I Am the Dark Knight

I'm anonymous. And this is the beginning of my story. I was seventeen years old and I already had a record. I've been busted for stealing cars, breaking into homes, trespassing, fighting, and stealing from the local food mart. I did what I had to do to survive. All I could do was depend on myself. I had nobody. My father died when I was three. He was a cop. He died in the line of duty. My mother couldn't take it. She already had problems when he was living but it seemed to overwhelm her when he died and she relapsed into drugs. She has a new job every single week because she always get fired because of her drug problem. She also has a new man every week. She sells her body for money. She doesn't spend the money on me or my little brother. She spends it on her drugs. And yes, I do have a little brother. He's nine years old. I try to bring money into our home so I can feed and clothe him. I had a job at the local food mart. Minimum wage is a bitch. I could barely feed me and him, let alone pay the rent for our apartment. And I had a hard time making it on time to work because I had to take my little brother to school. We didn't have a car. I had a seven speed bike. I had my little brother ride on the front of the bike. I would speed down the streets to his school. Cars would be honking at us but he would always laugh and say "Faster!" Now his school is by the local high school. I have to ride pass the high school to his school. I always see my old high school math teacher, Mr. Williams. And he always ask me when I'm coming back to school. I say soon even though I know I will never go back.

I dropped out of school when I was fifteen so I could work full time at the food mart. I didn't really care much for school. I didn't really fit in either. I was the rebel. I smoke in the bathroom. I skipped class all the time. I never did homework. I slept during class. But I never did those things in Mr. Williams classes. He saw something in me that no one else every did. I remember one day in class, Mr. Williams asked me why I never do the homework? I said because its a waste of time. He laughed. He said, "let's see if its a waste of time come exam time. And if you flunk your first exam, Miss ------, that's means you wasted my time and I will automatically flunk you from the class." I still didn't do the homework. And come exam time, guess what I score? I scored a 96. The highest score in the class. Only five other people passed the exam. Mr. Williams asked me to take it over again because he thought I cheated. He created a whole new exam and I stayed after school and I passed it again. But this time I made a 100. From that day on, Mr. Williams strive to push me to work hard. He became my friend. I started doing his homework and I stopped sleeping in his classes. I thought I would go far. I guess he was wrong.

My job at the local food mart didn't last long. I was caught stealing merchandise. They call the police and I was arrested. The merchandise I was stealing was medicine for my little brother. He had a severe fever. I wanted to take him to the hospital. But we had no money. I just spent the little money we had on the rent. We were about to be literally thrown on the streets. So I went to work. And just before my break I tried to sneak a bottle of aspirins and Nightquil in my purse. But this girl who always had it in for me, saw me do it. She was jealous of me because I was young and beautiful and her boyfriend liked me. Just before I walked out of the door, she and a security cop stopped me. She told him that this bitch is stealing cold medicine because I was a drug addict. She also told him that I've been stealing from the store ever since I started working there, which was not true. None of it was true. But the security guard believed her because I did had the cough medicine in my purse. So he called the police and they arrested me. I was put on probation and of course, fired from the job.

I had no job, no food, and no money. My brother did got better though. But we were still down shit creek. I had to think of a way to make some money fast because my rent is about to be due. I tried getting another job but when they checked my references, they never call me back. I was walking home one day. I just put in a job application to the local gas station. Some young guys were cat calling me. You could tell they weren't college boys. There were three guys. One was latino, one was black, and one was causican. The latino and the african american look like they were in their early 20's. I knew the causican boy from math class. Usually I ignore them but I was pissed off. I didn't have any money for rent. I haven't eaten for days. And our lights were cut off. I told them to go fuck themselves. The latino said he whether fuck me. I had enough. I was about to literally get into a fist fight with him. But the causican told him to back off and leave me alone. I continued walking to my house and he followed me. He asked me if he knew me because I looked familiar. I said yeah, Mr. Williams' class. He said, "Oh, you were the smart chick, who never did the homework! I remember you! Damn, what happened to you? One day you were in class, and the next day you're gone." I told him a lot has happened to me. I begin telling him my problems and that I'm soon going to be moving to my new home on the streets. He said, "Damn, that's sad. You need money, right? If you want, you can help me with this little job I have to do tonight. But its not no helping the elderly change their shit stained bed sheets. If you help me, I will give you a cut." I told him fine. I will do anything except prostitute. He wanted me to meet him at the gas station at around midnight. He told me not to wear any bright colors.

