~~~~
He was a thief, one that
hadn’t been caught yet, which in his mind made him the best kind of thief. The
place he was after tonight would potentially be the most magnificent score of
his life. It belonged to a rich, old lady, one so old she could barely move
around on her own. From what he could gather, the old woman sat on almost a
century’s worth of jewelry, all ripe for the taking. All he’d need to do was
avoid a few caretakers.
Sometime after midnight,
hours after all the lights went out in the old lady’s modest home, the thief
made his move. He slipped into her home through a second-floor window with a
jump off a nearby tree. His feet trod lightly, even on the hardwood floor of
the guest room he snuck into. The thief was well aware the caretakers would be
receptive to certain noises, they had to be on top of the old woman’s care
after all. However, a few creeks here and there in an old house like this would
easily slip past their notice.
Like a shadow in the
night, he traveled through the halls without noise. He peeked through several
rooms until he found one that contained a collection of jewelry. Temptations
struck him to take as much as he could carry, but he decided he’d instead
pilfer a few things that wouldn’t be missed first. Then he’d slowly move up
from there. He thanked his lucky stars he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the
caretakers yet, as he began to snatch the valuables and secure them in a sack.
He wondered to himself,
how was this lady so rich in the first place? He’d done his research, but he
never learned more than the fact the lady had lived for a very long time. He
had assumed she was a widow, or maybe she had inherited the money. However, the
longer he spent in the modest home, the less he believed that. It certainly was
not squalid, but this creaky, old, wooden house would have only been impressive
a century ago. Yet, she had an entire room filled with jewelry, so much, in
fact, he felt he could steal a dozen jewelry cases from it and was sure no one
would notice.
The thief’s eyes were
drawn to another piece of the collection, one which stood out amongst all the
other jewelry cases. It was bright red and adorned with gold. The case itself
looked worth a few hundred dollars on its own; thus, his curiosity got the
better of him as he wondered what could be contained within. With great care,
he opened the case to observe what riches laid inside, but instead of gold and
pearls, he found a gnarled, boney hand. The severed hand reached out and
strangled the thief, who restrained himself from letting out a pained cry.
With all his strength,
he yanked the skeletal hand from his throat and sprinted out of the room, his
stolen goods still in hand. His careless steps let out a chorus of creaks and
wines from the old wooden floor. The thief’s ears pricked up as he heard the
telltale sound of someone awaken downstairs. The thief dashed for the guest
room he entered from, but could not find the right door. No matter how many
rooms the thief checked, he could not find the way he came from, he couldn’t
even find a room with a window.
Reality seemed to betray
him as the creak of stairs ensured someone was coming up to investigate the
noise. Without recourse, he dashed into the first room he could find and
quietly shut the door behind him. He turned around to search for a closet to
hide himself in, but he froze in place as he realized where he was. Somehow he
was back in the jewelry room, in shock, he dropped his stolen goods. However,
something had changed in the room, all the cases were open, and within each was
another boney hand.
The mass of hands
reached out from their contained, held aloft by long cord-like arms. In unison,
they reached out and grappled the thief. The criminal was dragged away from the
door and strangled so tight he could not scream even if he wished it. As he was
pulled towards the center of the room, he heard the door open. In the corner of
his vision, he saw a figure stand in the doorway, likely one of the caretakers.
The figure did not respond to the horrific sight before them, they merely shook
their head and closed the door again. The thief’s heart sank as he felt the
hands crush him in their grasp.
~--~
The caretaker sighed as
she closed the door tight and tried to ignore the rustling in the jewelry room.
‘Another thief had come for her valuables,’ she thought. ‘Maybe one day they’ll
think twice about robbing some poor old woman.’ The caretaker shrugged her
shoulders as she walked back down the halfway. There would be a mess to clean
soon, but she could deal with that in the morning.
~~~~
Sometimes you don't know when you're in over your head until you start to drown.Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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