Chapter 2
Well, the mall wasn’t really hers, par say, she just liked to think it was hers so that she wouldn’t feel so lonely. Lissa’s only “friend” was the old man at the used book store who, apparently, never noticed that she wasn’t particularly popular with… well, anyone. So he leant her books and she read them as much as she could during the time when she wasn’t stealing leftover food from empty tables or out in the alleyway trying to find a half decent sleeping bag or-even better- an old mattress. Her favorite was a historical fiction novel called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was about a boy, about her age, who lived alone in a 1920’s Paris train station. It was one of the first books she had ever read and the boy, Hugo, had reminded her so of herself that she soon found her doing much the same things as he had done.
Lissa smiled and clutched the small rubber ball she had been holding. She looked down and realized what she was holding and realized that security must really hate her to go to so much trouble to save a rubber ball as insignifigent as this little thing. She never really stole anything; only stuff that people would toss out anyway. Like food left on café tables or the things that people returned to the big department stores because they had some defect. That was the type of thing she stole. But security didn’t like her because she made them the laughing stock; they always came so close to catching her, but each time she slipped away. It was like living in a bad dream. For both her AND the security guards.
She shook her head. It didn’t help anyone to think like that. Lissa glanced down and saw that the security guards had all left, finally giving up on their hopeless chase. Her stomach rumbled. She looked down and realized how hungry she was. There was a leftover wrap sitting on a Starbucks table. “Huuh” Lissa sighed aloud and pressed to “1” button her elevator door.
No comments:
Post a Comment