City of Thieves

Chapter 4: The City of Thieves

It had to be the longest car ride she had ever been on.
Laura didn't know what time they left but she knew they were driving for a long time,
even overnight, so long she fell sleep in the car and dreamed.

It was a short dream really.
Again Laura wasn't there, this time it was her brother. He was breaking down, screaming at filed papers he had been reading over for hours, on his desk were social security forms, family requirement law forms someone had highlighted for him. The reason they took Laura was because her brother wouldn't send her to school, and without the states acknowledgment her brother attempted to teach her on his own, not only this, but it was also a troubled matter that the probate court needed to guarantee custody of a child to a guardian after the parents past away that wasn't issued by said parents. Her brother feared this, and based on his records of mental health and schizophrenia problems he knew they wouldn't even consider letting him keep Laura. Animosity took over him. And out of  rage and desperation he frantically slammed his fist into the wall "IDIOTS, YOU CANT JUST TAKE HER AWAY, YOU DONT KNOW HER, SHE'LL BE TERRIFIED WITHOUT ME"
Laura's brother Ruben, calming his temper, pulled out a knife
"who will be with her, who will whisper to her it'll be okay"
Ruben started cutting his wrist slowly tempting to calm his temper. Not making new wounds but opening old ones. Sometimes inner pain didn't feel right, like he needed more, like he needed to feel real pain to be reminded of what it was. And the suggestive reminder that he had just lost the one true thing that made him feel loved and feel true self worth made him furious with himself and lowered his thoughts on his true self worth.
"Ill get her back, and this time she will stay with me, forever"
He watched drops of blood hit the floor, and he knew he had to stop himself from going any further into the deep, tender parts of his skins layers before he would go to far again.

Laura woke up to the car hitting a speed bump.
Where are these coming from? Who are these coming from...?
"Where are we going?" Laura said, not even thinking about the words that just seemed to spill out.

"Shh. Im taking you to a place of joy Laura" Mrs. Taylor said softly. Something was off, but maybe it was just the lack of sleep that made her uneasy. But maybe Laura just told herself this because she wanted to believe this happy place was with her brother, and they would be together again soon. She looked at the car clock.

7:00 a.m.

Laura laid her head down. "Where are you really taking me?" she asked.
"You will see now, we are here."
Laura looked out and saw only a forest, she got out and smelled the crisp air. Never had she been to forest, especially anywhere outside of her little town, or outside of the house as a child, which was fine cause it was fairly large with lots of space.

But a forest, with all the natural smells, untouched by man, beautiful. She instantly began to look around, feeling the dew on the grass, ripping bark off trees to crunch it in her hand, the fresh flowers.
"This is.. amazing." she went up to a plot of flowers.

"Yes Laura, just focus on the forest honey, nothing else." In the silence of the forest, she heard the faint click. A small pistol being loaded.
"Just look into the forest sweetie." Mrs. Taylor whispered.
Now Laura got it.

Laura quickly ducked and heard the pistol go off. Missing Laura, and so, she ran without looking back. She did hear Mrs. Taylor screaming out, but she ignored everything she said knowing she'd be chasing after her in seconds.

Time passed, Laura had been running for 30 straight minutes without breaks, scared for her life and pushing her physical limits. Noticing her running had slowed and had been replaced with panting.
Where am i going, how do i get out of this forest? God help me.

Laura then tripped over something, and when she landed on pile of fallen leaves and dead grass, she heard the thing forcefully snap shut with a loud clank that echo across the forest, she looked back. It was a bear trap. So close to catching her foot.
She smirked. Mentally relieved.

It was a sign of people.

She looked around for more and to her luck she found minor craters in the muddy ground; footprints. The muddy trail wasn't all too big, about 6 feet long, but at least she knew which direction to head in.

After about 20 minutes of walking, being careful of her surroundings not to draw attention (now that she was fond of a plan), she found a trail. Leading through the trees, she began to follow it, the trail went for about a mile but after about an hour or so of walking, there it was.

Laura's eyes widened, it was the most distraught looking sight she had ever seen. It looked of a maze of ancient houses where windows have long shattered in the weakness of their structures and rusting metal. It looked as every building threatened to collapse to a pit of dust in any second. Smoke made its way from the tips of several buildings, clouding the atmosphere, giving its surroundings a ghostly feel.

There was two metal poles sticking out of the ground and up it held a homemade sign of dark oak wood and painted in black said, "Welcome to Consora, our loving shit hole, City of Thieves". They say only certain times you could read sarcasm in writing, this was that time.
Desperate, tired, alone, Laura could only hope for the best. And so she headed in, with only hope as a good luck charm.
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Well there it is chapter 4, I'm so exited i have a great idea for chapter 5, so i know probably the only person reading is Shelby, hi friend your characters coming soon, but if anyone else is reading it means a lot thanks and see you in 5! <3