We waited until sundown to trek to the house Brandon had predetermined would be our best bet. He knew nobody was home, knew where the hide-a-key was and more or less exactly what he wanted to grab. I was apprehensive to say the least.
I've come to learn that many junkies don't always commit crimes to feed there habit. Whether it's guts or morals or anything of that nature, it takes a certain type of mindset to be okay with knowingly committing a crime to feed your habit. Though this was not my first time breaking the law, I was having doubts that I was interested in going through with our plans. It was at that time Brandon called for my backpack.
The home was your average 2 parent 2 child home, 1 master bedroom, 2 kids rooms. Brandon had already finished up in the parents room and instructed me to tackle the kids rooms with my bag while he pillaged the living room, office and kitchen for whatever else was left.
I kind of poked around for a second. After all, I didn't know the place like Brandon. The older child of the family was a friend of his from high school. Someone he grew up with, played with on the playground. Now, this friend and his family had become no more then a mark.
I found a portable DVD player, laptop, money jar and a few other items before Brandon busted in the room and told me he was ready to depart.
Thievery on this level was pitiful and dangerous. The part of Vegas we were in (as most of the Clark county area) was always full of cops buzzing around looking for criminals. It was about a 2-3 mile hike back to the alley we would be calling home for the night but we wouldn't have to wait that long to score. When we reached Burger King the Mexican was already waiting for Brandon. The kid had the nerve to call his dude from the house phone in the home we had just robbed. Brandon took my backpack and rode off to the other side of the parking lot and hopped out with 2 empty backpacks and another mouthful of balloons.
"He took everything! I'll split it with you but next time we are selling out shit independent. Cool?" Brandon said
"That's fine." I said
I put my balloons in my mouth and headed towards the burger king to fix in the bathroom and told Brandon I'd be back at the alley in a few.
Fixing in a high traffic bathroom requires much skill if you don't want anyone knowing what your doing. I was getting used to it. Coming to grips with the fact that you are comfortable shooting speedballs in fast food bathrooms is something you would think wouldn't fall by the wayside. Not for me. I was proud. Maybe I didn't have many things to be proud of. Whatever the reason was I was getting cocky.
Now I just want to state that I wasn't trying to overdose. Push the limits? Yes. Get really high? Absolutely. However, as I pushed the plunger down I still remember thinking to myself;
"Oh no....... that was way too much."
I don't even remember hitting the ground. I don't exactly know how long I was lying there or how exactly the Burger King shift manager found out I was on the floor.
"Sir!!!! Sir!!! Wake up!" The shift manager said
As I woke up the man tried to hold me on the ground. I kicked him off and pulled the 1/2 full needle out of my arm all the while scrambling to pick up all the drugs that must have fallen out of my mouth when I collapsed.
"The police are on their way." the manager said
I didn't say a word. I just ran. Out of the bathroom. Out of the restaurant. Out of the shopping complex. To that point in my life that was the highest I had ever been. I could barely stay upright. My mind felt as though I must have been all over the place as I ran.
Our alley wasn't too far down the road. I hit the couch and didn't even wake Brandon sitting on the other side, the straw still dangling from his mouth with a trail on his foil that looked like he had smoked about a gram of dope before nodding out.
The next few days were more of the same. We hit houses during the day while people were at work and their kids were in school, sometimes 2 to 4 houses a day for about a week or so. Late one afternoon we came upon a house that was locked up tight but we could see that the alarm wasn't set from the window. Brandon also noticed that there were 2 laptops in the home office. I tried the windows and Brandon went around back. After trying all the windows I had decided to give up. As I rounded the corner to the back of the house I found Brandon trying to pry the backdoor open with a garden shovel he had found on the grass.
"We gotta get in there man my dude wants laptops." He said
"C'mon man it's locked up tight we'll get them somewhere else." I said
"Nah, I know what will get the door open!" He said
He leaned over and picked up a full sized cinder block that looked like it had been being used for a doorstop. Before I could say a word Brandon hurtled the concrete towards the window of the French door. It went straight through. I reached up and unlocked the door and just a so opened the door the alarm sounded.
"We should go!" I said
"No! We hurry!" Brandon said and ran for the laptops.
I started shoveling items into my bag in the living room. Xbox, wallet, jewelry and a digital camera. I met Brandon in the hall and just as we got close to each other the alarm stopped ringing. Startled we split up the rooms to finish the job. Seconds later I heard the backdoor open. Brandon quietly ran into the bathroom and I followed behind and noticed through the mirror at the end of the hall that the person that entered the house wasn't the police that I expected but a woman. A younger woman maybe 25 years old. I closed the bathroom door and quietly consulted with my accomplice.
"What do we do now?" I said
"Just stay in here I'll handle it." Brandon said and reached into his backpack and pulled out a pistol.
"Where the fuck did you get that?" I said
"The last house we hit." Brandon said
"Is it loaded?" I asked
"Yea but it doesn't matter I'm just gonna scare her then we go. Got it?" He said
"Keep your cool man." I said
Brandon walked the hall to the end and krept around the corner, gun raised.
"Don't scream! I'm not gonna hurt you as long as you keep quiet. Are you alone?" He said
The girl shook her head yes and Brandon kicked over a toolbox in the corner of the living room. I saw him toss the girl a roll of duct tape.
"Don't make it too lose or I'll do it." He said
The girl bound her legs and Brandon finished her wrists.
"Ok. We are gonna leave now.." Brandon said and was interrupted by the woman whaling. He proceeded to stick the barrel of the gun in her mouth. Her eyes widened and her sound was reduced to a whimper.
"Stop man! Leave her alone! Let's get the fuck outta here!" I yelled
"Just be quiet and this will be over in just a second." Brandon commanded
It was at that moment we heard the police cars pull up in the front yard. We both made quick tracks for the master bedroom's adjacent bathroom and hopped out the shower window. Leaving out that window wasn't easy. The window was over 5 feet in the air and there wasn't much room to squeeze through. I hit the ground in a bush in the side yard face first. My adrenaline was pumping so hard I didn't notice. I hopped up and was instantly in a full sprint down the side street.
We ran for what seemed like forever. I don't know for sure if we were the reason for the show, but by the time we made it to the taco shop down the road we could see a helicopter circling the neighborhood we had somehow managed to escape.
"Holy shit dude." I said
"That was too close!" Brandon said
"We gotta off this shit now. Call your dude. And SELL HIM THAT GUN!" I said
"For sure." Brandon said and headed for the pay phone.
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