User blog:SaenihpNnylf/You Stole My Heart Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke up on my own knowing that it was time for the second and almost more important part of a heist. The television I nabbed had really no value to us so I guess that leaves the question you may be wondering which is why I would steal something that has no value to us.

The simplest answer is that it has value to other people so now all that's left was to sell it. Use the money to pay the rent for our apartment and get that eviction notice removed from our front door for a short while and maybe even buy more food. In a perfect world, we would have more to sell but drunken Flaky had put an immediate hold on that and, as you know, Happy Tree Town is far from the perfect world.

I got off our ratty old mattress finding that Shifty was already awake and out of the room. This wasn't surprising. Shifty's always up first.

I headed out of the bedroom to find a hatless Shifty looking over the TV with careful consideration. Even though, overall, I am definitely the smarter twin, this step was Shifty's area of expertise so I normally let him handle it. "So, how much do you think we can get for the TV?"

"I'd say about forty dollars," Shifty answered, standing up and putting on his signature grin.

I couldn't believe it, forty whole dollars, plus all the food we were able to get from just one heist. That was a good haul for us. "Forty dollars? I hope you're right. That would give us just enough to finish paying off our rent for this month." I put on our signature grin as well. It was not uncommon for us to get evicted and thrown onto the streets so it was always a good feeling to see that sign removed.

"I know! And to think, if she was sober, we might not have made it out with this or the food."

I tested the idea in my head, part of it made sense but the flying candle made me think otherwise, not to mention, "If she was sober, she probably would have been asleep and we could have made it out with even more." I guess then wasn't really the time to be arguing what-ifs. "Look, just get your hat on and we'll get this down to the van so we can get it sold and move on."

"I don't have my hat." I certainly wasn't expecting that. He always had his hat. I was even surprised when I came out that he didn't have it on. "I think the candle she threw knocked it off." I knew that. "I never did pick it back up." That I didn't know or expect.

"You left your hat in Flaky's house?" I gasped, knowing exactly what that could mean and hating how casual he was talking about it. "Shifty, that can be used as evidence against us." I know, everyone knew that we were thieves but there was never enough evidence to actually nab us. It was bad enough that Flaky saw us there. She was probably too drunk to remember anything, but to actually leave physical evidence behind…

"I know. It was a mistake to leave it there but she was throwing shit at us and I didn't want to die and lose our loot again. You could have done the same if you had a hat." He reminded in a bit of a rough, defensive way. "I know it's evidence but our corpses would have been more evidence than my hat."

"We could have made it out with our lives and your hat. You could have at least tried to grab it the way you did the bag of food."

"I was more worried about the food than my hat and you should be too. Do I need to remind you when the last time we had a bite to eat before last night was? We agreed years ago that the worst way to die, even in this town, is to starve to death, so excuse me for trying to prevent that."

"I am worried about starving to death, but I'm also worried about being arrested." I reminded, thinking back to how awful prison is in Happy Tree Town with nothing to regulate Lumpy's control over anything, much less the prison.

"Then you might as well get out and live on the street because we're taking that risk every single day."

"That's not what I meant, Shifty. I don't want to give up being a thief. I know we can't afford to and I don't want to live on the streets."

"Good, then stop complaining and let's go sell a TV." Without waiting for a response, he lifted half of the TV and with a sigh I took my own half. "Good choice, Lifty. Plus it's funny when no one can tell the difference between us."

"Well, I don't think it's funny. I actually find it quite annoying." I counter, never liking being confused for my greedy and selfish brother when I'm nothing like that. I don't understand why friends can't see that. "I mean we look the same but we're so different."

"No we're practically the same person, Lift," he said, with a cocky smile as we headed down with the TV. I hate it when he calls me that nickname and I know he knows it. "You know, we're supposed to be brothers. You don't need to be ashamed to be like me." Shifty wore a shit-eating grin that almost made me want to knock out a few of his teeth. "I'm not that bad if you really think about it."

"Oh yeah, you're totally not that bad," I said with a sarcastic eye roll. "It's not like you've ever thrown me out of a hot air balloon or took my treasure leaving me in a burning submarine to die."

Shifty just shrugged it off as we made our way to the bottom of the stairwell. "So what? It's not like you didn't come back the next day. It's not like you weren't going to die no matter what I did. I died too you know."

"That doesn't make it any better." I growled as we headed out of the apartment building and to the van.

"Hey it's all the curse's fault, not mine." He laughed, loading the TV into the van and getting into the driver's seat and I got in the passenger's, getting even more upset. "Hey, just because I happen to be a weapon, doesn't make it my fault."

"It would still be nice if you would care more about me than the loot from our robberies." I grumbled, leaning back in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Well, now we're back to the conversation we had about my hat. I'm only trying to stop us from starving to death." He didn't say anything else as he drove off.

I didn't have anything else to say on the matter. As much as I hated being abandoned all the time, I did hate starving to death. It really is the worst way to die.

With neither of us saying anything, the short drive to our usual alleyway was long and boring and I just watched out the window.

There honestly wasn't a single word until Shifty stopped the car at our destination. "Alright, awkward car ride aside, let's sell a TV," Shifty said, throwing open his door with an announcing clang.

I got out of my side much more quietly. Even though I didn't need to, it was more of a force of habit. During the actual heist stage, it's always important to be as quiet as possible.

Before we could even get the television out of the back, Flaky ducked into the alleyway swaying a bit on her feet, Shifty's hat in one paw, the other clutching her own head, clearly in pain but she also looked pissed. She shoved the hat into my paws. "When I told you to leave, I didn't know you already stole something."

