Death is Here    

I step outside of my home with an urgency to get to the bus stop, knowing that I probably won’t make it to work on time. The streets of the south side of Chicago aren’t too safe. As I walk down the street, I’m hoping no one tries to steal my wallet or phone. I keep my eyes on the ground as I walk to avoid making eye contact with anyone. Five minutes later, I notice two pairs of Nike Cortez shoes walking towards me. I slowly look up to get a view of the two men. Their faces were serious and solid, they stared at me in an odd way.
They continued walking in the opposite direction as me while I turn the street. A few moments later, I can feel people behind me. I continue walking normally until the two men walk in front of me, hindering me from walking any further.
One of them speaks up and tells me, “We need you to help us rob a jewelry store.”
I couldn’t process anything in that moment, but somehow the words, “Hey man,     I...I...can’t do that,” slid out of my mouth.
Certain that other people weren’t around, he firmly grabs my throat and begins choking me. In a strong voice he says, “Look you have no choice, either you help us out or we’ll kill you.” I nod in desperation for air, as he releases his hands from my throat. I feel in my gut that this is a huge mistake. I might not live in the best neighborhood, but I was certainly not a criminal.
They take me into a small apartment where they set out the plan. My responsibility is to walk in as a costumer, and later shoot the owner of the jewelry store while the men grab as much as they can get a hold of.
We arrive at the jewelry store and I begin to tremble with fear as I make my way inside. I attempt to look as casual as possible but I can feel sweat running down my forehead. I know there’s no way I will be able to do this. After casually roaming around the shop, I get near the counter and pull out a gun towards the owner. The owner begins to panic while the two men start collecting items. I managed to look unfearful, careless, and violent, yet I was terrified on the inside. I notice one of the men heads to the back of the shop while the other stays in the front. To save myself, I sneakily turn to face the man in the front, whose back is facing me. I point my gun towards him and pull the trigger. As he collapses on the floor, I sprint out of the shop. I run for my life with no sense of direction.
I rush behind a filthy dumpster in a dark alley. I can see the flashes of red and blue and hear piercing alarm sounds passing by. In an instant, a handful of questions start popping up in my mind,
“Why in the world did this happen to me?”
“What did I just do?”
“What am I going to do now?”
I try to put myself to sleep but the solid, freezing, concrete street I was laying on isn’t a silky, cloud-like hotel mattress. Yet, even if it was I still wouldn't be able to peacefully go to sleep. The moment I closed my eyes, I began to see the figure of a man in coma. I couldn’t see where he was exactly, but I could tell that he looked ready to be buried six feet under the ground and his eyes were shut. In a moment of seconds, the man starts moving from side to side and in a desperate, shaky voice he yells, “RUN, RUN, THEY’RE COMING, DEATH IS HERE.”
My eyes immediately open up. I am numb. There is no movement in my body, it is almost as if I am paralyzed, but I’m not. As I stay still, I begin to slowly close my eyes and fall asleep.
It wasn’t until early in the morning that I woke up again. I opened my eyes but I wasn’t fully awake, so I rub my eyes. When I clearly see everything around me, I catch sight of a public park, a few streets away from the alley I was in. I quickly get up and walk to the park, the streets were pretty empty, so I didn’t need to hide. I finally make it to the park and I start looking for the restrooms. I make my way towards one of the restrooms and rush to the sink. I turn the sink on, and the feeling of the icy, cold water fully awakens me. The first thought that comes into my mind is about the nightmare I had last night. Many moments later, I come to the conclusion that I have to get out of Chicago.
I rush out of the restroom without knowing where I was heading. I just walked and walked until I had felt as if I had gone a long way. As I kept walking, my surroundings took me into my deepest memories. I began remembering my childhood years when my parents would place me in a state of depression, as they filled our house with violence. Often times, I would wish I had a brother or sister so that I wouldn’t feel alone. Then again, I would also wish for a true father. Eventually, my birth father kicked my mother and I out of the house. Sometimes we had no choice but to sleep on the streets. However, mother would never let me feel alone, even after all that had happened. She always took me took me to the park and sometimes, when she had extra money, the movies. As the years passed by, we became economically stable and had a place of our own. As a 23-year-old, I continue to live with my mother, because her age limits her from doing certain things.
A rush of guilt hit me as I remembered about my mother. Everything that had occurred to me yesterday was traumatizing, that it was the only thing that was in my mind. My mother can’t do much, “How in the world is going to eat or do other things?” I thought. As much as I desired to go back home, I couldn’t. I knew I had walked for a long time, but not long enough to be out of Chicago.
In a span of minutes, my stomach starts screaming anxiously in desperation. “I haven’t ate in a long time too,” I tell myself. I look up and see a gas station across the street. I start to walk, my legs aching from pain. I open the door to enter the store and take a look at my wallet to see how much money I have. I take a look at the inside of my skinny wallet, and a burst of happiness explodes from inside of me when I see a twenty dollar bill. In excitement, I reach for some donuts, coffee, and a sandwich. Then, I go to the next aisle to grab a bag of chips. As I walk to the next aisle, I unintentionally bump into someone. I turn to the person and say, “Sorry, sir.” In that moment, everything I had in my hands drop to the floor and I fly out of the store. 
As I run for my life, I know for a fact that the person is running after me. I keep running and noticing that I lost him, so I run into a nearby alley. I take a moment to catch my breath. Two minutes later, I hear a car nearby. I see the same person approach me. I run again. Then, in the direction I’m running, another familiar face approaches me. At this point, they get in front of me holding their guns, targeting me.
“I knew we’d find you,” one of the men says.
“Please, don’t hurt me.”
“I’ll hurt you twice as much as you hurt my partner.”
“I had to do it.”
“You didn’t help us so now we’re only left with one choice.”

I open my eyes and wake up breathless. I look around. I noticed I was in a hospital bed. In confusion, I ask myself, “Was that a dream?”
As I look up, I make eye contact with my mother. She jumps up and down, with a humongous smile. She runs out the door yelling, “HE WOKE UP, HE WOKE UP.”
Exactly two seconds later, two familiar faces come in the room. They look at me in a raging way, pointing up their guns in my direction. As I try to open my mouth, one of them comes towards my ear and whispers, “Death is here.”