YAY! Another story! :) This one was inspired by the book The Thief Lord. Hope you like it! :D
It was a cold December night, and Logan Mitchell pulled the folds of his worn-out jacket closer against his body as another chilling breeze swept past him. It was about 7 at night, and the streets of Beijing, China were still crowded and lively with people. Lights from cars flashed by, and people riding bicycles zoomed past hurriedly parting crowds, not caring about running anyone over. Streetlights flickered mysteriously. Conversations in Chinese scattered throughout the crowds, and luckily Logan had learned some Mandarin back home and was able to pick up on some words.
Home. Logan missed home. Wait…no, he didn't. It was complicated. He missed his friends, the always-warm weather, school, and most of all, his family. His old family, actually. Recently, his father had lost his job, causing their family to lose their home, their life, their happiness, everything, His mother had quickly come from kind to abusive, constantly beating her husband and Logan himself. They moved in with one of their close friends in a crowded apartment, and when Mrs. Mitchell began abusing her friends, too, Logan had enough. He stole his father's credit card, and with the little money left, bought a plane ticket to Beijing, China (the only foreign country which had a language he knew well). And now, here he is.
"Logan!" Kendall Knight's voice startled Logan out of his thoughts.
"H-huh? What?" Logan stammered nervously, his teeth chattering from the cold.
"I asked you if you wanted anything," Kendall rolled his eyes, and Logan looked around to see that he had followed Kendall into a small café, where they regularly bought their dinner. It was a cozy little shop, with worn-out blinds and old, dirty wallpaper, but the food was sure as hell good.
"Chicken salad," Logan muttered to Kendall, and watched silently as his blonde friend placed their orders to the kind Chinese lady, who surprisingly seemed to understand Kendall's screwed-up Chinese.
Kendall was a tall, muscular blonde, and he had somehow grown a strong bond with Logan over the two months he had known him, and always felt the need to protect him. He was a part of the group Logan had discovered when he first ventured the crowded streets of Beijing, a group of street-rat orphans also from America. They lived in a dark, secluded alley with a boarded wall they had made themselves, and they stole money and valuable items for a living.
Logan had met Kendall in the middle of a street; he had pushed the smaller boy out of the way when Logan had accidentally walked in front of a car. Luckily, neither of them were injured, but after Kendall learned about the brunette's past he was determined for Logan to join the gang. Logan was hesitant to join at first; back home he had always been the goody-good, dorky, nerdy kid of the school and stealing was out of the question. But he reasoned that this was probably the only place he could stay, since he had no money, food, or shelter; so he agreed. Soon enough, after two months, the gang became his family, and stealing money out of random passerby's pockets was like a second nature to him.
The members of the group weren't absolute delinquents, Logan had to admit. Each were very kind and generous, and had their own story. Stealing was their only way to survive, and Logan understood that.
James Diamond had originally lived in Los Angeles, California, but moved to Beijing when his father got a job transfer. James was a tall, muscular, pretty brunette. He was extremely vain, and freaked when someone messed with his perfect hair. His family had been living in China for a good three years until James confessed he was gay. His family turned out to be homophobes, and kicked him out. He had been living alone on the streets, stealing money out of passerby's pockets until he met Camille, and started their little group.
Camille Sanders had been living in Texas, much like Logan, except she had lived in Sugar Land, not Dallas. Her mother had also gotten a job transfer to Beijing, like James's had. Camille was a pretty girl with long, wavy brown hair that went down to her back. She aspired to be a Hollywood actress someday, and was always practicing her lines, even when talking to other people. Only her closest friends could tell if she was rehearsing or actually talking to someone. Both her parents died in a car crash on the way to one of her auditions, and Camille ran away from the orphanage, until she met James, where she became his partner in crime for survival.
Carlos Garcia was the "battery" of the gang, he always liked to make things more exciting. He was a short, Mexican boy with toned muscles and messy black hair. He was always suggesting dangerous things to try out, like "Hey Logan, wanna see if I can jump off that roof and survive?" Luckily, though, the group was always against his crazy ideas and immediately turned them down, much to his disappointment. He loved to eat sweets, and almost half of the gang's money was used up buying cake or candy for Carlos. He had lived in St. Paul, Minnesota for his entire life until he hopped on a plane to Beijing because he overheard his parents were going to give him up for adoption. He was the third to join the gang, along with Camille and James.
Kendall Knight was the second last addition to the gang. He was the oldest and tallest of the group, just half an inch taller than James, and was known as the leader. He was a muscular boy with dirty blonde hair and striking green eyes, and always came up with the best ideas. He was from Minnesota like Carlos, but moved to Beijing because of his father's job. His mother had died from cancer when he was 3, and his father died soon after from depression. He and his sister Katie were taken to the orphanage, but Kendall hated it and ran away, leaving Katie behind because he feared she was better off in the orphanage than out on the streets.
