Dave was 16 when it first happened. The life threatening event of his young life. The day changed his life and not in the most positive way. The deed he committed dug a hole that was deep and difficult to climb out of.

Dave was a teenage boy who never particularly went to parties, dated girls or anything of the kind that regular teenagers tend to do. He was very different than others, but in the best way possible of course. Every girl thought he was quite good looking, but it was known he hadn’t dated anyone ever and never would. He lived with his mom who was a single parent and took good care of her son. His father on the other hand was a different case. He was a lousy parent who owned an automobile shop which Dave as a child used to play in often. He and his wife had split when Dave was 7 due to unhealthy ways in their home. This hurt their son deeply. Dave looked up to his father, even as he was bad parent. Growing up he spent weekends at his father’s house, learning things about cars everyday. That’s where Dave’s love for cars came from. Something about being able to fix any car and then drive it that Dave enjoyed. He carried on with his life, seeing his father less and less every year and eventually became caught up in his band concerts every week. He attended school most days, when he felt like it. One day he happened to come to school early in the morning. He met someone he hadn’t recognized before

    “Excuse me…do you know where I can find this room?” a girl asks Dave while pointing to her assigned classes paper, who was no doubt new to the school.

     “Uh yeah, just go down that hall and to the right and it should be the first class on the left”, Dave responded just like he would to anyone else.

      “Ok, thanks so much”, she says with little enthusiasm which indicated she didn’t want to be at this new school at all.

Something was different about her, but Dave couldn’t figure it out. He moved on with his day just like any other and soon enough the bell rung and he headed for his car. He then notices the girl he spoke with earlier not being able to start her car. He doesn’t want to help her, but feels obligated to. He’s really the only one who knows almost anything about fixing an automobile. He approaches her carefully.

     “Need some help there?” he says while not enjoying standing in the heat.

     “Yeah, do you mind? You look like you might know a little something about cars,” she stated.

     “Well, you are in luck because I do,” he said.

Dave begins to figure out what the cars problem was. Turns out it just needed a jump start and possibly an engine replacement, but it would get her home safely. She thanked him kindly. Dave then for some weird reason asked for her name before she left.

      “Kira,” she said while starting her car and beginning to pull out.

He waved at her as she left and soon Dave went home.

Kira had moved from New York, due to her father’s job. Kira didn’t enjoy the experience. Leaving her friends and packing her things was the last thing she wanted, but they had to. Kira was quite the artist. She enjoyed what she did and worked hard, for she would study art in her near future. Kira was always looking for something more in life, as if it didn’t have enough meaning as it was. She always did almost everything, every adventure, every risk, she did it all, because she knew she would die one day and couldn’t die with the thought of missing out.

Days went on as Dave didn’t show interest in anything but his music and working on his cars. He and Kira were in a music class together and began to talk more often. They discussed everything they loved and seemed to have a lot more in common than they thought they would. But Dave knew Kira was different. She wasn’t all over him as soon as he talked to her just like every other girl was when he considered dating.

     “Do you want to go on a ride sometime?” Dave asked hoping she’d agree.

     “Driving you mean?” she questioned.

     “Yeah,” he stated.

     “Sure,” she said with a smile across her face.

     “Okay cool, I’ll let you know when I can pick you up,” Dave said.

She nodded in agreement.

The day of their lunch date came and Dave headed over to pick up Kira. As he pulled into her neighborhood he noticed her mother planting flowers in the from lawn as Kira runs out with her shoes untied as if she was rushing. Her mother waves as Kira yells, “Bye mom!” She hopped in his car and they drove off.

      “I know a diner down the road from here if you want to grab a bite from there,” Dave says.

      “Yeah sure that sounds good, whatever you think,” Kira states nervously.

As they pulled into the diner, they see that they came just in time for the lunch special. They take a seat and order their food. They began to start a conversation about all their interests. Kira explains more about her moving states and the transition she experienced. They start connecting and bonding in a way neither have before. They both laugh and smile together more as they share stories and experiences. The food finally arrived and they continued to talk over their meal.

They heard it all around them. Kira suddenly drops her fork. Dave jerks his head around the corner, with a concerned look. He rises up and rushes outside to his car and seems to retrieve something. It was a gun and he hadn’t even hesitated to use it.

Kira heard over ten shots after Dave pulled out a gun.

Kira stayed low and covered her ears while closing her eyes tight. She was scared. She didn’t know what to do and had no concept of what just happened.

Soon enough he returns to the diner, as the shooting stops and everyone seems to be afraid of him. She slowly lifts her head to look at her surroundings and catches an eye of him. She catches a quick glimpse of a bank with people running out and screaming in terror or the dead bodies laid around the bank. They were robbers. They evidently failed to rob the bank due to Dave’s previous actions which was most definitely accounted for by local authorities.

Before you know it Dave grabs Kira by the hand and directs her to the car. He speeds away without saying a word. Kira, quite furious, but mostly scared at this point in time, didn’t know how to form a question or a statement. Shock was an understatement.

     Dave then said, “So, are you going to say something or what?” as he drove off going 30 over the speed limit.

     “I’m supposed to say something? You just shot people for all i know,” she says in an angered voice that was formed out of shock.

      “I was only trying to help, there were men killing innocent people, but know we definitely have the police on our backs and won’t get out of this one easily,”  he states with a focused voice

       “Yeah well that’s why you let the cops deal with things like this,” she said madly.

        “No one would’ve gotten there on time, people were dying,” Dave says.

She sighs, but also fidgets her fingers because she doesn’t know what they are doing. They just keep driving. Farther and farther, trying to get away.

Dave drives on, looking straight ahead. Kira doesn’t know what to do at this point. Dave then decides to speak up and inform Kira on what they will do next. He tells her they have to keep going and need to stop at a motel, since the cops are definitely after them.

     “Dave, what is going on? I thought we were just going on a lunch date? How do you think I’m supposed to react to this?” she says in shock still.

      “Kira, just trust me on this one we have to get out of town before things clear up,” he states.

They drive all the way down to florida, which from where they lived took hours and hours it seemed. Dave and Kira had no clothes or belongings with them. All they both had was an ID on them. They find a motel and see a TV with the robbery on the news. Dave was all over it. This was the moment he started to realize what had actually happened and trying to rationalize the occurrence. He suddenly wondered what Kira’s family might think of this. He finally found a girl he had genuine interest in and out of every bad first date situation, something like this seems to happen. He couldn’t have imagined a worse first date.

They book the motel and sleep in separate beds. They begin to try and sleep and take their mind off of what occurred. Dave knew they would have to leave the next morning and find another place to stay. He had no concept of what to do next.

They wake up the next morning and leave right away. They drive as usual for hours and eventually reach the Miami Airport and book a flight to Mexico where they will begin their new lives