July 2025 Short Story of the Month

I asked her if she was joking. Her frown told me she wasn’t. “Every last penny gone,” she said. “And that’s not the worst of it,” she continued, leaning across the table. “Whoever did it, took their other valuables.”

“Like what?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Paintings, silver, jewelry, guns, and other antiques. The whole kit and caboodle.”

I whistled. “That’s impressive.” I sat there studying her carefully. I’d only known Katarina for a couple of weeks, and I couldn’t quit decide why she was suddenly trying to be my new best friend. Her current method of keeping my interest was telling me about the crazy cases her step-dad, a detective, was working.

The robberies had been going on for months. The latest one was whipping the police into a frenzy for two reasons. One, the home belonged to a very prominent member of our town, and two, the amount of things stolen was escalating with each robbery.

I was only half listening when she started talking again. Instead I was distracted by the sudden appearance of my oldest friend, my ex-best friend, walking into the cafeteria and sitting with her boyfriend and his friend group. A month ago, she wouldn’t have given them the time of day, but now that she was dating him, she was always with those jerks.

Katarina must have noticed my stare. “She still dating that tool?”

I nodded. “What can I do though? She spent the summer getting boobs, and I spent the summer…” I trailed off, not believing that I almost let my biggest secret slip to someone I barely knew. I shrugged.

“What did you spend your summer doing?” Katarina asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

“Nothing.” I shrugged again. “Just playing on my computer.”

“I bet.” She said it like it she knew something she wasn’t saying. She smiled and winked at me.

My brow furrowed. She didn’t know what I’d been doing. No one did. She was just being her normal strange self. “Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested.

She let it go. We spent the rest of lunch discussing anything else, but every once in a while she would look at me like she knew something.

THE NEXT DAY AT LUNCH

I was scrolling through my phone when an article about the robberies appeared in my feed. It even had a quote from Katarina’s step-dad. I read through it twice before Katarina finally showed up.

“How did you know about all the stuff that was stolen?” I asked before she’d finished placing her tray on the table.

“What?” She asked.

She clearly had no idea what I was asking about. I turned my screen momentarily toward her so she could see the article I’d been reading before she sat down.

She smirked. “Oh that.” She shook her head, and then she lied. “I must have heard my step-dad talking about it.”

“Oh right. I forgot you get the inside scoop,” I said. We didn’t talk about it again during lunch. I knew she was lying though. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. I’d always been good at detecting lies. My mom said it was a gift, but I wasn’t so sure. People lied all the time. It was mostly harmless, but sometimes it wasn’t. This time didn’t feel harmless, but I couldn’t have told you why.

We had our normal daily discussions about the cliques sitting at other tables. Nothing out of the ordinary or new was said.

The rest of the day the lie kept bugging me. Why did she lie to me? Why bother for one? We weren’t dear friends, and we rarely talked about anything outside of other students and schoolwork. She could have said she was making it up, but instead, she lied. Was she trying to impress me? Or shock me by acting like she knew things she couldn’t possibly know? It was strange, and it didn’t sit well with me.

It stayed with me, leaving me unable to focus. At my locker, as the day was ending, there was a tap. It was Katarina. I was surprised to see her. She usually only talked to me at lunch and during the couple of classes we had in common.

“Are you busy today?” She asked.

“Not especially,” I said, though I couldn’t imagine why she would care.

“I think we should hang out. Outside of this insane asylum,” she said as she smirked.

“Okay. Any place in particular in mind?” I asked.

“I thought we could just hang out at my place,” she suggested. “What do you think?”

“Okay. Sounds fun, I guess.”

A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER

I was shocked that I was actually sitting in the room of Katarina. Why was I here? Why had she invited me? Something felt off to me. We’d watched a couple of episodes of some show she liked. I was only partly paying attention. It was a reality show, and those weren’t really the kind of thing I watched.

We talked a bit. Mostly like we did at lunch time. When it was getting late, I said I should probably be going.

“You can stay for dinner if you want,” Katarina offered.

“Sure. I guess.” I was even more flabbergasted at the invitation. What was happening?

At dinner, her mom and step-dad sat at the table making small talk about their days, while Katarina made faces at me. I think she was trying to get me to laugh. I was too stunned to find her funny.

Her step-dad was talking about his job and I was trying to focus on what he was saying.

“They finally did a full check. You wouldn’t believe the number of items taken. Whoever did the job, knew what they were looking for. They took anything and everything of value.” He shook his head.

“Isn’t that the point of a robbery?” Her mother asked.

He nodded. Then he added, “Sure is the point, but most teams aren’t organized enough to be that thorough. They like to be in and out.”

“You think it was a team?” I asked. The question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

He nodded again. “Had to be. Way too neat.”

“Maybe we should talk about something else, since we have company.” Her mother gestured towards me.

The rest of the dinner was just inane chit-chat.

After dinner, Katarina offered to walk me home. I wasn’t talking.

“What’s eating at you?” She asked.

I shrugged. Finally something clicked and I realized what was bugging me. “How did you know?” I asked. I stopped walking so I could turn and look at Katarina, sure she was about to lie to me.

She also stopped and locked eyes with me. She took a really long time answering me. “About what?” she asked.

It wasn’t a lie because she hadn’t said anything, but she knew what I was asking about. I shook my head. “Don’t do that. How did you know about all the stuff that was stolen?” I waited for her to answer, but she just kept staring. “You knew about it before the papers. And, based on the way your step-dad was talking, you knew about it even before the police. How did YOU know about all the things stolen?” I waited, not sure I should be asking her.

She waited an absurd amount of time. She just kept staring at me. Finally, she sighed. “I knew because I’m one of them.”

It was my turn to be silent. I waited, using her own tactic against her.

“I am one of the people who robbed the place.” She smiled, pride beaming from her face.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“Because we want you.”

“I don’t understand.” I was shocked yet again.

“Yes, you do. Don’t play dumb. You’re not good at it.” Her expression changed. She finally dropped the smirk.

I felt like I was finally seeing the real Katarina. “You want me for what exactly?”

“The thing you do best. The thing you spent your summer doing.” She was standing now with her arms crossed, glaring at me.

“How can you possibly know about that?” I asked, absolutely flabbergasted.

“One of us has been paying attention.”

“Not you then. You’re not in charge then. You’re just one of the team.”

She nodded. “You’re starting to get it. We’re a team. We recruit people to help expand our skill sets. One of us has noticed you.”

“What if I’m not interested?” I tried to play it cool.

“You are. Don’t play dumb. You’re not good at it.”