The summer moved slow, but he made it move faster. Working in the same store, with the same routine and the same people made it boring. The first days she had loved it. Meeting new people, helping them, talking about simple things like the weather or the new cookies that had arrived, but after three weeks those conversations got boring. The people got boring and the work got boring. Still, she didn't want to abandon her father and leaving him to do the work by himself, but she wouldn't mind to take a day of, go swimming or even taking a jog one day.

Well... at least Blake made sure her days weren't boring.

The bell rung, letting Aliyah know someone just walked into the store. It was a quiet day. It was almost closing, so there was not much for her left to do. She just stood behind the register, waiting for the last hour to pass by, so she could go home and take a nice long shower.

Blake hadn't stopped by, but that wasn't unusual. He didn't come by every day.

"Can I help you?" Aliyah asked to the man that had walked in. He wore black clothes, almost like Blake had, the first day she met him. His face was overshadowed by his hoodie and she couldn't see his hands. All the signs that told her that something was wrong, but she pushed that feeling away. Blake had acted the same way the first time too. She shouldn't judge books by its cover.

His hand moved slowly out of his pockets. Then he grabbed her shirt, tugged her towards him and wrapped his right arm over her chest, with a knife to her throat. "One sound and you're dead." He hissed. "Who else is here?"

"J-just my dad," she stammered. She once had seen a video on the internet on what to do when this happened, but she couldn't remember the right moves. And she knew that it would mean her end when she moved wrong.

"Don't lie to me!" he hissed in her ear.

"I'm not lying!" she said, trying not to sound like a scared cat, but she didn't feel like she was succeeding.

He yanked her chest. "Keep your voice down." He pushed her towards the register, while keeping the knife close to her throat. Sometimes she could feel the cold blade touching her skin. She knew that once he had slit the artery in her neck, she would bleed out in seconds. Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow. No, she didn't see that correctly. She looked again, but the shadow was gone.

"Open the register," the robber hissed at her, as he pushed her to the register. He stood only a couple meters beside her, looking around. He pulled a gun and pointed it to her.

Maybe she had seen it right. Maybe someone had seen her and was getting here to help her. Slowly she moved to the register and typed in a code that didn't exist.

"Move faster!" he growled, as he looked around. He was rushed.

The more she would stall, the more time she could buy the shadow she had seen. "I need to enter the code to open the register," she lied. In fact, she had closed off the computer and hit random buttons and then she hit the on-button again.

She knew that once she had opened the cash register, it was done. Luckily most of the big billets weren't in the register. They had a closed of box underneath the counter, where they had to deposit the bills above twenty dollars. This way, if they got robbed, they wouldn't lose a lot. Just exchange money. But still, every penny counts.

"Open the drawer!" He moved closer to her and pressed the barrel of the gun on her temple. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping this was just a bad dream.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," a deep voice said slowly.

Aliyah turned her head and saw Blake standing across the robber, with a gun in his hand. He pressed it against the robber's head, moving his finger slowly to the trigger. He grinned at her. "Quite a situation you got yourself into," he said.

Aliyah moved her hand underneath the register and hit the panic button. It would trigger an alarm in the storage room, her dad was doing paperwork in. She knew he would check the camera footage and would see them. He could alarm the police and they would come and help them. She just hoped they would get the right one and not Blake.

"Drop the gun," Blake hissed.

The robber did what Blake asked and dropped the gun on the floor. Aliyah rushed to the weapon and kicked it away from him. "He has a knife as well," Aliyah said. "Hand over the knife." Aliyah tried to sound tough, but she didn't feel that way. "Slowly."

"One wrong move and you'll end up with a bullet through your brain."

The man moved his hand slowly to his pockets and grabbed the knife that was folded inwards. Aliyah reached over and took the knife from his hands. She immediately dropped in next to the gun and stepped back.

In the distance she could hear the sirens. The police were on their way and would be there in a couple of minutes. She kept her eye on the robber, as they waited for the police to arrive.

Her dad came out of the storage room. "Aliyah!" he yelled.

She didn't look up. One move and the man could bolt. Blake too, didn't move, keeping his eye straight on the robber.

"Aliyah, move back from those criminals."

"I'm fine, dad," she said, not moving.

"Aliyah, do as you're told."

But Aliyah ignored her dad and didn't move. She waited for the police to arrive. The silence between the men and Aliyah was painful. Nobody dared to move an inch. The sirens got louder, until the police arrived with screeching tires and ran in with guns.

"Hands where we can see them!" they screamed at them.

For a second Blake didn't know what to do. He still held the gun to the head of the robber. Then he slowly put down the gun on the counter and put his hands up. They all put their hands up.

Aliyah slowly backed away, further towards the shelves with tobacco stacked on them.

The police approached them slowly, when they suddenly reached forward and pushed them on the ground. Blake laid face-down on the floor, next to the robber. The policeman on top of Blake grabbed his handcuffs and cuffed Blake.

The robber also got cuffed. The policemen yanked them on their feet and pushed them towards the door. One policeman grabbed the weapons. "Wait!" Aliyah said, before they disappeared. "He only helped out. He didn't do this," she said, pointing to Blake. "He's innocent."