The Ones We Lost

Chapter 5: Hide and go thief

[Lance Narrates]

Shoot, I thought, now Maddie thinks we're even bigger losers then we were earlier today. I need to do something about my social status. Everyone thinks I'm a complete loser, which may be true, however I wasn't completely socially awkward, at least not as bad as Peter.

I was interrupted by Maddie waving a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Lance...Hello?" she asked, very annoyed. "Uh...hi?" I responded. "Well, do you understand?", she asked, exasperated. "Understand what?" I questioned, sheepishly. "The plan, idiot!" "What plan?" I asked in a confused tone, which was a mistake.

"You are so inattentive," she said, completely annoyed. My heart sank slightly. Well, that went well, so much for not being a total loser. Then Maddie explained the plan. "Peter's gonna put his 'camera'", she said in air quotes, "on an old crate.", "It's gonna work", Peter cut in. "Right", Maddie said, sarcastically. Now that I think about it, we spent a lot of time on Peter's camera, time that was wasted.

Maddie continued, "Meanwhile, when Peter's busy, you and I are going to keep watch at the end of the alley. When Peter comes back, we're gonna keep watch for a while, then, if we don't see anything, we're gonna go home. And Peter will give us updates about what he sees with his 'camera'", She put air quotes around it again. Peter and I just rolled our eyes.

Maddie quickly turned around and walked into the night, Peter and I behind her. She climbed over the fence while Peter used an old board to vault over it, he had experience doing this since he had to run from gangs so often. I quickly scaled the fence and caught up with the other two.

Peter led us to the dark alley, the night was cloudy and brief drizzles would rain down. My sweat shirt became damp soon, my wet hair caked onto my scalp. I ran my hand through it while we turned around another street. Suddenly Peter froze and quickly darted behind a wet wooden box.

I ran over to him while Maddie crouched in front of us. Clearly, she had also seen what Peter had. I crouched on my knees next to Peter. He whispered under his breath, "Homeless gang" As he said this, I saw the ragged pack of teens. The older ones had some pistols, I doubted they were loaded, but at that point in time I wasn't able to tell. Many of these teens roamed the streets of poor West Philly. Peter knew all about them but my parents hadn't let me go near this part of the city.

I wondered about Maddie and how she had known about the gang, and even wht she went to a bad public school she was like a millionaire. Partially knowing her, I bet it had probably been her doing. She had always had this rebellious teen vibe, and an aura of authority that went with just being the popular kid.

My mind turned to different thoughts as the gang walked past. They were holding a young kid, and shouting obnoxiously in his face. The boy had a black eye and had been robbed of his coat and shoes. I had an urge to help the poor kid, but there wasn't really anything that I could do. It would be around one against fifteen. I watched as the gang passed by and turned toward the dumps. I knew what would happen to the kid next. Flinching as I thought of his terrible yet common fate as rat food.

I let out my breath, once the mess of boys were out of sight. I hadn't remembered holding it, but I guess I must have. Peter quickly sprang away from our hiding spot and went the opposite way as the gang. I noticed Maddie behind me, a look of relief on her face.

I hadn't realized it, but the alley was just around the corner. It branched off between two old brick buildings, the windows were cracked and they gave off a creepy vibe at night. I looked at my watch, it was 11:56 pm. It had taken us longer than we thought to get to the ally.

Peter guided us into the ally, I saw him dart from box to box. I hid behind an old crate. Maddie was at the other side, her eyes were glossy. I realized she was thinking about Josh, which made me think about Audrey, my eyes too became a little misty as I thought about her.