Part 7

Yael presses her luck.

For months I was able to feed Molly and I with no problems. In fact, she was starting to get a little fat. At first I would wait for the night patrol to end before I made my rounds of stealing just enough that people wouldn’t miss it. But as I learned their routine I got cocky and started sneaking around them. I felt invisible for a while. I could dance around the patrols with a bag full of food and they would never see a thing. I pressed my luck a little too much.

I got careless one night. I didn’t expect to run into anyone so I didn’t bother doing my normal checks. While I was breaking into one of my regular spots a man walked out to relieve himself. Given the fact that he kicked bottles through the doorway with him I’d say they had been celebrating something. He looked right at me and looked away. I pushed myself into the shadows as much as possible, hoping he was too drunk to notice me. Unfortunately he realized what he saw and looked back at me. There was no hiding, I was reckless and got caught.

He started yelling for others and I took off running. It wasn’t long before there was a group of men chasing and shooting at me. I did my best to lose them before I headed home. They gave up that night but from then on the patrols had an eye out for me. They finally realized why odd numbers of things would go missing and began checking every building for the thief. They knew I had to come back sometime to feed myself. Sadly they were right. I had gone from a ghost with no fears in the world to a rat hiding in a corner. 

Author's Note

It's supposed to be a first person narrative. I want to flesh it out as much as it needs. Let me know what you think needs changed, dropped, or expanded on. Be critical.