So I went home and fed my brother whatever ever I could find. I then put my brother in bed. I changed my clothes. I put on some blue jeans and a black t-shirt on. I was about to step out the door. I noticed , my mom was passed out on the couch. Her new sugar daddy was sitting on the love seat watching some x-rated movie. He noticed I was leaving and he asked me where I was going. I told him its none of his business. He said that he's going to be my new father. He said that my father wasn't anything. He couldn't handle my mother and he couldn't handle me. I told him to go fuck himself and I left right out of the house. I met up with David aka the causican. He said that I looked good. I asked him what is the job. He told me that I will see very soon. He walked over to a car. I asked him if its his. He said, "It is now." He picked the lock like a pro. He played with the wires and soon we were speeding down the streets. I was wondering what did I get myself into. I told him to stop the car. I got out and started walking home. I didn't want to get arrested again. I knew if I was arrested, they would put me in jail for a long time. David yelled, "Where are you going?" I said, "I'm going home." "So you're quitting just like you quit school!", said David. "Yep!" I said. David got into my face and said, "You're never going to go anywhere in your life if you keep quitting! You think I want to do this? I don't. But you and me are the same. I have a little brother too. I have to take care of him because both my parents are dead. This job gives my enough money and more to keep my brother living a normal life. I made the choice. And you have to make the choice too." I looked him straight in his eyes. And I got back into the car. He jumped in and he drove for an hour. He was looking at every car he passed. And finally he found what he was looking for. He found a 2006 black onvertible BMW. He parked right beside it. He jumped out of the car and quickly began to pick the lock because he knew the alarm was going to come on. He picked the lock and jump into the driver's seat. I was panicking because the alarm was so loud and I knew someone called the cops. But then the alarm stopped and the car turned on. He got out and told me to get in the driver's seat. I did what he told me to do. He got back into his car and he roll the window down. He yelled, "Follow me!" And he sped off. I didn't know how to drive. But I knew I had to get out of there quick and I didn't want to screw this up. So I closed my eyes and tried to remember everything David did when he was driving. And soon I was speeding right behind him. I heard police sirens but we were way ahead of them. I followed David to this abandon building. We droved to the back and I saw the two guys who were cat calling me. We parked our cars. I got out but I stayed right beside the car. David walked up to the guys and they handed him an envelope. They started walking toward the cars. David told me to get into his car. The other guys got into the BMW and drove off. David take me home. He gaved me my cut. It was more than enough to pay my rent. He said " I see you around." I saw David a lot. I taught me how to pick locks and rewire cars. We would break into homes and steal valuables to pond off. We did this for quite awhile. I could tell David liked me. He would always try to hit on me. But I wasn't looking for anybody to be with. I had too much on my plate. I was paying rent on time and we had food on our table. We were eating steak every night. No more Roman Noodles. Everything was so good. But of course, all good things come to an end.

One night, David and I were about to get away with this 100,000 dollar Mercendez Benz. I was supposed to drive it to the abandon building. But I couldn't get it started. I was panicking. Someone had called the cops and I heard the sirens get closer and closer. David yelled for me to hurry. I finally got it started and we sped off. In the rearview mirror I saw a cop car speeding to catch us. I knew that I couldn't go to the abandon building. I had to shake him off. So me and David were speeding down the streets. I was going so fast that I lost control of the steering wheel and crashed into a tree. I had a cut on my forehead but I was okay. David saw what happened to me but he never stopped. I got out of the car and the cop arrested me. I was sent to court. The judge wanted to throw me in jail for a long time for violating my probation. He said I was a menace to society. So when my trial came up, I was ready to go to jail. I said good bye to my little brother and my mother. I asked David to give me a ride to the court house. It was the least he could do for me. A car was parked outside my apartment so I thought it was David. So I got inside the car, and I saw a man in a dark suit sitting in the back. He told his driver to drive. I told him to let me out. He said, "Trust me you don't want to get out Miss----. I have a career opportunity for you." I asked him how he knew my name. He said, "I've been watching you." He started to really creep me out. I said, "Let me out this car!" "So you can go to jail? You're most certainly are going to jail for a long time. You don't have to." he said. I said, "How?" He said, "By being anonymous. I'll erase your criminal record. I'll erase your whole identity." I laughed. I thought this must be a joke. He told the driver to stopped the car. He said, "Get out." I was about to open the door but he stopped me. "You have something the people I work for want. I don't see it but they do." He said. He threw a piece of paper on my lap. It was my SAT scores. I scored a perfect score. He said, "We notice you. You scored a perfect score and yet you fail almost all your classes in high school. You can walk out of this car and rot away in a cell. Or you can come with me and be free. Its your choice." I told the driver to drive. And he drove to my new destiny.