Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord.
This chapter is a bit more sinister than the last few. Enjoy!
Mistaken Identity
A girl walked down the street one night. She was a tourist from America. Her mommy and daddy weren't rich, but she got whatever she wanted. Except, of course, when she wanted to explore on her own her parents insisted it was too dangerous. They tried to convince her that even in Venice there were dangers.
Obviously, the girl didn't care about dangers. And the city was just so pretty. So she snuck out after her parents went to bed. It wasn't hard to get past the night clerk at the hotel; he was so oblivious she could have danced in the middle of the lobby and he wouldn't notice her.
She skipped down a narrow alleyway. Her dark blond hair blew in the wind. She was fifteen years old. In her opinion she was an adult. She could do whatever she wanted. She would do whatever she wanted.
A rat scurried past her. She squealed. Rats were such dirty little creatures! She hurried on toward the canal. She looked down into the water. The moon shimmered of the surface. It was really beautiful. The girl pulled out her camera and took a picture. She hoped it would turn out. Her camera didn't even have a flash.
She hurried back along the alleyways. Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, and saw a man. He stopped and pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and placed it between his lips. He was wearing a thick coat, and even though he couldn't be more than five-foot-six, she could see he was a big guy. He was wearing a black mask.
The feeling he gave her didn't feel right. She got a bad feeling about him, so she decided to walk away. Yet again she heard footsteps behind her. It was the man. Was he fallowing her?
The girl, overcome with fear, started running. The man chased her. The girl screamed but no one heard her.
She was fast. Back home she was on a track team. But she didn't know where she was going. All too soon she found herself running down a street full of shops. No one would be in any of these places at night.
The man still chased her. She took a chance and glanced back, and he smiled evilly at her. She screamed again, and at last came to the door of a hotel. She pulled at the door, but it was locked. She started banging, but nobody came to let her in. The man was ten feet away and getting closer. She banged some more. Within seconds she knew no one was going to let her in. The man was getting to close. She felt tears in her eyes as she took off. She was so close to getting away. So close.
She rounded a sharp turn and stopped abruptly and turned around, and when the man came around the corner she surprised him by running past him the way they just were.
The girl felt herself growing tired. She wished her parents were there.
She ran into an alley and to her dismay she saw a solid wall at the end of it. She was trapped. He was right behind her and smiled a crooked smile when he saw he was going to win this evil game of tag.
He slid a knife from his belt that the girl hadn't noticed until then. The blade reflected the stars. She froze with terror. Her blood ran cold. Why hadn't she listened to her parents? She could be safe in her hotel room right now. If only she had listened. She wondered who would come to her funeral.
The man took his time walking to her. His steps were slow. He's torturing me, she thought. He wants my fear to eat at me. It was working.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to die.
She kept repeating this line in her head. She couldn't take this. She screamed at the top of her voice, "Leave me alone!"
The man kept walking closer. Her back pressed against the wall. He was fifteen feet away.
"Please." The girl was desperate.
The man was twelve feet away.
"You'll rot in jail."
The man was ten feet away.
"My parents won't let you get away with this."
The man spoke for the first time. "I know you don't have parents."
What was he talking about? Of course she had parents. They were in the hotel room. A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if he had done something to them?
The man was five feet away. Then four feet. Then three. He was so close she could touch him.
"Prepare to die, little missy."
The girl screamed.
She looked right into his eyes. They stood out from the mask. "Please don't kill me."
He was about to say something, but he looked at her eyes. The look in his eyes changed from vengeance to anger. But he wasn't angry at her, he was mad at himself. For reasons the girl didn't understand, he back away, and left her in the alleyway.
The girl stayed there for the better part of a half hour. Then she looked around and ran as fast as her legs permitted her too. She had gotten away with her life. She didn't know what happened. She didn't know what made him change his mind.
She didn't know it was all a matter of mistaken identity.