Loose Threads

Chapter One

Chapter One

Ace hated the summer. Granted, he also hated winter and fall and spring. He hated the outdoors, and he hated the indoors. He hated people, and he hated being alone, although he preferred his own company, solitary as it might be, to anyone else's.

But most of all, right now, he hated the summer. It was too hot and too sunny. Even the shade, where he was sitting right now, was practically cooking him. He had lost his jacket a few days ago, it had probably been stolen. He didn't care, seeing as how he'd stolen it first.

In fact, everything he was wearing was stolen, from his ratty converse to his bleached jeans worn through the knees to his old, thin, Nirvana t-shirt. The only thing he had that was undeniably his, was the necklace he wore.

His dad had given it to him when he turned six, ten years ago. It was a plain silver chain, and shaped a little like a double-helix. Ace wore it around his neck because that was the only place he knew people wouldn't steal it from.

The heat was making him tired. He was sitting against an old building, he wasn't even sure what it was, in downtown Brooklyn. One of his legs was stretched out in front of him, the other bent up at the knee. He was waiting.

He had seen someone enter the building across from him, a tall, gothic-looking museum-churchy place. They had been wearing a fancy suit and Ace had caught the glint of a gold watch on their wrist. They had been dropped off by a limo.

He was waiting for them to come back out so he could rob them dry. Because Ace was a pick-pocket. A thief, a scoundrel, a street-rat, a hooligan. He had heard them all, and he didn't care. He had been living on the streets of New York for ten years. He had learned young that the only way to survive was to steal.

He had become pretty good at it, too. If only it wasn't so damn hot outside. Winter was worse, though, he admonished himself. Winter was when the shelters would come in handy. But he didn't like those places. They had called Child Protective Services on him once, and Ace had spent a total of four months in an absolute hellhole of a 'home' before he high-tailed it back to the streets.

Now, he was usually able to rough it on his own, sometimes sneaking into apartments or hotels for the really cold nights. Summer was a bit of a blessing in disguise, really, because he didn't have to worry about freezing to death at least.

Across the street from him, the man in the fancy suit stepped out of the building, looking around for his ride, before huffing and pulling out a phone. Ace stood, stretched, and crossed the street.

He started jogging towards the man, crashing straight into him, knocking them both to the ground. The man grunted in surprise as Ace landed nearly on top of him.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, sir, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going–" Ace started rambling as he helped the man to his feet, one hand covering that expensive gold watch of his as his fingers undid the clasp and a second later, the timepiece was safely hidden in Ace's pocket.

"No, no, it's alright," the man said distractedly, brushing off his jacket. "No harm done." He opened his mouth to say something else, when Ace pretended to wave at someone over the man's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm coming," He called to no one, before turning back to the now watch-less man. "Hey, I'm really sorry about that, but I gotta go, my friends are waiting." He smiled before jogging down the street. Once he was out of sight, he pulled the watch from his pocket and examined it. If he had to guess, he'd say it was made up of mostly steel and gold, probably some silver. He could sell it for a good price.

He knew quite a few pawn shops around the city that didn't ask questions as long as what you had to sell was pretty enough.

When the sun began to set, Ace made his way to one such shop, a little place on a street corner, squashed against a laundromat. It was called 'Another Man's Treasure', which Ace thought was stupid, but accurate because they mostly sold trash.