The Hidden World

Cinder

10 years ago:

Jasmine Thompson looked behind her, breathing heavily. When she saw that nobody was pursuing her, she leaned on her knees and gasped for air. "Well, that's one store I'm not going back to," she said to herself as she took a look at her haul: a few comic books, some sweets and sodas. She closed her backpack and started to make her way into her 'hideout'. She sighed. Too bad the shopkeeper was unusually vigilant and caught wind of my shoplifting, she thought to herself. This was not her first time getting caught, so running away was not very difficult for her. The problem was the diminishing number of stores she could enter without running the risk of being identified. At this point even her conscience didn't bother her. After all, she had no money of her own. Working wasn't really an option, either, given her age and, more to the point, background – she hadn't always been so good at shoplifting. After a while she reached a decrepit and abandoned factory building. She circled the fence to find a hole just large enough to squeeze through, and soon entered the building through a broken window. Inside there were four other kids waiting for her. "Took you long enough, Jazz. You OK?" asked the oldest one, Jeremy. At sixteen years old, he was two years older than Jasmine and acted as the de facto leader of the group. "No worries. Check this out," Jasmine said as she opened her backpack and proudly displayed its contents.

"All right!" yelled two other kids, Sam and Tom in unison, as they ran to take part of the loot. The two soon started to bicker over the comic books, which came as no surprise. Both of them were the same age, 12, and constantly quarrelled. Despite this, they were constantly hanging out together. "Break it up, you two," said Jeremy who had now moved over to Jasmine as well. "Remember? Today is the day Sophie gets to take her pick first." Reluctantly, the two boys moved away and the last person in the room, Sophie, finally approached. She was the youngest of the bunch, only 11 years old. In addition, she was very shy and rarely made much noise. Unlike the others, she didn't come from a family of alcoholics, criminals or drug addicts – though in a way, her lot may have been even worse. She had been taken in by a foster family at a very young age. However, this family cared very little for her. They made sure that she was fed and dressed well, but that was about it. So, it was no surprise that she, like the others, spent most of her free time at the hideout. Sophie looked at the others and chose. She apprehensively picked up the smallest of the candy bags and, much to Jasmine's delight, the comic book she had taken specifically for Sophie. When Sam and Tom were about to charge in, Jasmine raised the backpack up in the air. "Sophie, do you really want that bag? There are bigger ones to choose from, and today you get to pick first," Jasmine asked Sophie. For a brief moment Sophie hesitated, which was enough for Jasmine. "Isn't that right, boys?" she asked, looking sternly at Sam and Tom. After a brief moment they reluctantly nodded.

Soon all the items had been divvied up and the friends were scattered about the factory floor making full use of Jasmine's gifts. Jasmine, too, was about to start to read a comic of her own when Jeremy gestured for her to follow him. When they were far enough for the others to not hear them, he turned around. "I think you should stop with the shoplifting." When Jasmine was about to respond, Jeremy raised his hand. "I know, this sounds weird, especially coming from me. But every time you do it, you run of the risk of being caught and being sent somewhere else. And as it stands, our little family needs you." Jasmine crossed her arms. For some reason, Jeremy's tone made her worried. "Do you suggest that we stop eating sweets? That we can do, even if the others will be disappointed. But what about the times we have to steal actual food? Sophie might be fine, but the rest of us will most certainly go hungry!" Jeremy looked away and rubbed his chin. "Look, what I'm saying is: you, as in you four, need to stop stealing and breaking the law. Because I might have caught a break." Jasmine looked at Jeremy. He had been like a big brother to him during the time they had also known each other. She also knew that he trusted her. Something about this was very worrying. "I managed to get into a bank heist crew," Jeremy whispered.