• Prince of Thieves
    Thoughts
    “Dialogue”

    “Conscious yet?” A lone voice echoed in the dimly lighted room.
    Breaking from his slight daze, Ry responded as a lazy smirk worked its way across his face, “I guess you can call it that.”
    Blinking a bit to steady his hazy vision, he looked up and nonchalantly said, “So, any reason you tied me up and knocked me out or do you just feel like reliving old times?”
    “Well, you see, it’s funny you’d say that because it might have something to do with you getting caught tonight. It also might have something to do with the cops who are swarming the city looking for you!”
    “Hey, Ken, relax okay because obviously if I was caught I’d be in jail by now. Not tied to this damn chair, don’t you think? Besides, cops are no big deal. Don’t they always scan the city after I go out?” Shrugging, he leaned back into his chair and stretched out his legs trying to dissipate the crawling numb feeling in his right foot.
    Ken turned around and glared through his thin, rectangular glasses, “See there’s this tiny little part you missed, see ‘cause they’ve never had a video of you before which means they know who you are. That means they know who I am and that means you’re royally screwed and so am I. So tell me what the hell happened tonight!”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Slinking casually on the roof of the seemingly abandoned building, he neared the rooftop entrance. He kicked his way through the unsteady door and stepped into the darkened hallway, only lightly illuminated by the dreary ceiling lamp and the blinking red light of the surveillance camera. Flashing his best smile, he waved lightly at the camera as he strolled through into the next hallway.
    Speaking softly to himself as he neared the stairwell, he said, “So, Ken said something about the first floor.” Leaning slightly over the rail on the stairwell, he glared darkly at the spirals of steps he was destined to take. He sighed, “It’s a long way down,” and dejectedly, he took his first step on the first flight of stairs.
    ~~~
    After making his way down the endless flights of stairs, he finally made it to the first floor. Releasing a deep breath, he blew away the stray strands of black hair that obscured his vision. Walking further in, he noted the way the moon glittered upon the broken glass spilled across the cold cement floor. The way the dried blood splatter permanently engraved itself on the walls. The way the musty odor of death still lingered in the air.
    Best interior design I’ve seen all week, he thought with sneer as he observed the room. Now Ken said that the drop-off site was between two pillars.
    Strolling through the warehouse like it was a refreshing walk in the park, he stopped just in front of the two conspicuous pillars and kneeled down harshly upon the splattered glass.
    So if I were a little blue disk where would I be? Ooh so, I’d be behind the left pillar under a box.
    Picking up the disk, he twirled it around his fingers as he thought to himself. It’s been nineteen years of hell. Nineteen years of living hidden from society, only to steal from it when its back is turned and now-- now that I finally get to know what freedom really feels like, I can’t help but feel like this is the end. The question really is even if I get to be free, what would I do with myself? Would I finally get to mourn my mother’s death? Could I really be a member of society when I have no education, no social skills and have no other thing going for me besides thievery? Shaking his head violently as if it would dispel those reoccurring thoughts from his head, he glanced down at the shiny blue disk. Well, I guess at the very least I found the disk. Basking in his momentary glory, he peered towards the intimidating stairwell that awaited him.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “So that’s what happened. Down to the last bloody detail, are you happy now? Untie me, damn it!” Ry strained his arms against his binds even as they imprinted an angry red burn across his wrists.
    Unimpressed, Ken turned back on one heel and slapped Ry across the face, the clear smack resounded throughout the room.
    “In all your cockiness you just had to smile for the camera didn’t you? You stupid idiot you’ve ruined everything!” Turning away, Ken touched his face thoughtfully as he contemplated his next actions.
    Turning his face towards Ken, he spoke gently, “You haven’t changed have you; still think you can torment me with insignificant little slaps? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not that little boy you found crying over his mother’s dying body. I promised when you took me in that I would steal for you until I could take care of myself and now I can --so I suggest you let me go. You don’t own me anymore. It’s my last theft and even if I did screw up, I’m free now and there’s nothing you can do about it” Blowing his shaggy black hair out of his eyes he struggled a bit more against his binds.
    “As I recall, I’m also the one that saved an ungrateful sniveling little brat from living on the streets, or did you want to dig through every trash can in the city just to find a half eaten moldy sandwich with, if you’re lucky, limited parasites? Truthfully,” Ken paused to stifle a chuckle, “I’m the best thing that ever happened to you, I mean really how good of a mother could that tramp have been, she was stupid enough to walk into that guy’s gun right? Seriously though, who walks through alleys in the middle of the night in a big city- dumb right?” Settling himself for a smirk after his tirade, he glanced down at Ry.
    Eyes blazing, Ry shot a deadly glare at Ken as he struggled harder against his binds and said, “Don’t talk about my mother you two-bit crook. She tried the best she could to take care of me, even risking her life to try to get me food. Obviously, we lived in a bad neighborhood but I insisted…, I kept asking. I just—I just didn’t understand.”
    Breathing in deeply he continued, “Until one night she finally went out and I suppose on her way back she tried to take a short cut home by using the alley next to our building. She was so close and yet--“
    “And yet what?” Ken interrupted, growing agitated by his sob story.
    “The next thing she knew she had bullet planted firmly in the middle of her forehead… I watched in horror as it happened from our third story slum window that faced the alley. By the time I got outside, she was covered in blood.” Heaving a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and continued, “Besides, it’s not like you did me a favor out of the goodness of your heart, no instead you used me, corrupted me, and even now you’re trying to keep me as your little pawn. Well, no more….”
    His binds loosened and he moved quickly to stand up but before his body even left the chair, he felt Ken’s left hand enclose sharply around his neck. Ry looked up to see the beads of sweat slowly well up on Ken’s forehead. He saw the way the moon illuminated the left side of Ken’s face but obscured the rest, the way his pupils dilated as he reached for the gun hidden in his coat pocket, the way Ken’s right hand shook as he brought the gun up to Ry’s forehead.
    Yet he smiled-- slowly and softly, even as he felt the cool, metal press to his forehead, even feeling the slight breeze filter through the stale air, and even as Ken gently placed his finger on the trigger, he smiled. Looking up at Ken in a steadier voice then he thought he would have had, he forced out a simple phrase,
    “I dare you…”
    The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the room as the air stilled