Karma

Around 8:30pm on a Friday night, Robert was in the midst of tucking his 11 year old daughter Renee into bed. It seemed as if every night for the past 4 months, they have the same conversation.

“Dad… do you think you and mom will get back together?”

Robert drops his head and sighs, with tears in his eyes, he replies.

“I honestly don’t know honey, I love your mom deeply but I just don’t believe she wants to be with me anymore...and that’s okay because I will always love her and most importantly I love you more than anything.”

Renee smiles sadly as she goes to hug her dad. They embrace, Robert holds onto her tight and gives her the comfort that he knows she needs during this difficult time. The two finish hugging, exchange ‘I love you’ then Robert turns the light off in Renee’s room and goes downstairs into the living room.

Robert sits down on his lazy-boy and reaches over to check his cell phone, he sees a text message from his estranged wife, Tabitha.

“Hey Rob, change of plan for this weekend. I forgot that I have plans so I won’t be able to take Renee tomorrow. But my mom wants to see her though so can you please take her to my moms? Tell her I’m sorry and that I love her. Thanks.”

Robert rolls his eyes at Tabitha’s disinterest in seeing their daughter, ever since she left him months ago, she has only seen Renee twice over the span of 2 weekends. Angered that he had to break his daughters’ heart again, Robert doesn’t answer Tabitha as he needs to calm down. He gets up and heads to the kitchen to grab a beer. As Robert opens the beer can, he receives a call from his business partner, Monty.

Robert answers the call.

“Hey Mont, what’s up?” Robert says.

“Hey Rob, so I have the details for the job tomorrow night. It’s at the abandoned junkyard at the edge of town. Got some good intel that there is money in a safe and most likely will be some copper we can sell. Hopefully there could be more valuables there.” Monty replies.

“Okay, do you know what kind of safe it is? Because along with the copper and anything else we find, we will need a bigger truck.”

“Don’t worry, I got the transportation handled. Just be ready around 10pm tomorrow, I’ll pick you up at the usual spot. Just make sure to bring your tools for the lock.”

“Will do Mont, see you tomorrow. Let me know if anything changes.”

“You got it, night Rob.”

*CLICK* The call ends.

With a beer in his hand, Robert goes into his garage. In his garage there is a small safe with all the money he has saved from the robberies he has done over the last year with Monty. He only has around $10,000 but Robert and Monty weren’t big time thieves yet they were good enough at getting a decent amount of money as well as leaving no trace behind but still they were small time. Robert met Monty after he lost his business as a master locksmith over a year ago, Robert had known Monty to be a criminal but at the time, Robert had a family to provide for and wasn’t above getting his hands dirty to do so. Robert had planned to stop dealing with Monty after he had made $50,000 so that his family could sell his house and move closer to his mother but now without Tabitha, he felt more compelled to make his dream a reality for both him and Renee. Robert counts his money, locks the safe, finishes off his beer and then heads to bed.

The next morning around 7:00am, Renee opens her dads’ bedroom door to wake him up. She gets into the bed next to him and starts poking him in the face with her finger.

“Hellloooooo dad, it’s timmee to awaken!”

Robert covers his face with his blanket and moans “No.”

“Come on dad! We have to get ready, today I finally get to see mom!” “Aren’t you happy for me?” Renee asked.

Robert takes the blanket off his face and softly says to Renee,

“Now don’t get mad but mom…..”

Renee can see the look on her dads face that she has become way too familiar with, before he can finish his sentence, she darts off the bed and runs into her room slamming the door behind her. Robert gets himself out of bed and goes to her room. He knocks on the door before opening it, he sees Renee laying face down on the pillow crying.

Robert sits on the bed next to her, rubbing her back trying to comfort her.

“I know you’re disappointed toots, but there is some good news.”

“What?” Renee cries. “What can be good news? My mom hates me so much, she hates us so much that she doesn’t want to see you and especially not me.”

“Renee please stop, I know it’s hard for you but maybe mom is going through some things that she’d rather handle alone even if she doesn’t realize that she’s hurting you. Things will get better for you, for us, I promise.”

Renee doesn’t respond nor does she move. Robert talks again,

“How would you feel about going over to see Grandma Laura and Poppa George tonight instead? You can spend all day with them today and then I’ll come pick you up tomorrow afternoon. I know they really miss you and want to see you.”

Renee slowly lifts her head off her pillow, she turns her head to face her dad and he sees her red face with her hair stuck to her cheeks. She brushes the hair off her face, looks at her dad and smiles. Her face turns from sadness to happiness.

“Okay dad, let’s pack!”

Robert had been relaxing at home since dropping off his daughter earlier that day, at around 9:30pm so he began to get ready to leave to meet Monty. Robert grabs his duffle bag, filled with lock picks, gloves, flashlights and masks. He gets in his car and drives to a nearby park, waiting for Monty to come pick him up.

Shortly after Monty comes and gets Robert from the park, they head to the junkyard and Monty tells Robert a little bit of the layout of the area. Monty says that he will roam the yard itself for the copper and anything else valuable while Robert needs to get into the office and find any money as well as anything he thinks will be worth money.

