Hilber 1

Dylan Hilber
Steinmann
English 322
26 September 2013
Not a Normal Night
His heart was beating faster than the wings of a hummingbird. He couldnt
believe it was happening, all he had wanted was an energy drink and a Twinkie, but
now his life was on the line and he felt helpless. This was the furthest thing from his
mind when he walked into the store, it had started out as a normal day, but this was
not a normal night.
Jake was a normal 18 year old. He was a hair under six feet tall and had short
brown hair with brown eyes. He wasnt the kind of person that goes to the gym, but
he had always been naturally athletic and was blessed with a fast metabolism.
He never belonged to a clique like the jocks or the nerds, but thats not to say
he was an outcast. He had his group of friends with the same interests. They all
loved video games, enjoyed sports, and for the most part they were all good
students. His only really problem was that he was a chronic procrastinator. He would
always get his work done, but he rarely did it ahead of schedule, he always waited
to the last minute. He could always manage to pull off a solid B, maybe even an A if
he put in enough time, but he always waited till the last minute to start the
assignment. It didnt help matters that he was now a senior, which had made him
even lazier as he could taste his impending graduation from high school just over a
month away. Most of the classes he was taking were easy As, so he didnt have

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many big projects to speak of. The only class where he really had to apply himself
was his English class. He would always have a paper due every couple of weeks,
usually a book report, nothing too difficult to do.
Things were about to get a bit tougher with the end of the year and finals
coming up. For his English class he had to type up a ten page research paper,
something that gave him a reason to worry with the amount of procrastinating he
was used to doing. He knew that this paper couldnt be done in one night, but that
didnt mean he still couldnt put it off. Hed decided that he could do it all on the
weekend before it was do, no problem. He'd even joked about doing it with his
friend Joel.
So when are you going start on that English paper? Joel asked.
I'd like to say I'll get started on it tonight, but we both know that's not going
to happen, Jake joked, But in all seriousness I'll probably do it all on Sunday,
maybe get a source or two on Saturday.
When the weekend finally approached, he still wasnt worried; he camped out
in front of the TV and played Call of Duty with his buddies from school. He played
until he couldnt keep his eyes open and finally fell asleep. Friday night was wasted
on games, leaving just two days left to get the paper done. Come Saturday morning
he still couldnt bring himself to start his research, and even though the stress of
getting it done was starting to eat at him, he just slouched down on the couch and
watched more TV. He finally got up when one of his friends texted him to go grab a
bite, which he happily accepted, leaving even more time wasted that could have
been spent on the paper.

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Later on that day when the clock struck six, he knew he had to get work
done, and he might even have to pull an all nighter. So he finally forced himself over
to the computer and started to hunt down some scholarly sources to cite for his
paper, with the occasional glance at Wikipedia for some information. His research
was spread out amongst the next few hours, as he often was side tracked by videos
on YouTube showing the latest hit internet sensation. At around nine that night he
was starting to get tired, but he knew he needed to get most of it done that night if
he wanted to get any semblance of a good night sleep on Sunday.
If he was going to stay awake he knew he needed and energy drink, well
really he knew he didnt but it was a good excuse to take a break from his paper. He
walked over to his closet and grabbed his semi new converse sneakers and started
to head for the door. He let his mom know he was going out to grab a few things
from the store, it was only a five minute walk from the house, and she told him not
to take long as she was going to bed soon.
As he walked to the gas station convenience store he stuck his hands in his
pockets and took in his surroundings. It was a clear and breezy night, the pine trees
were blowing in the wind, and their scent filled the air. He could actually see the
stars in the sky, which he normally couldnt because of all the city lights. Even
though it wasnt a long walk it gave him a chance to escape from the work he had
to do, and it allowed him to relax a bit.
After a few minutes he arrived at the store. The parking lot was empty save
for the employees cars and one car by the pumps. He strolled on through the door,
said hi to the middle aged man at the cash register and headed back to where the
drinks were. His eyes passed back and forth over the Monsters, Amps, and other

