Trust | 2 |

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next morning I was up and early, getting ready to swipe some food from strangers and open shop windows. Like everyday, I couldn't afford to pay for food, so I just stole. I never used my abilities for this, though, because it was really noticeable really fast.

New foods had been introduced to me through this, like oranges. I had orange flavored things back at the tower, but never an actual orange. The real thing? So good, it's not even funny. They were just so good and didn't leave behind any waste since it's all natural! Okay, so I have a love for oranges. Sue me.

I had a very small pile of clothes to choose from, and went with a pair of blue jeans, a black crop top, a bulky sweater that was white, gray, and black, and some black combat boots. The layering was just in case I needed to do a quick change to get away from someone who saw me stealing or recognized me. I also had a hair tie on my wrist, ready to put my hair up if needed.

Leaving the building carefully, I went ahead and tried to see if anyone was holding or carrying any food. The quick look gave me a "no" so I went ahead and walked down the street to the same place I always go.

This was the closest area to the building I lived in that had the most restaurants and grocers. It wasn't like an open air market by any means, but there was enough stuff just sitting around outside that it wasn't too hard to just grab something and go.

Today it was a bit cooler, so there weren't as many people I could blend in with. In addition to that, I noticed less food sitting out.

The cooler part of autumn and winter are approaching, and it does get pretty cold in New York, so I didn't know what I was going to do when it got too cold outside for food to just be sitting out in the open. My anxiety peaked a bit at the thought, but I shook my head and it went away. What I needed to worry about was getting food now, not the future. It doesn't do me any good to stress about something so far away right now.

At the first shop, I grabbed a paper bag and some little bags of chips to go in it. At the next one, it was mostly fruits, so I grabbed a few of those (including a couple extra oranges). The next place was a little bakery and was harder to steal from, so I just admired the smells that met my nose as I passed.

I played with the hem of my sweater as I got closer to another store with some snack foods outside, like granola bars and bags of chips. There was a store next to it that had drinks sitting outside it. People were crowding around both, passing the stuff outside and going inside as well. I merged into the crowd seamlessly.

At the first store, I found it easy to grab some snacks and slip them into my bag. Another thing I had learned the past few months: most people really don't care if they see you steal. If you look dirty and poor enough, people will turn a blind eye to you taking a few snacks. I have gotten a few glares and side eyes, but nobody has ever really spoken up to store owners/employees.

At the second store, I needed to be a bit more careful with my swiping. Bottles and cans like these were somehow harder to grab without getting noticed. I always went after water at the very least, because people don't care too much if I steal that. Now, if I stole some precious person's Coca-Cola, they wouldn't be as happy. And when I grabbed the first bottle, I would take a sip and then put it away, followed by me taking more.

There was a middle-aged woman standing near me as I grabbed a water bottle. She gave me a strange look as I opened it and drank some, before slipping it into my bag. The last action caused her to glare at me, and I saw her walk away. Again, that had been the worst thing to happen to me so far, so I didn't care too much.

I grabbed a couple more bottles, then eyed a bottle of soda. It looked really good, and I remembered having a bit back at the tower. It was a rare treat back then, too, because it wasn't healthy and I was training; the two didn't exactly go together.