Age 17, USA

I will never, ever forget the sound the security sensors made as I crossed the threshold of the store. That glaring, obnoxious screech of a beep that had every head turning to look at me in the store. The cashier cocked his head to study me—did he forget to remove the censor from the CD I had just bought? And the way the security guard, dressed in security guard black, started towards me from the back of the store.

I remember having the time to weigh my options: I could just keep going, pretend I didn’t know what was going on. Hell, I could even just make an outright run for it even though I worked in the same mall and odds were someone would be able to place me.

I froze. And when the guard came up to me and asked to see my bag, I didn’t bother handing him the one with the purchased CD in it. I handed him my purse with 3 DVDs stuffed into it. I followed him into that small back room and waited while he called people – my parents, police, mall headquarters … All I could do is wait and think.

Think about how I had started to crave that high of walking into a store and leaving with things I didn’t really need or want. Ever since an older friend (yes, the typically older rebel of a friend leading the ‘good girl’ to a life of crime) first showed me how to do it nearly a year earlier, I was hooked on that adrenaline rush.

And it was the stupidest rush ever. It cost me so much.

What did I learn?

A series of stupid mistakes led to the crushing loss of respect and trust from my parents. It’s been over a decade and I still flinch and feel sick when I remember how stupid I was. How reckless. How WRONG.