Debbie flipped each light switch exactly six times. Checked the lock on the door six times, and even plugged and unplugged all the electronics six times. Nothing helped her calm down, her heart was still beating a million beats a second. The thought of Daisy's bloody mangled body lying on the floor of the convenience store jumped in and out of her mind like an uninvited guest.

Why didn'tI make her stay? Why didn't I go with her? Is she dead? Arrested? Why isn't she back yet? she thought over and over, pacing the apartment. Debbie decided to go through her rituals once again, starting in Daisy's room. Her thin pale fingers grasped the light switch like she was holding onto the side of a cliff for dear life.

On. Off. One. On. Off. Two. On. Off. Three

"Can you cut that out?" a male voice broke in from somewhere in the room. Debbie turned around, startled. Daisy's sixteen year old brother Dominic was reclining on Daisy's bed reading a book with the front cover torn off. They looked so alike, that for a moment Debbie felt comfort in his presence. They both had the same greasy black hair and pale skin, the only major difference being that Dominic was six feet tall, and Daisy was maybe 5'2" with heels on.

"You scared the shit out of me Dom." Debbie laughed uncomfortably. She removed her hand from the light switch and placed it over her heart. It was still beating far too fast. She returned back to the light switch to finish what she started.

"She's going to come back. She always does." Dominic said pulling himself off the bed over to where Debbie stood. "Plus she's with Tyler."

"HA." Debbie yelled the moment she heard Tyler's name. "Tyler would sell Daisy out for a carton of cigarettes and you know it." Debbie had flipped the switch off for the fourth time, when Dominic pulled her hand off the wall, grasping it in his own.

"I told you to cut it out. Doing your stupid rituals aren't going to bring Daisy back any quicker. Just relax."

"I have to do it two more times."

"No you don't.

"Dom please—" The front door opened, Debbie heard Daisy and Tyler laughing and her rapidly beating heart seemed to stop momentarily. Oh thank God she thought to herself following Dominic out of Daisy's bedroom after flipping the light switch on and off two more times.

Daisy and Tyler were drenched in sweat. Daisy's dark black eye makeup was smeared so heavily under her eyes she looked like a raccoon. Tyler's hands were cut up and bloody. They both flung their backpacks off their shoulders and onto the kitchen counter.

"What'd ya get?" Dominic asked as he watched Tyler unzip his backpack, letting candy bars, ramen noodles, chips and other quick meals flow from the bag. That was a usual take for them, considering not one of the four had "real jobs" and none of them knew how to cook.

"I got all the good stuff" Tyler laughed pulling a candy bar from his backpack and tossing it across the room to Dominic who tore into it like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Debbie leaned up against the fridge, staring at Daisy. "So that's what took y'all four hours? To shoplift some junk food." Debbie could feel Tyler glaring at her, but she refused to look his way. She had never liked Tyler from the first day she met him. Daisy brought him to their apartment so she could get ready for a date, and the minute Daisy was out of the room he tried to kiss her.

He didn't treat her right. He was always forcing her to come down to the pool hall in some skimpy outfit to distract the guys while he hustled and gambled away all the money Daisy got her hands on over the week. Sometimes he'd even smack her when he got drunk enough. But he told Daisy he loved her, and that was all Daisy ever wanted.

"Wait 'til you see what I got Deb." Daisy cheered spilling her bag onto the counter. Countless bills fell out of the backpack and onto the counter. Debbie watched a one hundred dollar bill float down slowly, and land gently upon her foot.

"How much is that?" Dominic gasped running over and grabbing a handful of bills from the counter.

"Five THOUSAND dollars." Daisy squealed jumping up and down. Tyler slid over to her wrapping his dark arm around her slim waist, pulling her into his side. Daisy pulled his face down to her own, giving him a long kiss.

Debbie walked out of the kitchen in disgust and sat down on their old ratty loveseat in the small living room.

"How could you possibly get this much from a convenience store, don't they usually not have any more than fifty dollars in the register?" Debbie asked without looking, hoping the question would pull the two lovers apart from each other.

Daisy pulled away from Tyler and smiled thinking about how diabolical and perfect her hold up went. "Well we were just planning on shoplifting to get some groceries." Daisy began as she walked over to her best friend Debbie and plopped down next to her. "We were just going to do the usual: have Tyler fill his backpack, while I flirted with that sleazy middle aged cashier and asked for his opinion on what cigarettes would look the sexiest dangling from my lips." Daisy stopped momentarily laughing too hard to continue. Debbie couldn't help but giggle along with her.

"But here's the thing-" Daisy declared dramatically. "-when we walked up I noticed the armored truck pulled up around the back. Apparently there's mega bucks in the power ball tonight, so everyone and their cousin came in to buy a lotto ticket. The safe was jam packed full of money, so the bank guy was there to take their deposits. Tyler and I threw on some masks, I pulled out my revolver and… well it was almost too easy. Of course they didn't want to get shot so they gave all the money to me. Then we ran. Tyler had to pull up the gate so we could slip in the back of the building. That's why his hands are all bloody, but other than that not a scratch on us!"

Debbie stood up as Daisy finished her story. Her mind was moving a mile a minute and her mouth was twitching at the opportunity to ask Daisy a million questions. Did anyone see you? Did anyone follow you? Where were the cops?

Finally Debbie just murmured out the question that was eating at her the most. The question that baffled her from the moment Daisy came in with such a risky and unplanned score "Why?"