You're Not Alone [Spectral]

[Will]

I lay awake as my family sleeps. This is the perfect chance. Sadie will need medicine soon or she will most certainly get sick. That cannot happen. I have to get her medicine. But no stores are open now. I could wait until morning on the way to work. Oh wait, I don't have work tomorrow. So I could just go anyways. No, no, that's a bad idea. By then she could be sick. I have to steal it. I hate stealing, but I have to do it. Medicine is too expensive to buy when you need it.
I throw my covers back I climb off of my mattress. I put on my sweater and silently creep outside. The cold hits me like a tidal wave as soon I step outside my house. It's almost as if it warns me not to leave the safety of home. That isn't an option, at least not in my mind. I leave, quietly shutting the door on my way, so as not to disturb anybody. I start walking, but then I jog which turns into a run. Too bad I'm awful at running, so the freedom and warmth only lasts about a minute. I eventually reach the district square. It takes some searching because the moon is only crescent and to make the lighting worse there's the smog that haunts District 5.
I finally find the medicine shop. It's a small rickety shack that holds all of the remedies of the district. I quietly hop over the counter so has not to alert any lurking Peacekeepers of my presence. Then I start shuffling through the medications. Where are the cold medicines? Why does it have to be so dark? Then, the floorboards creak. I freeze. Fear and adrenaline begin coursing through my veins. I ever so slowly turn my head to look.
I'm not alone.

[Spectral]

Take a look at the kids on the street,
No they never miss a beat,
No they never miss a beat,



Narration
Thoughts
Hearing
Saying

Casually, I leant against the brick wall; the thick smog enveloping the town center in front of where I stood.What am I doing here?Only god knows. It was weird how little sense anything I did made, nowadays. After losing...losing them.
Don't think of them! You don't need them now. No, it just brings us down. What did they care for me anyway? Really. They had their own problems to deal with.And I was one of them.

If only my parents could see me now. Without them, or any other family but those fellow criminals that resided in the darkened house in the center of our street. A house that hid many dark secrets. Little did they know of the talents I'd made for myself. Talents, you could call them...or criminal activity. But I take pride in my sleight of hand. My ability to steal.

It was as I was musing, that a figure wandered into my line of vision. Walking through the thickening, polluted fog that lingered like a curse around the square.
Where could she be going at such a pace?And it was true, the person had sprinted in front of me, evidently desperate to get somewhere. Finally deciding to pull myself from the great comfort of the wall, I followed in her footsteps. Making no sound in my cheap, soft-soled shoes.
The medicine shop?Why would she be going there? And at this hour. The dismally rundown shack, that was our district's poor excuse for a medicine shop, was of course not open this late at night. Intrigued, I continued to walk behind her. Taking care not to make any sound whatsoever as I followed the girl into the shop.
There she began to rummage through the medications as I stood silent in the doorway; hidden in the shadow cast by a cupboard.Maybe...
Yes, I wanted to know what she was doing here. More than anything. The girl was obviously stealing something...or at least attempting to. But why?Stepping forward once, heel placed firmly down before toe, I placed my weight on a floorboard I knew full well was a creaking one. Purposely revealing my position to her.
"So, what are we doing here, hmm?"I inquired, the picture of innocence. But of course I was far from...and I wasn't about to start being hypocritical. A smirk spread gently across my face, caught in the shadow cast from what scattered belongings furnished the shop.

Why don't you run away?
Are you kidding?
What is the golden rule?
Say nothing.

[Will]

I see her. The figure in the door is definitely feminine. I know that because she has the hourglass figure that can only come from one kind of person in the district. A criminal. Criminals are the only people who have any decent amounts of muscle here because they constantly have to run and run with whatever they've stolen. Too bad the criminals also happen to be the most deceitful people of the district as well. If she was a criminal either of two things were about to happen: one, she would help me to steal the medication for my sister. Or two, she would kill me right here. That's what accounts for most of the deaths here in the district, murders.

I slowly rise, trying to make out her face, but I can't. The small amount of light is shining from behind her, so it didn't help me to see her at all. I stare for what feels like an entire minute, questions and scenarios racing through my head. Would I return home to my sister? If I die they will too, we're too poor to deal with the loss of a family member. All I can do is hope and pray that the girl who stands before me will not kill me.

"Who are you?" I almost have to spit the words out, for the rest of me is frozen in place.

[Spectral]

Take a look at the kids on the street,
No they never miss a beat,
No they never miss a beat,



Narration
Thoughts
Hearing
Saying

Smirking, I observed the other girl that stood in front of me. There was just enough light sneaking it's way around me into the shop to light up her basic features. Just enough to recognise the dark hair and pale complexion that was so much like my own. The girl was around the same age as me, neither short or tall and was fairly skinny.Which isn't exactly surprising here in District 5!

Half of the residents here areunderweight...which is partly the reason why I steal. To even the playing field. To take away the riches that aren't needed for some. It's only right.The girl too appeared to be observing me, taking in my own appearance.Well, what she could see of it.

