Hustle

ONE

Matt Crowne was having trouble breathing. Maybe it was the mask covering his face, maybe it was the fact that he was about to walk into a convenience store to rob it. Either way, breathing at this moment was a problem. Quickly, he ripped the mask off his face and leaned back on the dark brick wall in the dimly lit alley beside the store.

Get a grip Matt, you aren't going to kill anyone. Just taking some money.

Matt closed his eyes and exhaled deeply before pulling the mask back over his head and turning towards the side door. The door was a dark green, musky. Was that a streak of red on it? Blood? No of course not. Matt focus. One kick, foot to the door. That's it, that's all it takes. The safe will be a sharp left, fifteen feet from the door. Matt worked there before, he knows that. He knows that it will take two minutes and forty two seconds exactly before the police will arrive. He knows that the code to get into the safe is six-three-two-one-four-six and he knows that there is over six thousand dollars in the safe. Matt knew everything, he was home free. All he had to do was-

Slam!

The door swung into the dark store quickly. Within seconds, the alarm started blaring. Expected. Matt raced to the safe, sliding against the floor on his jeans to meet it. His fingers, shaking, laid onto of the keypad on the safe.

Six. Three. Two. One. Four. Six. Enter.

Matt's breath caught in his throat. The light on the safe was supposed to turn green, instead it flash red. Matt hurried and punched in the numbers again.

Six. Three. Two. One. Four. Six. Enter.

The light flashed red.

Six. Three. Two. One. Four. Six. Enter.

The light flashed red again.

"Shit." Matt mutters. Looking down. Mr. Albany changed the code on the safe. In the distance, down the hallway, Matt heard footsteps racing towards the back room. Matt scrambled to his feet, and ran out the door before Mr. Albany, or the police officer, or whoever came in the other door. As soon as his feet hit the pavement outside he sprinted towards ES Harkness Hall as fast as he could. Two rights, one left, eighteen blocks. Then he would stand in the lobby of his dorm. He was wearing gloves, nothing was stolen, he couldn't possibly be arrested. Matt continued to run. It was times like these that he appreciated being a track star in high school. It wasn't long before he was in front of his dorm. Matt reached into his jack pocket, his fingers swimming through the fabric looking for the plastic card. When he couldn't find it, he searched his second jacket pocket and then his front and back jeans pocket. It wasn't anywhere to be found. That plastic card, his student ID. His eating pass, his pass to get into his dorms, and his information was all on that card. Matt's hands flew up to his hair, wanting to rip it out and his turned back around, looking into the night. The card was in his pocket. It was in his damn pocket when he got to the store, and it must have fallen out when he got away. Before he knew it, the sirens that he heard in the distance got closer. The red and blue lights became visible, and five troopers speed in front of Harkness, seven officers getting out, guns drawn. Matt put his hands up in the air and two officers came quickly and forcefully put his hands behind his back, locking them in handcuffs.

"Matthew Crowne, you are under arrest for the attempted burglary of Stones General Store. You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney..."

Matt was uncuffed and pushed into a holding cell, the cell door closing behind him. Matt sighed, looking around him to see ten different faces looking back at him. Some had tattoos covering their entire face. Some looked like they wanted to slap Matt in the face. But one of them men, looked out of place. He looked like Matt. He wore a nice button down shirt with khakis and Sperry shoes. His hair was slicked back but falling down slightly, indicating he had styled his hair hours before hand. His hair was a dirty blonde, differing to Matt's dark brown. He had glasses sitting in on the brim of his nose and behind them his eyes were dropping. Fatigued. Rubbing his eyes the young man looks up towards Matt and sits up straighter, relief washing over his face. Matt cleared his throat and started walking towards the young man.