Book Theif

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK

Maddie dashed around the corner, spotting Tanner's car at the curb. She prayed he was done at the coffee shop and in the car, ready to go. Opening the door and jumping in the car, she hit her elbow on the arm rest.

"Drive! Drive!" The car lurched forward, blending everything out the windows into each other.

Besides Maddie's ragged breathing and the engine humming, it was silent in the car. Tanner disturbed the silence as Maddie's breathing got quieter.

"How close were you to being caught? Did you get hurt?" The car sped up a ramp onto the free way.

"Just a couple scratches, nothing big." She laid her head against the cold window, watching the other cars' flashing lights and the merging in and out of the lanes.

Why was she always so modest about that kinda stuff? "How did you get the scratches?"

A small smile made it's way to Maddie's face as she glanced at Tanner. "The fence was being stubborn."

How could she make jokes when she was just running for her life? "How close were you to being caught?"

"Well, I got in the guy's office using my amazing picking skills. The room was huge! like five-times-my-room big! So I walk in, and almost stepping on it, on the floor sleeping, is this little, cute Chihuahua. It had this sort of shirt on, and even little shoes!" She used her hands to show the size, "So, I stepped over it to get to the left side of the room so I could get around to the desk on the other side of the room. When I got to the desk, I heard a little jingle coming from inside of the room from somewhere to my right." She leaned back against her seat. "As soon as I couldn't hear it anymore, I searched the desk. I opened all the crap filled drawers except for one of them was locked, so I got out my picking utensils, and went to work.

"But, before I could even put it in the key hole, I herd stomping down the hall, getting closer to the room I was in." Maddie leaned forward, making sure Tanner was paying attention. "Since there were lots of furniture, it was too easy to hide from the, I'm guessing it was a guy, coming in and then closing the door on his way out. Then I went back to the locked desk and found the Chihuahua. I tried to move it out of the way, but it started yapping it's little head off! The man that went out yelled through the door for the 'stupid dog' to be quiet. Assuming the man would stay there, and might even come in if the dog didn't stop yapping, my only option was to go out the window." She made a rectangle with her hands, "I unlatched the window, pushed it up and climbed out. I heard the door open right before I shut the window. I climbed down and was greeted by more men, and quite muscular too!" Maddie winked and nudged Tanner on his arm. "I ran around the corner, coming to a dead end with a chain-licked gate, so my only choice was to climb it. At the top, I got snagged and jumped down and ran to your car." She patted the leather seat and looked to Tanner for a response.

"Do you think they saw your face at all?"

"I can assume they didn't 'cause they would have died if they did." she said sarcastically.

"Ha. Ha. So funny." his voice showing only boredom and annoyance. "This is serious, Maddie. Please be serious with me?"

The car pulled up to Maddie's off-white deck house, just in time to avoid Tanner's question, even though he changed the topic.

"I don't think you should be going and doing this anymore. I just... as a friend, I care about you and I wouldn't want you to... ruin your life."

Maddie opened the passenger door and got out "You don't have to worry about me; I'll be careful" She entered her house without looking back at her only friend.

"She's too confident," Tanner thought out loud.

As Tanner drove home, he heard sirens coming from behind his car, and suggesting he pull over. He sat there in the silence, waiting for the police man to walk to his car. 'They must have reported my license plate!' kept repeating in his head, making him panic.