Run [Stereo Kicks/ James Graham]

Chapter 16

Having no idea where I was, I finally discovered a familiar side of London as night was falling. My phone was in the car from where I'd fought them.
Shady characters slunk past me as I headed into the rundown area of London, making my way back to my hideout which I had left weeks ago. When I arrived, I was pleased to find it untouched and curled into my old blankets that kept me warm.
"E-excuse me, Miss?" A trembling voice said, and I snapped my head up, coming face to face with a shivering, beaten-looking young boy. "D-do you have any water?"
"Are you homeless?" I asked as I tucked him into my hideout next to me, handing him one of the bottles of water I had left. He drank thirstily, before lowering the bottle and nodding.
"I told my parents that I liked a boy, so they threw me out." Shrugging, he sent me a slight smile. "I think I'm bi."
"That's okay." Once I had sorted us both some food that had been preserved and myself some water, I turned back to him. "What's your name?"
"Dean." Dean smiled nervously at me, and I sent him a smile back.
"I'm Amelia. How old are you?"
"Thirteen, you?"
"Sixteen."
"Thank you very much for the water, are you homeless too?" He asked me as he gratefully accepted some pasta and rice that I had just heated.
"I was until a few weeks ago, when I found my twin brother by accident. We all just had a fight about something earlier today so I ran back here." My heart tightened with the realisation I was going to stay for a bit. "How long have you been homeless?"
"Only a few days, I've been begging off people for now. It's scary."
"I'll stay and look after you." Dean looked up hopefully at me. "I owe my life to someone who took me in just after I became homeless, I'm not going to leave someone who is in the same predicament as I was."
"You're very kind." He laughed, and I chuckled, both of us falling silent to watch the stars above us as we ate and drank quietly.
When it became late, I crawled into bed, tucking some blankets around him too and closing my eyes to doze off. "Goodnight, Amelia." Dean whispered.
"Goodnight, Dean." I murmured back before I fell asleep.
********************
The next morning, I set off with Dean to find some food and fresh water, my backpack firmly on my back. Although I was experienced, Dean wasn't, and I knew I needed to teach him to survive.
"Try your best not to steal, but if you're desperate, there's someone I know who will trade with you. You have to knock specifically, and then find him whatever he asks for in return for food, water, or what it is you're asking for. Remember, it's not your terms, you've got to take what he offers." I told him as we reached the all-too familiar door.
Three knocks, then one, then two and it swung open. "Well, it's been a while since I've seen you. New one, have we? What is it?"
"I'd like some water."
"Ten pounds." The door slammed. Rolling my eyes, I realised he wasn't willing to trade, as I could buy water for cheaper than that.
"Okay, so, he isn't going to trade. C'mon, we'll buy some stuff." Dean and I headed into Poundland [A/N: I have no links to/ do not own Poundland, etc. Disclaimers yadayada] to pick up some bottled water, before I put it in my backpack, counting what I had left. "Only four pounds, sixty-one pence. We'll buy some long lasting food like more pasta, but I can show you some places which sometimes throw out edible food."
"Is this really what I'm going to have to live like?" Dean asked quietly.
"I'm afraid so, kiddo. It's so tough, sometimes, but you get used to it." We went into a random shop, and I bought some rice and lighter fuel, until I had practically no money left.
For the next few hours, we wandered around, collecting food that was in decent condition from the back of shops or crates off stalls that were to throw out.
"This was a good day." I nodded decisively as we made it back to my hideout.
"C-can I stay here, with you?" Dean murmured.
"'Course." Grinning at him, I set up the bricks and bowl to heat some rice. "I'll stay as long as needed."
"Thanks." He laughed, as I showed him how to properly heat rice with the available resources.
**********Two Weeks Later**********
We were heading towards the alley, needing fresh water but clean out of money and other options, since all the money I had saved I had taken back when I went to Reece and had obviously left. Since I left them, I hadn't made an effort to go back, instead looking after Dean.
"Water, fruit."
"Lucky you, I've just had some foreign fruit in. Expensive things. Bring me a purse."
"A purse? Does that mean we have to...?" Dean looked up at me unsurely.
"I'll do it, I've... Ah, done it before." I murmured, sitting him down on a wall when I spotted a potential victim a few hundred yards up the road. "Stay right here, I'll be back in less than ten minutes, okay? If there's trouble, go back to the hideout."
"Okay, Amelia." A woman was strolling down the street with her friends and I braced myself, letting out a breath. Somehow, I was back to this tiring life, back to the lifestyle I had so desperately wanted to leave behind.
Sprinting forwards, I snatched the bag cleanly from her arm, leaving their squeals far behind as I turned down the road, before doubling back on a side road and seeing Dean across the street. He understood the flick of my head and headed back towards my hideout, as I slipped around the back streets so no one would recognise me as the purse thief.
