Don't Forget

#3 Among the Theives

     No kingdom is perfect. Not everyone can be on top in any given situation. There are thieves, murders, and scammers on every continent, and GoldenEye is no exception. The outskirts of the capital are particularly poor. This area of the city was built by generations of bad luck and poor decisions.
     In these poor districts, it is not uncommon for children to be abandoned. Parents simply have no way to take care of them. Not many of these children grow very old, but the ones that do have no choice but to repeat the lives of their parents in stealing to survive. The cycle keeps going. These orphans are referred to as 'street rats'.
    The street rats often band together in small packs. It's easier to accomplish larger tasks with extra hands. The problem is that street rats aren't exactly raised with many virtues. They often fight, steal, and betray each other.
     Ty is laying on his stomach underneath a low porch. The wood digs uncomfortably into his thin frame. He's lucky that he's even small enough to fit underneath. Ty patiently watches the street in front of him. The street rat can't be sure of his actual age, but he guesses around 14 by now. He's small, but one of the older boys in his group.
Ty watches a dirty ten year old walk up to a street vender. He thinks that the kid picked a good one, considering the fresh apples at the man's stall. They also look foreign. The apple vender won't know their tricks.
     Ty is is underneath a porch right behind the vendor stalls. He watches the other street rat talking to the uncomfortable looking man. Perfect, not even trying to look back. A familiar figure, carefully but quickly, sneaks out from between two nearby buildings. They stay low to the ground and take two of the apples off the pile without making them all roll down. They dash back behind the building without being seen.
Ty takes a deep breath before crawling forwards. It's his turn now. Not making any sound against the wood, Ty wiggles out from underneath the porch and creeps forwards. The kid distracting the man doesn't even look at his approach.
The apples look even better up close. Ty carefully grabs one, bringing it up to his face and biting into it. He holds the apple with his teeth and takes two others in his hand. Ty briefly wonders how silly he must look.
He almost got away with it. As Ty backed up, the vendor finally turned back to his stall. Their eyes lock in a second of shock. Ty then whips around and runs. His stomachs lurches when the vendor calls for the guards. The last time that this happened, one of them got caught.
     Ty's 'rat pack' consisted of three other boys. One was older, two younger. They had a girl for a while, but she was caught by a guard last week. Ty's not sure where people go after they get caught. It's not like you can slap a street rat's thieving instincts away. It's life for them.
     Thankfully, all the older street rats are faster then one would expect. They're the ones that haven't been caught. Any muscle on their thin frames goes straight to speed. Ty doesn't know if there's anyone chasing him, but he's not about to find out.
     Ty is short for his age from malnourishment. All his clothes are dirty and worn from life on the street. The street rat's bangs sweep in front of one green eye, all exposed skin as dirty as his clothes.
     He races at a full sprint down a side ally with the wind whistling in his ears. Ty knows these streets like the back of his hand. He takes random turns that sometimes twist in on themselves, trying to confuse anyone who might be following. Other street rats know to stay away if one of their own is running like this. It's like a guard warning bell.
    Ty turns one last street before ducking into an alcove. He takes the apples from his mouth, panting and listening. Dead science. He can't hear anyone else around him. The guards must have lost him, and anyone who was here must be hiding like he is. One street rat looks awfully like the next.
Ty smirks. Of course they didn't catch him, he's too much for them to handle. Ty has an uncaring and smart-ass attitude, priding himself on street smarts. It's all he has to be proud of. This attitude keeps him alive. It's how he's lived all his life.
Ty walks smugly back to his pack's meeting spot. There's an abandoned house near the right wall of the castle with a mostly-intact-basement. It's even got a cool trapdoor! Ty's pack uses that spot to meet back up after a hit. It's safe from any passing soldiers.
The street rat looks around before dashing over to the building. It's hard for him to juggle the three apples while climbing though the trapdoor. It would've been impossible to run fast enough if he hadn't put the third in his mouth.
It's dark inside, but Ty's eyes quickly adjust. He's not the first one back. The one boy older then him, and who had grabbed two apples before him, is sitting up against the wall while eating one of his apples.
     The room is mostly bare, with a few old blankets and one pillow. It's only a place to sleep and escape the soldiers. The boys are out scavenging all day, and part of the night. Different people come and go, depending on who gets caught. They only work together once a week or so. None of them really have bonds with the others.
     "Hey", Ty mumbles, sitting down across form the other boy. They look about 16, dirty blond hair and brown eyes.
"I ran after getting the apples, how'd it go?", he asks me by way of greeting. No one knows their real names here, but we call him Gold, like the legend of Gold, because his shoulders are broader then most street rats'.
     "Damn vendor looked back before I could get away", Ty grumbles. Their last group hit had gone awry, too.
