Good Life

  “First off, no one has any proof whatsoever that I robbed that bank.” I said, trying my hardest to sweet-talk the officers out of my incredibly unreasonable arrest.

 It was just not fair. I needed that money. I lived on the streets in a cardboard box for Pete’s sake!

 “But I’ll plea guilty! Please, Anything! I cannot go back there again.” I couldn’t help it anymore. I was starting to panic just a little bit.

 “Save it, kid.” The woman officer barked as she wrenched my arms around my back into a pair of cold, steal handcuffs.

I was used to it. I mean, the jail was like a second home to me. Ever since my parents ditched me, I’ve lived alone. There was never anything better to do, so I turned to thieving and robbery. Every time I did something, I waited to be caught. The entire feat felt complete. First of all, you do the bad thing, then you get your free ride in the cop car. You even get a hot meal. It’s not the end of the world. Not even quite as bad as not being there.

 But this time was different. The last time was my twenty-sixth warning. That’s it.That's all you get. This is it.

 “What’s gonna happen to me?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat.

 The other officer swung the glass door of the building open, and the woman pushed me through it.

 “I guess you’ll just have to find out kid.” She scoffed, exchanging a look with the silent officer.

 The next while passed in a blur.

 “Guilty! The boy’s guilty!” The judge yelled.

 He had learned to hate me along with everyone else in town. 

No matter what I would have done, he would have found some way to prove me guilty, guaranteed.

 Many shouts slurred together.

 “I knew it,” An old crazy man shouted from the jury. “The boy’s been trouble since his parents died.”

 “Wait,” I shouted, planting my two feet hard on the floor as the woman shoved against me. “My parents, they died?”

 “Yes, boy.” The man answered.

 “How?”

 I had no idea. I'd thought they just didn’t like me. I thought they'd ditched me.

 “Plane crash.” He paused. “Kid, you don’t remember?”

 “No,” I answered. “When?”

 “They were heading back from vacation. You were left with your grandparents. There was a hijacker aboard their plane and, well….”

 I was overcome with a strange new feeling. I felt sick. Like I could vomit, but not really. No, it wasn’t quite that, but it kind of was. It was hard to explain.

 “That’s enough!” The officer shouted, shoving her shoulder into my shoulderblade.

 She caught me at just the wrong moment. I was caught in that feeling. My body was there, but my mind was elsewhere. It was on that plane with them. Trying to catch a glimpse of my long-lost parents. Trying, but failing.

 The only sound I heard as I was pushed down the hall were our footsteps and the beating of my heart. The two officers shoved me into an open cell and slammed the iron door shut.

 “Fionna!” The woman spoke into her walkie-talkie. “Please report down to cell 53. Over.”

 “Yes mam, over.” A voice from the other end said through the walkie-talkie.

 Moments later a gorgeous young woman stepped in front of my cell. The three were talking, but I heard nothing. My mind was only focused on her. Her hair, her eyes, her smile. Her.

 “Yes, mam.” She said, saluting the officer.

 They walked away, leaving her and me. Only the bars of the cell door separating us.

 “You’re so…” I was about to compliment her when she interrupted me sharply.

 “Na uh. Save it. No sweet-talking the guard. People like you try it all the time, but let me tell you, they fail. Time and time again.”

 Her attitude made her even more attractive. Dang. But there was no way. She walked away, her long brown hair flowing behind her. She passed by and by again.

 As I lay in my bed trying to sleep, the only thing I saw when I closed my eyes were hers. Those big, dark brown eyes. I groaned. Finally, I’d fall into a restless sleep, thinking about my life’s choices.

 Day after day, she would bring me breakfast and walk past my cell. Day after day, my love for her grew until it could grow no more, and I was almost positive judging by her smile and the way she looked at me, that she was beginning to feel the same way.

 I was informed a few weeks later that I was added to death row. It was a sickening feeling. One night, when Fiona was keeping watch over the prison, I told her.

 “Fiona, listen,” I said. “I’ve messed up. I’m on death row now for Pete’s sake! That’s not the worst of it though. I’ll never have a chance with you.”

 What was I thinking? I was a rebel, and she was one of the good guys. It would never work.

 “Ben, I hate you.” She said, a playful smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. “But I feel the same way. That’s why,” She paused. “I’m getting you out of here.”

 “What?”

 I was surprised.

 “I know, I know. I tried my hardest to not let you get in my head, but now that you’re there, I can’t get you out. It looks like I’m stuck with you.”

 “I love you, Fiona.” I whispered as she removed my handcuffs.

 “Yeah, you’re not so bad yourself.” She said, giving me a quick peck on my left cheek.

 She pulled away quickly and cleared her throat, “Now, back to business.”

 “Ah, young love. Ain’t it sweet Mark?” A voice I knew all too well boomed.

 The woman officer shined her light into our cell. It was her and the man who had arrested me.

 “Get Mark.” Fiona whispered.

 She jumped onto the woman’s back and knocked her to the ground while I punched Mark in the gut and then the face. In the time it would take someone to tie their shoes, we had them down and out cold.

 “I guess we make a pretty good team.” Fiona cheered, high-fiving me.

 We made a mad dash for the exit.

 “Yeah.” I paused, “What’s in this for you though?” I asked. “I mean, you had a good job. A good life. Why are you just throwing that all away? For what? Me?”

