My name is Liana Chase.
Hear my story.
"Constant vigilance," Sol hissed, never taking his eyes off the target, Mr Peakes' fruit shop. "Always take note of your surroundings. Always, I repeat, always, be alert!
"Now listen, we've been spying on Mr Peakes for a while now, and I think we've gathered all the needed information to get us some food," he muttered under his breath to me. I grunted in response, impatient to get moving. Our hiding spot, a straggly, half-withered bush, a blind 15 metres away from the shop, hardly provided any means of comfort, seeing as to we had to crouch so low for the leaves to cover us up.
"Now what's the one thing we had taken note of these past few days of hiding and observing in an extremely uncomfortable bush?" Sol quizzed me.
"Routine," I answered automatically.
"Correct. And what have you gathered so far?"
"Fidelius Peaks sets up his stall at 8 every morning, ready to sell by 8.30 am. Customers start buying at 9. At 11.30 am he cleans his shop up a little, resumes selling when he's done, and that's around 11.45 am. Mr Peakes, being an 80 year old, needs to take afternoon naps to replenish himself. He does this at 2.30 pm until 3.30 pm, leaving his stall manned by a young man, 20 years of age named Justin Falke. Justin takes good care of the shop, but leaves for the restroom located at the very back of the shop at around 2.45 to relieve himself. He'll turn off the lights, flip the sign in front so it says 'Close', but doesn't lock the door. He takes about 8 minutes in the toilet, leaving the shop free for us to steal from," the words flowed out of my mouth like water gushing out from an open tap.
"Very good, little sister," Sol smirked. "The time now is 2.15 p.m, we have 30 minutes before we act."
15 minutes after, we saw the unmistakable lanky figure of Justin Flake approaching the stall. Mr Peaks gave a toothy grin and waved in greeting. He then lumbered off to the back of the shop, settled down on a chair and dozed off straight away. Justin took Mr Peaks original position and waited for customers to come.
"Not long now," Sol assured a restless me, my legs already sporting pins and needles. To make matters worse, the sun was blistering hot, determined to make us feel even less uncomfortable. Sweat trickled down my forehead, into my eyes, stinging it. I quickly wiped it off with the back of my hand.
We watched as Justin start squirming a little in his seat. As time passed, he started becoming even more squeamish and then, right at 2.45 pm, he stood up, and waddled off like a penguin into the bathroom.
"Now!" Sol hissed. There was no need for hesitation. We ran on silent feet into the shop, taking great care to prevent the door from creaking when we swung it open. "We've got 5 minutes! Take as much as you can and let's get out of here!"
We worked in complete silence, quiet as mice. Apples, pears, oranges went tumbling into our bags. We were careful not to take too much of each, so as to not raise suspicions and give us away. My heart hammered against my ribs, adrenaline coursing through my veins. The job was exciting, exhilarating, enjoyable even. Sol had taught me well.
When 3 minutes were up, Sol gave the signal and we fled. The door swung close just as we heard the flush.
We had to stop after a while, for I was quite out of breath. Unlike Sol, Master of Thieveries and Troublemaker in Chief, I wasn't used to running long distances while carrying a heavy load. This was only my third heist. Sol was going to be 18 in 3 years' time, old enough to start working in factories like how my parents want him too, so he figured it was about time he started teaching me the ways of the heisting society. There was almost always not enough food to feed our family, and we had to endure going hungry a good few nights, pressing our knuckles into our stomachs in the hopes of driving away the growling monster desperate for food inside. Stealing food, though we knew was wrong, was our only way of survival.
The sun had sunk into the swirls of tainted fog and magenta clouds by the time we set foot into our little house. I only had time to shrug off my jacket before I was engulfed in a bear-hug and my vision was obscured by a large amount of bushy brown hair.
"Mom, you're choking me," my muffled protests fell on deaf ears as mom started screaming at Sol.
"Oh! I was so worried! What were you thinking Sol! She's only 6, you know that! What if you have been caught?! Bear in mind that the punishment for thievery is 50 whips! You ought to be ashamed of yourself Sol Nevarius Chase, bringing Lili along!" Mom shouted all these in one single breath. She might have continued, if Sol didn't interrupt her.
"Relax, mom! She's with me-"
"-all the more reason for me to be worried!" mom cried out.
"-I never get caught. And besides, Lili's a natural," Sol beamed, delighted. "Look at our haul!" He then proceeded to turn over the bags so that the contents tumbled out onto the dinner table. Sol whistled in appreciatively. "35 in total. Will last us 2 weeks, 3 if we're careful!"
Mom opened her mouth, only to close it a second later. Like a fish, I thought to myself. She seemed to be in a dilemma on whether she should berate her children for stealing or thank them for saving the whole family from starving. In the end, she threw up her hands in the air, defeated, and proceeded to prepare dinner.
"Dad'll be back home soon. Go clean yourself up till you squeak," she ordered while cutting one of the apples.
"Fresh fruits for dinner!" Sol cried out, full of glee. "Delicious!"
I smiled at my cheeky brother. He caught my eye, and jogged over, ruffling my hair, making it messier than it already was. "Nice work today. Best you've done so far." He winked before going inside his room.
Those were the golden days. Sol scheduled another heist 2 weeks after, told me to ready myself. He hadn't worked out who'll be the next target, or found a hiding spot yet, but I knew it was going to be exhilarating. Just like today.
But I never got to go with him. I never got to know who we were stealing from next. I never got to know if our hiding spot would be as uncomfortable as the last one. For a week after that, while playing alone outside, I was kidnapped by a man whose name I'll know later as Zeus.
I was chosen as tribute for an extreme version of the Hunger Games.
In short, I was chosen to die.
My name is Liana Chase.
And this, is my story.
I must say, I'm getting a little tired of Hear Our Stories. Devising 26 ways of kidnapping children is hard work! So I think I'll just devote my time to writing a Dravannah love story, and continuing with the sequel of Death Carnival.
For iDTCB members who want their characters to have a past, please tell me immediately. I'm only gonna do 3 more, but I'm not sure when I'll be publishing.Probably after Dravannah.
