Cleveland Rocks

We each took turns throwing our orange prison suits into a burning barrel nearby. It had been less than 6 hours since we’ve broken out of an upstate prison in New York. We managed to make it to Ohio after burglarizing an old man in a small town near the prison. His body was probably still lying in the middle of his living room floor. We took his keys and started out on our way west.

It would be hours or maybe days before someone reported the old man missing, but the guards at the prison would know we’ve escaped by the time the sun came up.

We ran out gas in Ohio, somewhere outside of Cleveland. It was my turn to dispose of my prison suit; I discarded it into the burning flame.

“What now?” I said.

“We find a gas station, and we rob it.” Carter said in an arrogant voice.

He was still brandishing the gun he had managed to scuffle from the officer back at the prison.

“I told you Carter, I’m not like you guys. I was framed.” I said in a low voice.

“Look kid, it doesn’t matter if you did the crime or not, you’re a fugitive now, you’re one of us.” Johnny said.

Johnny tossed his prison suit into the barrel. Johnny was at least 25 years old; he looked 10 years older than his actual age. He spent most of his adulthood in prison. His face had a long scar on the right side, starting from his hairline and stretched to the bottom of his chin; he told me he received that scar while defending himself in prison. He weighed at least 200 pounds of solid muscles and could snap my neck like a twig.

I and Carter had just so happen to be next door neighbors before he was sentenced to life for robbing and killing a clerk at a 7/11 around the corner from where we lived. When I was sentenced to life in prison five years later, I ran into Carter in prison, we started devising a plan to escape. After losing my appeal, I came to the conclusion that I might spend the rest of my life in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. I and Carter had the perfect plan after watching how the prison system operated for about three months. I decided to let Johnny in on the plan since he was my cellmate and protected me from other inmates; he was also severing a life sentence.

“I’m not like you guys.” I repeated.

Heading into Cleveland by foot, we decided it wouldn’t be safe to walk the streets anymore.