lesson number 2

So this story not only is guaranteed to make nearly anyone crack a smile, but also teach a very important lesson. One night towards the beginning of freshman year, my friends and I happened to get bored. Now I know what you are thinking...combine boredom with a touch of daring, add a dash of stupidity, and finally take out any common sense whatsoever and nothing good can come out of it! Well, as we sat around trying to brainstorm up creative ideas for the night the hours passed slowly, still without any evidence of something fun to do. So, a tad bit disappointed, everyone parted ways and went back to our respective dorms. On the way back to my dorm, the group and I had to walk past Suttle.

Now before I can continue this story any longer, I must first explain Suttle. Suttle used to be an old 9 story dorm building here on campus yeeeeeaaaaaars ago. Several years ago, it was deemed unsafe and was therefore condemned. It sat abandoned for years awaiting demolition used only once a year during Halloween when it housed a haunted house of the first floor.

Now, back to the story...as we were walking past it, a lightbulb went off. We decided the unthinkable. Yes, we actually decided to sneak into Suttle. After ducking around bushes and dodging cars, we finally made it to the back of the building. It only took us a few minutes to learn that all the doors were locked, but we were not perturbed. Several of the guys there were quite tall, so all it took was one boosting the other up to the second floor to crawl through a window and let us all in. So after a few tense moments when we weren't quite sure if he'd make it or not, he finally succeeded, and we all quietly followed him into the pitch black.

Creeping through the spiderwebs and ducking whenever we saw headlights approaching, quickly got our adrenaline pumping. We slowly made it to the very top of the building and while we were all celebrating one of the let's just say not so bright boys in our party ventured into the elevator. Since the building had been closed up for so long, we automatically assumed that the elevator would not work.

However, this is where we were unfortunately mistaken. As he jokingly hit every button the the elevator, he just barely made it out of the elevator before the doors shut. The elevator then proceeded to stop at all 9 floors as it made its way to the very bottom. We hoped this would go unnoticed, but of course it was just our luck that a patrolman had just so happened to stop and take his smoke break right underneath the elevator. Before we knew it, more police cars had arrived, and the building was surroundeded. I was terrified! I was just convinved that the world had ended and that I would be taken to jail. Our first thought was to hide in one of the rooms until they left hoping they would just give up if we pretended not to be there. Well, let me just say, we just so happened to attract the most stubborn, dedicated policemen in all of Starkville. They pulled out their megaphones and promptly told us to either come down immediately or else they would come in and search each and every room until they found us. It was at that point that I decided to walk my little self down the stairs, pray, take the consequences like a big girl, and then just start packing to move back home.

One of the boys, the same who pushed the elevator buttons which got us all caught might I add, decided that this option was not good enough for him, and he took us all by surprise by jumping off the second floor balcony and bolting off into the night. This poor guy got chased down and about tased in the parking lot.

After watching that, the rest of us practically ran downstairs to meet the police. We were immediately given the third degree and radioed into headquarters. I stuttered as the towering, muscular black cop gruffly questioned me and checked my ID. We halteringly answered their questions for close to 30 minutes as we tried to convince them we were NOT dealing drugs or anything. It was terrifying and without a doubt the most scared I've ever been in my whole entire 20 years of life. Miraculously, they decided to let us go. I don't know why, except for the fact that the Lord must really want me to stay at State because it could've gotten bad. We returned to our dorm in the wee hours of the morning with so much adrenaline pumping through our bodies that sleep was utterly impossible.

The next day we each received phone calls and had to go meet with the Dean of Students about our behavior. To top it all off, the Dean's office even called my mother so she heard from them before she had a chance to hear the story from me...talk about awkward! Well anywho, we each went and met with the Dean who turned out to be stern but reasonable. He let me keep my scholarship and get off with simply a warning and probation for a semester since I had a clean record and I was a good model student. Pshew!! Boy oh boy was I relieved and thankful.

So all of that to say there is a veeeeeeeeeerrrrrrry important moral to be learned from this story: NEVER run from the police....or better yet, don't do anything illegal.