Simple Robbery

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

With no one else on the platform, I gasped a cold breath when a hooded man pointed his knife at my stomach. The blade in his hand flashed a glint of moonlight. I stumbled backward.

“Don’t move.” A casual voice came from under the hood. A thick layer of shadow obscured his face. “If you shout, it won’t be pretty.”

By ‘won’t be pretty,’ does he mean spilling my guts and throwing me onto the rail?

I gulped.

My legs shook uncontrollably from the pressure of the knife on my hoodie. “P-Please don’t kill me.”

“Huh?” The hooded man tilted his head as if I had said one plus one equals three. “Of course not.”

“...” It took me a second to process his words. “R-Really?”

“Dude, robbers don’t kill,” he said, “We’re no murderers. There’s a big difference there. Jeez.”

Hm?

More than his words, his tone left my jaws agape.

Despite his saying, I couldn’t stop shaking. The imminent threat of my body with one more hole was too much to bear.

“What’s wrong?” the hooded man asked, a trace of genuine anxiety in his voice. “You look pale.”

“...” I eyed the knife.

“Oh. This?” He waved his knife. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not gonna stab you. It’s just for show.”

“Y-You mean it’s fake?”

“Nope.”

“...”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I promise, I won’t stab you. Just give me your money. Ok?”

Is this how people rob these days?

Despite sounding suspicious, his promise managed to give me a little peace of mind. “Then… can you put it away?”

“Huh?” Although I couldn’t see it, I thought he had raised his brows. Then, a burst of laughter exploded from his mouth. “Hahahaha. Dude! You’re funny! Good thing meeting you tonight. Hahaha.” He rubbed his stomach as if easing the ache from the laughter. “But sorry. You’ll just leg it if I do. You got some guts to ask, though. I like it.”

Even though he declined my request, his laughter gave me a weird sense of security. However, this much security was not enough.

“You know,” I said, “you don’t have to do this.”

“Hmm?” He stopped laughing. “You mean, if I ask you nicely, you’ll give me your money?”

“...”

I wanted to say yes, but lying might end up in bloodshed.

My blood, no doubt.

The hooded man chuckled. “I thought so.”

“...”

Giving up the hope of wavering him, I changed my strategy.

“How much do you need, then?”

“How much do you have?” He asked back in an instant.

Of course, I can’t outsmart him.

I retrieved my wallet from my pocket. Four red bank notes rested inside. I showed them to him.

“Four hundred? Not bad. Not bad.” The hooded man stuck his hand inside the shadow of his hood and moved it up and down. Probably rubbing his chin. “You had dinner, right?”

Why do you ask?

“Yes.”

“Good,” he said. “Where do you live?”

The question caused my brows to furrow.

Why should I tell you where I live?

As if hearing my thoughts, he apologized. “Let me change my question.” He paused for a moment. “Can you walk home after the train ride?”

Hesitated for a second, I answered, “It’s three kilometers from the station.”

“So you need a taxi.”

“Yes.”

“In that case, give me two hundred, then.”

“...” I blinked twice. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I said give me two hundred.” He lifted two fingers. “I can’t let you walk home in the middle of the night, can I? You might get robbed, you know.”

Oh.

Without any better choice, I handed the man two one-hundred-baht notes.

“Thanks.” Taking the notes from my hands, he pulled back his knife and put it in his pocket.

I sighed in relief.

Once the knife disappeared from the scene, I took a step back and stared at the hooded man.

“Can I go now?” I asked.

“Of course, you can.” He turned and looked at the rail. “But if you go now, you’ll definitely miss your train.”

When he finished his sentence, a faint metallic clatter came into my ears. I traced my eyes along the rail. A beam of light was making its way through the darkness.

“Time to go home.”

“...”

Is he for real?

“Can I ask you something?” I said.

“Go ahead.”

“Why are you doing this?”

The train stopped at the platform with its ear-piercing brake.

He chuckled. “One way or another, everyone robs these days. I’m just making it simple. You like it?”

“...”

“You should try it, sometimes,” he added.

When the door opened, the bogie was empty and nobody came out. The hooded man pointed his hand inside as if inviting me to his house.

Before I could enter the train, however, he grabbed my shoulder. His hand reached into the pocket.

Shit!

The knife flashed in his hand. I held my breath, bracing for the pain.

“Take this, would you?” He handed me the knife.

“What?”

“Let's say you bought it for two hundred baht.”

I looked at the knife and back at him, then took it into my pocket.

What could go wrong, right?

“Good,” he said. “Good.”

Once I entered the train, the hooded man waved goodbye. I forced a smile back.

When the train departed, I noticed that there was actually another passenger inside. His eyes fixed on the window.

“...”

Upon touching the knife in my pocket, a tingling sensation ran through my fingertips. With some thought, I pulled up my hood and went straight to the seat next to the lone passenger. The man gave me a questioning look. I ignored it. When he was about to turn back to the window, I flashed the knife out of my pocket and pointed it at him.

“Don’t move.” I tried to sound casual. “If you shout, it won’t be pretty.”