To trust or not to trust....

One thing that keeps life interesting is continually growing and learning.  Always stretching to new heights and reaching out to new horizons.  With that in mind, I have picked up a book to help me with my writing.  It is a simple book of story starters.  One or two lines to get the juices flowing.  Where things go from there is completely unpredictable, even to me.

I wanted to believe him. I really did. I had trusted him before, and it hadn't worked out that well. So now, when he assured me that everything would be “just fine,” I wasn't too sure. I knew we wouldn't be any worse off than the situation we were in right now. There would be consequences for what happened today. Somehow, “just fine” seemed to be too high an estimation. Unless I used a rather loose definition of “fine.”

The tunnel around us is lit by strings of lights with bulbs every few feet. The air is chilled and stale, but not stuffy. Breezes move through side passages and ventilation shafts drilled through the rock overhead when this was part of an active mine. These days nobody bothered to dig for riches in these tunnels. The only people that bothered to move this far under the surface are ones with alternative goals. Goals shared by the troublesome man in front of me, myself, and the four brutish fellows behind me.

The plan had been a simple one. A staged car accident with overly dramatic and loud “victims” would cause a distraction. The guards and any other witnesses would be distracted while each member of our group subtly switched one of the bags of money in the back of the truck with a fake bag. It would be impossible to tell the difference between the fake bags and the real ones until they were opened. By that time, we would each have walked our separate ways. If any one of us was seen or caught, nobody knew which ways the others were going or how anyone else was getting to the rendezvous in this old mine. If anyone was followed, or the authorities found us, there would be any of a number of side passages and exits we could use to escape. Far too many for the police to cover all of them.

Everything ran real smooth. The accident distracted the rookie guards. We each switched real bags for fakes and quietly walked away. Over the next 14 hours we each made our way to the mine. We were ready to split up the take. Then the earthquake hit.

We were all in an open section of the main shaft when the rumbling started. The supports around us held up without showing any signs of being stressed. The same could not be said of the timbers near the entrance that were exposed to weather and the elements. They collapsed in a choking cloud of dust and grit. As the earth stopped moving and the air cleared, we could all hear the side tunnels collapsing in the distance. We were now cut off from the outside with no way of knowing how to reach the fresh air and sunlight.

We argued and fought about whether or not to try to call someone from our cell phones for almost an hour. Then someone rather loudly pointed out that there was no service where we were. Calling out was not an option. Then everyone fell silent. The only sounds were our breathing, sand falling as the shifted earth settled, and the drips of water somewhere in the darkness. After some time, the echoing silence was broken by one man speaking.

“I've got this. Trust me. We'll be just fine.”

Have you trusted someone that proved untrustworthy before?  How did it turn out?