I handed the hat to Shifty, not looking away from Flaky. I don't know what I was thinking trying to explain this to her. "Look, I don't expect you to understand why we did it but we need that TV."

Shifty agreed but in a much ruder and more insensitive tone. "Yeah, and if you want it back, you'll have to pay us forty dollars for it. We stole that TV fair and square."

"Forty dollars? You have got to be kidding me?" I was surprised when she took a step towards me instead of backing away as I would have expected her to. "No way, I'm not paying forty dollars for my own TV."

"It's not your TV anymore, Dandruff," he said in the logic we've always used but the name calling was definitely unnecessary. "Anything we steal is automatically ours until we sell it."

"No, that's not how it works. I bought that TV; you obtained it illegally." She got up in our faces and showed no sign of backing down. "I could report you to Officer Lumpy right now. In fact, I will."

I stared her in the eye and called her confidently, "You're bluffing. If you were going to turn us into the police, you would have done it when you found Shifty's hat, not returned it."

She held my gaze for a while before sighing and saying, "Fine, I'm not going to tell Officer Lumpy but I'm still not leaving until I get my TV back and I'm not paying a single cent for it."

"Well, then you're going to be here all night because we don't give anything back without our fair payment," Shifty said, though I couldn't see, I knew his own gaze wasn't wavering. "We worked just as hard for that TV as you did. We deserve that forty dollars."

Flaky looked around us, clearly at the back of the van. I knew exactly what she was planning. "Don't even think about that. We're faster than you and will stop you by any means. You wouldn't stand a chance."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I can take care of myself pretty well," she said, with a confident smile and patted the back of her head. "I also have a natural defense unless you want to be impaled trying to stop me."

"I'd rather be impaled than wind up on the streets," I said without really thinking.

"Wait, the streets?" She took a step back, looking at us weird. "How would me taking back my TV wind you up on the streets?"

Shifty elbowed me in the ribs but I settled for the truth seeing no other explanation. "The truth is: we're flat broke. We need that forty dollars to pay rent and get the eviction notice removed from our door."

Flaky just stood there for a while, silently and I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that I told her the truth but she reached into her back pocket and pulled out forty coins, giving them to us. "So, now can I have my TV?"

"Of course you can." Shifty pocketed the money with a grin that I matched. "It's your TV again now. No one would ever buy anything from us if we straight up ripped them off."

Flaky nodded seeming much happier as Shifty and I took the television out of the van. "So, you need held getting this to your car?"

"Umm…" Flaky rubbed the back of her head. I wondered how she did so without cutting her hands on her quills. "Actually, I walked over here."

"You walked?" I raised an eyebrow and she hung her head, clearly ashamed. "How did you expect to get the TV all the way home?"

"Well… I expected to… carry it…" She was getting more and more nervous with every word. "I just… I don't like driving. I'll do it if it's too far but I avoid it as much as possible."

"Hmm… it seems this was one of the times you needed the car though, that TV's about two-hundred pounds." I thought about it, thought about the risks from Shifty before offering, "We could take you and the TV to your house in the van."

To my luck, the only thing Shifty had to cut in on the matter was, "For another five dollars, of course." Obviously, I expected that if he agreed to give the ride at all. He never does anything for free and I can't say I disagree with it.

Flaky, however, was not all for the idea. "No, I can handle it myself." She went to the TV and was actually able to pick it up but not without great struggle and it was obvious that she wasn't going to be carrying it anywhere. She clearly realized this too and set down to set with a sigh and pulled out five more coins, handing them to us. "Fine, I'll take the ride."

And that's how the three of us wound up sandwiched into the van, driving towards Flaky's house. There was no back seat and Flaky insisted that the back was two dangerous, which I had to agree so we all had to ride in the front, which wasn't made for three people.

I was nervous being so close to her quills but there was something I couldn't explain about being so close toher. Her eyes were transfixed on the dashboard, her paws on each side of her, and I couldn't read her face at all. Still, knowing here, I had a guess what was going through her head. "You scared?"

"I'm always scared," she whispered in a weak voice that I might have missed if my ears weren't so attuned to every little noise, her eyes not leaving the dashboard. "I'm just a worthless coward."

"You could have fooled me," I stated, actually getting to look at me with a curious gleam. "From what I've seen and heard, you can do some very brave things when you need to protect yourself or someone else. I don't think bravery is never being afraid; it's being afraid and doing it anyways. So, I think you're very brave." I shrugged and added, "Even then, you have every reason to be afraid."

Flaky smiled at that, but a nervous glimmer of a smile but a genuine smile that I was glad to be able to get out of her. "No one's ever called me brave before."

"Well, I only said it because I believe it." We weren't able to say anything else on the matter as Shifty parked the car in front of Flaky's house. "So, now do you need help getting the TV into your house?" I offered, getting out of the van so she can get out at least.

"No, I can get it from here," she insisted, getting out of the van and going to the back with an air of confidence. Probably refusing the help because she doesn't want to intentionally let us into her house.

As I got back in the van, we were surprised when she came around, carrying the television alone. "Wow, she really is strong. Not as strong as us but incredibly strong nonetheless."

"Extremely," Shifty agreed and even though I couldn't see him as I was still looking at Flaky as she undid her locks, I can imagine he was nodding. Then I imagine he took on a smirk. "So, what was all that between you two about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, feeling my face go hot. I hoped he was still as stupid as ever and would accept that as an answer with no further questions.