Grayson Ryder: A Thief's Thrill

by M. L. Giles

  “That man said I was either incredibly brave or completely crazy,” I thought. “At this rate, probably the second one.”

  Chapter 21

  Restraint.

  Powerless to Help.

  “Hello again, you bitch,” I whispered while staring at the hospital in the distance.

  The drive down here had been mercifully uneventful. Just like my previous visit, I’d parked the car on the same field Colton had used before, only a bit farther back this time.

  In the dark of the night, the hospital was lit brightly, more so than when I had first seen it. Most of the once boarded-up windows seemed be uncovered, allowing the light to shine out from within. St Michael’s hospital now stood out from far away, acting as an inviting beacon.

  “That’s odd. Aiden must feel a lot safer with Colton’s group wiped out,” I thought. “We’ll see if you still feel that way after Colton’s on the loose again, asshole.”

  Using the trees as cover, I made my way forward, cautiously keeping a sharp eye open. My feet wanted to run through the wet mud to reach Colton sooner, but a single snap of a twig could expose me. While running in the dark, I accidently hit the tip of my metal baseball bat against a tree. It made a loud, reverberating sound, reminding me why I never used to sneak about with large, unwieldy objects. Not wanting to repeat my mistake, I left the bat on the ground and continued on.

  Once close enough to see the rear car park of the hospital, I hid behind a tree, using it to safely gauge the situation.

  “Hmm… That’s not a good start,” I thought. “Someone’s learned their lesson about security.”

  The rear of the building, that I had previously used to gain entry, was now guarded by seven people. Three patrolled around. One was sitting on a box-shaped parking ticket machine. The last three stood against the building, keeping an eye out.

  It was a vast difference from my first visit.

  With no other choices, I made my way through the hedges, going down the side of the building to see if anything had changed at the front. Unfortunately, they had reinforced the makeshift barricade by adding more junk to it, along with an increased guard count here too. People walked around constantly, making it nearly impossible to look through the barricade without putting myself at obvious risk.

  My only certainty was that the rear seemed to be, once again, the less guarded point – despite Aiden upping the security.

  “Even with my disguise, this is too dangerous right now. Hmmm, what to do. What to do… The night’s still early,” I thought. “Let’s see if the situation changes later. Hold on a little longer, Colton.”

  Time was against me, but rushing in now would only cause problems. Even with this disguise, a person emerging from the trees and waltzing up to the entrance would raise suspicions. I had to wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself to me.

  A slow rescue was better than no rescue at all.

  Reluctantly, I made my way back into the trees and sat down on a tree stump to wait. With nothing else to do, I started playing with the sapphire earring in my earlobe.

  That earring always brought back memories of Gloria.

  At the tender age of sixteen, some people might say I was too young to truly know what I wanted. Screw those people. I knew what I wanted. There was never any sexual confusion on my part or experimentation needed, just a certainty of my sexuality.

  “Would you relax already?” I said to my new-found friend. “My sister doesn’t come back from work for another two hours.”

  On occasions, while my sister was away, I’d go cruising to meet guys in shady places, maybe inviting them back to Gloria’s place for some fun. Age, race, weight, height… all unimportant to me while still on the rebound from Roman.

  A cock’s a cock and any hole’s a goal.

  My playmate that day was a nervous, skinny Indian guy called Sanjay.

  “Are you sure your sister won’t come back early?” he asked in this thick, exotic accent that I found very sexy. “Can’t let this get back to my wife.”

  I led him upstairs to my bedroom. “Of course I’m sure.”

  The two of us stripped down to nothing upon entering my bedroom. Soon after, we were under the blanket of my single bed, having a little foreplay fun. To get us in the mood, I had put on some music in the background and closed the curtains.

  Sounds almost romantic, right? Well, not everything was as it appeared.

  While Sanjay’s head was under the blanket, keeping busy with my one-eyed wonder dragon, I slipped my hand down the side of my bed, feeling around the pockets of his jeans for a wallet. Once found, I lifted it gently out of the back pocket.

  “Yeah, that’s nice, Sanjay,” I uttered words of encouragement, mostly to keep him busy under the blanket. “Use your tongue more.”

  When I flicked open the wallet, I saw a driver’s licence under a thin strip of clear plastic. The name on the card was Rakesh, not Sanjay. Personally, I couldn’t give two shits about the false name because sitting in his wallet was an attractive amount of money, possibly a hundred.

  I took thirty from the stash, then put the rest back.

  A golden rule when taking money from people’s cash piles was to never take it all. If the target checks their money only to find nothing left, the situation can get ugly.

  Discretion is the better part of valour.

  With my monetary reward safely deposited under my mattress, I let Sanjay, or Rakesh (or whatever his real name was) continue. Why stop if I was enjoying myself?

