A Robbery

	BANG.
	Michael woke up. He flipped over in bed to wake his wife, but found nobody there. He sighed and flipped back to his side of the bed.
	Michael reached down and fumbled under his bed, eventually grabbing a thick, wooden baseball bat. Standing up, he went to the door and peeked out. There was nothing there. He stepped through the door into the hallway, and peeked down the stairs. There was nothing there either.
	He stepped down the stairs as quietly as he could. As the living room came into his view, he spotted the back of a man looking out of his window.
	Michael walked out onto the carpet and moved slowly forward, bat held firmly in hand. Before getting within a few feet of him, the man turned around, holding a pistol.
	“Sit down.” he said, smiling. Michael slowly lowered his bat and backed up onto the couch, sitting down. The man sat down across from him, in Michael's wooden chair.
	“So, you may have noticed that I'm robbing you.”
	“...Yes, I noticed.”
	“Well, don't think too much of it. It's not personal.”
	“I don't care if it's not personal. You're stealing my stuff.”
	The man shrugged. “That's life, brother. Sometimes it's unfair. Sometimes, people get the better of you, and you can't do anything but give in.”
	The man stood up and walked over to Michael's cabinet.
	“Some nice stuff you have here.” He holstered his pistol and pulled out a small sack.
	The man opened the cabinet and took out a small watch. “This looks pretty expensive.” The watch went into the bag.
	“And this here...” he took a felt box from the cabinet and popped it open. “Wow. A necklace. Now this look exp-”
	“No.” Michael said.
	The man looked over and saw Michael standing, bat still in hand.
	“Not smart.” he patted the holster on his side. “I'd say you're about seven feet away? Trust me, I'll have a bullet in your head before you even get to me. Now sit back down.”
	“No. You can take everything but that necklace. That necklace stays here.”
	The man grinned. “Ah, sentimental value. I see. Unfortunately, I, ah, I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” He laughed and dropped the necklace into his sack. Michael sat back down.
	“Now! Let's see what's in the other rooms...” The man walked past Michael and into the kitchen. Michael stood and followed.
	 The man riffled through Michael's things. Anything he didn't like, he threw to the ground. Anything of value, he put in his sack. After cleaning out the entire kitchen, he had only kept a couple of things.
	The man turned back towards Michael. “You don't own much, do you?”
	Michael just stared at him.
	“Come on, talk with me. Robberies are so boring. I have to decide what to take, what to leave, it's all very tedious. Discussion helps soothe my nerves. So, tell me, how was your day?”
	“Give me the necklace first.”
	The man rolled his eyes and pulled the gun up to Michael's face. 	“Tell me, how was your day?”
	“My day was fine until some asshole decided to rob me of everything I own.”
	The man's gun arm fell. “Why does everyone give that answer? So boring.” He turned around to take his sack off of the kitchen counter.
	Michael seized his chance and stepped forward, swinging his bat toward the man's head. The man sidestepped at the last second, and pushed Michael against the counter. He raised his pistol and put a bullet through Michael's head. BANG.
	The man nudged Michael's body with his foot. “Wasn't much of a conversationalist anyway.”
	He stood up straight and looked around the kitchen, satisfied.
	“Let's see what's upstairs.” he said.