 “I wasn’t always a goody two shoes you know. I was once a rebel. Like you. But I was never caught. Eventually, I realized that money couldn’t buy you everything.” She stopped talking. We stopped running to catch our breath. “I wanted happiness, Ben. I wanted to feel like I mattered, so I tried to do my life over.”

 “But still, what’s in it for you?”

 “It wasn’t everything I thought, being good. Being bad is much, much more fun. You’re my way back. We can work together! We can be partners! Don’t you see? Sometimes, you just have to be a little naughty to have some fun.”

 Everything everyone had ever told me was the opposite. But there was someone else in this lonely world. Someone like me. Someone smart, funny, and a bit devious. We were a perfect team, her and I.

 I didn’t know if I wanted to go through with this. I was having second thoughts about the entire thing.

 “How are we ever going to live normal lives?” I asked.

 Being normal was all I had ever wanted. I just never knew how.

 “Uh, we won’t. That’s what’s so exciting!” She squealed.

 “But where are we going to go? What are we going to do? What if we get caught?”

 “I don’t know, I don’t know, and who the heck cares?” She answered, brushing all my questions away without a second thought.

 “But what about you?”

 “What about me?” She asked.

 “You’re absolutely sure you want to do this? You have to be absolutely sure because once you do this, there’s no turning back you know.”

 “For the hundredth time, Ben. Yes! I’m one hundred percent positive! I’m doing this. With, or without you.”

 That last part threw me.

 “With or without?” I asked. “So you don’t really care about me?”

 “Of course I do. I want you to do this, but I can’t force you. You need to decide for yourself. But let me tell you again, being one of the good guys isn’t all it's cracked up to be.”

“Ok,” I said. “I’m coming with you.”

 She nodded. “Good.”

 We ran. The facility was much more difficult to navigate in the dark. The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Why hadn’t I tried to escape before? Maybe it was just because I felt like I hadn’t had anything or anyone to live for. That seemed to be about the best reason I could think of.

 Then we rounded a corner.

 “Oh my gosh!” Fiona gasped, putting her hand on her heaving chest.

 It was terrifying. Not because of what it was, but just because we had thought we were alone. We weren’t. A man sat there, on a chair, his feet elevated on his desk. He was sleeping. Thank God!

 She grabbed my hand, wrapped it in hers and pulled me behind her. The hall was very narrow, and the man and desk were set right smack dab in the middle of it. The feel of her hand in mine filled my stomach with fluttering butterflies. It was a feeling I did not want to end. Ever. And it seemed she felt the same way because even after we had passed the sleeping guard, she kept my hand in hers.

 I had the impulsive urge to kiss her, right there and then. It was hard to resist.

 “Fiona…”

 “C’mon, this way!” She whispered close to my ear. So close, that her soft lips brushed against my cheek.

 I ignored the urge but not completely as she pulled me up a stairway.

 “Where are we going?” I asked, coming out of my thoughts.

 “To the roof, duh.”

 “Why?”

 “We’re busting out of Jail, Ben. Jail! We can’t just walk out of here.”

 She had a point. So, I followed on. It turned out she knew the place better than I did, thank God. We would have been caught three and a half times already if I was the leader. Thinking about how smart and knowledgeable Fiona was, made me want to kiss her all the more once again. Her sweet, soft lips on mine. I wanted it.

 My hand dropped to my side as she opened the door to the roof. She had to pick not just one, but two locks. Finally, we were out and in the open. The sun was just beginning to rise, creating a beautiful sunset. Not only beautiful, but romantic as well. This was it. This was my chance. If I was going to kiss her, I had to do it now.

 “Fiona….” I grabbed both of her hands and pulled her in close to me. “I love you.”

 I wrapped my arms around her waist and she wrapped her's around my neck. She moved her face in close to mine until our noses were touching.

 “I love you too, Ben.”

 Out of all the dangerous crimes I had committed in my life, this was by far the scariest thing I had ever experienced. All I had to do was push my lips onto hers. And a few minutes later, we were kissing like there was no tomorrow. Well, we really didn’t know how many more tomorrows we would have together. We had to make the most of it, and make the most of it we did.

 My hands were in her hair, her hands on my jaw, kissing all the while. We didn’t want it to end. But suddenly it did. It ended just like that. It wasn’t her that stopped it, but me.

 “We can’t go through with this.” I said, tucking the loose, brown strand of hair behind her ear.

 What had gotten into me?

 “We have to turn ourselves in. We can live good happy lives.” I paused to gather my thoughts. “I know you say being good isn’t that great, but neither is being bad. I think that either one, as long as you are with the right people, can be the perfect place.”

 “So you’re saying that wherever we go, whatever we do, if we’re alone it won’t be perfect? That as long as we are surrounded by the people that truly care about us, we’ll be happy?”

 “Yes, and it’s true. Honestly, I’m terrified, hungry, and confused right now, but I feel happy. That’s all because I’m with you.”

 “Awww, now don’t go get all mushy on me now.” She teased, running her hand through my hair.

 All in all, in the end, Fiona decided I was right. We decided to stop running from the law and apologize for what we had done. Sure, we had to do a lot of community volunteer work and live in foster homes, but all the while we were together. I was happy. Finally, Fiona and I were leading the lives normal people call boring, though to us they were all we had ever wanted. We had each other, we had happiness, and we had love.