Pay Attention

The Funeral Plan

The plan was easy if done right, my grandfather was an assistant to the league of villains and he wanted an inside man, or in our case...woman. So he'd call up the leader guy, tell him that there was a planned attack on my 'funeral' and was requested to oversee that everything went accordingly

Then they'd slip the casket into the water which we'd lie as a 'family tradition' which would turn into the classic escape trick, maybe steal his wallet and replace it with my calling card and leave the rest for his mind to work out

The story was that I'd 'died' from a fatal illness, happy kid, light of my grandfather's world and all that sappy useless stuff but the truth was I was his wildcard, I'd been doing magic tricks for as long as I could remember, committed serious crimes with the stuff - if it all got too tense, I'd just go out onto the streets and do a little show for the public, simple!

"Are you comfortable?" I scowled at my temporary team member, I never worked with the same people twice meaning I was pretty much the only one I could depend on for this to work - and it was going to work! My fingers felt for the little lock I'd undo with a hairpin once I was submerged

"Who's ever comfortable in a coffin fitted for a dead person?" Without another word, the guy shut the lid smiling sarcastically then I was plunged into darkness as the casket was wheeled out onto the shoreline where everyone would be waiting...including the leader

"Yua Ujiko's death was a tragic but painless one, she fought everyday to stay just a little longer with us right up til her dying breath! May she rest in peace" I rolled my eyes as people came up to fake their speeches a

"Look, I didn't know her personally but I just felt I should say something anyway - up until a week ago, I wasn't aware Dr Ujiko had a granddaughter...or any family for that matter but I just wanna give my condolences to family and friends" I didn't recognise the voice as someone I was close with but everyone sounded from inside the box, I just brushed it off as some distant cousin or friend of a friend

My lips drew in a deep breath as the casket was tipped downwards where I presumed the water was but I didn't have to wait long until I found out. In my mind, I expected the water to be cold but not to the point where it was painful, let's just say the sensation it caused was pretty distracting from the lock I was trying to pick in under five minutes

Once I finally did, I swam left until I saw a fishing dock and chose to catch my breath underneath the wooden planks so I was still out of sight "I'm 'back from the dead'" my team members started to give a speech thanking everyone for coming and their respect towards my 'burial' if you could even call it that

Before walking to join the guests in plain sight, I changed into a better dress and fluffed my hair hoping to not look like a drowned rat "Everyone keeps eyes on the leader, no one lets him leave until he's received the calling card, got it?"

There I stood at the back of the crowd at my own 'send off', it was kind of ironic but I found it strange how many people cried when I hadn't even met half of them. Little did the leader know that I was stood inches behind him, he smelled of ash and a soft sage mix however that didn't stop me from snatching his wallet and replacing it with a glowing 'ace of spades'

There was thrill to knowing I'd just robbed a league leader and pulled off another successful stunt "He's got it, let's go" people soon began to file out without looking back. I guess for them, there was no reason to - I was supposed to be dead, they were leaving a funeral to go home, it was supposed to be a sad day...for anyone who wasn't me or my coworkers

I doubted the leader would be happy either though...