Logan Mitchell had met Kendall two months ago, and quickly became the "brain" of the group. He was their translator, since he was fluent in Chinese, and was skilled in math, science, and academics. He gave advice to the gang for strategies for stealing anonymously, and worried the most when one of them was hurt, or sick. His friends called him the mother hen of the group. Ironically, Logan was the second oldest of the group, but the gang always 'babied' him and felt the need to protect him because he was the shortest, scrawniest and the dorkiest member.
Logan was suddenly aware of his surroundings when another biting cold breeze swept past him. He shivered and hugged himself, longing to go back to their hideout, where a warm heater was kept. Kendall walked beside him, carrying everyone's dinners in both hands.
"Aw, shit. We're out of money," Kendall whined, flipping through a leather wallet which he had stolen from an old man. "We still gotta go get Carlos's comic books or he'll start bitching all night. Logie, go steal some chick's purse or something,"
"Sure thing," Logan replied casually, breaking away from Kendall for a moment to bump into a young woman, causing her to drop her bags in surprise.
"Ah! Dui bu qi, dui bu qi!'' Logan apologized in fluent Chinese, flashing the girl his signature million-dollar half smile, and sure enough, the Chinese woman blushed a pink color.
"Mei shi," the lady reassured kindly, kneeling down to pick up her bags. Logan crouched down beside her, helping her pick up some books and placing it into its respective bag. He could see that she had put her purse down to reach her books more easily, and he stealthily took the leather purse in one hand and threw it behind his back as far as he could. The woman didn't notice, her back still turned as she placed each book in the bags. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan caught Kendall behind him picking up the purse.
"Xie xie, ah," The woman thanked when she had picked up all her bags, and Logan gave her a polite nod before running back towards Kendall, who had already slipped into a bookshop.
"Nice job," Kendall commented as Logan entered the small shop, the door chime tinkling loudly as the glass door closed.
"Yeah, yeah," Logan replied as he picked up the comic books that Carlos had wanted. "Why does Carlos even like these comics, anyways? They're all in Chinese,"
"He wants you to read them to him," Kendall explained.
"Dear God, no," Logan rolled his eyes, and Kendall laughed loudly. He picked up a small stuffed rabbit. "Hey, d'you think Camille would want this? It's her birthday tomorrow,"
"Yeah, she said she wanted something cute and cuddly," Logan replied, absently flipping through a science encyclopedia. Kendall shrugged and placed it on the counter with the comic books.
"Ba shi liu yuan," the cashier told them boredly, and Kendall dug out his wallet. "What'd she say?" he whispered to Logan.
"Eighty six yuan," Logan translated, and Kendall smiled in gratitude before pulling out an eighty dollar bill. The cashier accepted the money and placed the rabbit and books in a bag before handing them to Kendall.
"Xie xie, zai lai," the woman called after them as the pair left the shop.
"Shit, I think the food's getting cold," Kendall muttered to himself as they walked back towards the hideout. "James's gonna be pissed."
"Yeah, well I'm sure he'll forgive us when he sees how much makeup we got in this purse," Logan joked, holding up a lipstick tube he had found in the stolen purse. Kendall snorted. "True," he agreed, just as they approached the hideout. Kendall rapped his knuckles loudly on the wooden door.
"Password?" James's muffled voice came from the other side.
"Let us in, James, you know we can never remember your stupid passwords,"
"Wrong," James sing-songed mockingly.
"God dammit, pretty-boy, it's freezing out here and if you don't let us in right now, I'm gonna kick down this door, rip out your balls and feed them to Logan," Kendall growled.
"Ew, no thank you," Logan commented, a disgusted look on his face.
"Jeez, I was just kidding," James muttered nervously, swinging the wooden door open. A blast of warmth came from inside, and both boys moaned in appreciation as they stepped into the hideout.
The hideout was a neat, tidy room, with the alley walls serving as the walls and a wooden roof on the top. There were five sleeping bags in one corner, and one box at the end of each bedroll; containing each person's belongings: their clothes, books, toys, etcetera. There was another large box beside the other boxes which usually held the expensive Dell laptop that the gang spent months saving up for, but at the moment Camille was using it. There was also a tiny color TV across the beds which the group had also had a hard time saving the money to buy. The rest of the room was basically empty, save the huge black bed sheet laid out on the entire hideout ground to protect them from the dirty alley floor and bugs. The huge heater lay in the deserted corner beside the door, beside a large fan for the summer. There was a pile of shoes by the door, and Kendall and Logan both threw two more pairs of shoes to the pile before sitting down on their respective beds.
"Who wants dinner?" Kendall asked, not really waiting for a reply before throwing one box on each person's bed. Carlos caught his in his hands, looking up from the TV before grinning.