An hour later they head into the junkyard, Robert and Monty go do their separate ways to complete the tasks. Monty starts walking into the yard with a barrel while Robert goes to the office door. Robert takes out the lock-pick from his duffle bag, he starts working on opening the door. After about 3 minutes he gets the door open, as he enters the door he notices that there are multiple safes all over the back wall. As he walks towards them, he notices a smaller office that is in the left corner, he heads towards that way. Before he gets to the doorway, he sees that the door is open and laid out all over the desk is piles of money. He can’t believe his eyes, he gets closer to the desk and he notices that it’s all hundred dollar bills. Robert can’t believe his eyes, there has to be at least $50,000 on the desk in cash. He grabs his cell phone and immediately called Monty,

“Monty! YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE IT! I HAVEN'T EVEN OPENED UP THE SAFES YET AND I FOUND A PILE OF CASH ON THE DESK YOU HAVE TO GET IN HERE!”

“HOLY SHIT! I'M RICH….WERE RICH! Just go to the truck and grab a bag, put all the money on the bag and finish opening those safes. I'll be almost done out here.”

Monty hangs up, Robert just stands there in disbelief that he has found so much money. After being frozen in place for at least 1 minute, he starts to walk back towards the safe in the front.. He opens up the first safe which is bigger than he is but there isn't anything in it, he goes to the next one that is the same size as the first but and again it's empty. Finally on the third safe that looks to be around 2.2 cubic feet, there is what looks to be around $10,000 and some books. There is a red and blue spiral notebook, when he opens the books there is nothing but lists of people next to certain drugs, and amounts of money. Leaving the safe open, Robert runs outside the office then goes to the truck and grabs the duffle bag. Running into the smaller officer, Robert starts shoving the money on the table into the bag as he’s doing this Monty runs into the office. Standing by Robert and the stash of cash in the duffle bag, he shouts “FUCKING CRAZY!” Robert smiles back at him.

“Okay, we need to get the fuck out of here. We’ve been here for way too long. What was in the safe?” Monty asks.

“Nothing in the bigger ones, but in the smaller one there are a few thousand in there.” Robert says.

“Alright fuck it, its small well just take it. Finish putting this money in this bag and I’ll grab the safe and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

As Robert and Monty get out the junkyard entrance, they run into the car and start talking about where to put this cash while they figure out what their next move is.

“Okay so I can’t keep this shit in my apartment.” Monty says, “So you can keep this in your house and we’ll just split it all 50/50. I assume Renee is not at the house?”

“No, she’s with family.” Robert states.

“Oh, she’s with Tab?.” Monty asks slyly.

“Uhh no actually she’s with the grandparents… we are fine to do anything at my house tonight.” says Robert.

“Okay, good.”

They back up the truck into the garage bay and start unloading the copper, safe and money. Robert grabs them both some beer, and they sit in the garage as they split up the money. After all is said and done, Robert and Monty both have $30,000 each.

“Alright Rob, I’m gonna take the copper and sell it then we’ll split that as well. Good job tonight, I’ll call you after I get the money. “

Monty grabs the duffle bag with his portion of the money, shakes Robert’s hand and walks out the garage. Robert closes the garage and just looks at his money in awe, he can’t believe the money that they found. He stares at his money and just thinks of all the possibilities that it will bring not only for himself but for his daughter as well. Robert puts the rest of his money in his personal safe and walks inside to the house.

The next morning Robert wakes up to a phone call from Monty, he picks up.

“Rob! We have a problem, I need you to meet me right now at Clancy's diner. We have an issue that needs to be fixed right now.”

Robert sits up in his bed, he starts to panic.

“What's wrong Mont? What happened? Are you okay?” Robert asks quickly.

“JUST MEET ME THERE NOW!” Monty screams then hangs up the phone.

*CLICK*

Robert hastily gets up, dresses and rushes out the door. He speeds over to the diner, fearing the worst. He pulls into the parking lot but doesn't see Montys’ car so he texts him.

“Where are you?” Robert texts.

Immediately Monty responds. “Drive into the back”

Robert pulls into the back and sees Montys’ car near the dumpsters, Robert gets out of his car and walks over to Montys’ car. He goes to pull on the passenger side door but it's locked. He looks into Montys’ car, motioning him to open it but Monty shakes his head and points over to the drivers’ door window. Robert looks at him oddly but does what Monty said. Monty rolls down his window and Robert leans down to meet Monty’s eye level, he gets hit on the back of his head and everything turns black.

A few hours later, Robert wakes up on the side of the road on the outside of town. With the sun beaming down on his face, Robert feels nothing but excruciating pain. He tries to stand up but can’t seem to get to his feet. He looks down at himself and sees that he has a few stab wounds on his legs and arms, he goes to reach for his cellphone but as he reaches for his pocket, he can feel his stomach and he thinks he has a few broken ribs. Finally getting to his feet, he realizes where he is at, he goes to grab his phone again but he doesn't have it. What the fuck happened? He thinks to himself.

