
“You just killed a man!” Tyler yelled.
“And I’ll kill you too, Tyler,” she said. “Hand over those diamonds before you make me shoot again.”
He cast the container across the room in bleak fury, berating himself for his eager ignorance. The ignominious charity of hindsight cast Aimee in a light of truth, her intentions agonisingly evident from his new perspective, which only served to further expose his desperate clawing for the false affection she granted. “You’re going to kill me anyway,” he said, resigned in depression to the inevitability of his fate. “Just get it over with.”
“You’re stupid, Tyler, but you don’t deserve to die. I just never thought you’d have the guts to try and pull this off.” Aimee paused and smiled, considering her words as she appraised him. “I suppose my wiles,” she licked her lips with wicked seduction written in her eyes, “managed to convince you.” She lowered the gun slightly and squeezed the trigger.
A gruesome pain exploded in Tyler’s left leg as the bullet tore through his flesh. He shrieked as he collapsed to the ground in shocked agony. The ache that had shredded his heart from her words compounded with the lancing burn of his wounded thigh in a suffocating torture. His eyes bulged and shrank in a fevered, taunting throb that accompanied the pulsing of blood from his leg.
“Aimee,” he gasped.
“I don’t need you now, Tyler,” she said. “I don’t want you. I never wanted you.” She held up the container of diamonds, and smiled as she shook them. “Listen to that, Tyler. That’s what I came for, what I needed you for. I’m sure they’ll last me a while, or at least long enough for me to find someone else as gullible as you to help me with another heist.” She gave a conceited laugh, adoring her newfound future. “So long.” She turned on her heels as Tyler clutched at his leg.
The corpse that lay within arms length only served to magnify the pain of the wound. Tyler’s mind registered a realisation without conscious thought, and his arms instinctively reached out and clasped the dead man’s gun. The click of the safety was soft, but the distinctive noise was loud enough to force Aimee to turn.
“I can’t let you leave,” said Tyler. He held the gun steady despite the awkward tilt of his body and the agony of his injury. “You’re a murderer.”
“But you’re not,” she said. “You won’t kill me.” She disregarded his weak threat and turned to leave.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t shoot you,” he said.
Aimee stopped mid-turn and cast her gaze back at Tyler. “You’re not going to stop me, Tyler. I’m leaving with these. You need to decide whether you will let yourself live, or if you’re going to make me kill you.”
“I won’t let you get away with murder.”
Harsh laughter filled the room. “Someone willing to steal can’t take the high moral ground, Tyler.”
Revulsion flooded Tyler’s senses as he realised how easily he had been corrupted by desire. “No, but I’m sorry for what I’ve done,” he replied. “I’ll shoot you if I have to.” He hardened his voice as he tightened his grip on the pistol, aimed firmly at her legs.
The expression of Aimee’s face changed as she recognised a determination equally entrenched as her own. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” She sighed. Her right arm came up and around, drawing her gun towards Tyler.
Another shot exploded loudly, the noise hammering into Tyler’s ears as shock jarred his senses. Aimee’s gun was fixed upon him, her expression still compassionless. Tyler squeezed twice more, the bullets finding their mark in Aimee’s chest and head. A choked gasp escaped her lips as comprehension struck, her face chiselled in astonishment as her final thoughts raced through her mind. She collapsed without repentance, incensed in death at the resolve Tyler had never before shown.
Tyler dropped the pistol fearfully, his nerves unravelled by the choice he had been forced to make. He felt a horrid illness as the grandfather clock struck the hour, the deaths of two people sitting on his conscience. A sudden faintness overwhelmed him, and he greeted the bleak oblivion of unconsciousness with remorse, chastising himself for falling prey to Aimee’s fabrication. Streams of reflection passed through his mind pitying her, and never acknowledging her final shot to his stomach.