A larger smile flicked on my face as the girl stood frozen in place. Was it fear that kept her there? I maybe a criminal, someone looked down upon in society but I never usually struck fear into people. And I wasn't sure whether I would even like that or not.

"Who are you?"At the sound of her question, a little giggle rose in my throat and escaped my lips. What did she mean by that?Well, the answer all depending on what exactly the girl was asking.

She might be asking my name in complete innocence, as if there was nothing fishy about me lurking behind the smog in the District square. Or stalking in her footsteps as she travelled to this Medicine Shop. No, I doubted that very much. The girl seemed intelligent, she must have deduced something about me by now. That something was off. She was not asking that question for my name, but rather what I was going to do.

"Who am I?"I repeated the question, allowing the words to linger on my lips. Pausing a few moments, I responded. It took much to gain my trust, I wasn't blind enough to not realise that. So why would I explain everything to this stranger now. Yes, the circumstances where...unusual but I had to be careful. Over the years, I'd stolen much. Only ever from the richer folk though. My futile attempt to meddle with the cruel hand that fate has dealt that members of panem.

"I am a shadow."I replied, taking one step forwards; allowing more of my appearance to be seen. My hands rose and I placed one of them on my hip."Simply a shadow. No one important. What is important is what you are doing here. And why you have that."I replied, approached steadily again, my other hand gesturing to the medication that lay all over the place nearby.

In my opinion, there was only two possible reasons as to why a girl like this would be rummaging through medication at this late hour. One, she was stealing it in order to supply some sort of illegal drug trading. I did know a little about these. Of course, I'd come in contact with these illegal rings; medication was a vital yet expensive thing. Sometimes underhand tactics had to be used. although, people involved in that were never a good influence. Or two, she was stealing it to heal someone; a friend, a treasured family member.

If one, I'd need to stop her. Yes, she seemed an unlikely person to get involved in such activity but, as I well knew, sometimes illegal acts worked better when performed by the unexpected. The thin dagger that lay in my sock in case of emergencies suddenly became very apparant. With my nimble fingers, I was quite skilled with it...but I didn't ever want to have to use it.

So option two would be preferable. In which case, she was doing something good. Bringing health to someone who could not afford it through legal means. And what is the point in the law when it prevents something such as that. That stealing was more than acceptable in my eyes. In that case I'd be more than happy to help.

To heal her friend or family member.[/color]And she was very lucky to have one...

Why don't you run away?
Are you kidding?
What is the golden rule?
Say nothing.

[Will]

As soon as the question leaves my lips she giggles. The kind of giggle that one would use if they were holding something over another person's head. What is she going to do to me? I can't afford to lose here. I need to go. I need to take what I can get and go before anything can happen. Sadie is my top priority, and if that means I have to fight for her I will. Suddenly, the girl speaks, in a voice that is elegant and somehow seems to sooth me, but there's a hint of something in her voice that warns me of something about her.

"Who am I?" she laughs. She is definitely holding something over me. The fear inside of me is overwhelming. Especially as the seconds tick on. She isn't answering. She is waiting. She's doing something. Something I won't tolerate. But I cannot defend myself, all I have are these medicine containers.

"I am a shadow." she finally answers. Not much of an answer though. A shadow? That could mean anything. Thoughts race through my head as she takes one more step towards me.

I jump back. What does she think she's doing? Fear races through my veins as I am able to make out more about her than her immediate silhouette. Her hair is dark and wavy. Like mine when it's drying after I swim or bathe. She has relatively pale skin, but most people here do. There's much time spent in the sun and the time that is the sun is blocked by the smog. She's pretty, for a criminal. But the question still remains. Why was she out here so late at night? Is that a fair question for me to ask? She could ask the same thing and would I tell her? Probably not. So why would she tell me? I look around, is there another way out? Not immediately ready for me go through. I put my gaze back on her as she finishes her answer,

"Simply a shadow. No one important. What is important is what you are doing here. And why you have that." She gestures at the medications on the floor and in my hands.

Like she has the right to ask that question. She knows the deeds that she has committed and she knows that she has no justification to ask that. Do I have to answer her? No. Should I? That depends. I see her contemplating, maybe. The dim lighting is preventing me from seeing anything correctly. For all I know she could be smiling happily at me. I can almost hear the gears turning though. She's trying to figure out why I have this. Do I have something that I can dangle over head? A juicy bit of information that will keep me alive long enough to get this to Sadie? More importantly, do they know I'm gone? Has Talia, whom I share the mattress with, awoken and seen that I was no longer there? Did mother? Did Sadie? If any of them did I can only hope that they didn't come looking for me. That thought kills me. What if she's out there right now, scared for their family member's life?

I shake my head. I can't afford to think like that. Not right now. I look as hard as I can, as coldly as my eyes can get, right into the girl's eyes. I don't know if she's looking back, but I continue on anyways, "Why do you care?"