"Hey guys! Didja get me the comic books?"
"Yeah, we did, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna read them to you," Logan told him through a mouthful of salad. He sat down on Camille's bed, who was absorbed in a game of Solitare on the laptop.
"Aww, c'mon, Logie!" the Latino pouted, but shrugged when Logan still refused. "Whatever, I can just look at the pictures," Carlos giggled, ripping open his box of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and devouring one happily, his eyes still glued to the TV.
"Oh, hey Camille, we bought you a little birthday present," Logan suddenly remembered, grabbing the bag of comics and pulling out the stuffed rabbit before throwing the books back to Carlos.
"Seriously? Wow, Logan, how'd you know this was what I wanted?" Camille looked genuinely surprised as she took the soft stuffed rabbit in her hands.
"Well, you said you wanted something cute and cuddly," Logan explained, wolfing down the rest of his chicken salad before throwing the empty box across the room. Carlos, being the neat freak he was, stood up to retrieve the plastic box before throwing it out the door.
"I was gonna dress Logie up in a tutu for you, but he was against the idea," Kendall joked.
Logan flipped him the bird. "Fuck you," he scowled, and Kendall laughed loudly.
"Just kiddin', Lo-gain," he pouted, before attempting to hug the smaller brunette. "Ya know I love you,"
"Yeah, yeah," Logan rolled his eyes as he struggled to escape the older boy's grasp.
"Though Logan in a tutu would have been nice," Camille muttered under her breath, and Logan snorted.
"Keep dreaming, bitch," he mocked jokingly, and Camille laughed for a second before slapping him, hard, across the cheek.
"OW! Wha—"
"Of course I'll take you back," Camille said dramatically, before grabbing the sides of Logan's face and kissing him violently. "I'm gonna tell Rachel we're back together, and that I will destroy ANYBODY," a vicious jab to Kendall, "who tries to come between us." More kisses.
Logan pulled away and wiped the lipstick from his mouth before raising a single eyebrow at Camille. "One Tree Hill?" he asked, and Camille smiled mischievously.
"You could say that," she replied nonchalantly, picking her stuffed bunny from the ground where it had fallen and hugging it to her chest while continuing her game of Solitare.
"Hey, Kenny, didja get find any makeup in that purse over there?" James asked, pointing to the purse that lay beside Kendall. Kendall shrugged and tossed it to James.
"I think Logie found some lipstick," he snorted. "Of course you'd need some," he laughed, and James shot him a look.
"Shut up, Kendall. You're gay too and you know it," he muttered before flipping open his pocket mirror and gazing intently into it.
"Yeah, well everyone in this fucking room is either gay or bi, James," Kendall rolled his eyes, as if it was obvious. "Even Camille," Camille rolled her eyes and flipped Kendall the bird; she didn't like talking about her sexuality.
"I'm not," Logan piped up timidly.
"Oh, save your breath, Logie," Carlos laughed and flipped off the TV before setting down the remote. "We've all seen the way you look at James, and I'm sure you know it yourself,"
Logan flushed a deep shade of red.
Silence.
"I'm going to bed," he muttered, crawling over Kendall's lap to get to his bed before tucking himself under the covers, trying his best to avoid eye contact with James.
Kendall laughed. "Awww, our little Logie's shy," he cooed.
"FUCK YOU," Logan growled menacingly, and the whole gang laughed once more before returning to their respective beds. Logan could hear Carlos shuffling to flip off the tall lamp above him, enveloping the entire room in darkness.
~~~PAGEBREAK~~~~
Detective Katie Knight sighed heavily before leaning back in her chair. It had been a long day at work, and so far she still had one more case to solve. Logan Mitchell, a nineteen year old boy who had run away from home two months ago.
Tracking him down hadn't been too hard. He had used his father's credit card, and Katie quickly found that it had last been used to buy a plane ticket to Beijing, China. Tricky little kid had flown halfway across the globe.
Katie's thoughts of the runaway boy somehow waned to the subject of her older brother, Kendall Knight, who had left Katie in an orphanage over twenty years ago, when she was one. Now, she was fully grown and taken up the job of a detective. While she solved each and every case, she had always been on the lookout for her brother. Sometimes she wondered if he had gotten married yet, since he was already a twenty four year old grown man. Secretly, every year on his birthday (yes, she remembered, even when she was just one years old) she would celebrate alone, laying on the roof at night, wondering what kind of big brother he had been.
Katie sighed heavily before leaning back in her chair and taking a long gulp of her coffee. Her eyes lazily stared out the large window in her office, overlooking the busy city of Beijing, China. These Mitchell people better pay me good if I find this Logan, Katie thought tiredly. When I get back to America, the first damn thing I'm going to do is find my big brother.
Little did Katie know, that Kendall was much, much closer to her than she thought.
Reviews are appreciated 3