Thief In The Shadows by Tyler Lace (books for students to read TXT) 📕

There was a pause

"A few years later, we got good. Too good actually. So, our parents were destined to find out. And, one night, they found out.

“My sister was supposed to do a really difficult house, so she went without me. When she returned, my parents were there. From my room I heard screaming and crying, than someone else’s voice.

“You see, there was a group we would sometimes work with. And this was one of my favourites. He was known as ‘skull’, on the count of his first stolen item. Anyway, there was more screaming, a thump, than silence.

“I got out of bed and crouched at the top of the stairs. There, I saw my parents, covered in blood on the floor. Above them...above them stood skull and my sister, both holding blades. They were grinning. Until I stared wide-eyed and fell back.

“Both their heads snapped up and the next thing I know I was grabbed by Skull and was gone.

“We ended up in a forest, Skull threw me on the ground, my vision blurred, and chucked my sister a knife. She nodded and he left. Staring at me with a look I couldn’t read, she grabbed my hand and made a cut, causing me to scream, shaking the area. She then went to cover her arms in my blood, before she made cuts in my right leg.

“The blood, it...it made me feel sick. When I opened my eyes, she was gone.

“I stumbled through those forests for days. When scratching in the dirt, I found my coin.

“After that, I was found by a group of travellers, after being healed, I left without a goodbye.

“You see, Azad, ties are not good. They’re like labels, they don’t matter. Truth is I saw my sister again in the markets one day but I...I couldn’t bring it in my heart to kill her.”

He sighed. “I don’t want you to do what I did. Be weak-”

“You’re not weak.” He touched his arm, and all Vafa did was look at it, before sitting up.

“It doesn’t matter what others think. I’m too weak to do what I want to do.” He turned to Azad, a look in his eyes-darker than ever before. “Please, Azad? I know I ask a lot, but please?” His eyes burned and he looked as if he were shaking, knuckles white from clenching the coin unconsciously.

The wind began to pick up as the sun's light hit the fields below them, the cloud's shadows dancing on the green and gray.

Without another word, Azad did something he never did. He pulled Vafa into a hug, letting him bury his head in his shoulder. No more words were spoken. Just two words that only mattered when Vafa’s friend said them. If anyone else were to, it wouldn’t count. It never counts.

“I’m sorry.”

Yes, ties were certainly worthless.

Publication Date: 11-29-2014

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this to my Uncle, who passed in early 2014, and my Aunty, who is still going strong.