They were thrown to the ground by the sheer force of the blast, and there was a moment of silence before the dogs began to bark and lights were turned on.
In that moment, one word echoed in Kelly’s mind: RUN! So she did, followed by Mischia.
And they ran.
‘Where are we going?’ Asked Mischia, breathlessly. Kelly couldn’t think of anything better than ‘back to the alley...to get the money.’ It felt like they had been running for ages, when they finally arrived at the alley, where Kelly picked up the bin liner with the money in it, and sat on a crate, panting like a dog, and trying to get her breath back.
Mischia stood, feeling scared and distressed, she knew that something was very wrong, and Kelly knew what it was. Now wasn’t the time to ask for explanations, but she needed to know.
‘Are you going to explain to me now?’ she asked, turning to her friend.
‘DAMN!’ shouted Kelly.
‘Shhh!’ whispered Mischia.
‘Sorry.’
‘Kelly, what’s going on?’
‘Not now Mischia, we have to get away from here.’ She said, standing up and beginning to walk.
Mischia followed grudgingly, she was scared, frustrated, didn’t know what was going on, and was relying solely on Kelly, who was saying nothing.
Kelly stopped, and said ‘Ok, this is what we’re going to do. We’ll go to one of those hotels and stay there till morning. But we can’t go in there looking like this and with that,’ she pointed at the bin liner.
‘Tesco’s open twenty-four hours,’
Kelly nodded ‘Oh yeah...ok, I’ll go in and buy some clothes and stuff, then we’ll go to the hotel.’
They heard sirens in the distance, which seemed to speed them up.
While Kelly went shopping, Mischia waited outside Tesco’s with the bin liner. Twenty minutes later, Kelly returned with some bags.
‘Lets go over there,’ she said.
They went to a dark corner of the car park and packed the money into the new rucksacks, hurriedly got changed into the new clothes, and shoved the old ones into a recycling bin. Then walked to the Ibis hotel, and checked into a twin room.
‘Now you have no excuse Kelly,’ said Mischia. ‘tell me what’s going on?’
Kelly explained everything, from the time she was looking for the agency, to the time she came home, describing in detail everything she saw.
‘So what could it all mean?’ Mischia asked, after a long time.
‘I don’t know Misch,’ Kelly shook her head slowly, ‘I don’t know...I mean if it was because of the money, why did they come back, and bring more?’
That reminded them that they were in possession of a lot of money, so they began to count it.
‘That’s two hundred and fifty grand Kelly,’ said Mischia, rubbing her face nervously, ‘in twenties.’
‘Fuck me! We’re in trouble now Mischia. What the hell have I done? I’m so sorry.’ Kelly started to cry.
The memory of the past few hours made Mischia cry as well, and the two friends sat hugging each other, tears streaming down their faces.
Mischia was beginning to doze off when she heard a light tap on the door, and something slip under it. She went to get the envelope and opened it. The card was similar to the one they’d received earlier, but the words were different: GET OUT NOW! It said.
She shook Kelly, who was immediately awake after reading the card. They moved quickly, putting on their shoes, collecting their belongings and running straight out of the room, then out of the hotel.
It was still dark outside. Briskly walking away and just about to turn the corner, they saw a police car approach them and slow down.
‘Don’t look guilty’ instructed Kelly.
As the car got closer, their hearts beat faster and they considered running, but wouldn’t that cause suspicion?
‘You alright?’ asked the policewoman.
‘Yeah.’ said Kelly, nodding.
Mischia smiled.
It drove off, and when it had turned to enter the Ibis Hotel, they ran to the bus stop outside Tesco’s where, after fifteen minutes, a bus turned up. They got on it, and there were a few people on the top deck on their way to work. Kelly sat down next to Mischia, but neither said a word, both lost in their own thoughts.
It was approaching 6am and there were more buses around, so they got off at East Ham and took a 238 to Stratford. Sleep was desperately needed, so they went to the Ibis Hotel in Stratford, and checked into a room on the third floor.
They were asleep within five minutes.
Two hours later, Kelly was woken up by hunger pangs. She shook Mischia awake and told her that she was going to buy something to eat for them.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Mischia said.
‘You don’t have to, I’m only going to McDonalds.’
‘Are you crazy? You’re not leaving me here alone.’
So, together, they went to McDonalds.
‘You ok?’ Kelly asked, biting into a hash brown.
Mischia nodded, sipping hot chocolate.
Kelly stared off into space.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘What’s wrong?...Girl, we’re in trouble with somebody, and everything’s just so messed up.’ Kelly rubbed between her eyes.
‘I know.’
‘Our house blew up, we have a lot of money, that’s not ours, and somebody’s trying to kill us. What are we going to do Mish?’ A sob caught in Kelly’s throat.
Mischia took her hand. ‘Don’t cry, you’ll get me started next. Imagine trying to explain that?’ She looked around.
They both smiled tiredly.
‘Maybe we should go back and get some sleep eh?’ She said.
‘Yeah.’ Kelly nodded ‘Then we can leave around midday and figure out what the hell to do with ourselves. I’m so tired, I can’t think straight.’
‘Tell me about it.’
At the hotel, while walking to their room, they were alerted by voices coming from inside, and stopped to listen.
‘...were here...checked...morning...’ a man was saying.
Kelly and Mischia looked at each other and turned on their heels, briskly walking out of the hotel, trying not to attract attention to themselves by running.
‘Stratford station’s this way,’ said Mischia, steering Kelly.
At the station, they bought two travel cards and went onto the platform.
‘It’s better if we keep moving, you know, stay with the crowds,’ said Kelly, nervously looking around, as the train pulled in.
The carriage was full of people on their way to work, so they didn’t get a seat, and stood by the doors.
When they’d pulled into Oxford Circus, Kelly whispered ‘What if we went back to the place I first took the money?’
‘What good will that do?’ Frowned Mischia, noticing a newspaper being read by a man sitting down.
The headline shocked her: ‘THREE DEAD IN BARKING EXPLOSION!’
She nudged Kelly with her elbow, nodded at the newspaper for her to read, and felt her stiffen.
When they pulled into Bond Street, Kelly said ‘let’s go.’
Mischia looked at the newspaper one more time before following. It was nearly 11am, and Oxford Street was steadily filling up with shoppers. They wandered aimlessly in the direction of Marble Arch, not knowing where they were going or what they were going to do. They didn’t know who was after them or why, but they did know that whoever it was wanted them dead.
Kelly bumped into a man, interrupting her thoughts, Mischia did the same.
‘Morning girls,’ said the man Kelly had bumped into.
‘You’re coming with us today,’ said the one Mischia had bumped into.
And they both had guns.