Adopting an Orphan Thief

                                                                                          Chapter One

       

          It was the third of November, two years after the tragedy of the young English girl. It was also two years since she found her new life as an orphaned thief at the age of seven.

          It was a cold morning in a small forest in a park outside of West London. The young girl had just woken up and was getting to walk to the busy streets of London for her daily rounds of pick pocketing with the ones she now calls her brothers. In fact there are now nine of these brothers, eight more than she use to have.

        She was crossing a dirt road when a truck came speeding towards her. She quickly jumped out of the way falling hard to the ground, face first. The truck came to a sudden stop, a tall man jumped out of the truck. The girl, seeing the man rushing towards her, quickly scrambled up and ran towards the forest. Hearing the mans footsteps still fallowing, she screamed for her brothers. The girl not having time to watch her step, fell over a tree stub. The girl, noticing the tall man approaching closer, let out more frantic screams.

        As the tall man tried to hush her, the eldest of the brothers. The young girl, now weeping, scrambled once more towards the safety of her brother.

        "Can I help you sir?" the eldest brother asked.

        "Im sorry, I did not mean to frighten her. You see I almost hit her with my truck, and wanted to make sure she was ok." The tall man answered with little breath. " She's fine." The eldest said turning his frightened sister around to her other brothers  who were just coming up behind them. "Oh...well is there anything I could do for you and your sister. She is your sister right? " The tall man asked as he watched the other brothers reassuring her. " Yes she is, and the only thing you can do is leave, now." The Oldest said while pointing towards the dirt road.

        "Yeah...um...sure."  The tall man replied as he looked back towards the dirt road and then back at the girl and her brothers. "I'll go."

          The tall man then walked away, taking several glances back at the curious scene of the nine brothers and their one frightened sister.

                                                         

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          Three days had passed since the incident had occurred, and it was a cold morning once again.

          Today was the day that the young girl and the her eldest brother would go into the streets for a "shopping spree". The shopping spree was the girls favorite "game" to play.  The "game" was simple, her and her brother would take a brown paper bag and put a few items in, then they would walk the a busy street in London pretending to accidentally run into people knocking items out of their hands, and then cleverly picking up the some of the fallen and putting them in the brown paper bag and chasseing each other down the street.

          Usually, the young girl would be very excited to play this game, but not today. She had been feeling rather sick, it was cold and had been raining for two days, typical English weather. The girl had developed a rough cough and was so cold her fingers and lips had a light blue tint. But to survive as an orphan, she knew she had to play.

          After two hours of walking they came to a street that looked suitable for a good game. They started to walk down the street together when the her brother pushed her with great force into a man knocking all of his groceries out of his hands, that part was a great success, painful, but successful. Now to finish the game, she stood up and began to apologize for her brothers rudeness, but quickly stopped. She stopped herself because the man she had fallen upon seemed  familiar. Then she remembered that it was the tall man who almost hit her with his truck.

          The tall man and the young girl stared at each other for a few seconds, but then, the tall man realized what the eldest brother was doing. The oldest brother, noticing that his sister had been caught ,quickly stood straight up and shouted,

          " Race you!" and took off. The girl, as weak as she was, took off with the tall man running close behind. But it was in seconds of the chase, that the illness of the young girl took full effect. Everything became dark around her, as she fell hard to the ground, once again.

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                                                                                    Chapter Two

            Something was different, it was warm and quiet, except for a sound that sounded like a truck backing up.

                                                      Full with fear, the girl cautiously opened her eyes.

  She was in a large, white walled, large room. She looked towards the window on the left, it was getting dark outside.

  She looked down at her hands, both of her hands had white bandages weaved between her fingers and up to her wrists. Her left arm had an iv that was running clear fluid through her veins. Then she felt something in her nose, she brought her hands up to her nose where she found a tube that was sticking into her nostrils. She was about to remove the structure that was poking into her nose when she noticed a movement to her right. She slowly turned her head to see what had made the movement.

                                                      It was the tall man, he was sitting in a chair, staring at her.                       



"What's your name?" The tall man asked breaking the silence, and the stare.



"Naja, wh-whats yours?" 

             

"I'm Collin...Collin Willkins."

             

"Are you going to send me to prison Collin?"  Naja asked hoarsely, looking down.

            Collin looking back at Naja smirked, he knew that she was to young to be sent to jail.



"I think I will let it slide....this time."

                   

              It became quite again, Naja laid her head back, closed her eyes, and began to weep.



"What is it." Collin had leaned forward and put his hand on Naja’s right arm.



"He left me, I got caught and he left me. I'm going to starve, I'm going to die!" Naja had tears streaming down her face, and the tube that was sticking in her nose had become moist with snot.



" What are you talking about? Wait, you mean your brother?"



"Yes, I mean no, not really.  I'm an orphan, he watches...watched after me."

              What many people do not realize is that there are rules to being an orphan, especially if you are living on the street. To be able to survive, you have to be a skilled thief. The most dangerous part is being a pick pocket. There are many ways to go about the job, and only one way to lose it. Getting caught. And if you are caught, you are on your own.

                Naja had been caught and was now alone. She had no one. No one except for the tall strange man,

                                                                     

                                                                                    Collin.