“Give me the money in the register and no one gets hurt.” Although this was staged, part of Faiyaz felt a little terrified staring at the barrel of a toy gun. He was more concerned about the customers in the store; they weren’t apart of the plan. They hadn’t noticed yet, but at any minute they would be coming to the counter.

Faiyaz fumbled through the register, he had already counted out the twelve hundred that was needed. He made it look like he was grabbing money frantically for the cameras.

“Hurry up!!” Jimmy yelled from behind the ski mask.

“I’m getting it, here take it!”

“This isn’t everything, I know there is more in there. I want it all!”

“What the fuck, that’s all I have!” Faiyaz’s mind started to shift as he realized they were no longer going by the agreed plan.

“I told you to give me the money in the register, now do it!” Faiyaz thought to himself how this situation could go down. He could not give him any more of the money, then what? He figured Jimmy couldn’t do anything; it was a fake gun for one thing. Worst case scenario he could expose the whole thing, ruining the plan and most likely Faiyaz’s life. Something told him that his parents would not take kindly to this.

“Jimmy, what the fuck man that’s it.” Faiyaz whispered, trying to not make it obvious.

“I don’t want to say it again, man! No one has to get hurt!” Jimmy’s voice rose louder than before. The customers now saw what was happening and they made it pretty obvious.

“AHHH!” The woman screamed as she grabbed onto the guy she was with.

“Oh shit!” Ducking behind an aisle, the man that was barely awake sure seemed to have his eyes open now.

“Everyone just stay down and no one will get hurt! All of you move yourself to the same aisle, I don’t want to have to keep an eye on all of you separately.”

The couple stayed where they were as the other man made his way to the same row. They ducked, huddled together. Their 7-eleven late night experience was turning into something else entirely.

“Wallets! Take them out now!”

“You don’t have to involve them, please. Take everything in the register, here!” Faiyaz was now trying to make the best of the situation that he could. He grabbed all the cash in the drawer and put it on the counter for Jimmy. Although it would hurt his parents financially, he figured it would be better than customers being affected.

Jimmy started grabbing the cash and shoving it in the backpack he had. The exhausted man seemed to have transformed as he started coming down the aisle. Either being brave or stupid, he decided to make a move on Jimmy. Faiyaz, being Jimmy’s close friend and extremely confused, tried to warn him.

“Watch out!”

Jimmy turned around and smacked the guy across the face with the gun. He fell directly to the floor, making a huge thump. Things had just escalated and now Faiyaz was shaking.

“What the fuck, what the… what are you..” Faiyaz started feeling dizzy as he noticed his vision was blurring as well. This situation had escalated too much for Faiyaz to handle; he was headed for the floor too. As his eyes closed and his body fainted, he heard a bell and a bottle swung into Jimmy’s head. It shattered as Jimmy fell into the counter and to the floor. This was the last thing Faiyaz saw, for he himself found rest on the floor.

Faiyaz opened his eyes, trying to understand what just happened. Someone was looking into his eyes and pointing a light into them.

“Hello, you there bud?”

Slowly his eyes opened and his brain put his surroundings together. He was lying in the back of an ambulance. There were lights flashing everywhere and sirens. Then he realized what had just happened. Where were the customers? Where was Jimmy? Who hit him? He got up quickly, only to be resisted.

“Woah there buddy, take your time. You took quite a fall; hit your head as well. Don’t move too quickly, alright?” It was an EMT that was talking to him, apparently checking his vitals as well.

“What happened? We were getting robbed?”

“Everyone is fine, one man took a good hit to the head and the robber is actually in custody right now. The police are talking to him right now, don’t worry they will take care of it.”

Faiyaz looked around outside, trying to see through all the lights that were flashing. He saw the customers sitting on the ground, talking to some officers. Then he saw him. Jimmy was in the back of a police car with handcuffs on. Officers were interrogating him; he could tell Jimmy was panicking. He saw the officers pointing over at him and Jimmy shook his head in acknowledgment. He was done. The dreams and passions he had were going down the drain. Soon his parents would be here and everything would be out in the open.

“Who stopped the robber?”

“Gil, apparently he smashed a bottle over his head. Pretty heroic if you ask me!”

“Gil? Who’s that?”

“That man right over there- he said you guys knew each other.” The EMT pointed over by the 7-eleven door where another man was being questioned. Faiyaz followed where the EMT was pointing and couldn’t believe his eyes. The man who saved him was standing in all his glory. He was shaking hands with officers, being treated like a hero. The man was pretty tall, now that he was standing. Slim figure, with brown eyes just like Faiyaz had. His hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in months and it was down to his shoulders. There was some stubble on the man’s face and a tattoo of a skull on his neck.

Faiyaz realized that he never even took the time to learn the real name of The Notorious B.U.M. He laid back down, embarrassed. He turned over on his side to try and rest, but couldn’t fight himself from staring at his own reflection in the window. Time and time again he had seen Gil, yet only saw their differences. Now he lay restless, fixated on what he saw in the glass. Similarities were all he could see this time, as he stared into his own brown eyes.