The second thought that comes to his mind is his daughter, she was expecting him to get her at around noon but he knows it's definitely later. Without a second thought, he starts to walk back into town. Seven hours later, he finally makes it to Laura’s house. Sprinting towards the front door, he begins to pound on the door, after a few seconds the door swings open.

“What? What?” Laura screams. After realizing who it is, her face calms down.

“Robert...what are you doing here?” Before he can answer, Laura sees what he looks like.

“...What...what happened to you? Are you okay honey?” She asks.

“It’s nothing, where's Renee?” Robert asks, out of breath.

“She...oh my… Robert dear, Tabitha came and got her a few hours ago. She said she spoke with you and you told her you were no longer going to take care of Renee….” Laura says.

Roberts’ eyes basically bug out of his skull, he doesn't even respond to her instead he just starts going towards his house.

Within minutes, he gets to his house as he reaches for the door, he notices that the door is open. Slowly opening the door the rest of the way, Robert sees that his house is completely trashed. Everything is either torn up or smashed to pieces, he walks towards Renee’s room, there is nothing broken but her clothes and toys are gone. What? What is happening?

Robert starts to cry, he can’t understand what is going on. He tries to think about what happened, the last thing he remembers is Monty calling him earlier that morning about something that went wrong. He needs to call him so he rushes to the kitchen and sees that the house phone is still intact and it actually has a voicemail on it. He presses the button, and he can’t believe what he hears.

“Hi Rob...uh..it's Tabitha. I’m sure by now, you know that I took Renee. I think it’s best that this is the new situation...Renee belongs with her mother. I can give her what you can’t….also I am going to be filing officially for divorce… tell him (a voice in the background says)....I wanted to tell you before you hear it from anyone else that the reason I left was because….of …. Monty. Monty and I are together…..I’m sorry Rob, for everything.”

*CLICK*

Robert falls to the ground in shock. Was this the plan all along? You can take everything from me but NOT my daughter.

Robert decides to take action, he grabs the house phone and calls a local family lawyer. When the call is over, Robert feels content that he will be fighting for his daughter and that he will most likely get full custody.

Thinking in his head about how he will pay for the lawyer and his daughters’ future, Robert runs into the garage and goes to open his personal safe but it's open...everything is gone.

Robert couldn't control his rage, he was dumbfounded at the fact that he no longer had his daughter due to his wife taking her and then leaving him for Monty and then Monty who was supposed to be his business partner blindsided him by attacking him then robbing him. He had nothing, at that moment Robert felt an emptiness inside himself. He stood in the garage for a second and caught a glimpse of the stolen safe out of the corner of his eye, he grabbed a hammer out of the tool box and just started smashing the safe. Even though he was trying with all his might to damage the safe, it barely looked as if it had a scratch on it. Then suddenly he heard a *BANG* coming from inside the safe. Robert stopped, not sure if he had heard the right thing so he slowly walked towards the safe and saw that one side of the inside wall within the safe had fallen down. He bent down to see how it fell, and all of sudden he saw something in the wall...it was a small black notebook. Confused on why this notebook would be hidden inside the walls of the safe, he opened the notebook and it seemed to have intimate details of the junkyard owner somewhat like a diary. As he’s flipping through the notebook, he comes across a folded envelope with a driver's license, a social security card, a key and a piece of paper with a location and the number 206. Robert looks closely at the location and realizes that it's the national bank that’s located downtown, he takes the key out and examines it only to notice that it's a safe deposit box key. He puts the key inside his pocket and runs inside to wash up to go to the bank.

A few hours later, Robert walks inside the national bank and heads to a teller.

“Hello, I am here to open up my uncle's safety deposit box.” Robert says.

“Okay, one second. Are you on the list to view the deposit box?”

“I don't believe I am, my uncle passed away recently and he had left me the key along with the information of this bank to retrieve the items he had kept here.”

“Let me get my manager and we can see what we need to do.”

The teller calls her manager and briefs him on the situation, they are on the phone for several seconds before she hangs up.

“Sir, do you know your uncle's full name, social security number, address, and the number on his deposit box?”

Robert smiles and gives the teller the needed information.

“Perfect” The teller says. Getting up from the desk, “Follow me.”

Robert follows the teller into the back of the bank where security has to open a door, they get to a locked door where again it is needed to be opened by security.

After opening the door, the security guard walks away and the teller looks at Robert and says,

“Once you are done, please let me know.”

Robert nods and enters the room. The door is shut behind him. He looks for 206.

He finds it, he puts the key inside the lock and takes out a long metal box.

Opening the lid, Roberts eyes begin to bulge.

Inside he finds 6 gold bars, a small bag with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, some passports, international currency, stock in bitcoin, keys to a car and $20,000 in cash. Robert falls to his knees and begins to cry, he can’t believe it. He will be able to give his daughter everything she could ever need or dream of when he gets her back.