Chapter 7 – The Thief

6 years ago

Jasper Hale ran like the hounds of hell were chasing him, even though it was only the fat mall security guard. He couldn't afford to get caught again, not financially or other wise.

The stolen video games hidden in the lining of his jacket smacked against his chest as he ran.

Jasper didn't play video games, didn't even own a games console or TV for that matter, but he sold them so he had money to pay for food. Stealing video games and selling them cheap was easier than stealing money, or stealing food directly for that matter. It has hard to shove dinner for two in the lining of your jacket.

Jaspers lungs were burning as his feet pounded against the pavement. He knew the rent-a-cop had given up a few blocks back but he couldn't be too careful. If he got caught again they would take away the games and he wouldn't be able to feed himself or his mother. And if they arrested him again they would send him back to foster care. He wasn't going back into the system; it wasn't an option. He would be sixteen soon and after that social services wouldn't want to 'protect' him anymore, he just had to be careful for a few more weeks.

He nearly tripped as he leapt down the stairs to the underground station two at a time. He slipped through the barrier behind some guy in a grey suit and shifted through the crowd to the edge of the platform. He folded his arms tight around across his chest, feeling the sharp corners of the plastic bite into his skin. When the train pulled in he took a seat quickly and kept his eyes low.

Despite he had been stealing for years to keep him and his mom afloat he always felt terribly guilty. He avoided eye contact with anyone because all he saw was judgment in their eyes. They knew what the scrappy 15-year-old boy had hidden in the folds of his over-sized jacket.

So he kept his eyes down and hidden from judgment while the old train rumbled onwards, taking him closer to the house he shared with his mother. The closer he got to his stop the more his stomach twisted. It was always the same way when he knew he was headed for home. He never knew what he would find. Sometimes mom would welcome him back and ask how school was, if that happened he made up some lie and pretended his mother believed him, pretended she cared. More often she would be passed out on the living room sofa with a dirty needle on the floor. It was harder to pretend his mother wasn't a crack whore when that happened. Occasionally there would be a surprise, like his mother's boyfriend would be there and decide Jasper was an attractive punching bag. The last time social services had put him into foster care he had three broken ribs.

He had been in and out of foster homes his whole live, eventually his mother would always get clean and prove her self good enough to get Jasper back. It never lasted long. Jasper had been putting food on the table since his dad died eight years ago. Most kids his age were worrying about making friends at elementary school and he was starting his own stolen video games business to pay for food. All his mother's money went to the local dealer down the street. They had moved several times to escape the debt his mother had built up with men you did not want to owe. They had even had to change their last name back to his mothers so they wouldn't find them.

As the train stopped at his station Jasper stepped off quickly, took a stolen phone from his pocket and phoned his latest customer, "I have them, meet me at the corner." He said simply before hanging up. Peter would know what he meant, he had always been Jaspers best customer. And probably the closest thing to a friend he had ever had. But they weren't really friends.

He knew that maybe foster care was the best place for him. This was not a normal life for a fifteen-year-old. But if he wasn't there, no one would look after his mother. She wasn't all bad, she just lost it when her husband died. Jasper hoped someday, if he tried hard enough, he could help her find it again.

"Jasper!" Peter waved as Jasper turned the corner. "Hey man, so you got it?"

Jasper nodded, pulling out three new x-box games from his coat. "Sorry it took so long, the new security guard is a menace, I had to wait till fat Jim was back."

Peters eyes light up as he took the games into his hands. Jasper envied him that happiness, to be so satisfied with something as stupid as a game, Jasper would have given anything for that. He often wondered what it would have been like if his Dad hadn't died, would it all have turned out the same? Somehow he didn't think so. His mothers never talked about his Dad, but Jasper had vivid memories of him returned home exhausted in dirty overalls picking him up and spinning him round in the air. That kind of man didn't watch as the woman he loved become a drug addict.

"Jazz you're the best!" Peter exclaimed as he slipped thirty dollars into Jaspers waiting palm. "Wanna come over and play?"

Peter's parents weren't well off, but they were kind people and what they had they had to share. But if Jasper didn't go home his mother probably wouldn't eat.

"Na, I'm good, I'll see you around." Jasper said quickly and turned away.

