In the Bag by Jim Carrington

cover my nose. Rabbit checks again that no one’s watching. Then he peeks into the bin, moves a few things around and drops the bag with the cloth, the bleach and the gloves in. He covers it over with a couple of bin bags and a box and then steps back. I let the lid fall. It closes with a thunk. And then we get out of there as quick as we can, round the corner and back to our bikes.
    We stop again when we get as far as the rec, where we go over to a bench. Rabbit sits down on the bench without saying a word and stares into space.
    ‘You all right?’
    He nods. ‘Yeah.’
    But I don’t think he is. He probably feels like I do: dirty, guilty.
    ‘Neither of us ever tells anyone what happened today. Understand?’ he says. ‘Not even Joe.’
    I nod. ‘Definitely.’
    We sit in silence for a while. I take out a cigarette and light it, smoke it to the filter and then throw it to the ground.
    ‘What are you gonna do with the rest of the stuff?’ Rabbit says eventually.
    ‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘Just keep it, I guess.’
    ‘Maybe you should hide it somewhere,’ he says. ‘Get it out of your house in case anyone finds it.’
    I don’t answer right away. Cos he’s probably right. I can’t just go on hiding the money in my room. Imagine if Mum found it. But at the same time, I don’t want to let go of it. Twenty grand. Well, seventeen and a bit grand now. Where do you hide something like that?
    ‘I’ll talk to Joe,’ I say.

Ash
    I get up before my alarm goes off. Which is not like me at all. And the first thing I think about is the bag. I guess that shouldn’t be such a surprise, seeing as it’s on my mind most of the time. I go over to my wardrobe and pull it down. I open the main part of the bag and take the clothes out. A navy blue sweatshirt, some jeans and a white T-shirt. They all smell of some horrible aftershave. I look at the labels in them. The T-shirt and the sweatshirt are both large and the jeans are a 36 inch waist. Whoever they belong to is much bigger than me.
    I put the clothes to one side and look at the money. I shake my head, like I still can’t quite believe that we found it. I think about the envelope full of money that I posted yesterday and I wonder where it is right now. And then, with a jolt, I think about the gun and I feel sick and nervous.
    I shove the clothes back into the bag and zip it back up. And I turn the bag round, open the end pocket. I take the phone out. And without even thinking about what I’m doing, I switch it on. It takes a while to come on, but as soon as it does, it makes a noise. There’s a message. I freeze. For a second I think about switching the phone off and putting it straight back in the bag. But I know I’m not gonna do that. I’d just spend all my time wondering what was in the message.
    So I open it.
    What have you done with my money? I will find you.
    I stare at it for ages, read it over and over again, look at when it was sent, look at the number that sent it. And I start to panic. What if whoever sent this message knows who I am? They could be waiting for me when I step out of the door.
    I try to compose myself, remind myself that nobody knows this bag is here. Just me, Joe and Rabbit. And neither of them would tell anyone else about it. There’s no way that anyone can know we have the money. No way. Cos if they’d been in the woods on Friday night, they’d have taken the money for themselves. And that’s the only time the bag’s been outside. Whoever sent the message doesn’t know who has the bag, otherwise they’d have it back by now. They’re just trying to scare me.
    I switch the phone off, put it in the bag and then put the bag on the wardrobe shelf. I go back to my bed and lie down, stare at the ceiling. I definitely have to talk to Joe today. I want to get the bag out of my house.

Joe
    Me and Ash have been friends for ever. We met at playgroup (though obviously I can’t really remember much about that) and then we were at the