"Stop! Thief!" The man whose wallet I just swiped yelled after me. I ducked my head and ran, weaving through the crowd before I shot off down an ally way. With a practiced motion, I quickly jumped onto one of the nearby trashcans, knocking it over and using it to boost myself up enough to grab a rung of a ladder before scaling it to the top of the building.
Kasuki will surely be happy with me since the guy was loaded. I'd heard him bragging to a friend that he'd gotten a big bonus at work. I'd seen him around and knew that it would be wasted on gambling and drinking. I thought it would be better to use it to help us instead. It might also teach him to keep his big mouth shut.
I had to be careful though. One of our group members had gotten sick and we needed more money than before, so we'd been picking pockets more and more and the people who come here are keeping a closer eye on their money and being more careful.
The only good thing was that when someone yelled thief, everyone else scattered so it was easier to get away. None of them wanted their pockets picked so it caused a big panic.
I ran over the tops of buildings to get to where I was going. It was easy since they were all close together and none were really all too different in height. Besides, I liked being in high places, so it was rather fun.
After I made sure nobody was following me (I took a long and confusing route) I dropped down to the ground behind one of the buildings, waiting for a few seconds to see if anyone was around before coming out.
I climbed through a hole in the old and worn out wire fence that was behind the building, making my way through a jungle of overgrown grass nearly as tall as me and over rough patches of mixed up dirt and concrete before I finally came to my destination.
It wasn't all that great to look at; just an old abandon house that was falling apart. It had so many holes it looked almost like Swiss cheese instead of a house. It was creaky, leaky and a little smelly at times, but it was home.
"Kasuki!" I called out as I entered the house. The old door had long ago been lost so it was now just a big gaping hole we sometimes covered with an old dresser when it rained or snowed.
"I'm up with Pongo!" Kasuki called back from the upper floor. Pongo was another member of our small family. He didn't like his old name because it reminded him of bad times, so we all just called him Pongo instead. He was the one who got sick and needed the medicine. It was really bad at first, and we thought he might die, but thanks to the medicine we got him, he's getting a lot better.
I ducked under the ragged blanket we put up to be something like a curtain and smiled at Kasuki and Pongo. "Look what I got!" I said, going over and sitting on the floor by Kasuki. I took out the wallet and handed it to her, happy with my work.
Kasuki sighed sadly and I blinked up at her, wondering why she was so sad. "I thought I told you no more of this for a while," She said, putting a hand on my head.
"But…we need-"
"We need to lay low for a bit," She said, cutting me off. "It'll be bad if someone catches us." I looked down, tears stinging my eyes. I thought she'd be happy because I got a lot today.
"He was only trying to help," Pongo said quietly. He was the closest to me in age, but still a lot older. Besides me, everyone else was a teenager already. "Don't forget, you were the one who taught him."
"I know," Kasuki sighed. She pulled me onto her lap and hugged me while saying, "I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get into any trouble." She was the oldest of us all and something like an older sister to me.
"You said-"
"I know what I said," She whispered, cutting me off again, "But listen to what I'm saying now." She made me look up at her before continuing. "I don't want you doing this anymore. I shouldn't have taught you in the first place." She put her hand over my mouth when I opened it. "Wait till I'm done. You're still young. You're smart, kind and cute. You could easily get adopted, go to school, have a life and a future. Unlike you, if we get caught, we go to jail."
I wasn't sure what she was trying to say. "Listen to me," She pulled me back into the hug and laid her head on mine. "You could have a real family-"
"You're my family," I said, cutting her off. I put my arms around her. "I don't want to leave you."
She sighed again and said, "We may seem like a family but-" I covered my ears, not wanting to hear anymore. We were a family. She tried to uncover my ears, but I turned away from her. I didn't care what she said. She and the others were my family.
I only uncovered my ears when she promised to stop talking like that. "I mean it though," She said as I helped her make dinner, "I don't want you stealing anything unless I say you can."
"But why?" I asked. I was good at it and it helped us get the money we needed.
"More and more police are gathering here," She told me. "They may find us if we keep this up. We already have enough for a while, so we're going to lay low and not do anything to draw attention to ourselves. Do you understand?"
I nodded glumly. It didn't sound like much fun. "One more," I said suddenly, remembering something I overheard a hotel manager say about a really rich person coming to stay there. "Just one more time and then I'll stop. I promise."
Kasuki looked at me for a long time before she sighed and nodded. "Just be very careful," She told me.
"I always am," I answered with a smile. She shook her head but she was smiling, so I knew she wasn't really mad at me.
/Authors note/
This has been in my head for a while, so I thought I'd write it down. Please let me know what you think!
