“What the hell are you doing?” The man yelled as Chuck ran by snatching his bag out of his hand, “Hey! Get back here!” Chuck zoomed down the street until he knew that the man had stopped chasing him. He turned into an alley to see what was in the bag, it was just papers. “Dammit!” he yelled frustratingly,  he was hoping for money to get food for his little sister, Clara. He threw the bag into the dumpster in the alley and started to make his way back home. He was about twenty minutes away. It was already starting to get dark. He took a shortcut through a couple of yards and porches. He was 4 houses down from the place he was staying at when a group of a few other boys started walking his way. They were walking directly in the middle of street, all talking loudly and making joke. Chuck put his hood up and his hands in his pockets hoping they wouldn’t say anything to him. But they did.

“Hey you! Come here for a minute!” one of the boys yelled

“I like your shoes!” said another, he was so close to his house, but the boys were walking faster toward him. He started to try and run to his porch and the boys followed. They quickly caught up to him and started hitting him and kicking him. “Take that kids clothes!” one of them suggested and they all agreed. They stripped him half naked in the middle of the street right in front of his house and beat him. Once they were finally done, he stood, blood dripping off his face, to see his little sister watching from the window of the house. Her face in shock. He slowly walked into the house, embarrassed of what just happened. “Hows mom?” he asked his sister,

“She still hasn’t gotten out of bed,” she said, “did you get any food?” she asked Chuck,

“Not yet, I need to find some new clothes to wear before I do anything.” He responded as he walked up the stairs and into his room.

Once in his room he grabbed some old ripped jeans and a t shirt, put them on and left again. He headed toward the grocery store about twenty minutes away from his home, going thru alleys and back streets, staying off of main roads so no one would notice him. Chuck was a bit of celebrity in his town. But not in a good way. Everyone knew him for being the kid to snatch your bag or steal from the store. Almost every store in the city had a poster hanging outside reading “Wanted” with his face on it. While no one knew his name, they knew his face. And that was enough to get him caught. He often made long trips to stores to get food from his family, whether he was buying it or stealing it.

When he reached the parking lot, four police cars were there waiting for him. Apparently, he had been being followed by the police the whole way there. They just wanted to see where he was going. They pulled up next to him and arrested him.

They brought him back to the station where he was able to make one phone call. He called his mom. “Hey mom, I’m at the police station,” He said to her when she answered the phone, “You’re what? What happened? What did you do?”

“I got arrested…”

“How!”

“Stealing. I’ve been going store to store stealing food and stuff to help feed Clara,”

“That doesn’t justify stealing!”

“What else was I supposed to do? We don’t have money, and she needs to eat,”

“That still doesn’t justify it, I’m not coming to get you. You deserve to be in jail!” Then she hung up. The end.