The Linked, Clever Disguise

We thought we were being clever. That's the worst part - we genuinely believed permanent marker would make a good disguise. No masks, no hoods, nothing that could slip or fall off. Just thick black lines scribbled across our faces like some deranged children's drawing. It felt hilarious at the time. We laughed while drawing on each other, convinced we'd cracked some genius trick: Unrecognisable during the robbery, normal-looking once we scrubbed it off after. Except permanent marker doesn't scrub off. Not quickly. Not evenly. We stumbled out of the shop with smears of black ink still shining under the streetlights. By the time the police started looking, everyone in town knew exactly who we were. They called us dumb and dumber. We earned it.