Stevie and Caleb

Stevie and Caleb

The cave is spooky, but the men in the woods are even spookier.

“I don’t hear anything,” my buddy, Caleb, whispers as he peeks through the cave opening. “I think we’re safe.”

“That’s just what they want us to think.”

We’ve been hiding in this dank, dark cave for hours.

“Caleb, they’re waiting for us to feel safe and come out.”

Caleb is in the wrong place at the wrong time (with the wrong person) but doesn’t know it.

I noticed a familiar car following us on the way to our weekly run on the path that weaves through Digger Woods. I didn’t say anything, but I should have.

“Caleb, these thugs want me,” I say, finally.

“What would some shady dudes want with you, Stevie?”

How can I tell him I had robbed a bank with them and kept all the money? How can I tell him I know I shouldn’t have done it but did it anyway?

“They just do.”

I have a tough decision to make, but I have to make it.

“Caleb, buddy, there’s another way out of this cave.”

“Let’s take it.”

I have to stop running and face the music.

“No, I want you to take it!” I guide him toward the back of the cave. “They don’t know about it. You’ll be safe. It opens into the field behind Benjie’s Bar. Now, go.”

“Not without you.”

“You have no choice. Go, before you can’t.”

“What’s the deal, Stevie?”

“Just go!”

Caleb, shoulders hunched, heads for safety.

My partners-in-crime are waiting, guns drawn, as I exit the cave.

“The money’s hidden in the cave. You can have it all,” I say, hoping for mercy.

Maybe they’ll let me go with a warning, but I doubt it.

At least Caleb is safe.