The Story of a Theif - Hailey Peterson (good books for high schoolers txt) 📗

slicing into the delicate flesh of what was, Joe’s leg. The leg came clean off just above the knee. He screamed a high-pitched shriek that dropped to a low moan. I hopped over the table and cut a whimpering Fuji from the restraints. He rolled to the edge, landing with nothing short of elegance and we raced up the cement steps. Outside we stopped for a moment taking hold of our breath. Fuji’s arm was lagging behind the rest of his body as we took off into the humid air of mid-day.

End of Part 1

Part 2: The Departure

We both awoke to a crisp morning screaming. Nightmares fresh in our brains. We exchange the bad dreams, shudder then try to forget about them. We clomp downstairs. Fuji sits in a chair and lays his lame arm down on the table top. The blood from the wound is half-dried. The cut is deep, penetrating the flesh down to the ivory colored bone. I stare at it for a while, then rush around getting the things needed to dress a wound. I wash it in the sink, Fuji flinching the whole time. The wrap it snugly, but not enough to cut off circulation, in a brown strip I tore from the hem of my shirt.The fresh blood soaked it almost immediately. I sighed. “Don’t worry about it.” Said Fuji. “It’ll just get worse.” I shook my head and bent to wrap it again, but Fuji insisted, “Really it’ll be fine!” So I left it and sat down in the chair opposite of him.
“We need to discuss something.” I said. He looked up.
“Hmm.” He grunted.
“With Senseless Joe and Tom Gizzerdes after our skins.” I paused to think on how to put this. “We need to-” Fuji cut off my words.
He instantly agreed with me. “Leave, we need to leave.” I nodded.
“We need to get away.” I say.
“Where do you suppose we go?” He inquired. I shrugged. Then I knew.
“There is one place,” I said, “it'll be a long journey,” I paused. “Oh, I’ve wanted to go since I was younger.” I looked up into his face, “I want to go to the city.” He looked shocked or sur at first. Then a smile found it’s way onto his face.
“Yes, it’s perfect.” Fuji said, “We could pickpocket the richest people in the nation!” He grinned and jumped up. “We leave first thing in the morning!” Then he rushed to the door of his bedroom-closet.
I spun. “Where are you going?” I called after him.
His faint voice came with a laughter, “I gotta pack!” He said. I giggled and went up to my bedroom, to pack what little I owned and get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow.
Upstairs I went out onto the roof. I sit and stare at the wonder-filled city, I think. I’ll name it The City of Hope-filled Wonders. I laid on the roof, looking at the stars. Hours past. Eventually I fell asleep.
I awoke by the call of birds. Their tweeting was harsh and blaring. I trotted downstairs and found that Fuji was still snoring in his bed. I decided to leave him and made breakfast out of scraps from yesterday. We ended up have chicken remnants in broth.
The air danced undisturbed over the earth as we sped through the town, hoping to go unnoticed. When we reached the outskirts of town I stopped short. I turned and faced the town that had been my home for so many years, and with a final teary glance, turned and trotted down the worn path.

