Stolen

Chapter 1

Trey opened his eyes. Sunlight was streaming through the hole in the roof, and bird song twittered in his ears. Slowly, he rolled off his hard mattress, stretching his muscles, and landed on another boy. Jake, his best friend, groaned and pushed Trey off, mumbling with a smirk "Is your mattress too hard, princess?"

"No way!" Retorted Trey, standing up and opening the curtains so that light flooded into the tiny room, and making Jake squint and turn over. "Is the light too bright for you, princess?" laughed Trey and tipped Jakes mattress up so that Jake slid off onto the cold ground. Jake yawned and pulled Treys foot so that Trey fell, hitting the ground with a thud. Laughing, Jake picked himself up and ran into the tiny bathroom, yelling "too slow. I get the bathroom first"

After they changed and stretched, Trey and Jake left the tiny room with the others who slept there. They had 4 mattresses in the room, with Trey and Jake on 2, and Hunter and Ethan in the other 2.

They walked into their small dining room, where the rest of the gang was gathered. Chase, who was the groups leader, sat at the end of the table, looking around slowly. The rest of the gang- Cale, Slade, Dean, Miguel and Mia, were seated at the end of the table, looking sleepy. Trey noticed that, as usual, Chase had the most food on his plate. Trey sat down, and the gang ate in silence, enjoying their cold baked beans after a night of being hungry.

When everyone had finished, Chase stood up and announced

"Ok, today is the weekend, so there will be a lot of people coming into the town. Ethan and Jake, you take the town square. Cale and Dean, take the sitting area outside the shops. Miguel and Slade, you can go to the other side of town, around the fountain. Hunter, you'll come with me to the restaurants, and-"

Chase paused, as if trying to remember who was left in the group

"Ah yes, Mia and Trey. You two can take the train station."

With that, Chase lifted his chin and walked out of the room, with Hunter on his heels.

Trey glanced at Mia. The only girl in the group, Mia was shy but smart and quick, and would bring in more money than everyone else.

Mia looked back at him, and together, they walked out the door after Chase and Hunter, into the cool morning air.

Trey looked around at the big quiet houses surrounding their home. Compared to these buildings, their tiny, makeshift tin house was like rubbish. But then again, they didn't have enough money to pay for a big house. Trey wished he actually had a proper job, like a engineer or a mechanic or even a public servant. But no. His mother had left him at a doorstep when he was a baby, abandoning him, but it was the wrong doorstep. It was this doorstep that he was standing on now. He had no choice in his life or his future.

Trey was a thief.