Nolan sat in his blue truck, the vehicle covered in dirt and scratches, a testament to his hard work in his current job of construction. Though he wasn't happy, despite the ring on his left hand. He stared at some papers he held in his hand, his eyes holding a lost gaze as he scanned repeatedly over the black ink on the page.
Decree of divorce
Children, support and spousal support
Court of common please
Diversion of domestic relations
Clarion county, Pennsylvania
Sarah Nolan:case number 15-64...
John jumped slightly hearing a tap on the glass of his truck, his head turning to the side as he saw a woman and heard a voice through the window. "Banks open, John." She said to him. He smiled softly at her, his eyes filled with a strained kindness as he folded the papers in his hand. "Thanks." He mumbled out softly, giving another brief glance to the woman beside his truck.
He stepped out of the vehicle, following the woman inside. "So happy divorce day." The woman said to him. "That's not a thing." John said immediately. "It should be. When mine went through, I took the boys to Disneyland." She replied softly, reminiscing in the times. "I'm not really feeling the Matterhorn." John said as they walked down the centre path of the bank, a small crease appearing between his furrowed brows. "Try and look at this as an opportunity." She said looking up at him. "Right now, I'm just trying to remember to wear pants." John scoffed softly making the woman laugh gently.
"I thought I'd be relieved. Sarah and I agreed to stay together until Henry went to college. I knew this was coming for two years." He uttered almost in disbelief as he shoved his hands into his pockets and followed the short haired woman into the room. "So...what have you always wanted to do?" She placed her key inside one of the lock boxes and looked at.him. "Uh, Chippendales. Or the NFL. I'm not picky." He replied after a moments hesitation. "I'm trying to help you, John." The woman said with a small laugh as she reached over and opened the door to box 418. "I bought a self-help book, but I bad the cashier put it in a brown paper bag, can't v ing myself to open it." John said, somewhat hesitantly, and awkward, almost embarrassed smile on his lips. He chuckled nervously as he held eye contact with the woman who looked sympathetic. "Who am I?" He asked.
The woman's brows.narrowrd slightly as she glanced to the left. "I think the healthiest question is who do you want to be?" She stated. John looked at her with a blank expression, even he didn't know that yet. "When I feel gute it out, I'll let you know." He told her softly, his lips pressed together in a thing line. The woman stepped forward to hug him and he hugged her back, it only lasted a few seconds but John appreciated it.
The woman let out a soft sigh and then left the room. John sighed and opened the box that had been pulled out for him. He pulled out and envelope from the inside of his jacket pocket and placed it in the box after a moment. He looked down at his left hand, the gold wedding band and just stared at it for a moment before he began to take it off, straining slightly to pull it off, but ultimately making the decision he didn't need to wear it anymore despite how much it hurt to take it off. He placed the ring in the box and then closed it, heading back out to the main area of the bank.
John walked with his eyes cast downward, his job was done and now he had to get on with his life. He shoved his hands into his pockets, only looking up when the door opened with a loud clock and two men entered. The first one through the door punched the clocked the security guard with the end of his gun making the older man fall to the floor. "Everybody on the floor now!" He yelled.
Both men wore a variation of blue jeans, a jacket of some sort, they both had their hoods up and both wore masks that covered their nose and mouths, they looked like they knew what they were doing. The second one carrying the bag shot his much larger gun into the air as he took the bag he carried off.his shoulder. John froze in his walk, down the centre of the room he was now directly in front of the men, a few feet away from them, and his heart was pounding.
The two men walked past John, bumping into his shoulders making John drop down to the floor though he was slightly hesitant and trying to hide how scared he was. "Get down! Get down!" The two robbers shouted repeatedly, their voices firm and strong, ignoring the way the clients were screaming. "Who's the bank manager?" One asked, his gun pointed out in front of him as he surveyed the room. The woman who had helped John earlier raised her hand almost immediately, not looking at them.
