“Between you, me, and the wall, I don’t know what to do!” I screamed at my friend as we were speeding down the highway, cops closing in.

Earlier that day, my friend, Michael, came over to my house. As he walked in, I could sense something was off. Sweat beading from his brows, eyes darting around the room, and a non-stop twitching. I started feeling uncomfortable. We’ve been friends for years and yet I had never seen him so disheveled. Once we sat down I started a conversation to try and move past some of the awkwardness.

“What’d you want to talk about, bro?” I asked.
“Ummmm, John, I have a question,” he asked, voice fading, as if his voice was cowering down.
“What’s up?” I said as my voice trembled with uneasiness.
“I have a pretty big favor to ask …”

After his next words came out of my mouth, my mind.

This isn’t like him!
Wh- Why would he even ask me that?!
He had to be joking, right? All of these thoughts were racing through my mind.

Michael asked if I could help him rob an ATM. “That’s the dumbest idea you have ever told me!! You’re joking, right?” I said in a raised voice.

His eyes were almost staring through me at this point. Despite my entire body and mind telling me that I shouldn’t, my heart was telling me I should. Even though this idea was beyond dumb, Michael had helped me through my lowest of lows time after time. I agreed..

So in the short time I’ve known I’ve been helping him as much as I can. Helping make a plan and making backup plans for it. After only an hour of planning, we had set out. Me in the getaway car and Michael in his old beat-up truck.

Once I got into position, I heard Vroommmmmmmm… The deafening sound of metal getting crushed ensued. Michael rammed the truck into the ATM, hitting it head-on. Once the smoke settled, we saw that the ATM hadn’t broken in half. The money was still sealed in its thick metal box. Michael got out and stared in shock, our plan had failed at the very start. In the distance the sound of blaring sirens was getting louder and louder and louder. It was the cops, ALREADY! I screamed at Michael, “Hurry up, the cops are coming. WE HAVE TO LEAVE!” He snapped out of it and got into the getaway car.

God, I can’t believe this plan failed so fast. I’m so dumb! I thought in my head

The sirens are now almost deafening. In the mirror, I could see red and blue lights flashing, screeching towards me. I took a left, right, right, and just like that, I was on the highway. “Between you, me, and the wall, I don’t know what to do!” I screamed. Michael responded with an overwhelming silence. We had really messed up this time.

The cops are still on us and closing in. My only chance was to take the next exit and pray we could ditch the car and escape on foot. So I waited until the last moment and swerved right onto the off-ramp with tires screeching and brakes squealing. Coming to the intersection, my heart stopped, and the heavy beating in my chest went so quiet as if it just stopped. Cortisol spiking, I saw the cops had the intersection blocked off with more cops coming from behind me. It was over, and we had failed. My dumb choice to help out my friend ruined my life; it’s over.