The robber turned around and stared at him. Jake might as well have hit him on the head with a marshmallow for all the good it did. Now, as Jake looked at the man up close, he saw the man had stubbly after-shave. He had beady black eyes that scared Jake. He had a piercing in his nose, and a small gold loop hanging from his ear. There was tattoo of a spider on his arm. Jake’s mom would kill him if he got a tattoo.
Those beady eyes looked at Jake with hatred. They stared at each other for seconds. Jake felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t he thought of the possibility that the robber might not have been affected by the blow? It’s too bad that that idea hadn’t been processed into his list of what-ifs. Then BOOM! As Jake had been wondering about his stupidity in his head, the robber decided it was his chance to punch Jake in the stomach. It hurt. It hurt like crazy. Well, the game was on now. Jake ran at the him, then laid it on him. It became a fist fight and Jake tried his best, but the thief had an unfair advantage: He was a grown man, a little beefy on top of it, whereas Jake was a skimpy 7th grader.
Jake realized that he was going to get hurt whether he fought this guy or he didn’t. So he figured that he should make the best of his pain, by annoying the man, or injuring him, which would be nice. So Jake taunted him.
“You know, you must have been born on a highway, because that’s where most accidents happen.” The robber replied with a grunt. Jake tried again: “When you were born something terrible happened.” The robber seemed to get angry for a second, but still didn’t say anything. Instead Jake got a blow to the stomach. “You’re a person that only people see in nightmares,” well for some reason that ticked the guy off. In reply he said:
“Would you just SHUT UP! You know I’m going easy on you. Think about what would happen if I wasn’t.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Try me.”
So Jake did. Jake punched and kicked. He managed to get the robber good in the shins, but the man just cursed some words that would have sent Jake straight to his room, had he said them in front of his mother. Finally the robber got irritated that Jake was still there with only a few bruises. And the robber decided he wasn’t going to play games anymore.
“The only reason I don’t rip you in half, is because I don’t want two of you around.” What the robber said proved to be true. Instead he chose another tactic: Strangling. Jake saw the robber reach out his arms before it happened, but he was a second too late. The robber closed his meaty hands around Jake’s neck, and Jake let out a small cry.
The hands around his neck were cold. He could feel (and sadly smell) the man’s putrid breath. He tried to put up a fight, but instead the hand around his throat got tighter. His face started turning blue. His eyes were popping out. He would surely lose consciousness if the hold around his neck didn’t go.
BAM!! The back door swung open, so hard, it almost flew off its hinges.
“Dad!” Jake tried to yell. The robber was so startled that he let the hold on Jake’s neck loosen, but it was still there. Then Jake’s dad went over to the man and slugged him so that he let go of Jake. After that they got into a fight. They were rolling around on the floor each cursing at each other and saying names that should never be repeated. Jake tried to cheer for his dad, but it’s hard to do after you’ve been strangled. After a few seconds of thought he decided to make himself useful, and call 9-1-1.
The woman on the other line immediately picked up, and asked what was the matter. Jake muttered five words: “Robber! 422, Jackson Road, help!” Then he was cut off as the man put a pair of scissors back on the counter. Jake’s dad lunged at the insane man, but missed by about an inch. Then Jake got into the fight too, but after a few seconds, together, he and his dad managed to pin the robber down.
Soon, they heard the annoying sound of police sirens wailing, but for once they didn’t sound so annoying. The policed immediately cuffed the robber and led him to the slammer. Jake hugged his dad, and said thanks. They went inside the car to go to the hospital, because the dad had a broken nose, and Jake needed to have his throat checked out.
When they were officially back home, they saw Jake’s mom sitting on the couch. Her face was as white as a sheet. They had completely forgotten about her. She must have been worried sick. Jake suddenly felt a little woozy. His mom tried to look mad, but was mostly relieved that they were ok. They ended up doing a group hug. His mom made the roast chicken, and they had a nice dinner. Jake’s mom ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead.
During dinner they relaxed and got prepared to watch their favorite Friday night show. They watched and a guy pulled out his cell. Then Jake remembered:
“So mom how about that cell phone?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mo-om!”
“Just kidding.”
“Whatever.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Fine.”
They did end up talking tomorrow. And Jake was able to play with his new phone by the end of the day.