To Cheat Death

Chapter 4

Lucius Todd was feeling confident. He had successfully sold his dying horse for five pounds to some poor trusting farmer and perfected his false bonds and sold them to the bank. He breathed in the dirty London air and let a grin possess his handsome face, he always knew that the slums were never meant for him and that Fate had greater things intended for him. Lucius was practically skipping along the London streets, he couldn't help himself, he winked at a group of ladies who promptly began to giggle amongst themselves and he even tipped his hat to a passing police officer. Lucius was swinging his lantern in a cheerful manner to the sound of his whistle along the dark London streets and couldn't feel any better about himself, Luck had truly been on his side.

'Now wouldn't Death have felt awfully bad had he taken me away on those other occasions?' He thought to himself.

Lucius was already thinking of the fluffy warm bed and warm meal his new money would buy him. The next morning he would be on a train put of London and to somewhere in the countryside where he could have a horse, maybe two, and live happily and peacefully. This lovely daydream came to an abrupt end as he hit someone's shoulder. Lucius looked up a little and saw officer Wiggens.

"Apologies officer Wiggens, appears I wasn't paying attention properly, allow me to stand aside for you sir" sang Lucius, stepping off the pavement and onto the road.

"Save the flattery Todd, you've really done it for yourself this time" grumbled officer Wiggens.

Lucius could feel the alarm bells starting to go off in his head but if he was going to get out of this and onto a train then he needed to remain calm.

"I'm sure that I don't know what your talking about sir" denied Lucius with a smile.

"Those fake bonds Lucius, they know it was you. You'll hang for this"

"Hang?" Echoed Lucius quietly.

"Hang" confirmed officer Wiggens.

Lucius felt his dream slip through his fingers, his warm bed, hot meal and train ticket, all disappearing.
He could feel himself panicking and his brain was desperately trying to think of something, anything that could get him out of this mess and to the train station. He made to dash across the road but was blocked by three policemen.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be son" said Wiggens.

Lucius turned to face him, he could see that there was pity in Wiggens' eyes.

"Not even a head start?" Laughed Lucius half heartedly as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Wiggens shook his head, "you've gone too far now, you should have stuck to petty theft"

Lucius could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest, he was sure it was going explode. He what never been in this position before, he had always been able to outrun or outsmart them - even Death himself for God's sake! But it didn't look like he was going to get out of this one.

Wiggens had grabbed his shoulder and was guiding him to the prison. While this was happening all the while he was feeling like he was being watched, he assumed that it was the officers. However the feeling didn't disappear even when he was in his cell. Lucius looked to his cell mate, he looked about thirty and was thinner than Lucius, which was saying something because he hadn't been able to afford a proper meal in about month. Suddenly the man started coughing blood and Lucius began shrieking for a guard.

"HEY! GUARD! GUARD! SOMEONE!" He yelled.

"What is the bloody hell is all this noise for?!" Shouted an old guard who came lumbering up to their cell.

He looked at the now still man, who was face down on the cold cell floor. The guard gave a whistle and within less than a minute three other guards appeared.

"Check it's pulse" ordered the old guard, unlocking the cell door.

One of the guards pushed Lucius against the wall.

"Oi! What the fuck do you think you are doing?!" Shouted Lucius as he began trying to kick and punch the guard.

"Just want to make sure you dont go anyway afterall we wouldn't want you to miss your appointment with the hangman tomorrow, would we?" Snarled the old guard laughing.

"He's dead sir" said the other young guard.

"Well that's one less for the hang man, drag him out and dispose of him" he replied. He then turned back to Lucius. "You know you are quite lucky, most here would kill to have a cell all to themselves, overcrowding is a real problem" he laughed again.

Once the dead man had been dragged out Lucius was released and the cell door was locked again.