I glanced up at the vendor again to make sure he wasn't looking. I usually plan these things out, but I haven't eaten in two days and I was getting desperate. If I didn't eat something soon I would pass out then wake up sick. It's a lot harder to steal food when you're sick verses when you can actually see straight. I walked casually up to his table trying to look like I wanted to buy something. The vendor didn't even so much as look in my direction. I glanced down at the basket of red apples and the fruit around it. The smell of raspberries wafted up through my nose mixed with the scent of blueberries. I looked around at the other fruits and berries on display. There was a bag of dried cranberries to my left, and a bowl of lemons to my right. I quickly slipped some of the various berries and fruits into my pockets. As I grabbed a bag of the dried cranberries the vendor looked back. Crap! "Hey!" he shouted angrily. I bolted. "Someone get that girl! Stop this thief!" he yelled as he scooted around his table trying not to knock anything over. He wasn't gonna get to me in time. A wind blew over me and my shoulder length blond hair flew into my face, and I was blinded for a moment. The dirt from my hair was falling into my eyes, and I knocked into someone who grabbed me by the shoulders. I looked up at his uniform and immediately panicked. I hadn't realized the sentries were so close by. My hands started to glow with a white light and it was slowly moving to my arms. The sentry looked shocked. I took his moment of surprise and shoved my glowing hands close to his eyes. He gasped and stepped blindly back, releasing me. I ran down the street and into a hidden alley, my hands still glowing. This always happens when I am too angry, scared, or overworked. I just need to calm myself down. I took deep breaths. In. Out. In. out. The light in my hands dimmed and faded until there was no more glow. I didn't know why my hands got hot and lit up like a light bulb. I couldn't control it. A boy I met once told me it might have something to do with bioluminescence, the stuff that makes fireflies glow.
I try not to show this to anyone, but sometimes my emotions get the better of me. I headed to what I called a home. I stepped inside an old house with holes here and there in the fondation. The roof also had some holes and leaks, but I had set up little bowls and containers around that I'd stolen to help keep most of the water off the floor. One of the walls had fallen down. I'd had to put up what crappy blankets I could steal and hang them across, blocking out the glaring light of the sun, and keeping wind from blowing rain in. It was a small house, almost too small to be called a house, it was just one big room. In one corner there was a small thin blanket on top of a queen size comforter I had found when I was digging through the trash. Somebody had thrown out a hardly used perfectly good comforter out and I wasn't about to let it go to waste. My mom would have laughed if she heard me call this my home, but rather than find me something else to live in she would help me fix it up until it was the finest house on the street. Then she would say that 'If you call something a home then you gotta make it a home.' Then she would hug me and say 'good things in life are hard to come by, so if you have nothing make it into something.' My mom was always going around telling me stuff like that. Sometimes I didn't understand half the things she said but she would always say them with a smile that made me happy. Too bad she's not around anymore to give me advice. I sank down on my make-shift bed and pulled out an apple. I wiped the smudge of dirt off the apple that my mud caked jacket had gotten on it. I bit into it and felt the juice drip down my chin. I would kill to take a bath right now. I needed better clothes. My shirt stank, and I had to cut my pants into shorts because of all the holes. My bare legs were covered in dirt. somewhere beneath all the mud on my skin you would find green eyes that sparkled in the light, and pale skin that refused to tan. I might have been pretty were it not for being so dirty. People never know how much they take baths for granted until they don't have one. Someone lifted up the blankets I had hung up and walked in. He had brown messy hair, pale skin with freckles on his face, brown eyes, and a narrow jawline. I jumped up, then relaxed when I realized it was Jake. "You scared the hell out of me!" I yelled. "Don't you know not to sneak up on me especially at night?" I asked. "Hey Astrid." He replied. I sighed. "What do you need?" Jake looked down at his feet. "I messed up and I need a place to sleep tonight." "What do you mean you messed up?" he didn't answer. Fine, if Jake wanted me to know something he would tell me. If he didn't it probably meant he was embarrassed or still upset with himself for whatever stupid thing he had done. Since he was my best friend I let it slide. "Sure, stay here as long as you need." He looked up gratefully. "Thanks Astrid." if he were any other person I would have told him to go find his own hell hole. But Jake was the only person I trusted ever since my mom died. He's always had my back. I sat back down and Jake sank down beside me stretching his long legs beside mine. "You ever gonna tell me what idiot choice you made this time?" "Not a chance." He said with a laugh. "Alright suit yourself." I chuckled under my breath. We curled up next to each other seeking body heat like we had done a thousand times before. The blanket didn't offer much warmth so I was thankful he was there. My thoughts slowly drifted me to sleep.
I woke with a grunt and rolled to my feet. Jake was still sound asleep. I nudged him with my foot, and he made a sound of protest. "You hungry?" I threw a bag of dried cranberries on him and grabbed a handful of raspberries and blueberries. He opened his eyes and rubbed sleep out of them, then picked up the bag of berries. Jake mumbled a quick "Thanks." before tearing into them. "You gonna sleep here again tonight?" I asked between bites of fruit. "Nah, I'll find somewhere by then." I nodded.
The rest of the day dragged on slowly as usual. I had decided to take a walk around the streets when I ran into Pan. I never trusted Pan then again I never trusted anyone besides Jake. "I heard some guys looking around here for a girl." "So?" I asked not seeing where this was going. "They were asking around for Astrid Astroy." my breath hitched. "I don't know. They wouldn't say." "Thanks I'll keep an eye out." Why would someone be looking for me? I was a nobody. I walked back home exhausted. I fell asleep as soon as my body hit the blankets. I woke to the sound of someone coming in. Opening my eyes groggily I could make out the shape of a person in the dark. "Jake?" I asked tiredly, Then I realized there were two people. I couldn't make out any details about them except that they were male. I stood up quickly. Were they police? Sometimes the police would run out what they called 'street rats' out of old buildings they were going to tear down. I did not think they were police. Who were they? Then I remembered what Pan had said about those guys asking about me. "What do you want?" One of them whispered something to the other that sounded like 'she's alone'. They made a grab for me but I dodged them. Stepping to the side and kicking one in his exposed ribs. He stumbled back then swung his fist at my face. I ducked and swung mine right back at him hitting the bridge of his nose. He cursed under his breath as blood trickled down his nose. He kicked me in the stomach and pain erupted throughout my body. I kicked at his face but he dodged my blows. My hands started to glow and slowly spread up my arms again. I grabbed his bare arm and he yelped in pain stepping back and breaking my hold. From the light I could make a hand sized burn on his upper forearm. The other guy I'd forgotten about grabbed me from behind wrapping his arms around me, careful not to touch the places on my arms where my skin glowed, and put a cloth up to my nose and mouth. I knew it had drugs on it that would knock me out, so I stopped breathing. I struggled against him but he was too strong. I slumped back on him trying to hold my breath longer. His hold around me tightened leaving no room for protest. Don't inhale. DO NOT INHALE. "Just breath," the guy holding me said soothingly as he stroked my hair. "breathe, breathe." I couldn't hold it any longer. I inhaled a small gasp of air that I so desperately needed. Darkness creeped around the corners of my vision, but I no longer cared, I could breathe