Thief (The Ichor Series: book 1)

Chapter 8

Skylar

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed that I had someone's jacket covering me like a blanket. So when I looked over at the boy and noticed he was only wearing his grey t-shirt, I had a mini hear attack. But not in a bad way, I was just overly surprised that someone would actually lend me their jacket to sleep with. No one has ever been that kind to me before.

I turned onto my side to look over at the boy, who was still snoring in his sleep. I wrapped the dark green jacket tighter around me as I rolled onto my side. And I just watched him sleep with a smile playing on my lips. Now he didn't look as old as I first thought he was. He may even look younger than what he actually was to be honest. And he definitely didn't look as intimidating now. In fact, I have to admit that he looked kind of cute. His blonde hair had fallen to cover some of his eye and he was curled to his side with his arms beneath his head.

I pulled my arm out of the little cocoon that I made for myself and pushed some of his hair from his eyes. He was still looking so peaceful in his sleep, it was a major change from when he was awake. You could just see the weight he carried upon his shoulders on a daily basis.

I kept on watching him for a little while more until my traitorous stomach made the sound of a dying whale. The boy smiled at this, actually genuinely smiled at this with his eyes still closed. I groaned at my stomach while flipping onto my back only to let out a yelp of pain. Only at this did the boy finally open his eyes and look over at me.

He saw my face, which I'm guessing was not a pretty sight since I had just woken up, and bolted straight up. "What's wrong Sky?" his voice was husky from his sleep.

"Nothin', my shoulder just hurts. That's all." I mumbled.

"Let me see." He said inching his way over to me with a concerned look on his face.

"Fine. But if you touch me the wrong way, I will kill you. I swear." I said trying to look as menacing as possible.

"Haha, that's fine by me. I would never try anything like that. I promise."

So with that, he helped lift up my shirt so that it was showing my entire back and wasn't revealing too much in the front. When I heard him suck in a breath, I knew something was wrong. "What is it? And how bad is it?" I asked.

"Its your entire back Sky. Its all purple and black and green..." He said, concern laced in his voice. "Does it hurt badly?"

"Not really. It just sort of stings when something touches it. Like when you get a sun burn and it just...hurts."

"Ok...do you think you can go walk in the Market today? We need to go get some supplies." He asked hesitantly.

I said it wouldn't be too hard and pulled my shirt back down over me.

"Alright, lets go to the Market."

The Market is like the black market of the society. Anyone who is in need of some money, and has some items to sell can go to the Market and try their hand in the illegal trade. But it's a gloomy place filled with thugs, murderers, and basically everyone the higher ups think are worthless and below them.

In the Market people separate their stores by cloths or wooden pallets. And if you're lucky enough, you could own a store in a run down building which offers more privacy then anything, but it also means that people are going to want to take your store away from you because they want it for themselves. The greed of people is relentless.

As the boy and I walk down the alley in the blistering sun between the openings of the many shacks and stores around us, I started to get entranced by my own thoughts.

The guy next to me, I still didn't know his name. I've been wondering about it ever since I met him but he still wont tell me. He keeps on saying that once he knows that he can trust me, he'll tell me. I wonder if it has something to do with the government, the way he stood next to that graffiti on the wall the other night was a mix between fear, satisfaction and sadness. I wonder if he's trying to find the elusive Chase and bring him into the government for the reward, but something tells me that's not it. My mind keeps speeding to conclusions and onto other topics such as my bruising's.

I have bruises all over my back, on my wrists, forearms, and all over my leg. I appear to have been painted with purple paint that is starting to fade. But on my wrist there is still a bright purple bruise that doesn't exactly hurt but it stings once in a while.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when we walked into a huge mass of people. I was being jostled around and I lost sight of the guy. I didn't know where he went and I couldn't exactly call out to him. When I finally got out of the crowd sweating and panting from fighting my entire way out, I was in a dark alley way. The walls on either side of me were dark green from mold and there was very little sunlight that was shining on the ground thanks to the clouds in the sky.

I didn't know where I was because I was never allowed to come out to the Market. Ever.

I tried once and when I got back to my foster house, the one that I ran away from the other day, the parents flogged me and shut me in the basement for a week with nothing to eat or drink. The only way I survived was because of this little boy who had grown fond of me and kept calling me "sissy".

That little boy Jason was around five years old and he didn't talk much. The only time he would really talk would be when he sneaks into my room to sleep with me every night. He would curl up beside me on my twin mattress that was on the floor and we would just talk until he fell asleep. It was the closest thing that I ever had to a "family". I was his role model and guardian so to speak.

The longer I thought about Jason, the more tears threatened to fall down my face.

I remember one night, after a really big thunderstorm, Jason crawled up underneath my arm so that I was holding him and he silently cried as the thunder kept going. He said later that he was crying because it was on a thundering night like this that his dad left him at the door steps of the foster home. I held him closer and did everything I could to comfort him because I didn't want Jason to ever be sad again. I cared about him too much. So when the thunder stopped, I brought the mattress over to the wall so that it was lying underneath the window, and we could see the cloudless night sky with its billions of stars. I was still holding Jason and I was about to fall asleep on him when he whispered up to the stars, "Don't worry momma, I know you're in the stars watching me and that you'll never leave me. But I have Sky now, and she's always here for me. Just like the sky is always there for the Earth and stars. I love you momma." And he was fast asleep. But I still was awake watching Jason, it was the first time that I had ever heard of someone being dependent on me.

I stopped where I was in the alley as I let the tears fall freely down my face, I had let Jason down. I was no longer there for him. I left him in the hellhole trying to save myself.

I kept walking around the Market and in the back alleys till the sun went down. I wasn't really looking for the guy that I had lost in the crowd anymore. I was walking because it helped me calm down and clear my mind.

I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize I had walked into an alley filled with bandits and thugs who were in the middle of a fighting match. It wasn't until I had walked into one of the backs of the older men when I finally realized where I was, but by then it was too late. The man grabbed onto my arm and dragged my into the middle of the ring and threw me to the ground.

I honestly was getting sick and tired of being treated like a puppet or rag doll to everyone. I was a person for crying out loud! Why couldn't anyone see that? I wanted to scream at them as they edged closer to me in a circle like a pack of dogs.

I felt my rage building up in me and I was clenching my fists as hard as I could so I wouldn't make the situation worst. But it wasn't helping, I was starting to lose my vision to an orange fog and I knew that if it didn't stop, I would only see white light and lose my temper.

As the orange fog started to blanket my eyes, the thugs stopped circling me. One of them whispered "Demon" under their breathe, and then all the thugs around me dropped to the ground like flies. Unconscious.

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Goodbye by Glenn Morrison feat. Islove
A picture of Jason is up above as well.