The Burger King Criminals

It was midnight in New York City. Two crooks got out of a black van at the bank with the license plate covered with tape. The criminals, dressed in black, creep up to the door of the Capitol One Bank. As they attempt to pick the lock on the door, a dark figure creeps down the alley next to the bank. The lock clicks, and red lights start flashing and alarms scream. Startled by the sudden outburst of noise, the two thieves hesitate just long enough for the hooded figure to leap out. In a few swift cat like motions the figure has them both tightly tied to a light post just as the cops pull up. Three officers quickly got out of the car. As two of them untie the criminals and shove them in the back seat, the other walks over to the still-hooded hero.

“Well done, sir. You saved us a lot of trouble,” said the officer. Under the hood the officer saw the corners of the hero's mouth turn up into a grin as a gloved hand pulled the hood off and ran through long, wavy blonde hair. Her green eyes were blazing as she flicked her hair back off her shoulders and ran off leaving the officer in shock.

            She ran for six blocks until she got to a five-story apartment building. She got to her room marked Amanda Oliver and went in. She sat down on the couch and her cat Beans jumped on her lap. Amanda let out a long sigh and leaned back and fell asleep.

            The next morning Amanda woke up on the couch with her alarm screaming at her. She nearly jumped out of her skin because she only had ten minutes to get to work at the newspaper office. She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and ran a comb through her hair. She dumped out some cat food and ran out the door.

            As she walked quickly down the sidewalk, she couldn’t help but notice that people were staring and pointing at her. Though she was confused, she kept walking. As soon as she saw the white building, she started running. She pushed open the glass doors and people looked at her like she had just won the lottery. Someone must have noticed the confused look on her face because someone tossed her a copy of the newspaper. She took one glance at the paper, and her eyes went wide. There she was on the front page smiling at the police with her hood down.

            Amanda had always been so careful when she helped the police. She had always run away before the police had gotten there. They had just gotten there a little to quickly this time. I shouldn’t have taken my hood off, she thought. Now her secret was out, and there was no going back.

            After work, Amanda walked to Burger King to meet Sarah for lunch. When she walked in, she saw Sara sitting at a small table by the window. Amanda prepared herself for the questions that were sure to come considering that of all people, she didn’t tell her best friend about her adventures. Amanda smiled cautiously as she sat down across from Sarah. Sarah smiled back weakly.

“You saw the paper didn’t you.” Amanda said.

“Yes I did,” She answered.

There was a long silence after that. Their food was brought out, and they ate in silence. When they were finished, Sarah was the one who finally broke the silence.

“I just have one question,” she said.

Amanda nodded knowingly.

“How often does it happen?” she asked.

Amanda sighed.

“Once or twice every couple of weeks,” she replied.

Sarah nodded, smiled a fake smile, and walked away.

            When Amanda got back to her apartment, she stopped short. Around the corner two men were talking in low voices.

“We make our move tonight,” one of them said.

“I’ll meet you in the Burger King parking lot tonight at ten,” the other one said.

Amanda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Of course she didn’t know exactly what was happening. She thought about letting this one go and letting the police do their job, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. She decided that she would go and follow them to where ever they were going and call the police if anything happened.

            Nine o’clock came, and Amanda put on her black sweatshirt and pulled the hood up. She would keep the hood up this time. She left the apartment building at nine thirty and got to Burger King at nine forty five. She sat against the building for what seemed like a long time until finally at nine fifty nine, two black Cadillacs pulled into the lot. The two men got out of their cars and shook hands. They spoke to each other but Amanda wasn’t quite close enough to hear what they were saying. When they were finished, they both got into one car and drove away.

            As soon as they were out of the parking lot, Amanda ran after them. After a lot of running, the car finally pulled into a parking lot. Amanda immediately recognized the building as Sarah’s apartment building. Amanda had a terrible feeling about what was about to happen. The two men got out of the car and opened the trunk. They pulled out a small square box that said fragile on it. Amanda could feel her heart rate increasing. They opened the box and Amanda’s jaw dropped so low she thought it might hit the ground. The box was filled to the top with burger king coupons.

            Amanda felt like the stupidest person alive. Amanda was relieved, embarrassed, and a little disappointed. Amanda had always felt accomplished after taking down a criminal, and she was disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see some action that night, but her luck had changed because when she turned around, there was Sarah standing there with her arms crossed.

“What are you doing here?” Sarah asked.

Amanda hesitated to answer.

“Uh, I came to see you,” Amanda replied trying to sound as cheerful as she could. Amanda could tell that Sarah was not buying a word she was saying.

“Okay so I thought those two guys over there were breaking the law, so I just came to see what they were up to and then call the police. I’m sorry,” Amanda tilted her head down.

Sarah sighed and then to Amanda’s surprise, she smiled.

“So you’re not mad?” Amanda asked confused.

“If this is something you like to do then go for it. Just be careful. See you tomorrow at Burger king,” she said and walked back inside.

In the end, Amanda decided to take her hood down more often and to not jump to conclusions. Amanda spent the next year helping the police. After that she got married and moved into an actual house. She got a job as a news reporter, so she was still on the scene a lot. Amanda and Sarah still often went to burger king for lunch, and they lived happily ever after with their cat Beans. The end.