The Heist by Sylas L. Bento...

There were whispers in the darkness. There was a flash of 

lightning before she felt the pull. Lonnie's eyes snapped open. 

Her mind raced forward but her body lagged behind her, muscles
still laden with the discombobulation of sleep. She strained against it, 

fighting valiantly to sit upright. Her tenacity was rewarded and 

revealed that she was the last to wake. Bonnie and
Connie were sat up, waiting for her.

"Uh?"
"Sshh!!"

Bonnie urged as the sound left her mouth. Roughly 

clapping her plump hand over her sister's mouth. Lonnie 

huffed, rubbing the sleep from her eye with the back of 

her hand, but did as she was told. A familiar bolt of lightning 

caressed her synapses, bringing with it the image of their
conquest. Lonnie was skeptical. But she didn't want to be left out.

First, they needed to take care of the spy. Six eyes landed 

on the figure slumped in the corner simultaneously. His beady 

black eyes stared back at them, unflinching. Lonnie could hear the
low whirring that came from somewhere in the squashy parts of 

his soft hairy body. Bonnie wasted no time, turning her attention 

to Connie and giving her an encouraging shove in the
hairy figure's direction. Connie's head snapped up and down 

in agreement to Bonnie's wordless orchestrating before she 

tottered over to the interloper.

Connie subdued him easily, clamping her small fist over 

the large polka-dotted bow around his neck. She dragged him 

unceremoniously to the other end of the crib in which they slept, its
gated walls loomed far above her. Connie strained her neck 

trying to find the top, but it was swallowed up by the dark pit 

of the ceiling. Connie trusted Bonnie. Her sister was never wrong.
Connie took a deep breath and readjusted her grip, grabbing hold 

of his short round tail and one of his half-moon ears. Connie 

shut her eyes tightly as she focused. A spark ignited in her center,
setting her muscles ablaze. She heaved with all her might and 

sent the fuzzy beast sailing into the darkness above. Lonnie 

heard it fall to the ground below with a thud.

Bonnie was smug, things were going smoothly. Connie was 

getting stronger by the day. Their next steps relied upon that. 

Bonnie and Lonnie rallied around their sister, who threw them up
and over the wall of the crib, using the ousted spy as a landing pad. 

Connie followed them shortly after, leaping the barrier in a single bound.

One by one they crawled down the hall, it was dimly lit 

by light spilling out from other rooms.The sisters proceeded as 

quietly as they could, sticking as closely to the wall as possible. As they
passed the first room Lonnie peered beyond it's threshold. 

The room was abuzz with dozens of whirring black rectangles. 

Bright screens lined the far wall, some flashing pretty red letters.
Countless hairy bodies were piled high on a table, in various 

states of dismemberment.

Bonnie urged her forward, refocusing her on the task at hand. 

Small hands hurried along the wood panel floor. A soft white 

light greeted them as they passed. A deep steady snore lightly
shook the walls, covering the shuffling of their pjs against the floor. 

They passed by unnoticed.The snoring faded as they rounded t

he corner. Finally, they reached their destination.

Bonnie stared up at their final challenge in defiance. She turned 

to her sisters, issuing neural orders. Lonnie shook away the tingling 

in her mind left by the conjunction and took her place
partially hidden behind the island in the middle of the kitchen. 

Connie and Bonnie made their way to the set of kitchen drawers 

that were just below their prize. Connie pulled the very bottom
drawer out, after stepping into it she was able to reach the handle

 of the next drawer and repeat the process. Slowly, she was able 

to hoist herself up to the kitchen counter.

The moonlight filtered through the window, illuminating the 

counter space before here. There, in the far corner, nestled among j

ars of different colored sands was their goal. The see-through
jar was easy enough to maneuver to the edge. She wasn't sure 

how hard she should push it to pass it on to her sister, who 

waited below, but she thought that in this case more was probably
better. Probably.

Connie shoved it, the force sent it barreling over the edge.

 Bonnie opened her arms wider as it plummeted towards her, 

but her coordination failed her in the last moments. The jar smacked
into her with enough power to knock her onto her ass before 

clattering to the ground. Tan discs scattered across the floor as

 the top popped off on impact.

They froze, waiting to see if they had been discovered, 

but the house remained steeped in the stillness of night. They 

didn't move for several more beats, still nothing. Connie was 

the first to move, continuing her trek down the makeshift 

staircase of drawers. Bonnie decided it had been long enough 

and the coast was clear, reaching for the tan disk with 

brown spots. 

Dancing happily to herself as she scarfed down one after the other. 

Not one to be left out, Connie also grabbed several discs at 

once. Several crumbled to pieces in the wake of her enthusiasm.
Lonnie strained her ears, but there was nothing but the low humming 

of the house at night time and the happy crunching of sisters 

devouring their prize. Lonnie, now reassured that the commotion 

had gone undetected, made a go for several of the discs that had 

escaped the notice of her sisters. Sweet dark brown bits melted in 

her mouth in perfect harmony with the soft gooey texture of the

 tan disc. The sisters snacked away, quietly babbling amongst 

themselves as they basked in their success. A tall figure crept 

into the kitchen behind them.

Ronnie could hardly believe his eyes. He'd put the girls to bed 

around 9 and he checked on them an hour ago. They were sleeping 

soundly. Or so he'd thought. A smile tugged at the corners of
his mouth. In the span of a blink, he ran 67 laps around the 

kitchen island, the force and speed of his stride creating a vortex. 

The whirlwind gently levitated the toddlers and their mess. He
spent the next few laps returning the surviving cookies to the 

plastic container before leisurely gathering the girls into his arms.

They fussed at him, clearly not expecting to be interrupted. He 

chuckled and shushed their senseless protests with a shower of 

kisses and nuzzles. And walked down the hall to put the girls
back down, he hoped they wouldn't have a sugar-fueled escape 

later. He was still working out how to baby proof the Nanny 

Bear's AI.

Three volumes of The Bedtime Adventures of Dr. Snooze later, 

the girls were finally asleep and Ronnie was laying in a bed 

that felt too big for him. He watched as thin clouds lazily passed the
face of the moon. The weight that sat upon his chest was suffocating. 

He turned, watching as the shadows danced across a picture frame 

on the nightstand across from him. The diamond inlay
band that rested below it glinted mutely.

Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. He gave the portrait 

a small, sad smile. "They're just like you, you know...always 

getting into trouble."

FIN

To share your short stories in any language, write:
veritas_tum@yahoo.com