Alfonso told me not to kill nobody. But when we were standing there in the donut shop the guy behind the counter was looking at me like he didn’t take me seriously. I can’t stand that. I can’t stand that. I was holding a gun, a gun. A man who doesn’t take a gun seriously is an idiot. I told him to put the money in the bag. He was looking at me funny and doing it slowly, and Alfonso was outside giving me dirty looks. We had two other places to go to that day. So I just got so mad that I shot him in the stomach. He just stood there for a second and looked confused and then he fell. And I took the bag and went outside. Me and Alfonso was driving away. He’s all, “I told you not to kill nobody,” and I’m all “He made me mad,” and he’s like, “You and your temper.” He knew it was best to drop the subject because of how mad I get. I’m just tired of nobody taking me seriously. Like I said, I can’t stand it. People laughed at me my whole life. Well, they ain’t gonna laugh when I’m holdin’ a gun in their freakin’ face.
So we were looking for the freeway when we heard the sirens. I told him we should try to rob another place before the police start chasing us. He told me no, that’s stupid, we should try to lose them. So we went on the freeway and pretty soon there were a couple of them behind us. I leaned out the window, ‘cause Alf was driving, and shot at them. The car behind us swerved and crashed on the freeway, so I think I hit the cop. Damn, I shot two folks. I don’t even know what I was thinking, it was kinda the heat of the moment. Alfonso kept yelling at me for shooting people but he knew he was in the same trouble as me.
I told him to get off downtown by the train-yards, we could lose ‘em. We drove around these empty warehouses by the tracks and they just kept on us, real hard and fast. They was probably mad I shot one of their boys. So Alfonso starts to talking about he wants to give up. Hell no, is what I said. He started to cry and everything. So we kinda lost them for a minute, and we were in this alleyway. He stopped the car and said he was givin’ up. I looked at him and I couldn’t believe it. I think I almost started to cry right then. He promised me we’d do this. We were in it together. And he was giving up the whole dream. I almost shot him. But instead I took the money and ran towards the train tracks. There was a train coming by and I was getting on it.
Just then the police came around the corner, screeching and wailing, and Alfonso was standing with his hands up. I ran like a mad dog to the train as they were shooting at me. I didn’t feel anything, so I assumed I wasn’t hit, so I just kept running. I felt this light feeling as I got near the train, like all my earthly troubles was over. Like the weight of this world was off of me, and I was home free. I ran up to the train and jumped into an empty car as it slowed down. I even kept the bag of money. I looked out at the police taking Alfonso into custody. The train just kept goin’. I walked through this door at the end of the compartment. I had the funniest feeling walking in there, because everyone was in their seats, not moving or anything. They all looked kind of pale and grey. So I sat down in an empty seat and started to count my money. God, I was so happy, just counting it over and over. I had almost five hundred bucks from the donut shop and the old lady we robbed, plus the thousand from the video rental place. I was so exhausted I fell asleep. The rocking of the train was so nice.
When I woke up it was so hot. The first thing I noticed was the train descending, like we was going down into the core of the earth. And then I noticed my wound. My stomach was ripped wide open. I thought damn, I guess I been shot. But I didn’t feel no pain. I looked around, and some other people had some pretty bad cuts and gunshots too. The thing that clued me in was the fire. And the workers on both sides, like people in a chain gang by the freeway. Then I knew where I was. And I knew I was never coming back.
