"Rita, I am not feeling well," Nora said.
"Oh, Nora, you're having a fever," Rita said.
She touched her 2-year-old sister's forehead as her mom did hers before she left. Now it was only the two of them with no guardian, no relatives, no food, and no hope.
Even the house their parents left for them was taken by some men, and their gray-haired leader told her that their mom died in a road accident, while their dad was mysteriously killed, and they owed the man money, so he sold the house and kept them in an orphanage.
Life in the orphanage was hell; she managed to run away with her sister to a secret place in the city where the street children and thieves stayed. She had no other option than to pickpocket a living; that was the only thing she could do to survive with her sister.
"I'll have to get you something to eat."
"Okay, be careful," Nora answered.
"I will," Rita said as she left for the streets. She was about to leave the hall when her friends Margret and Mark caught up with her.
"Hey Rita, you're going out today?" Margret asked.
"Yeah, Maggy, Nora is sick," I replied.
"Well, we're only going because we are due to pay."Mark
"Pay what?"
"Or have you forgotten we pay Mrs. Suki for our stay?" Maggy said.
The street house was the safest place for thieves to stay and hide, but it wasn't completely free. Mrs. Suki, the lady who is in charge of the building, collects $2 from each child above the age of five. This money is used to provide securities, but still the children have to feed themselves.
"That means I have to start nicking," Rita said.
"You know the best place, the bus." Magret said.
Yeah, the bus was the favorite place to steal stuff, especially when passengers were rushing in and out; they went in between them and stole their money, wallets, coins, jewelry, pens, etc.
"They are thieves, thieves," someone cried.
"Who are you talking about?" Another cried.
"Those three children"
People's eyes were now on them, and the three children started running for their lives because they knew that any child wouldn't be helped by Mrs. Suki and would be beaten by the police and taken to the orphanage, but the crowd increased when some found out that their things were stolen.
"There's got to be some trash here to hide in," Margret said.
"I have an idea; let's split up," Mark said.
They went in different directions, and the crowd did so too. The crowd that chased Rita soon closed in on her; she was losing her breath. She had run enough and wanted to stop, but luckily for her, she found some trash cans lined up in a row against a wall in an alley. She hid behind one; soon the crowd chasing her got confused about where she turned to and passed in the wrong direction. She was relieved, but she heard someone crying beside her. She turned and found a girl about her age with blonde hair wearing a pink dress. She was obviously not a street kid; she had a bow tied to her hair, and she smelled like the rich.
Are you okay?"
Who are you? I don't talk to strangers.
The girl stood up and walked to another trash can and sat, but Rita followed her.
"You're not a street kid, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Do you care anyway?"
"I just want to know why you're crying and making your dress dirty in this messy place."
"My dress!" she exclaimed as she stood up. "My dad's going to be mad at me."
"Is it that bad?" she asked Rita, turning back and forth.
"It's not," Rita said, but actually the dress was utterly dirty, with green water dripping off the dress at the back, but for street children it was perfect.
"I was trying to hide from my father."
"Why?"
"He's just so busy, and I decided to run away."
"Why?!!" Rita wondered why on earth someone would run away from their comfortable roofs over their heads to come sit with trash.
"Can't you see how free you are?"
"Stop it, okay? It stinks."
"What stinks?" The girl asked.
"Life stinks for us who can't afford clothes like yours," Rita replied, rubbing her obviously ragged, dirty white T-shirt.
"These clothes hurt anyway," the girl said.
"You know what? I have to find my friends," Rita said as she stood up to leave.
"Wait, there are more of you? That's great; I can live with you," the girl said as she followed Rita.
"What?" Rita said as she faced her.
"Show me around; show me your friends," she said eagerly. "I know my dad's gonna get some BG to get me soon."
"BG?"
"It's short for bodyguards," the girl said as they walked out of the alley and found Maggie and Mark sitting at a closed shop. When they saw Rita, they started running towards her.
"Hey Maggie, hey Mark."
Maggie and Mark stopped when they realized she was with someone.
"Why are you walking with her?" Maggie said.
"No, she is my friend."
"I forgot to introduce myself," Rita said. "I am Rita, and you are..."
" Kira "
"Kira, these are my friends, Mark and Margret."
"Nice to meet you," Kira said to them.
"Nice to meet you too," they said.
"Now let's see what we grabbed on the count of three.
They all except Kira emptied the contents of the pockets into their hands. Magret had a whole wallet filled with dollars and some coins; Rita had some dollar notes, coins, a pen, and some papers; while Mark had some coins and a small digital bitcoin wallet; however, they never knew what it was.
"Looks like Magret won again," said Mark.
"Yeah, you're the expert." Rita said.
"I've always been," she said as she looked at Mark's hands.
"Really, Mark," said Magret, "a kid's toy."
"I don't know; I just picked what I felt."
"It looks cool anyway," Rita said.
"Wait," Kira said. I know what that is; it's a bitcoin wallet.
"Beecoin?" Mark asked.
"Bitcoin is some type of money that can be changed to our type of money, like dollars." Kira replied, "My dad has one exactly like this."
"Your dad took a bus this morning?" Margret asked.
"No, maybe his men did."
"Men, like those in sunglasses," said Mark.
"They chased us a few minutes ago, right, Mark?" Maggie asked, "Mark?"
The three looked at him; he was standing frozen. He was lifeless before he fell on his face; he was shot by a bullet and was bleeding from behind.
"Mark!!! " Magret exclaimed, "The men are back!"
"Then we have to go," Rita said as she dragged Magret.
When Mark fell, Rita picked up the Bitcoin wallet and ran with Kira and Magret.
They came to a stop when they crashed into one of the men; they wanted to turn back, but they were surrounded.
"Kira, we have been looking for you," said the man in front of them. He was dressed in a black suit with matching trousers; he had black sunglasses on. Kira knew that the BGs were here.
"I don't want to go."
"Looks like you've made a friend." He turned to Rita. "Where is it?"
"You mean that Bitcoin thingy? It's in my pocket. she said as she felt her pocket; it was empty. Even the items she stole wasn't there.
"Magret have you seen it"She turned her back, but she didn't see Magret.
"Magret!!!" she said angrily.
"I don't have it, please," she said, but she felt a heavy kick on her head. Rita... Rita... It was the last thing she heard before it all went dark.