"Come on. You got to move it, lady. Come on." He said, now pointing his gun towards her. John was on his knees, silent, his eyes taking everything in as he watched. "Fill it. Now, hurry." The man with the bag spoke as he walked over to one of the women at the register and threw her the bag. The man with the pistol, the one who had been first through the door pushed the bank manager down to the floor making her fall.
"Who, whoa, whoa!" John said as he immediately stood up, his hands slightly outstretched in front of him. "Get back down now!" The man yelled amgirly, aiming his gun at Nolan. He didn't care about th gun, he did, but he wanted to check in on the woman. "Stacy, you okay?" He asked, his voice coming out quite small, but he only focused on her. "You want to die?" He asked as he stepped forward past the bank manager. Stacy was looking at John, using her hands to quietly shuffle herself back and she was clearly quite scared, she glanced to the man with the gun briefly and back to John but didn't say anything. "No. No." John said a little firmer as he looked at th.man, slowly getting down to his knees again. John looked at Stacy, her expression flickering to the man and to something behind her, John's eyes narrowed as he watched knowing that she was planning something. "Just keep your mouth shut." The man snapped at him.
John saw Stacy reaching to the button under the desk and looked up seeing the man starting to turn back around, he couldn't let Stacy get caught knowing this man would probably shoot her. "But, honestly, have I even really lived?" John asked quicky to gain the man's attention back. "I mean, life is always something that's happened to me..." He started as he raised himself back off the floor, his hands still slightly reaching out in front of him, he wasn't sure if it was anger on confusion in the other man's eyes that were staring him down, but Nolan noticed the way his finger was hovering over the trigger.
"You know, I met a girl, I fell in love, stick turned blue, so I dropped out of college and I got a job, but..." Nolan trailed off slightly, he'd rambled and now he needed a moment to catch his breath, the man slowly inching closer and now pointing the gun at his chest did nothing to help his nerves either. "I never really thought about what could have been, never pushed myself to be anything. This bank robbery is the most exciting thing that's happened to me in a lot of years. Is that sad, cos it sounds sad." He rambled on, his brow twitching slightly as the man got closer, though Nolan had temporarily just wanted to distract the man so Stacy could push the button, he couldn't help but spill the truth to this man, or notice that alongside the fear he was feeling, there was an adrenaline rush he couldn't deny.
The man stared at him for a moment before he grunted and lifted his hand up, slamming the back of the gun into John's face. "Ow!' John groaned as he covered his face with his hands and fell back down to his knees. John froze a moment later feeling the tip of gun pressed into the fabric of the jacket near his neck. "If you get up again, I will kill you." The man warned. "You got that?" He asked. John looked up at him, the double glass doors behind the man let him see a cop car pull up outside the bank. John responded to him quickly seeing he was about to turn around. "Hey, listen." He said quickly, managing to stop him from seeing the police car just in time. "Not that you're at any position to judge. I mean...I mean..." He sighed heavily before he pushed himself back up to stand up. "Your life hasn't really turned out the way you wanted, has it?" He asked, ignoring the gun pointing at him again. "Unless you wanted to b bank robbers, in which case you're living the dream." He said, his voice still quiet, unsure of what he was saying or why he'd put himself in this position yet again. "I'm just saying...what's my dream?" He said after a slight deep breath.
Nolan saw the man lift his arm pointing the gun at his forehead, he screwed his eyes shut tightly, his shoulders tensing up and flinched as he heard a loud bang, waiting for the killing blow that he thought was coming. "Police! Drop the gun! Drop that weapon on the floor!" He heard a woman say. He opened his eyes, the shot he'd heard was from a police officer and not the man. He panted somewhat relieved, taking a moment to acknowledge that he was safe as he watched the two police officers enter and apprehend both the robbers quickly.
Stacy walked up to John, a little breathless herself. "You..." She trailed off slightly seeing she now had John's attention. "Were really just..." She was cut off by John. "Stupid?" John asked, his hands still slightly in front of him and his shoulders still tensed. "Brave." Stacy said to him, her eyes fixed on him. John forced a small smile to her before he turned back around to the scene of the police dragging out the men at the bank.
He'd found his calling.