  About ten minutes in to our playtime, we both heard the front door open, causing my friendly Indian’s head to rapidly pop out of the blanket like a jack-in-the-box.

  “Grayson? Are you up yet?” my sister shouted. “Got some good news for you!”

  Oh, I was up all right…

  Rakesh leapt off me, frantically putting his boxers on. As for me, I just laughed. A good thief knows when he’s been busted.

  “I thought you said she wouldn’t be back for another two hours?!” he whispered nervously.

  “Oops?” I giggled.

  Gloria made her way upstairs, opening my door at the same moment Rakesh was pulling his jeans up his thin, hairy legs. It was beautifully timed, making me laugh even harder.

  “What the fuck?” she said in disbelief.

  A still-shirtless Rakesh charged past Gloria and made his way out of the front door, leaving me in a fit of hysterics. My sister stood over me, looking bewildered.

  I looked up at her, still unable to control my childish giggling. “Surprise?”

  Gloria sat herself down at the bottom of my bed, trying to keep her cool. She took a few deep breaths before talking. “Is it safe for me to assume this means you’re gay? Or is there some other crazy explanation for what just happened?”

  “This wasn’t exactly how I wanted you to find out, but yeah, I’m gay. Tada!”

  “Seriously? Then how DID you want me to find out, jackass?!” she snapped at me.

  I shrugged, still beaming uncontrollably at the entire situation. “It never crossed my mind, actually.”

  She raised her voice in anger. “You’re telling me that you never, EVER, intended to say anything? WHY?!”

  “I don’t ask who you’re doing stuff with. For all I know, you could be a muff diver.”

  Gloria ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “You’ve really pissed me off this time, Grayson…”

  “Huh? Because I’m gay? Why is that a problem?”

  I didn’t get an answer. Gloria stomped out of the door in a huff, leaving me lying there, buck naked under my blanket, feeling guilty for reasons I didn’t understand at that moment.

  It wasn’t until after I got dressed and made my sister a cup of tea that I found out why she was angry. It wasn’t because I was gay. It was because I’d kept such an important secret from her. She always believed that our parents death had brought us closer together, to the point where we shared all our secrets with each other.

&nb
sp; Gloria saw me as both her little brother and her best friend. I felt the same way.

  Even after all these years, I’m still not sure why I didn’t tell her about my sexuality sooner. The only reason I can guess, looking back on it, was because being gay didn’t feel like that big of a deal to me.

  Anyway, we spent the rest of the day talking and drinking hot chocolate. It turned out Gloria loved the fact I was gay. She said it would be nice to have someone to talk with about guys.

  At one point, towards the end of the night, she asked me, “Have you ever had a boyfriend or anything?”

  “Yeah, I did,” I answered unwillingly. “His name was Roman. We recently broke up… I’d rather not talk about it, sis.”

  “Oh, Grayson… I wish I’d known this sooner. I could’ve helped you through it.” The reassurance was nice, albeit a bit late. I was over Roman – mostly. “Just keep looking. You’re bound to find someone else.”

  I grabbed my mug of hot chocolate from off the table, taking a sip. “No thank you! I’m happier just having fun without stupid emotions getting involved. Can’t get hurt if I don’t fall in love again.”

  Gloria scooped out a spoonful of vanilla and strawberry ice cream from her bowl. “Doesn’t work like that, my naive little brother. One day someone will come along, then WHOOSH! You’ll be riding that love train once again.”

  “There’s only one thing I’ll be riding, and it won’t be any bloody ‘love train’, that’s for sure.”

  She was right, though. Colton came along and dragged my butt back on to that train I never wanted to ride again.

  Heh, who am I trying to fool? I happily stole a ticket for that train myself.

  Thirty minutes or so later, a loud whistle disturbed my reminiscing.

  The sound had come from the hospital. I got up and weaved through the trees to get a better look at what was going on.

  I hid on my belly behind a small hill of dirt, lifting my head up slightly to scout around. From what I could tell, all the guards that were patrolling had now been gathered up by the fire door I’d snuck through before.

  They appeared to be having a meeting.

  More people came through the fire door, carrying various items. Some dragged large tables, placing them against the hospital wall; others brought out random bits of food, mostly canned products; another bunch came out with large bottles, cups, and glasses, setting them down on the newly placed tables. In the centre of the car park, two men dragged a movable basketball pole with a half-torn net at the top. At one point, a guard went around the car park, setting up small bundles of wood, setting them on fire to brighten the place up.

  He walked right past me, totally unaware of my presence.

  Given how many people were busy sorting stuff out in the area, I didn’t feel comfortable making any moves yet.

  “Oi!” a male guard yelled down from a window on the second floor. “Is it good to go?!”

  Another man from the ground shouted back, “Almost! Tell Aiden we can start soon!”

