Naked

1 Mr Fox

 I was perched on the corner of the building assessing the traffic on the alley. It was quiet; perfect. I adjusted my hold on my loot and began walking down the road.

It had been so long since I had been here, I almost forgot how little I missed this place. It was cold, muddy and ridden in filth. But, it was home. A bit ironic...

Twenty years I have been on the run. Lynette was the one that saved me from Him the night he murdered my family.

My only memories of the night were of her petrified, hiding me beneath her skirts and rushing me away. I remember her hushing me when I kept asking her where she was taking me, in the middle of the night.

I was a stubborn child, a willful little brat as she had always called me when my misbehaving became unbearable, but she never cast me aside. She saved my life that night and many nights afterwards and for that, I will always be in her debt. She gave me the tools I needed to survive when  there was no one left to take care of me.

So now that I returned to the picturesque town of Longtongue after two whole years running between three countries again, if I might add, I was bored. OUT OF MY MIND.

And like the good little escape artist I was, I snuck out. Hungry and anxious to go huddle in my cot I made my way hidden in the shadows, careful not to make a sound.

But as I walked a strange feeling unnerved me. I felt the little hairs at my nape rise and a slight shiver run down my spine.

I stopped dead at my tracts, straining my eardrums to catch a sound. Someone was following me. Damn it and here I thought I could get away...

There was an imperceivable change in the air that would almost have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been paying attention. I could feel a pair of eyes on me before I could have even pinpointed their origin. I let out the breath that I had been holding ready to dash.  My palm at the hilt of my gun. I really hate it when it happens.

I was wary of these types of situations. Mostly because I didn't want to end up beaten and mugged. I never underestimated the vicious rakes that prowled ready to steal my plunder, if I had any.

I might have spent my childhood years pampered in my fathers household, but even then I had a wild spirit. I thought at first it was this character flaw the one that made my mother despise me and want to do nothing with me. Then I learned better.

When I was in my mother's belly, apparently, I forgot to grow three important parts. Can you guess now, why my mother despised me? No? A female cannot inherit her fathers fortune. Only males can.

Stiffening at the sound of someone almost breathing on my neck, I let a sigh escape my lips. It was inevitable. I would have to run. Getting ready to sprint I nearly jump when the one watching me speaks.

'Wait!'

I still, my hand in my revolver. I look behind me spotting a rug-clad figure emerging from the shadows.

'Are ye with that man that came to town today?'

I dared not speak, so I simply cocked my head to the side in silent question. What man? Is it possible that the colonel had found me so easily? Have I become sloppy?

'Ye're reluctant I see. Fear not, I'm only the messenger. Here' he shoved an opened envelope in my hands.

'I don't know what the devils you're up to with, but I want nothing to do with yo shady business. I ain't know nothing, I haven't seen anything. That family's long dead and buried, so leave them that way! I'd advise yo master to bugger off this rat-hole of a town, I know I am.' And then he vanished in a hurry not even caring to glance behind him.