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Starvation

     The bread ran out.

Everyone knew it was going to happen, but just the same, surprise came when the loaf ran out.

Water was never a problem. People just left their hoses outside, and usually didn't notice if their water bill went up.

But now they didn't have food.

Everyone coped with this differently. Alek just sat in a corner and stared at the wall. Jonas moaned. Luke paced. Jacob looked at Ashton for long periods of time. Liam played checkers (on a stolen checkerboard) with Chris, who was nicknamed Crusty.

Ashton planned.

Every time the food ran out, Ashton had a plan how they would get their next meal. Sometimes there were complications, like when Crusty had the flu and Ashton and the other five boys had to steal medicine.

There has also been the time when Ashton had been sick.

That was when Philip got caught.

Ashton preferred not to think about that. Instead, she pondered the issue of how to steal a grand total of two loaves of bread. She knew that she couldn't go in the shop again. Her gray eyes were too memorable for her to go back in now. The most inconspicuous boy was...

Her gaze fell to Jonas. He looked the most normal out of all of them. The rest either had unusual eye colors (Ashton, Liam, and Luke), or were too tall (Luke, Ashton, and Jacob), or fidgeted too much (Alek and Crusty) or looked too much like trouble (Ashton and Jacob). Jonas was the only one who could go.

"Jonas." She stood over him. He groaned.

"Jonas." She repeated, a little louder. He looked up.

"Huh?" He grunted. He wasn't in the best mood. Hunger will do that to a person.

"I need you to go stealing."

That woke him up. "Really?" he asked, looking a little more alive. "Me?"

"Yes, you. Get cleaned up, I have a plan." She turned to discuss the plan with the other boys.

"Wait! How is this gonna work?"

Ashton hesitated, the pivoted and whispered briefly in his ear. He nodded, although he did look a little less excited than before. Now he just looked nervous.

"Are you sure?" he asked in a whisper. She nodded.

"I'm sure about this, Jonas. Trust me." She looked into his eyes. "Do you trust me?"

He nodded.

"Okay. Let's do this." She jogged over to where the other boys kept going with their listless activities.

"Luke!"

He stopped pacing and looked up. "Yes?"

"Could you get me some rocks?"

A half an hour later, Ashton and the boys, minus Jonas, stood around the corner of the store. The idea was for Ashton and Jacob to hold the shopkeeper down, while the rest would go after the food. One of the things that they all agreed on was that no harm would come to the shopkeeper.

They would get in, take the food, get out.

That was the plan.

Things didn't quite work out that way.