End Part 2

Part 3: On the Road

The path led into the woods quickly, leaving the small town behind. As we trudged through the dark forest, Fuji whistled to cheer me up. It wasn’t helping either of us. We walked with a shiver on our backs because we were afraid things lurking between the trees. I jump a few times at unfamiliar noises. This is ridiculous. I think. We decide to camp in a large oak tree. It was a beautiful tree. Huge, towering over at least thirty feet. If you climb high enough you are completely concealed by the wide leaves. We climb up and unpack our blankets. We lay on a very fat branch just wide enough for two people. We unpack what little food we have and eat it all. Realizing what we had done we drop down to the forest floor and gather berries. When we had finished we climbed back up, pocketed the berries, climbed under the covers and went to sleep.
I was shocked when I awoke to find Fuji gone. I leaned over and stared at the ground. Did he fall out of the tree? I wondered. Then I saw him on the ground. He was sitting on the base of the tree. He paused as if listening for a stir. I froze. Hearing nothing he began to write on something. I peered closer. A journal! He’s keeping a journal! I smiled. Oh, wouldn’t it be great to find out what he was writin? I crept slowly and silently to the branch just above Fuji. I leaned down and stretched out on my stomach until I was laying flat. I peered over the branch and glanced at the book he was writing in. After reading the page quick I was shocked at what was written. I gasped and then jerked my body back up onto the branch. Fuji looked up but didn’t see anything. What the... I thought. A poem, he is writing a poem! I looked closer. Oh, no! I gasped, but not loud enough for him to hear me. It’s for me! I thought on this a moment, not sure if I was excited about this or not. I sighed, too loudly. Fuji looked up but didn’t see anything. He finished up and bent to stand.
I panicked and scrambled back up to the bed-branch. As he came into view I acted like I was just getting up. “Sleepy?” He asked.
“You bet!” I replied. I stretched dramatically.
“So what’s for breakfast?” He asked. I shrugged and he said, “I’ll go see what we have left.”
“It’s not much.” I called after him. He didn’t reply. I thought about what he wrote. Now, what? He’s going to be an all-sappy-I-love-you type of person. I put on my boots and jacket and I tumbled my way down to the forest floor.
“Wow.” I said. “You actually found something for us to eat.” And he did. A lot of berries in a rainbow of colours, something cooking that looked like a squirrel or an opossum. We ate, It was delicious. We traveled on like this for many days. Every night I climb up in a tree to see how close the city gets. It gets closer and closer every day.
The winds whipped today. It was hard to move through the trees. I had to keep one arm up to block the wind from my eyes. We couldn’t stay in trees, the wind might push us out. It worried me to see the leaves violently shaking.
We came to a rock outcropping in the middle of a clearing in the woods. We huddled behind it, it shielded the wind so we could at least eat. We decided to camp there until the wind stopped. As we huddled against the dirt and rock, I thought about the city. I bet life there is wonderful. I thought. We’ll be rich quick, and there’s ton’s of scraps! And maybe we’ll meet other thieves. I settled down in to a deep sleep listening to the sounds of the birds tweeting against the wind. We stayed their for two more nights, restricted by the wind.
“We are going to be here forever!” Exclaimed Fuji one night. I sighed and replied. “We are not going to be here forever.” I sat and brought out a bunch of berries for a snack. “See the wind is already dying down.” I lied. But, the thought seemed to make him feel better so he quit complaining. We ate until our bulging bellies were full and we could eat no more. I had just drifted off when I was harshly jostled awake by rough hands.
End Part 3

Part 4: We meet the Thieves
They gagged and tied us. They, were three evil, foul-smelling men dressed in long, brown trench coats. The three guys dragged us to an old truck, it was falling apart and rusted. The wind stopped! I realized. The wind must’ve stopped when we were sleeping. As they threw us in the back, I got a glimpse of Agabaja. His eyes were wide with fear. I looked at him and thought. We must have bad luck with all these bad things are happening. I sighed and decided just to go with it for now. As the tuck drove away, I noticed a man on gray horse back looking through my things. He pulled out a worn-down, silver picture frame. He looked at it, then tossed it into the mud. I twisted and wiggled, but couldn’t break free. “No!” I screamed, but my scream was muffled by the gag.
“Quiet back there!” came a gruffly voice, then something heavy met my skull and everything went dark.
I awoke, and the world was upside-down. We were tied to a tree by our ankles. I looked sideways and realized this was the same for Fuji. We looked at each other and he shrugged. I have no idea where we are. His eyes seemed to say. I shrugged back.
Me neither....
Looking around I surveyed our surroundings. There wasn’t much to the kidnappers camp. It was in the center to the ring of trees. A fire in the very middle, Right in front of us. There was a log on the left where hey tied up three horses and parked the pickup truck. To the right was a crude, make-shift table, filled with our belongings. To the side of it there was a cage with a large Doberman, barking. He looked starving, like he hasn’t eaten in days. His cage was next to a large pile of raw meat. That’s cruel.... I thought. Why would you do that?
A round man walked into the area, and the Doberman barked louder than before. “Shut-up you mangy mutt!” The man screamed and kicked the cage. The dog whimpered and sat quietly. I closed my eyes and pretended to still be knocked out. Out of squinted eyes I saw Fuji do the same. Smart kid...
The man came over to use and prodded us with a long stick, after we didn’t move he called to another, “They still must be unconscious Stewy.” Boy he is a nit-wit, how can’t he see that we’re still alive! I thought furiously. Another man came to join him, he was not as fat as the other, and had a beard. They walked away and I opened my eyes slightly. The bearded man said, “Lookys like we may havta wait till ther awake huh?” Man, his speaking is B-A-D. I thought. I shook my head, swinging the vine. Oh, no! I thought. I immediately stopped, but they still caught me.
“Oh so yous fellas are awake, eh?” said the fat man, “Hey Stewie, theys awake.” The bearded man turned and grunted. So the bearded man is Stewie, huh. I thought. And I began to think of all the ways on how to escape this situation.
They untied us, brought us down, and both men searched us. They found nothing of value though. After dragging us the the horses log, they tied us up, but, fortunately, didn’t gag us. The man named Stewie came over and knelt next to us, he was eating a raw onion so his breath smelled like a waste pit. “No way to