Completely "Normal" Fairy Tale

Chapter two: The Thief Fails At Being A Thief. Again

  Ok, so once upon a time (yes, again) there was a thief. Now, professional thieves are cunning. They will rob you blind without a second thought and leave you to suffer the consequences of their actions. However, this thief is not a professional. He wore all black out in public, believing that it would help him "blend in with the shadows" but all it did was make him stand out. Seriously, when you are in a sea of people dressed in vibrant colors and your in all black, you are going to be noticed. It's like when someone wearing bright floral patterns enters Hot Topic.

Another problem with this thief is that his name was Brayden. Ok, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, he just doesn't like his name. The real problem is that he is terrible at his job.

Once he tried to steal a glowing vase by hiding it under his cloak. Issue number one: he didn't think that people would be able to see the light through his cloak. Issue number two: his cloak was too long and he would trip over it. You see where this is going, right? That's right, someone saw the glowing vase from under his cloak and he tried to run away, but of course he tripped over his cloak.

The vase shattered into a million little pieces, making tinkling noises as they spilled across the ground. He ran away with what little dignity he had left, little ceramic shards embedded in his hands. You think he would have been more careful after that incident. Well, you'd be wrong! This incident happened over a year ago. Anyways, let's begin his story at the marketplace.

It was another day for the thief. Empty belly and empty pockets, but hopefully not for long. He managed to steal a small loaf of bread from a cart without being caught. He squealed with excitement, almost giving himself away. Once Brayden scarfed down the loaf of bread, he was off to find something more lucrative to steal. He spent a few hours walking around attempting to pickpocket unsuspecting customers. The thief managed to get one sack of coins, but it only had five gold in it. He sighed. At least he could but something to eat today.

Many failed pickpockets later, Brayden decided to try stealing something from one of the shops. He finally settled on one that sold jewelry, since that was the only thing he had much luck with taking undetected. He was pretending to look at some ornate diamond necklaces when a shopkeeper came by. "Ah, are you looking for something for a special someone?" they asked, eyeing the man dressed in all black in 100 degree heat suspiciously.

Brayden panicked. "No, I'm looking at something for me!" he blurted out, much louder than he intended to. Come on man, you could have just said yes.

The shopkeeper gave him a weird look before saying, "well, to each their own, I guess." He walked away, keeping a close eye on the man dressed in black. Oh no sir, should totally ignore this person who you have never seen before! You can totally trust him! No. No you can't.

Brayden heaved a sigh of relief, and walked to the rings, hoping to seem a bit less suspicious. It didn't really help his case. All that aside, it would be difficult to steal from this shop, knowing that the guy who ran it was now watching him like a hawk does its prey. But of course Brayden wasn't paying any more attention to the shopkeeper.

He reached out for one of the rings and was about to slip it into his pocket when he heard, "Stop! Thief!!" Meaning it was now his cue to start running as fast as he possibly could from that booth and not get caught.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't actually the one being yelled at. There was another person a shop down stealing some pottery who had been caught. By running, he just made himself a target. The jewelry maker quickly took notice and started calling after Brayden in outrage.

Brayden wasn't really paying any attention to what was going on around him as he looked desperately for a place to hide. He found an alleyway and ran down it to hide, just like you see on cartoons. He heard some sort of metal clinking to the ground behind him as he ran faster. His feet pounded on the ground, his lungs screeching for air as he twisted and turned down the various halls of the alleyway. He seemed to be getting farther away from his pursuers when he felt a tug cloak. He panicked for a second, thinking that someone had him by the back of the neck. By the time he realised he was really tripping over his own cloak, it was too late. WHACK! He came crashing down to the ground. That was sure to leave some bruises "Ow," he muttered as he tried to get back up, but was stopped by a blade being pressed to his throat.