Once the sun was up in the morning, Jamil was awoken by the stray sunlight that pierced through the roof of their house straight on his face. He strained his eyes and tried to brush off his sleepy eyes. He rubbed his itchy eyes sporadically as he got out of bed. Ashton was still fast asleep, lying like a moth on the bed.
Jamil finally got up from the bed and walked directly to the kitchen. There, he poured some water into a glass cup and rinsed his mouth with the water. He proceeded to spill out the content in his mouth out through the opened kitchen window.
He withdrew his clothes from the shelf and wore a shepherd's plaid trousers and a plain shirt. The fit he had on was the most expensive one he had ever bought for himself, a national treasure for him. Without wasting much time, he picked the coins Ashton had brought home the previous day and soon, he was out into the already bustling street. The fear from last night had finally been left in the shadows, it seemed the predator was never in existence-long forgotten amidst the days' activity.
****
Jamil came back home in an hour. Once he was leaving the house with just some coins and now, he was back with bulky grocery bags. He managed to get the door open with his leg because he felt it was unnecessary to drop the bags in his hands for the door-every normal boy would have opened or closed the door with their legs once in their life.
When he got inside, Ashton was already awake. He was standing by the TV scratching his butt like he had been bitten by a bedbug.
"Eh yo fucker!" were the first words Ashton said to Jamil. The words were like his own way of saying 'good morning'
"Go watch your mouth...I bought your favorite steamed buns!" Jamil announced unpacking the groceries.
At the mention of steamed buns, Ashton yelped 'yay!' in his mind and dashed towards the kitchen's table top to grab some water for his mouth. But, he stopped abruptly and turned back at Jamil. His gaze turning menacingly cold he said:
"Where did you get the money? Steamed buns cost a fortune. I know that well." Ashton's eyes narrowed. "Did you steal them?" He eventually asked.
Jamil shook his head in frustration and he subtly dropped the groceries he had in his hands. He pressed his weight on his hands as he laid them on the table then, he raised his laser beam eyes at Ashton.
"Try looking for your coins, Ashton," Jamil said, his voice firm. "I hope the tale you told about them is true and if it's not, be prepared for what is coming. I will definitely rip you apart!"
"Kah kah kah!" Ashton laughed moronically. "Bluffs" he added then turned away.
After breakfast, both boys settled into the couch while warming their throats with bitter coffee. Jamil winced at the bitter taste of the coffee sporadically, but Ashton was used to its bland taste. Jamil finally brought up their inconcludent conversation from the previous night.
"About your 'perfect crime' Ash" Jamil started, holding up two fingers in quotes of Ashton's perfect crime phrase which he said last night. "You never did tell me about the crime you will be indulging in"
"Oh!" Ashton said creepily, trying to sound surprised. "Did I not tell you?"
"You slept off! So, you did not tell me anything about it yet." Jamil hastily replied.
"Did I?" Ashton asked again, feigning ignorance.
Jamil was not taking Ashton's words lightly so he whooped Ashton with a jab in the chest making him spill his coffee onto the floor. "Will you open that damn mouth of yours and start talking already?"
Ashton coughed a bit and after a while, he regained his stance. A sly smile spread on his face as he looked at Jamil.
"Okay okay, fine. I will tell you" he laughed. He stretched his hand over to the small table in front of them and placed his coffee cup on it. He turned back to Jamil.
"I saw the notorious street bullies arsing behind the police vehicle yesterday. My assumption is that they might be locked behind bars for two weeks"
Jamil nodded trying to prove he was following Ashton's words. "So," Jamil started. "Why were they arrested?"
"That, I do not know. But two members out of eight were missing. What if we attack the other two members in an ambush and then get into a bigger fight with the detained members when they finally get released?" Ashton asked, with a proposal surprise.
For a minute, Jamil just stared at Ashton and then, he took another sip from his bitter coffee. He was getting a hang of it already. He suddenly started to laugh out loud making Ashton cringe.
Ashton felt a little bit embarrassed at Jamil's outburst but, what exactly seemed funny in what he just said? He relaxed back on the couch waiting for Jamil to stop his momentary madness.
"Sorry man," Jamil tried to apologize while calming himself from his sudden outburst. "That's what you call the ''perfect crime' huh? That's insane!"
"Are you helping out or not? I have to give it a shot at least." Ashton frowned.
"Hmmm" Jamil buzzed then finally nodded. "What do I help with?"
"That's the spirit man! The first tick on plan A is to…erm…wait for the boys to walk past this street."
"What?!" Jamil exclaimed.
***
The boys watched the street through their wrecked window. They sat beside the windows glaring outside for hours and as the minutes ticked by, there were no signs of their prey. Jamil hissed countless times at Ashton's plan. He felt stupid for tagging along with him on the quest to find two teenage gang member boys who were not lost in the first place.
Ashton's eyes were reeling already but he wasn't going to back off easily. He is the mastermind of the plan so, he has to monitor every movement or sight of their prey. He yawned and almost fell from the chair he was sitting on.
The street was pretty much empty by now and Ashton was dozing already. The wind howled softly through the street, the leaves were falling off the trees again and Ashton could feel the falling leaves tickle his skin, as the calm wind blew against his face. He was jolted up by Jamil's sudden touch. Jamil had ruffled a fallen leaf into his mouth.
"You're drooling, idiot!"
After what seemed like forever, two stray boys walked past their window- they were from the street gang. Ashton and Jamil bursted out of the house in pursuit of the boys. As they ran further, the boys as well weren't going to let their pursuer catch up with them easily.
"Fuck! You guys should hol'up" Ashton screamed at the boys relentlessly.
'Stupid?'
The preys continued to run without knowing the intent of them being chased. It wasn't a nice ordeal so they just continued running away. Soon, they rounded a corner getting into a lone alley. Jamil was getting tired already, but he dared not demotivate Ashton from running so he bared with it.
The run was maxing up to six minutes already and there were no signs the chase would be ending soon. Finally, Ashton and Jamil stopped at the end of the alley. The other end the preys were running to was blocked already. Death zone!
Jamil's breath was hot and harsh as he was breathing faster. His pulse rate was maxing over a hundred already. He looked up to their prey and instead of just two boys at the end of the alley, there were three people standing there. A man wearing a dark cloak which covered his entire body was also standing right there- at the end of the alley