     "At least you got an extra. How'd you carry three, anyway?", Gold asks. Ty smirks back and bites into his previously slobbered-on apple. If Gold can't figure it out himself, Ty won't tell him.
The trap door creeks as someone else starts to climb down. Gold and Ty both tense up before seeing the familiar ten year old climbing down. He's short, darker skinned, and his brown hair is messy and wild. Ty named him Mouse when they first met, since he's the youngest and his hair looks like a rat's nest.
     The other boy, around 13, climbs down after Mouse. He told Ty that his name is Ajax. With black hair and amber eyes, he sticks out a bit on the streets. His eyes give hints of hybrid relations.
     "Why the hell you'd make noise!?", Ajax growls at Ty, bearing his teeth. It's bad habit that Ajax has always had.
     "It's not my fault the guy turned back! I ain't making no noise", Ty yells right back. Mouse cringes at the sudden argument. Ty figures that Mouse did help him, tossing the kid one of his apples. He fumbles and almost drops it.
     "I didn't even try grabbing some stuff cause of you", Ajax snarls. It's true. He was suppose to steal after Ty, but couldn't when the guards showed up.
     "Would ya two shut up already? You're screaming will let everyone know where we are", Gold interrupts Ty's response. Being older and bigger then all of them, Gold acts like the leader of their pack. He tosses his second apple to Ajax. Better to keep the pease then let Ty and Ajax kill each other.
     Mouse, with one of Ty's apples, finally moves and sits down a few feet from Gold. Ajax glares at Ty before sitting down across from the trapdoor. Everyone slips into a tence silence. Ty doesn't like silence.
      "Well, if you three're just gonna be brooding, I'm going out", Ty says, getting up after finishing the second apple. Like all street rats would, he ate the core.
     "Don't die", Gold waves. Street rats don't really ever say goodbye to a person. That's too personal and final for them. Building attachments to people makes you weak on the streets. Gold only cares for Ty's speed and street smarts. Ty thinks the same way.
      Outside the crumbling building and down a few blocks, people are out and about again. The capital is never quiet. Everyone is always rushing around in a hurry with their own busy lives. Ty thinks of the capital as one big ant hill.
     While walking, a glint on the ground catches Ty's eye. He stops in his tracks, not believing his luck. A small coin lay abandoned in the street. Ty expects someone to come running and screaming at him as he hastily snatches it up. He speeds up his walk while examining the coin. It's real, all right.
     It's not very much, but Ty could actually buy something with this. A list of different cheap items pass through his head. Ty could buy chocolate! He can remember the taste from before he was a street rat.
     There's a little shop near the castle that sells cheap chocolate bars. Ty would have just enough. He thankfully hasn't robbed that one. Too many guards, but they can't do anything if he's paying for the chocolate.
     All the sugar would probably make him sick with how he's not use to it. Ty figures that he could break it into pieces for the rest of his pack. He tells himself that it's only because he would vomit with all of it. A small part of him also wants to drop Ajax's piece on the floor. He'd still eat it, or Ty would if he refused.
     The small candy shop looks cozy from the outside. Not many shops look so well. A little window in the front has candy canes, sugar covered gummies, and other sweats. When Ty goes in, the smell of all that sugar makes his mouth water.
     When he enters, a young women at the counter looks up at him. She cringes, narrowing her eyes at Ty's dirty appearance. It's obvious what he is.
     "You have five seconds to get out before I call the guards", she snaps at him. Ty's used to this kind of reaction.
     "No wait! I have money", Ty argues, holding up the coin. The woman's face seems to soften at that. Ty didn't come here to rob her. He's trying to be good.
     "Alright, what do you want", the woman asks, a small smilie playing on her lips.
      "Some chocolate?", Ty says, not even sure if he's saying it right. He's never really bought anything before.  He's only seen other people buy from street vendors.
     "What kind? Dark, nut, caramel?", she bends down underneath the counter to grab the chocolate. Ty is confused.
     "There's different kinds of chocolate?", he mumbles. The woman chuckles at his response. She does feel sympathy for the orphaned children, but she can't give away her entire shop.
     "I'll just get you some milk chocolate, then. It's my favorite", she tells Ty, setting a bar on the counter. He nods and gives her the coin. She doesn't say it out loud, but a chocolate bar costs more then Ty has. She still hands it to him over the counter.
     "Thank you", Ty mumbles. The words feel foreign on his tongue. The woman nods and watches him leave. Ty steps outside and takes a minute to reflect. It feels so strange for him to actually buy something.
     Screaming makes Ty jump up into the air. His breathing becomes strained as he sees blue skinned figures streaming out of the castle. Ty stuffs the entire bar of chocolate into his mouth before running.