LESLEY VIZAK - CRAZY LOVE

Lesley Vizak is a writer from Orlando, Florida studying Creative Writing.  Her work has previously been featured in The Hartford Informer. In her free time, you can find her either drawing in her sketch pad or at the gym.  You can follow her on twitter @lesleyvizak. 

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CRAZY LOVE

            They say he and I had been crazy. Well, for my ex and I, maybe for each other at some point, but now just in general. Or maybe we aren’t even crazy-Just two sane people thrown into an insane world. My momma always said I go for the overly enthusiastic ones.
            It was like John and I were magnets. I always pulled away but the harder you pull the closer you come together. For John and me it seemed like nobody else mattered and that it was only us. The world was ours to take and yes, we took a lot.  At this point in mid-January the air was filled with the smell of crisp pine trees and children’s laughter engulfed the streets. John and I sat in the local Starbucks coffee shop to go over plans for this week’s major hit.
            “What about the one on City Avenue?” he said, siring the end of his lukewarm hot chocolate.
            “That was hit last week by Gloria and Benjie.”
            “They always get the best locations,” said John.
            “Yeah, but don’t feel too sorry for yourself John, both are rotting in county jail right now.”
            “We always were better at planning weren’t we, Kitty?”
            “Well, we have yet to get caught.”
            “I’ll drink to that,” John said, gulping down the remaining hot chocolate which was probably cold by now.
            “Okay, so what about the one on Passyunk Avenue. They have never been hit before. Also, I heard the clerk is very lonely,” I said, raising an eyebrow up at my ex-lover.
            “It’s settled then,” John said, smashing his Starbucks cup down onto the tilted table. “Tomorrow Passyunk becomes our bitch.”
            It was early the next morning. I had let John stay over my apartment the night before for practical purposes only. He had slept on my old gray couch while I rolled out of my lumpy queen-sized mattress in the bedroom. I found myself missing John’s company, and I thought to myself: What if we get back together after this? But then I realized that we were better off as only business partners and nothing more, even if I wanted it. We quickly brushed our teeth and put on our costumes to pull off the job.
          I sat in the driver’s seat of my stolen silver Ford Fusion. I was always the driver in these situations. I pulled around the corner to let john out into the street. Confidently, John strutted into the bank. It was almost too easy.  I don’t know why but I had a weird feeling about this job. Like something wasn’t right. I had been in the car for a grueling thirty minutes when all of a sudden, I heard the sound of gunshots and breaking glass. I saw John sprint out of the bank and into the street with the money in his hand. With no time to think I stomped on the pedal of the car and went.  Not knowing where I was going or what had happened to John I sped away never looking back once.
            A few months later I returned to Philadelphia to gather some of my things. I wasn’t sure If I should even go back to see John or if he was going to name me as an accomplice. I was nervous it was going to be payback for leaving him but it was the right thing to do.  After all, we were married once. I walked over the clear Plexiglas and pulled up the dusty phone cord.
            “I’m sorry this happened to you,” I said, touching my freshly painted fingernails up against the glass.
            “What can you do?” he said with a sigh. “Things tend go wrong all the time in our profession.”
            “I never meant for you to end up here. I hope you know that.”
            “I know. I should be out soon. They only gave me four years.”
            “Can I come visit you?” I asked.
            “It’s probably best if you didn’t.”
            “Why not?”
            “I think you should go pay your respects to your mother at the cemetery. It’s her birthday, right?”
            “What does that have to do with anything?”
            “Just trust me,” John said while slowly getting up from his chair. “Say hi to her for me.”
            With that he hung up the phone and the guard dragged him away in chains.  Unsettled, I ran out of the prison into my car.  By the time I had gotten to the cemetery it was dark and empty except for all of its dead occupants.  I walked all the way into the very middle of the cemetery.  Surrounded by a varied number of random tombstones I found my mothers.  
I haven’t been here in years, I thought to myself.  Why would he want me to come here?  Then, I noticed something behind the grave.  It was a navy suit case with the money from the last job.  I quickly picked it up, blew a kiss to my mother’s grave, and got in my car never looking back.  This was no tragedy for John and me, but maybe this was a slow-revealed comedy of trial and error.  Maybe we had something more than just crazy love but extreme loyalty.