sins forgiven.— [hermes/rune]

Hermes is stupid. That's not an insult, it's simply an observation. He was clever and could come up with creative solutions, but that didn't mean he was smart. Part of it was the resources available for him. The district didn't have much for school and Hermes, while he could do it, struggled with even reading and writing. His handwriting was messy and he was a very slow reader. But, he had a lot of "street smarts". He knew how to steal and he knew how to be smart about it.

It started raining which was refreshing from the son baking them; however, this was possibly a death sentence for the Beck family. They had left their rations on a kitchen counter and little did they know but there was a large leak in their ceiling in the kitchen. This resulted in much of their food being soaked and ruined. Their fruit was going to mold faster, any grains had become soggy, and they couldn't afford to get more. His parents were trying to figure something out when Hermes decided to fix things himself.

Hermes never stole from the nicest houses of the districts. These were the homes most frequently patrolled by the Peacekeepers and the ones where the owners were most likely to snitch. But they were also the ones with the most plentiful food and the cleanest water. They were the ones who had more than enough food and had money just sitting out, ripe for the taking. They were the forbidden fruit.

But, Hermes couldn't sit by and watch him and his family starve. They had to do something. The government may have forsaken them. God may have forsaken them. Fate may have forsaken them. But that's when you need to say fuck it and make your own fate, be your own God. So, he was going to be smart about this heist. He was going after money, food, and water. Valuables were harder to get rid of and would take too long. His family needed food now and he needed to go in and out.

The first step was to make sure the house was empty. He waited until it looked the entire family had left together and it appeared all of the lights were off. Little did he know, one member of the family was still inside the home. Normally he'd lockpick the door, but the Peacekeepers were walking by too frequently. They couldn't catch him picking the door. He instead snuck around back when the coast was clear. He found a window a bit high off the ground. This was good, no one expected someone to break into this window so it might not be locked.

He found a nearby wooden plank - perhaps it was from a building that collapsed nearby, some shacks in the district were quite flimsy. He leaned it against the wall of the building and carefully climbed up it - focusing on his balance. Sure enough, the window wasn't locked. But as he climbed inside the window, the plank made a loud snap. If anyone was inside the building they might hear it inside, though they may not think much of it.

As he walked through he didn't bother muffling his footsteps, he thought he was alone after all. Everytime he spotted money he pocketed it until he found the kitchen. He stopped and stared at the food. He was tempted to eat some now, but he had to hurry and leave since he didn't know when the family would be back. Plus he couldn't take too much or they'd notice. He unzipped his backpack and started putting food in it, everytime he grabbed a new piece of food with his gloves he felt his stomach growl. But then, it happened. He dropped a glass and it shattered on the floor. It was loud and if anyone at all was home they'd definitely hear it.

by sixsmith.