Hours had passed since I had called Aaron. A lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, white milk and sliced peaches sitting on a paper plate had been passed through the slot on the door only to sit there, untouched. I wasn't hungry and I was sure that Aaron would be coming to my rescue soon.

Footsteps from out in the hall had come and gone over the hours and each time I heard them, I immediately got my hopes up only to have my heart sink when they went past my door, further down the hall. Just when I was beginning to lose all hope, keys jingled outside the heavy door.

"Bails been posted, follow me," a new guard muttered as he gestured for me to pass through the open door.

I anxiously followed him down the hall toward a glassed room. A clipboard was passed through a windowed slot where a woman in a police uniform sat behind.
"Sign your name by the X," she requested in a monotone voice.
 
I scrawled Nickolas Carter faster than I had at any meet and greet in my life and as soon as I passed the clipboard back through the slot, a large brown envelope was pushed through. I immediately saw my name and a number written in heavy black marker on the front of the package. I was guessing the number must have been my county jail number because I didn't recognize it from anything else. Upon tearing open the envelope, I discovered my cell phone which now needed to be charged since it was dead, shoe laces and my wallet.

Shoe laces?? I looked down to see that, yep, my shoe laces were indeed ripped from my white Nike sneakers. Before I was allowed to leave, another envelope was passed through the slot. I wasn't sure what that was and right now I basically didn't care.

"The exit is to your left," the woman said as she pressed a button, signaling a buzzing noise. My head jerked in the direction of the sound and I grabbed the envelopes and quickly left the room. I was happy to see Aaron waiting for me in the lobby.

"Let's get the hell outta here," I said to him in a low voice. There were people standing in the lobby and I sure as hell didn't want to linger or draw unnecessary attention to either one of us. Aaron was quiet until we were outside.

"What the hell did you do Nick?"

"I have no freakin clue."

"Your bail was over fifteen thousand dollars..."

I could have sworn I felt my heart drop into my stomach. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I wish I was. You maxed out one of my credit cards."

"I'll write a check when you drop me off."

"I'm not worried about that Nick....I'm sure you're gonna need all your money for legal fees."

"There has to be some mistake. I'm sure this will get cleared up once I talk to my lawyer."
I think I was in denial or something. I mean I probably did something dumb but not a $15,000 dumb thing. It was probably suppose to be $1,500.00.….just a clerical error. They will have to kiss my ass when they realize their mistake!

"It was probably a clerical error," I stated my thoughts to Aaron. "I mean, think about it, it was probably something dumb I did and it should have been a $1,500 bail not $15,000. Doesn't that make sense to you?"

Aaron was quiet for a moment as he thought about what I just told him. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah that has to be what happened. I totally freaked when they told me it was $15,000.00, but what could I do? I wasn't gonna argue with them."

"Exactly."

"So you seriously have no idea what you did? For them to have a bail set it seems like you entered a plea or something, right?"

I looked at my brother for a moment before I opened the passenger side door to his car, unable to answer his question.
 
"Nick do you know exactly what you were doing last night? Were you driving?"

I shook my head. He had me there! "Honestly Air, I have no idea what went on last night! I bet I got pulled over and got thrown in jail for a DUI. It has to be...."

Aaron nodded as he started the car up and pulled out of the county jail parking lot. "For your sake, let's hope so..."