Scipio Massimo was 25 years old, or 16, depending on who you asked. He looked like any other normal young man, but he had a big secret. He really was only 16 years old. He had taken a ride on the merry-go-round of the Merciful Sisters though. Now, he looked like he was much older, and that's just the way he wanted it. No one could tell him what to do. He could look after his friends and not have to steal to get them money. And now finally, he was going to be completely independent.
Scipio had been living with a man named Victor Getts since the merry-go-round incident, but now he was moving into his own apartment.
"Here's the last box, Scip!" Mosca called from the street as he completed the trek from Victor's house. The lack of cars in Venice had meant that they had to carry everything all the way from Victor's house. Luckily, Scipio didn't have that much stuff.
"Thanks, Mosca," Scipio replied as he took the box from his friend. He carried it up the last flight of stairs and dropped it inside the door. Prosper, Bo, Hornet, Riccio, Victor and Ida stood in the center of his apartment.
"Are you sure you don't want help unpacking?" Hornet asked.
Scipio smiled at the young girl. "Really, Hornet, I'm fine."
"Well then, we'll be off," Ida announced. She swung Bo up onto her hip and called back as she walked out the door, "Prosper, Caterina, come along."
Hornet grabbed Prosper's hand and they waved at Scipio as they walked out the door.
"I'll be leaving, too," Victor said. "I'm going to continue work on the case of the missing lizard. I'll see you tomorrow, Scipio." He placed his hat on his head and walked out also.
Riccio, Mosca, and Scipio stared awkwardly at each other for a few moments. "Well, bye!" Riccio shouted as he dashed out the door. Mosca rolled his eyes and followed the hyperactive boy out.
Finally, Scipio was alone. He looked at the pathetic stack of boxes. There were only eight. He sighed and went to work unpacking them.
At midnight, Scipio collapsed onto the miniscule bad that had come with the apartment. Tomorrow, he was going to use some of his share of the $50,000 to buy furniture, but at the moment, the bed was all he had.
He lay on his back and tilted his head to the side. Something across the room caught his eye. He slowly rolled back up into a sitting position then forced himself to his feet. Among the large cardboard boxes was a smaller one that was labeled in Bo's sloppy handwriting. 'Thief Lord,' it read. Scipio picked it up and sat cross-legged on the floor.
Inside the box, were two things that he had believed to be lost. On the bottom, was a black and white striped t-shirt. He pulled it out and studied it. He had meant to throw it away because it didn't fit anymore. Bo must've gotten his hands on it.
The one other thing in the box, was his mask. The long black beak. The silky silver ribbons that hung off the side. It was all part of the past he so desperately wanted to let go of. But for some strange reason, he put the mask and the shirt back in the box, and placed them in the bottom of the closet. He felt like he shouldn't throw them away. Bo had wanted him to keep them, and he wasn't going to argue.
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Years later, Scipio would be moving again. As he packed up his considerably larger number of belongings, he found a small box in the bottom of the closet. He hadn't seen that box since he put it there years ago. He reached inside and pulled out the two items. He fingered the t-shirt, then made a decision. He slipped out of the thick brown sweater he was wearing and squeezed into the t-shirt. He took the mask out of the box and tied it around his head. He was careful not to get the ribbons tangled in his shaggy black hair.
He stood and walked in front of the mirror leaning on the wall. He laughed at his reflection. The shirt was so small that it didn't even cover his stomach. When he tried to pull it off it split down the middle and fell off his body in shreds. He stood there, bare chested, and studied the way his face looked with the mask on. If he focused on just his face, he could believe that he was still the same old Thief Lord, running across the rooftops and spending his nights in an abandoned movie theatre.
He smiled one of his cocky smiles and pulled the mask off his face. He gathered up what remained of the striped shirt and dropped it in the trash can. The mask however, he put back in the same small box. He might "find" it again in a couple more years.
Well there it was. There's a picture that I drew to go along with this. The link for it is on my profile. Please review.