Second Chances

A loud pounding on the door startled us. Grabbing my jeans from the floor I quickly put them on. Throwing Bonnie her clothes, I said, “Get dressed! Hurry!”

Not wanting the noise to awaken Savannah I hurried out of the bedroom to the front door. What could be so important at this late hour? I’d no more than opened the door a crack when it slammed into me, knocking me backward onto the floor. I hit my head on the corner of the coffee table. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was being jacked.

Three men burst into the room, their faces hidden behind mummy masks made of wrapped tape. One guy brandished a sawed off shotgun, the other two waved pistols. The smallest man slammed the butt of his shotgun into the side of my head.

Bonnie come flying out of the bedroom.

“On the floor!” shotgun man yelled.

“On your knees!” another one screamed, his pistol waving wildly.

“Knees! Get on ’em now!” the third yelled, holding his gun steady.

Shaking with terror, Bonnie and I looked at each other as we fell to our knees. “What do you want from us?” I asked.

Shotgun man, who I assumed was the leader, loudly demanded, “Your money and drugs, now!”

I wondered how they knew I had a pile of cash and drugs in the house. Could they have followed us home from the concert? My head pounded loud and I had trouble thinking. My waist-length, medium-brown, bushy hair felt sticky and wet on the side, a bump beginning to form where I touched the shotguns place of impact and a jagged tear that was bleeding. Although my vision slightly blurred, I saw the biggest of the three creeps standing over Bonnie.

“If you don’t do exactly what I say,” he said, pushing the gun hard against Bonnie’s head. “I’ll shoot this pretty little redhead.”

Staring in horror, I tried to figure out what to do. I didn’t have a gun, and even if I did there was no way I could have gotten to it in time. The other two had their guns trained on me, standing far enough away that I couldn’t jump them.

“Mommy, what’s going on?”

Savannah stood in her bedroom doorway rubbing her eyes.

Bonnie instinctively stretched her arms out toward her daughter. But as Savannah took a step in her direction the big creep yelled, “You stay right there, little girl, or I’ll hurt your mommy!”

Savannah’s big green eyes flooded with tears. “Mommy!”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be okay,” Bonnie said. “Go on back to bed and I’ll be in there soon.”

“Yeah, little girl, you go get under the covers.” He laughed. “Now!”

Savannah gave a yelp and disappeared into the bedroom. We could hear her sobs grow quieter as she pulled the covers over her head.

“Now, one more time. We want your money and your drugs or that cute girl won’t have no parents.”

I had no choice. “I’ll give you what you want. Just don’t hurt anyone.”

The little man waved his shotgun. “Stand slowly, and don’t try anything funny.”

As I stood, the third guy motioned for me to move, all the while keeping his large pistol aimed at my chest. I staggered into the master bedroom, grabbed two trash bags, pulled out the bottom drawer, and stuffed one bag with money. There was close to five thousand dollars there and I sure hated to give it up. But I handed it over to the guy with the pistol.

“Come on, come on,” shotgun man said. “Hurry it up.”

“I’m moving as fast as I can,” I replied, turning so fast I got dizzy and fell on the floor.

“Move it!” The shotgun dug into my back and I rose to my knees, quickly throwing the hash, grass, uppers, downers, crystal meth, LSD, cocaine, mescaline, and mushrooms—every drug I had, into the second bag. I turned, held onto the dresser with my left hand, and held the bag out with my right. The guy grabbed it and I noticed his black cowboy boots had a silver skull mounted on the pointed toe of each boot.

As I pulled myself up, shotgun guy viciously hit me in the nose with his fist. I sank to the floor as both men turned to run.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” one yelled.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” another said.

As they left I knew Bonnie and I had reached a crossroads. I couldn’t understand how it had happened. Where did it even start? As I pondered how I got to this point my mind raced back 12 years to when I had a completely different life all planned out. As my head whirled, I thought back to how life used to be--in a more innocent time.