[ WP ] `` And that was the first of the three lies ... ''

“ I thought you knew what you were doing! ” 
 
 The panic in my voice was clear despite the blaring of alarms that sought to drown it out. Trying to keep my composure, I held the bag now filled to the brim with money with one hand, and tightened my grip on my rifle with the other. 
 
 “ Of course I do! Just keep moving! ” 
 
 Ryan turned and started to rush down another grimy maintenance corridor, his head spinning wildly this way and that looking for any sort of escape route. It had been far too long since we had blown the safe and grabbed the cash - we should have been long gone by now. Instead, we were still stuck here, pushing against locked door after locked door, trapped like rats in a cage. 
 
 “ But… ” 
 
 “ Shut up! We are getting out of here and getting far away, and then you can pay those medical bills and your family will be cured, ok? Just get off my case for a minute! ” 
 
 Mentioning my family only made me feel worse. They were the only reason that I had got myself into this mess in the first place. Not like I would have taken any other course of action, mind you - they meant everything to me. To see them all dying slowly of that illness, with my wreck of a life and lack of a job making me unable to get the help they needed… I would do this all again if I had to. I would just hope that next time it would go more smoothly. 
 
 “ Finally! ” 
 
 Ryan ’ s excited cry snapped me out of my thoughts. A set of heavy doors had finally swung open in response to his attempts, and there up ahead was another set, the sun peeking through their edges, the glow they created almost beckoning us towards them. 
 
 “ Go go GO! ” he shouted, but I did not need telling. Breaking into a run, I darted past him as fast as I could, reached the end of the corridor and pushed upon the door. A brief flicker of joy erupted inside of me as they opened to my touch. It was crushed almost instantly as my eyes took in in everything around me – the dazzling sunlight. The endless rows of police cars and flashing red and blue lights surrounding the building. And the dozens of police officers hidden behind them, guns raised, ready to fire at anything that appeared in their crosshairs. 
 
 I did n't hear the shots get fired. I only felt the pain, so sudden, so agonisingly painful. The force of the shots sent me spinning to the ground, my head cracking harshly off the concrete, a small puddle of crimson splattering down next to my body. 
 
 “ MICHAEL! ” 
 
 Even through the pain I heard that shout, and my vision remained clear. I could see Ryan coming out the door, the mix of terror, grief and confusion etched so perfectly on to his face it looked as though it had been carved there. Then he too was struck by another volley of shots, blood starting to rush from his chest almost instantly. As I watched him also fall to the ground the realisation came to me so clearly, even though my thoughts were fading away – he had never known what he was doing. He was trying to help me and help my family, but not with a grand scheme or any sort of plan, just with his instincts and the desperate hope that everything would turn out ok. 
 
 And that was the first of the three lies. The other two merely followed as a consequence - we were never going to get out of here. I was never going to be able to help my family. Guilt and sadness flooded through my dying body, but I was comforted by the fact I knew I had tried. I had not just let them die. As my vision blurred, I took in Ryan ’ s body one more time. I held no anger towards him and the lies he had told me – he had only tried to help. The choices I had made were my own, and even though they led to this, at least I had made them. I had tried to make things better. 
 
 With this in mind, I closed my eyes, and made peace with God. 