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energy drinks before he finally settled on one that was on sale, 2 for 3 dollars. He
then headed over to where the snack foods were at and glanced at the doughnuts
before finding where the elusive Twinkies were hiding.
As he grabbed the Twinkies and browsed the other goodies on the shelves, he
heard the bell of a person entering the store go off. He didn't bother to look and see
who came in because his eyes were preoccupied with all of the food options in front
of him. All of the sudden he heard shouting up by the front of the store and looked
up to see what the commotion was about, and then he saw it. Standing in front of
the cash register was person wearing black sweats and a hoodie, judging by the
voice it was young man. This all took a backseat though to what Jake could see in
the mans hand, he was holding a pistol and it was pointed right at the cashier.
Give me all the money you've got in the register! shouted the man, Hurry
it up, and don't even think about trying anything funny!
Okay, please just don't h-h-hurt me. the cashier cried.
Jakes heart started to beat faster and faster with each passing second. He
couldnt believe he was in the store as it was getting robbed. He didnt know what
to do and he was frozen. He slowly crouched down behind the end of the snack isle
and hoped the man didn't notice him.
As he sat there, slouched next to the Twinkies, he didnt know what to do. He
could try to be hero by sneaking up on the robber and knocking him out or
disarming him, but he knew that one mistake could lead to his death. Then it
occurred to him, the robber still hadnt seen him hiding behind the isle, so he could
try to call the police on his cell phone. Just as quickly as that thought entered his

Hilber 5
mind, he felt it, the barrel of a gun right on the side of his head.
While he had been sitting there frozen in thought the robber had seen him in
the store's security mirror. The hooded gunman grabbed him by the arm and pulled
him over to the front of the store and threw him to the ground in front of the cash
register.
Lay down on the floor and dont move! he shouted.
Jake did as commanded, fearing what would happen to him if he didnt obey.
He noticed that the hooded criminal was also wearing a full face skeleton mask,
something that only added to the fear and panic that was growing inside of Jake.
As Jake laid there on the cold store floor, the masked man kept his gun
on the cashier, shouting at him to hurry up with the money. In the midst of the
commotion Jake came to the realization that he still had his pocket knife in his
pocket. It was at that moment of realization that he decided to do something stupid,
he was going to try and be a hero. With the masked mans attention focused on the
cashier, Jake slid his hand slowly down his side to his pocket. He reached in and
grabbed the Swiss Army knife and then slowly pulled it out, trying hard not to make
a sound. He cautiously brought the pocket knife up to his other hand and pulled out
the blade.
With the blade in his hand Jake raised up his arm for a brief moment before
throwing it down with all his might. The knife landed and embedded itself deep
within the center of the robbers left foot. Immediately after the initial strike Jake
realized he had not thought about what to do after he stabbed the man. The
gunmans first reaction was a scream of pain, followed swiftly by his swinging his

Hilber 6
gun around to aim right at the top of Jakes head.
Youre dead man, youre dead! he screamed.
Jake looked up to see the barrel of the gun, and his entire life flashed before
his eyes. He saw his birth, his birthdays, and his first kiss all flash through his mind,
this was the end and he knew it. All of the sudden he heard a sick thud and opened
his eyes to see his would-be killer lying on the floor unconscious. The cashier was
standing there with an aluminum baseball bat in his hands.
You okay kid? he asked.
Jake didnt respond, he just slowly nodded his head. Within about ten minutes
the police had arrived on the scene and detained the robber. They asked Jake a few
questions and told him they would call if they had anymore. The cashier told him
that he could have the Twinkies and energy drink free of charge of helping stop the
criminal.
When he got home he didnt wake his parents up to tell them what happened,
he figured they would find out in the morning anyway and he was still in a state of
shock. He walked down the hall to his room and tossed his shoes into a corner. He
sat down in front of his computer screen with his mouth still open. He brought his
hands up to the keyboard in an attempt to start typing, but they were trembling to
much to be of any use. He thought about how being caught in the middle of robbery
must have been a reason to not turn in the paper, but he also knew that he had had
two weeks to do the paper. As he stared at the screen he wondered how in the
world he was going to get his paper done now. He was able to type out his name,
the title, and his thesis statement, but in the end he was to shaken to finish it that

Hilber 7
night. He laid his head down on his pillow, closed his eyes, and prayed that he
would wake up and realize it was all just a bad dream.