No Turning Back

I Want Silence

The smell of the city surrounds me, most people don't like it, they prefer the wide open country spaces, but to me, the city feels like home. People rush down the stairs to the subway cars, not caring who it is they're shoving. I find it irritating, we're all people, not one of us should consider themselves higher appointed than another. I believe that we all should be treated equally, the biggest way to earn respect in America is how big your bank account is, and at least that's my understanding of it.

Instead of hanging my head in the air I look down at my feet. The sidewalk is speckled with littered gum and other stains I can't identify. My feet are throbbing, and my mind is racing. My heart feels all jumpy and far from still. The sheer thrill of what I'm about to do makes my heart pound nearly out of my chest.

My cell phone I just bought beeps and vibrates, it's Red. Red is one of my five partners. There is also Bronze, Crimson, Aqua, and Rose. Those aren't their real names, I don't know theirs, but to keep our identities safe we decided to only call each other by our code-names. Mine is Navy.

I pull out the phone and swipe the screen up to read the message, it says;

"Everyone's in place, waiting on you Navy."

She had sent this to everyone on the team. I type on the digital keyboard my reply;

"No turning back,"

I put my hand on my heavy messenger bag; I feel for my gun, I can feel the hard metal even through the bag. My heart pounds as I see the bank. "No turning back," I repeat under my breath. Those people, their money, it shouldn't belong to them.

My phone beeps again, this time its Rose, the message reads;

"Navy, is this your friend?"

Following the message there is a picture of a middle aged bank teller. I grit my teeth, she has short blonde hair that falls barely past her shoulders, it's Summer, the one woman I hoped wouldn't show up for work today. We met at a coffee shop. I was sitting at a table staring at my laptop, at the time I was looking franticly for a job. Then the cold December air rushed in as she did also. She brushed the snow off of her giant coat as she ordered a coffee. It's kind of funny, we probably wouldn't have met if she didn't done this; she had accidently spilled coffee on my shirt. She was hysterical, constantly apologizing even though I had said it was okay half a million times. She tried to make the situation better by introducing herself.

Summer Marie Norris, she told me her whole name, as she does everyone. We had talked for a while, she found out I was looking for a job. She looked at my résumé and recommended me for Kyle's Tattoo Shack. I'm an artist, when they saw my work and taught me how to do tattoos, I was hired on the spot, and that was a pretty decent job for me. I worked there for all the winter months. I screwed up this rich guy's tattoo because I was so nervous. The guy was so mad that he had me fired.

I was so embarrassed, and I was barely scraping by. I couldn't tell Summer, it was too humiliating.

In the picture she was handing a costumer some money. Her smile was as bright as diamonds and warm as the sun in June.

"No turning back," I say again. I can't turn back now.

I send a new message to the team;

"It's not a problem, I'm on the steps."

I walk up the stairs, trying to look calm and casual. I open the glass doors, I look around. I find the eyes of my partners. Rose smiles and returns to looking at the pamphlet she's holding. Crimson looks up from his phone briefly. Aqua pulls her auburn hair behind her ears and continues to fill out a form on a clipboard. Bronze finds my eyes but doesn't stop talking in Spanish on his phone. Red looks my direction and continues pouring the free coffee in the corner. I spot Summer organizing files near where Bronze stands. I shuffle through my bag, I put a piece of bent metal over the door handles so that no one can get in from the outside, and no one on the inside can get out without our say.