Chapter 3

Confrontation

After that whole ordeal I knew that I should leave, it was the best option and any sensible person would have, but something kept me. I stuck around in the village for a while longer, waiting to catch another glimpse of Roman, but I never saw him, not once.

Eventually I decided to leave, there was only so long that I could convince myself of reasons to stay. Leaving wasn't all that hard, I'd only even known the place existed for just over a week, so I went back to aimlessly following the road, letting it take me wherever it may.

I'd stolen quite an amount of food from the village and stuffed it in my backpack, along with a sleeping bag. I didn't think that I would need to stop for quite some time.

The first few days after I left were hard, I thought about Roman continuously and it kept me from thinking straight or moving forward much. I really wanted to turn back, but as days, then weeks, and eventually months passed with minimal stops, I began to think about him less and less. Our encounter was only short, and I didn't see a reason to hold on anymore.

I'd decided I would just forget him but fates a funny thing. It never lets you get what you want, sometimes it's just all together cruel, and I'm pretty sure fate likes to laugh in my face.

I learned that one day when I stopped to restock food. Over the past few months I'd become a skilled thief, most of the time I would leave the village even before anyone noticed anything was gone. There were upsides to being a small, quiet little girl after all.

I'd set my eyes on a small meat store, they were sure to have some sort of jerky. Jerky lasted a long time and I found I didn't really have another way to cook so that was one of the foods I tended to steal a lot of.

I watched the store for a while and waited until the owner went out, then the store was left unattended so I made my move. The owner was a big man and it wouldn't end well for me if I got caught stealing from him.

I quietly swept into the store, nobody was there, so far so good. After that I silently grabbed a large amount of packaged jerky and shoved it into my bag, then I quietly left the store. It was easy enough, nobody caught me and I had some food.

I never stayed in the part of the village I had stolen from for long, so I moved further in to steal more food, just some jerky could last me a while, but not long enough. I didn't want to stop for a while. I was currently in a sparsely populated area in Mistral and I'd decided to make my way to Vale. At the time I had no idea how stupid it was for a kid like me to think that they could make it all the way to Vale on their own.

The next place I decided to steal from was a bread shop, bread and meat kept for much longer that fruits and vegetables, unless they were dried, and I didn't like dried fruit, so I was good with bread and meat.

Stealing from the second store was just as successful as the first. I waited around an hour of the store to be empty, I took the food and left. That was about as easy as it gets. I had no reason to stick around after getting all the food I needed so, I left the village, just like the others. I would probably forget this place existed soon enough.

Overall the trip was very uneventful, just like every the rest, right until the very end.

I was leaving the village, no reason to stick around and when I made it to the end of the village and was ready to continue, I heard a voice.

"You know stealing not nice right?"

I turned to see a grinning Roman with his hat pulled over his eyes leaning on a wall. I stared at him in shock and slowly nodded, clutching my bag to my chest, I didn't want him to take away my food.

Roman didn't even look at me as he started talking again, "It's a shame really, a smart kid like you running and stealing from stores just enough to survive. So much more could be done with you."

I stared at him, my mouth gaping wide. How the heck had he found me? Was he some kind of little girl stalker or something?

Laughing at the face I had made, Roman asked me a question, "You're an orphan, right?"

The question caught me off guard, I wasn't technically an orphan, I still had a dad, he probably hadn't even noticed I was gone though. I had no one who would look for me, no one who would wait for me back home, so I nodded. It was easer to just pretend that I didn't have a dad at all.

After receiving my answer Roman asked another question as he left his wall to walk over to me, "You're also a mute huh?"

Once again, I nodded, this time I was slightly more truthful.

"I know what its like to be alone on the streets," said Roman looking crouching to my level, "It sucks, but I can help you. You're a smart, quiet and small. That helps you be good at stealing. With an amount of work, you could be an outstanding robber," Roman grinned at me, "What do you say about joining my gang kid?"

I guess he wasn't going to take my food.

I'd known it was a bad idea, gangs were awful business around here, but for some reason I couldn't stop myself, I slowly nodded my head. I wanted something different, and I guess I found it.

A/N:

Sorry I've been gone for so long! Schools been crazy, but its almost over! YAY! Once summer comes around I should be able to update more often!

By the way, for the few that actually care, starting next week I plan to update once a week on Mondays. If I get far enough ahead I may change that to twice a week.

Thanks for reading! Drop a review an tell me what you thought!

-Anna-Mae1242