Claire’s Pov

“I said it’s Stella for…”

…Stella’s Pov

Click!

Awesome, bout bloody time!

I grab out my precious and put it around my wrist. It was a strange, small metal that could revert from being a long piece that was about a ruler long, to something that could go around someone’s wrist. It was my precious…And it was a little too tight…

I fixed it up, so that it wasn’t stopping the blood going into my hands, and then finally looked up again.

About thirty people that had been trapped into this room for about three months, had rapidly run out, upon my opening the door.

Such a rush…

Putting my hands out, as to show them the way out, I waited until they were done.

I leisurely walked out, seeing most of them travel together and decided to take the opposite way. I was pretty sure we were only going to get caught, but I was already bored.

I had memorized ten people’s security numbers and home addresses and heard enough stories for now. I just wanted to have a different scenery for a change.

As I walked with my hands in my oversized hoodie, I saw someone race towards me. I take out a hand and wave at him, and he looked at me in confusion.

I raised my eyebrows and he gave a slight nod as he continued on.

What an idiot…He’s probably looking for people like me…

People like me…I mean people that had practically been put in a huge room for three months, like that of a jail. I didn’t have much problem with the food and being able to shower and all, but really, why was I there in the first place!?

My last name came up often enough, but I hadn’t been home in…Forever.

Yeah, three months was about all I could take without games or whatnot. So, it had been time to get outta there, you know, see where the hell I was.

When I had been picked up, I was put to sleep, gagged and then found myself in this place…Never knowing were exactly it was.

Was I still in Australia? Or did I get to go on an aeroplane ride!?

If I had gone on a plane, I’d rather be awake, I’d never been on a plane before! Would have been able to scrap that of my bucket list!

I hadn’t done much travelling in Australia after I had turned twelve. I originally lived in Sydney, then ended up in Brisbane, don’t ask…But that was all...

Mmm, maybe I shouldn’t had started to make my way back down south, uh. If I had run away to Perth or Darwin, maybe I wouldn’t be here…Who knows…

To be honest, I was sorta sick of running, even though I hardly run. I was more of the twiddle my thumbs, walk and look at the scenery kind of chick. So, to a certain aspect, I let them capture me. It was getting annoying, so why not…

I guess I looked at the ‘running away’ aspect as, is it living? Then figured that even if I was to die, I’ll try to pick his pocket first and see who kills me…Or, I thought that killing someone was against the law, so it shouldn’t happen…Something like that...

And, if I wasn’t going to die, bargain, I’ll get my sweet little ass out of trouble…Yeah…That’s it…That's all I thought, before I let them catch me...

Luckily, I had learned the basics of being able to get out of people’s holds and places, when I had learnt how to steal. I'd also learnt how to be flexible and pick locks, which is relatively sweet…Because otherwise I’d be so bored, being trapped, that I’d go nuts!

Pretty sure that who was behind this, really had nothing to do with me, even though I was a Peterson, I still couldn’t help but smirk at those who ran as fast as they could to get away from here. For some reason, I just wasn’t scared right now…I was scared a day after I left home, I was scared when I was starving, I was scared when I was punished and scared when I had first run away from my boss…But, I think I’ve gone through enough shit to not be so scared anymore…If I get caught, the worst thing to happen, was to die right? Well, isn’t death easier? Bring it!

It's not like I hadn’t blacked out before because I was nearly strangled to death...And well, I had endured torture before...Uh...I guess I'd prefer not to get tortured, I suppose.

This was…My life. Like I shouldn’t be here, like I was on borrowed time or something. It really makes me wonder who the fuck I angered in my last life!

Still walking leisurely, I continued to go the way the dude who passed me came from and walked past several doors that held no interest to me. I did pick up an apple that said, ‘Take me’, from a bowl, but otherwise I didn’t feel any need to venture further into the rooms…

No, I’m not going here to do laundry, no, I’m not here to get fit…Oh…Great, Xbox sounds good!

I walked into a room, where a game on the big flat screen was paused and threw the rest of the uneaten apple into a bin to the side. I sat down comfortably, picked up the controller and started to play it, as though I had been there all along.

I had played this stupid game before, I wasn’t all that good though, I guess I hadn’t improved over time either.

I started to swear at the tv and wanted to through my remote, so I wondered if there was another game I could play.

“Hey, you! What are you doing here!?”

Do I really have to state the obvious?

It had come to a point in my life where I don’t care too much for lying…Not that I always state the truth either…

I mean, when one lies to the boss of thieves, they are punished pretty badly. Yet, I found a strange concept of playing around the truth…

For some reason that I don’t quite understand, some people get angry sometimes when they hear the truth, so I don’t mind dancing around it, just to stay outta trouble…

I turned to the voice and looked innocently at him, “Playing a game…”

He looked in his thirties, a bit rugged with stubble on his chin, and he had on cheap clothes. I saw him walk briskly up to me and forcefully take the controller out of my hand, “I’ve never seen you here before.”

I shrugged, “I’ve been here for three months.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Three months?”

I bit my lip, “Ah! I got in trouble three times already.”

Seriously, it’s no lie! I did get in trouble three times! The people trapped in that room with me knew I was stealing, not like I kept it secret because I would give whatever I took back to them when I was done with it…

Three times, they’d taken me out of there and put me in a small cubicle room and made me stay there for about six hours without anything…So not cool…But come on! I was bored out of my mind! Taking other people’s things was a natural thing for me now...You put me in a place with all those wallets...What am I supposed to do!?

But yeah, that cubicle place sucked...

Every time, all I could do was wave at the camera and drum my fingers and hands to make music…Boring!

But, hell, like I was ganna let them get the best of me, I didn’t say a word of complaint and even felt like this kind of punishment was pretty good. I mean, my ex boss’s punishment gave me scars to last a lifetime, so I just had to wait impatiently to get back out. Nonetheless, it was still boring as fuck!

But, seriously, what was I to think about in that tiny, little shithole?

I could get out of there if I wanted to…But that would create even more trouble!

I could wallow in my self-pity, but that would be wasting my time!

I could think about life in general, you know, maybe about how my parents seemed to forget how I ever existed, but…Again, I didn’t want to waste my time.

My family aren’t my family anymore, I know I regret my choice of leaving there when I was twelve. But I was a spoilt, little brat and I've changed since then!

The first night away from home, I had enough, and I wanted to return...But, I had been kidnapped a few blocks on the way back home and ended up a thief. Now I’d be just too damned embarrassed if I went back and I have too much pride to do that now…

With everything I’ve been through, why would I think about a family that I have abandoned…

I didn’t know what other people did in this type of predicament, as I didn’t think much of it, but that was what I did…

So, again, I didn't waste my time thinking about family, I kept my mouth shut, played some human made music and waved at the camera…My mind somewhat completely free and calm.

I did that, exactly…Three times…