After trading the purse in, keeping the rest of the handbag contents to browse later, we walked back to our hideout, dumping the small cardboard box at the side in favour of the handbag. "It was awesome the way you just swooped in." Dean chuckled.
"Well, let's save it to me doing it and not you. That way, you won't have anything on your name." Opening the bag, I placed the lipstick, mascara and concealer to the side, picking up a locket with two things hanging off it. Both of us gaped, guilt flooding over me in waves.
One of them was a pendant with a picture of a child, the words 'In Memory Of Edward Benjamin Poole, 12/12/15-27/5/16' engraved. A delicate lock of hair was trapped behind the glass.
The other was an engagement ring, shining with a diamond encased in the fine band. "I kind of feel terrible now." I choked up, tears in my eyes.
"We can't return it." Dean offered logically. "We can only make the best of the situation and see what money the ring brings."
"Yeah, you're right." Wiping the tears away, I hung the locket off a loose screw on the wall and picked the ring up.
"D'you want me to come?" He asked, but I shook my head.
"I'm going down the real black market, I don't want you going there yet. You'll be safe here as long as you stay tucked away because no one can see you." Ruffling his blond hair, I got up, walking out with just my pocket knife, the ring, and the locket which still hung around my neck. "Sorry, Reece."
"I've got a ring here." Making sure I had a firm grip on it, I just showed it to the man who stood in front of me, smoke pouring from his mouth as he smoked. "It's a real gold band. It's a real diamond. Worth a lot of money."
"I'll pay you two hundred and fifty." I accepted the offer, carefully watching him count the right amount of money out before we traded.
"Good trade, Sir, Ma'am." Cops swarmed around me. "That's a stolen ring, you're under arrest."
"No, I'm not." The man fell to the floor as I kneed him painfully, before I cleanly rolled between the line of police and bolted. My heart hammered against my chest as my breath rose tighter in my throat from nerves, adrenaline spurring me on to take a flying leap out of a window, just grabbing onto the windowledge of the building opposite and pulling myself up until I reached the roof.
Knowing I had very limited time until they were on top of me with a thermal camera so they wouldn't loose me, I bolted across the flat roof, jumping daringly across more gaps than I would've liked to care for, eventually sliding smoothly down a drainpipe and rushing back to the hideout, going through a crowd as I did so hopefully anybody that was following or tracking me would loose me.
"Are you okay?" Dean asked me concernedly.
"I just nearly got arrested, jumped out a window, ran across rooftops and slid down a drainpipe but I'm okay, how are you?" His shocked face made me laugh. "Welcome to the fast life, Dean."
"Wow." He giggled. "Did you loose the ring or money?"
"Nah, still got the cash." Pulling out the wad of notes, I showed him them carefully. "Two hundred and fifty, this is enough for months."
"I, um, potentially hung the pendant on the corner of a store a while away." Dean admitted. "It was evidence of a crime that we didn't need and had no value to us."
"Good lad." Teasingly, I nudged him with my shoulder before deciding we could do with something to eat for the day, as it was mid-evening and I had just ran. "It's not much, but do you want fruit and a spoon of rice?"
"Please." Dean asked eagerly and my heart twinged painfully at how hungry he sounded, yet knowing we had to ration carefully. "Can I help?"
"Just skin those fruits." I pointed to the four I had picked out and handed my knife. "Careful with that." Somehow, he got my underlying message and nodded understandingly.
Soon enough, the water had boiled, the rice puffed up as it cooked. Tipping half into one of the two dishes, I switched him for two fruits and sat down to eat. "Don't drink all the water, we haven't got much and it's expensive." I said as I handed him a fresh bottle, taking one for myself.
"When were you homeless, and why?" Dean asked me as we ate.
"Since I was thirteen, just like you." Sending him a side smile, I ripped a segment of fruit off, chewing thoughtfully on it. "So three years."
"Am I allowed to ask why, or is it personal?"
"Nothing's personal when you're in this state, Dean. I was part of the kidnapping."
"Oh. I'm sorry." He frowned.
"It's cool, I learned how to survive."
"Who's the person in your locket?"
"My twin brother, Reece."
"Why don't you go find him? You wouldn't be homeless then." Dean suggested like it was obvious.
"I'm with you, silly." Laughing, I finished my food, putting the dish to wash later. "There's another reason, too."
"What's that?"
"If I stick around with Reece, I've been told the person who kidnapped me will kill us both." I swallowed back my emotions as I drank.
"How'd he know?"
"The guy I trade with, s'pose. If I disappear, he'll find out."
"Loads of people went homeless, he wouldn't find out." Dean smiled at me.
"Maybe." Settling down, I closed my eyes. "I'm getting up early tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay." Dean agreed and I nodded slightly, smiling, before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.