recollection 1

I had walked past the store many times. When walking to friends houses, when going to stores. It was a phone store, the windows were nothing but glass. It sat on a corner near a graveyard. The block was usually deserted at night. The neighborhood was usually quiet. I knew a lot about the area, the people, the place.

I saw an opportunity, so that day I made a plan. I called on two of my most trusted associates. We met that day to discuss what we would do. We made typical arrangements, dark clothes, duffel bags and ski masks. We had a plan laid out, knew everything from how long it would take to personalized escape routes. Our targets, the layout of the inside of the store. We had every detail covered. We planned to do the action the next night.

We ate that night, prayed. We always the new the risks. It’s not that we didn’t care, but we had more to gain than to lose. Freedom was undervalued at that point in my life. Nonetheless we we’re prepared, in both mind and body.

We geared up in anticipation. We waited for the dead of night. The time when the shadows would blend with us. We walked to our destination. A silent cluster of moments. We arrived and scoped out the area for a few more minutes before I moved in with the breaching equipment. The first swing wasn’t enough to break through the glass. It was reinforced apparently. The second swing however broke a hole in the glass, that’s when I kicked it in and entered the establishment. the extra swing and kicks wasted about 7 seconds so I was in hyper drive. I secured the backroom and the came back to the front desk and removed about 20 phones from compartment.

Each piece was supposed to be sold at 300-500 a piece. My associates rushed in after me and grabbed what they could. We then ran across the street and saw the cops coming. I attempted to hide behind a dumpster. Unfortunately for me, I was seen by the cops, and apprehended. I attempted to make a break for it but was chased while they were in their car. 2 cops exited the vehicle and they chased me, one with this taser and the other with his gun. The cop with the taser chased me while pleading for me to stop.

“Stop please, I don’t wanna shoot you. Please stop”.

I didn’t care for his sentiment much. I threw the cases of phones at the cop and continued to run. As karma would have it glass got in my boot and stabbed my foot while I was running. I tripped and was taser and it hurt.

Six cops had arrived by then and all pinned me down. I resisted for a few minutes until I ran out of steam .Looking at the ground I felt defeated. I thought to myself at least my associates got away.

They took me away to the precinct. The cops were being nice but it was cold. Sitting handcuffed to a bench for 16 hours has a way of stealing your warmth away. I was scared, not of going to jail but of staying there. My time would waste away and I wanted to enjoy whatever childhood I thought I had.

I had plenty of time to think. What do I want? How do I want to live my life. If I get away will I learn my lesson. Sometimes simply wanting to be better isn’t enough to actually be better