All The Lies We Told Ourselves

16 - Jewels of Time Long Past

Rue
*****
April 20th, Thursday

I had never seen so many people in one place.

The market square had been cleared out for the stage. On it stood the Hargreaves, trying desperately to have their announcement heard over the jostling crowd. No one listened. No one cared what they had to say.

The news about their latest project had slipped out too soon and now everyone knew the kinds of drugs they had been developing. The snitch could have been anyone, a business partner of theirs or one of the insurgents, it didn't matter. What mattered was that people were angry.

"How can he show his face here with everything they've done?" Reid muttered. Ace Hargreave was standing there, on the edge of the market square, surrounded by a group of peacekeepers. Every now and then he would point at someone in the crowd being a little too loud or a little too violent, and the guards would march over and take them away.

Obscenities were thrown towards the stage and then eventually, shoes and pebbles and other things people felt were worthless enough to sacrifice for their anger. When a glass bottle got smashed on the stage, the anger flared like ripples in the water. The Hargeaves retreated back to their armored cars. The pushback from the guards caused the crowd to surge our way. I inched closer to Ace Hargreave, who only stood there oblivious, a smug look plastered on his face like pure entitlement.

Something gleamed briefly in my vision and quickly disappeared into Ace's pocket. It was so brief I didn't believe it to be real at first. But I was right. The golden chain hanging out over the navy blue uniform told me exactly the kind of pocket watch it belonged to. They were common in the Capitol, I knew that, as I had stolen my fair share of them. They were also worth about a month's worth of rations. It was a high risk and a high reward.

Maybe Reid had noticed my distraction, because he protested, holding onto my arm.
"Rue-" he said, but I was already making my way towards Ace, who had started walking towards the cars, alone. It was the perfect moment.

In the quieter alley, where no eyes were laid on me and where Ace was opening the car door, I pummeled into him. It had become a routine by this point, the swift movement of my hand towards the golden chain. It was a satisfying feeling how it slipped from my hand into the bottom of my pocket. But I had miscalculated and pushed him too far. Usually a meek sorry would have been enough. Not this time.

"Watch out." He said and pushed me. I tumbled to the ground and felt the watch slip out of my pocket and crack on the cobblestone. A hand grabbed the side of my jacket collar and dragged me up.

There were not many things more embarrassing than being pushed to the ground. As I stood there, I felt the water slowly trickling over the edge, threatening to spill over all the way. My palms were scraped and aching, bloody from the pebbles and stone they had met. The stretched back of my jacket scraped at my neck.

"What do you say?" Ace said, that same look of pure self-righteousness plastered on his face.

I should have known he was going to go there. What a way to degrade a person, demanding an apology at the threat of violence. I wanted to punch him then, it would have been the right time and place. It would have been deserved, that's for sure. But I knew what was at steak.

"Sorry." I muttered and he let me go. For a brief moment, I thought it was done, until he saw the broken watch on the ground, glanced at his empty pocket and realized what had happened. Ace lunged towards me and I took off on my feet, grabbing it from the ground at the last minute.

I thanked myself then that all those years ago I had learned to run fast and know where the streets ended and began. Ace was gone soon enough. He might have been fast, but he didn't know the ins and outs of each entrance and turn, where they led to and what lay beyond them.