High & Low | Crystal Rain

Ep. 5 | A Little Thief

It was a cloudy Sunday, Rain was sitting on one of the steel I-beams of a building that had never been finished. Enjoying her two day old tuna sandwich, her thoughts began to drift as she stared blankly off into the horizon.

Her mother had put on a brave face and kept telling them their father was ok and going to come home soon, but both children knew their father was never coming back.

It had been two weeks since their father was taken. Since then some people on the Nameless Street offered their support in thanks for what their father had done for them in the past, but most of the people ignored them and continued on with their daily lives as if nothing had happened.

Shion, while just a year older still tried to cheer the siblings up. Shion was one of the kids who had been orphaned. His parents were victims of gang violence while his sister had been taken by Doubt.

An older boy, Cain, found him wondering the alleyways near Hope Hills and took him to find refuge on the Nameless Street. Both boys had similar histories and Shion looked up to Cain, loving him like he was his own brother.

The boys were empathetic to what had happened to her family. Cain would lend a hand now and again helping their mother with tasks that were too heavy for the young children to complete, mainly consisting of maintenance repairs.

Even with friends checking in on them, Rain still felt like a piece of her life had been torn from her, who wouldn't? She wiped a small tear from her eyes, never again did she want to feel this helpless and promised that she was going to be strong for the family she had left.

She reached for her dessert, a slightly soft and bruised apple, a delicacy these days on the Nameless Street. But as she reached down her fingers grasped at air, quickly looking around she noticed a small figure disappear behind the pillars, scramble down to the ground, and take off. "Hey! Get back here!" Without hesitation she scaled down the closest beam and gave chase.

Knowing these streets like the back of her hand was a great advantage as she took a shortcut to get out in front of her apple thief and waited. Within seconds the boy ran right into her tackle, his head still glancing behind looking to see if he'd been followed.

They both fell over stumbling a few feet the boy, being the heavier of the two, ending up on top with Rain pinned underneath him. But not for long as she made quick work of kicking him off and putting him into a headlock. Still on the ground the two struggled, Rain pinning the boy down as best she could while he pulled at her hair in an attempt to get her to release him.

"Drop it!" She gritted, the apple fell from the boys hand and rolled into the mud as she released him. Standing up, retrieving the apple and brushing the mud off on her shirt the best she could, she turned back around and was met with a familiar face, "You?"