The Million Dollar Question | Teen Ink

The Million Dollar Question

March 9, 2016
By JoshuaBerryhill BRONZE, Papillion, Nebraska
JoshuaBerryhill BRONZE, Papillion, Nebraska
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“Good morning Rick”.  Said Nat.

It’s amazing how someone can change your life forever.  This is how my girlfriend makes me feel.  I look into the mirror and I see a half-naked guy named Rick.  I have brown hair and blue eyes which is how Nat fell in love with me.  I looked by my feet and saw envelopes that Nat threw to me and yelled “You need to pay!”
“I will honey… I will.”  I replied to her.   I heard three knocks on my front door and a yell that said “Hey!  I need to talk to you!”  I thought to myself, Is that Paul?  I haven’t talked to him since high school.  I opened the door in a slow manner and Paul rushed and slammed on the door to open it, kicking me back. I regained my balance by grabbing a hold of my railing that led to my second floor. 
“I have something to tell you Rick!  You’re never going to believe what it is.”  Yelled Paul.  I pushed Paul to the front door for letting himself in. 
“Not now Paul, Nat isn’t in a good mood.”  I asked. 
“Rick!  Who’s at the door?  It better not be a delivery from Pizza Hut again!”  Said Nat. 
“We’re having an argument Paul, perhaps you should leave.  Here come back over around noon, Nat will be going to work at eleven.”  Said Rick.
“Okay Rick, whatever you say, see you soon.”  Said Paul.
“See you soon Paul.”  I said.  I started to feel pain in my head and everything got blurry and I fell onto the ground.  Nat was just standing still like nothing was happening and then my vision went from a nice clean house to seeing myself in a dark basement while I am strapped into a chair. 
“I didn’t do anything!  I keep telling you that I had nothing to do with that robbery!”  I said. 
“I know you were there last night!  Stop lying to me, it just makes things worse for you!”  Said Anonymous. 
“Ouch!  No!  Don’t give me the fluid again!”  I yelled.  I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck and started to get light headed.  I saw only black and then I saw myself back at my house.  I heard three knocks on my door and I answered it. 
“Finally she’s gone, I have to tell you about my plan!”  Said Paul.  I remembered that Paul was supposed to come by at noon. 
“Okay Paul, what is it?”  I said.
“Don’t you know how we’ve been saying that we need more money to get better stuff for ourselves?”  Said Paul. 
“Yes I do Paul.”  I said.
“Well I came up with a plan that has to do with us getting what we have been wishing for.”  Said Paul. 
“What is it Paul?”  I said.  “We rob a bank.”  Said Paul.  The room got so silent, I could hear cricket outside chirping. 
“Umm, that could work but not going to jail would be better.”  I said. 
“Oh come on Rick.  You remember how awesome we we’re back in the day!”  Said Paul. 
“I… I don’t know Paul.  It seems a bit risky to try it again.”  I said.  Paul started to get a sad face. 
“I thought you said you wanted us to have whatever we want and money is how we can get whatever we want.”  Said Paul. 
“I know what I said before but times have changed, most banks have high tech security systems now and it’s nearly impossible to get in them.  Remember the first time we did it, we barely made it alive.”  Said Rick.  I secretly said in my head I feel like he is struggling for money.  Why is he begging for us to do this?
“Oh come on Rick.  Please!”  Begged Paul. 
“Ok, Ok, I will think long and hard about your plan and once I am done thinking about it I’ll give you a call.”  I said. 
“Ok Rick, don’t take too long, I don’t want to get in trouble.”  Said Paul.  Right there I knew that he was in some kind of trouble and when someone is in trouble… it just makes everything harder. I turned around and saw myself in my living room mirror and saw someone that also needs money to pay off these bills.  My girlfriend Nat doesn’t even know where I got this money and I think she’s starting to wonder why I’m running out.  I walked over to my soft brown couch and just fell on it in stress.  I looked to my right and saw the remote, but was too lazy to grab it so I just spoke out loud “TV turn on”.  My TV turned on and the news popped up.  “Why is the news on?”  I said to myself.  The news cast lady which always looks supper fancy and formal said “Breaking news.  The police have suspects of an armed robbery that took place several years ago.”  I thought to myself How did they find out?  Do they know I’m one of the guys that did it?  A few seconds later my phone buzzed and I looked at the picture and it was Paul smoking a cigar.  I answered it and said “Yes Paul?” 
“Man!  Are you looking at the news right now?”  Said Paul. 
“Yes I am Paul.  Did you forget to grab everything out of the damn bank?”  I replied. 
“No!  This is not my fault Rick!  I swear!”  Yelled Paul. 
“Then how did they find out?”  I yelled. 
“Like you said new technology can detect anything, even from the past.”  Said Paul. 
“Well we better do something soon so we can get bail money.”  I said.  I stared at the TV watching the pictures of suspects they have in custody and none of them were me or Paul. 
“Let’s make a plan.”  Said Paul. 
“I’m going to have to take a few personal days off from Nat.”  I said. 
“No man, you’re going to have to tell her yourself or else she’ll wonder why and where you are going.”  Said Paul.
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do.  I call you later.”  I replied. 
“Ok man, call me soon.”  Paul said.  I put the phone down and threw my remote across the room and yelled.  A moment later, Nat walked in our house and I greeted her like a normal boyfriend would.  “Hey honey, how was work?”  I asked. 
“It was great!”  Nat replied.  I thought to myself that it might be a good time to tell her what’s going on to come clean about everything.
“Did you watch the news today?”  I asked. 
“Yes I did, I can’t believe they found the people from the robbery a few years ago.”  She said.
“They didn’t find them Nat.”  I replied.
“What do you mean?  They said they had the suspect in custody.”  Nat said.
“Well there’s been somethings I haven’t told you.”  I said. 
“Like what?”  She asked. 
“Well Paul, A few friends, and myself did that robbery.”  I said.  My heart started racing and I regretted the words that came out of my mouth.  She looked petrified. 
“Is that what Paul came over for?”  Nat said. 
“Yes, he wants to do another one because he is low on cash and I agreed to him since I don’t have the money to pay for our bills.”  I said. 
“You did what?”  She yelled. 
“I told him that I will do it with him and tell you about everything so you don’t worry about me being gone for so long.”  I replied.  She had a look in her face that I’ve never seen before.  It was her thinking face but she also had a little smirk. 
“Well I see that you’ve been successful with it before so if you do this again, I want to be a part of it.”  She said. 
“I don’t want you hurt or in trouble Nat.”  I replied. 
“So you get to take the risk of leaving me forever or dying but won’t let me take the same risk?”  She asked. 
“Yes.”  I relied.
“Well like I said before, that is the only way you can do it.”  She said.  I took a while to reply but I finally came to my senses. 
“Fine, if you do this with me then you have to understand what you are getting yourself into.”  I said. 
“I do Rick, you’re not the only one that does bad stuff.”  She Said. 
“Like what Nat?”  I replied. 
“Well sometimes if I’m short cash I don’t pay for my gas.”  She replied.  I made a small smile and started laughing.  “What are you laughing about?”  She said. 
“I just think it’s funny compared to the stuff I do.”  I replied.
“Well sorry for not being such a criminal like you.”  She said.  She walked off to our bedroom and I followed.  I laid in bed and we fell asleep. 
At midnight I heard a bunch of car noise outside and heard a big loud slam.  People yelling “police” came in fast and threw me onto the ground and put hand cuffs on me.  Nat was yelling and crying and trying to tell the men in police uniforms that they have the wrong person but they didn’t care.  I was thrown into the police car and they slammed the doors shut.
 



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