He heard Peter call after him, he pretended he didn't and kept going. It was hard to reject an offer to spend the night in a happy household twice. Besides Jasper had to get to his evening job at the community boxing gym. Mr Jenks that ran the place paid him under the table and even let him use the facilities after it was closed for the night. He was a good guy, and his son provided the fake ID service for the area. Sometimes after his mother thought he had gone to bed he would sneak out there, whenever he needed a punching bag, he figured it was easier to use an actual punching bag for the purpose. He wished his moms boyfriend would do the same.

Fist he had to get back home to get food ready. He picked up something up along the way he could cook in the microwave, their cooker was broken, before he turned onto his street. As soon as his house came into view the knot in his stomach was pulled tighter.

Please let her ask me how school was today, he thought to himself.

The front door wasn't locked, it never was, and he slipped inside to a silent house. Silence meant his Moms boyfriend wasn't here, Jasper was thankful for that, but it also meant that his mother probably wasn't conscious.

"Mom?" Jasper called out. His voice echoed against the bare walls, but there was no answer. "Mom?" he called again, hoping she just hadn't heard him.

Jasper avoided the front room and went straight for the kitchen. He took his time unpacking the food he had picked up, put two boxes in the microwave and hit start. When the microwave started humming he climbed up onto the worktop and felt on top of the cupboard for the small box he knew would be there. A small box that was out of reach and out of sight. He took out his 20 remaining dollars and placed it inside the tin box. He had saved up nearly three hundred dollars. He didn't know what it was for yet, but he knew one day he would need this money.

When he put the 20 dollars inside, he had no idea that day would be today.

Jasper took a deep breath before he opened the door leading to the front room. When he stepped inside a familiar sight met him. He had been wrong about his mother's boyfriend being here. Both of them were passed out on the floor, his mother still had a needle sticking out the crook of her arm.

It made Jasper sad that this sight no longer affected him.

He knelt down beside his mother and started shaking her. "Mom wake up; you have to eat." She didn't respond to him at first, which wasn't too out of the ordinary. "Mom, come on!" He raised his voice. His mothers body felt limp under his grip suddenly. "MOM!" But she wasn't responding. "MARIA, WAKE UP!" Jaspers hands started shaking as her body shook lifelessly under his grasp and he realised her chest was not moving. She wasn't breathing.

His fingers scrambled to feel a pulse in her neck, he dug his fingers deeper and deeper into her pale flesh but could feel nothing.

How long had she been lying on the floor dead?

Jasper fumbled with numb fingers for the phone in his pocked and dialled 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"My mom overdosed, she's dead."

"An ambulance is on it's way, stay on the line please. Is she breathing?"

"No."

"Put your fingers on her neck and feel…"

"She doesn't have a pulse."

The woman's voice on the end of phone continued speaking even as the phone fell from Jaspers grip and clattered against the hard floor.

Jasper stood and backed away, staring at the dead body of his mother. Pale skin, dark eyes and a heroin needle stuck in her arm. He tore himself away from the sigh, scrambled around the kitchen and emptied his box of meagre savings.

Then he ran. He knew she was dead and couldn't bare to stick around and watch the paramedics tell him so. Was her boyfriend dead too? He didn't care.

He ran for a long time. The cold evening wind brushed his skin, his lungs burned and his joints ached. His mother had just died and yet he felt nothing but a cold numbness. There was nothing left in this place for him. There was no one left in this place. No one who knew or cared much about Jasper Hale's existence.

He knew what the money was for.

It was for his only way out of this life.

And now there was nothing tying him down to it.

Jasper came to a sudden stop when he reached the gym. He stopped at catch his breath before he stepped inside.

"Evening, Jasper," A voice called over to him as soon as he stepped through the door. He turned to see just the person he was looking for.

"I need what you sell," Jasper said to Mr Jenks son. "And I need it to be good."

"How much you got?" He replied.

"Three hundred."

Mr Jenks son nodded. "I hate to tell you Jasper but I don't think you could pull off 21."

"I don't need to, make me 18."

"You can't buy beer with an ID that says you're 18 mate," J. Jenks sniggered.

"I'm not trying to buy beer," Jasper said simply.

"Fine," Jenks shrugged. "It'll take a week or so."

Jasper nodded. He could sleep in the gym without anyone noticing until it was ready.

"And Jenks?" Jasper called. "Don't use Hale, put my fathers name on it."

J. Jenks looked utterly indifferent. "Yeah? And what's that?"

Jasper took a deep breath, knowing for the first time in years that he was doing exactly the right thing.

"Whitlock."


AN: What did you think of Jaspers back story? Was it what you were expecting? Hope you enjoyed! And thank you all so much for reading and leaving your thoughts!