  I had no idea what they were planning.

  A much larger crowd had gathered in the rear car park of the hospital over time. There were so many of them, too many to count. Each one was dressed in the usual yellow and orange clothing with their hair shaved off. Some people were wearing almost nothing, favouring to paint their bodies in the colours of Aiden rather than dress in them.

  Whatever they were going to do, they were going to do it soon. You could feel a joyful buzz in the air, the kind you would feel before a big event began.

  More people joined the crowd. Most of them came out from the fire door, but a few walked down from the side of the hospital, coming from where the front barricade was.

  The sheer number of Aiden’s group here made me worry that I might be spotted, so I gently moved a few leafy branches in front of me, keeping my head hidden.

  “Everyone!” a man’s voice yelled out from near the hospital itself. I tried to see who it was, but the crowd of people made it impossible. “Grab a drink from off the tables. We’re starting soon!”

  The crowd that was once spread out all over the car park now converged towards the tables that had been placed along the edge of the hospital wall.

  As they each turned away from me, my instincts kicked in.

  I sprang up and walked casually out of the woods, heading towards the rest of the crowd, brushing off any debris from my disguise. Just before walking into the open, I made sure my scarf-mask and beanie hat were set up correctly.

  Blending in with a crowd was easy in the past when I used to mingle to pickpocket targets, this was different, though. My life was now on the line.

  It was terrifying! It was exciting! That thrill-seeker part of me was starting to kick in, fuelling me with confidence.

  As I began to merge with the group, people walked past me with drinks in hand. I avoided eye contact with all of them and moved forward, eventually grabbing a small blue cup with the words “World’s Greatest Lover” written on the side. One quick smell of the clear liquid in the cup told me it was filled with something strong.

  “Alcohol? …Aha! This is a party!” I realized. “They’re going to celebrate! All I have to do is wait for everyone to get drunk, then sneak Colton out of here. Lady Luck, I could kiss you – if you were a man, that is.”

  Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest plan in the world, but prior experience had taught me that it was easy to fool, deceive, and steal from those under the influence; even from right under their intoxicated noses.

  While I was running scenarios around in my head on how best to go about this, I was interrupted when the crowd I now stood in turned suddenly towards the fire exit, cheering.

  I turned to face the same direction, mimicking their cheers to stay blended in.

  Aiden had walked out. Right behind him, tied up with rope and being dragged along by three guards like a pet, was a beaten and half-naked Evan.

  It wasn’t easy cheering for the monster that had signed the death warrant for all my friends, but it was important to keep up appearances.

  Aiden walked by all of us, wearing his usual silly bathrobe and mountains of golden jewellery, making his way to the centre of the car park where the basketball pole had been placed. The three guards followed, still pulling Evan along like he was an animal.

  Evan looked beaten. He didn’t seem to have much fight left in him. I figured he knew what they had planned for his son. This must’ve been a cruel game Aiden was playing; to have Evan watch them party all night before setting his son on fire.

  “Gather round, gather round,” Aiden opened his arms, waving all of us in closer. We moved in a semi-circle around him, keeping some distance. “It has taken much time, but we have him. We have Colton! The man who divided our group! The man who killed our people! The man who murdered our previous, beloved leader just to take control himself! The man who tried to force his strict, tyrannical rules upon us!”

  “Liar!” Evan shouted. “Aiden had Colton kill Rick! You idiots shouldn’t believe everything—”

  One of the three guards gave Evan a blow to the face with the handle of a fire axe, sending him down on one knee.

  Aiden gave a nod of appreciation to the guard. “Thank you. Now, my loyal, faithful followers, the time has come to move on from our pain – from our past. It is time to focus on ourselves. You have all worked tremendously hard to bring the beast to meet his fiery justice, and for that, we shall celebrate this very evening!”

  The audience roared in happiness, howling away like the crowds of football fans used to do before the virus.

  Needless to say, I copied those around me.

  “Tomorrow, we shall put down that dog.” Aiden continued after the crowd had quietened. “So go, drink your fill, dance your hearts away, make love with whomever you wish, and be happy. Let us start this celebration now… with an exquisite fire show.”

  “Fire show? NO!” I shouted in my head. My body shook slightly, fighting against itself to jump for
ward. Never before had I needed to exercise such self-restraint.

  Evan was dragged over to the basketball pole and tied to it. As they bound his arms around the pole, Aiden called for people to bring wood. Over half the crowd ran into the trees surrounding the car park, returning with whatever bits of wood they could gather. Some brought wooden logs, others came back with bundles of sticks to place in a circle around Evan’s feet.

  All I could do was watch.

  Don’t get me wrong, if I thought there was a chance – even the smallest possible chance – of saving Colton’s father, I’d have taken it. But with so many eyes watching and the two guards standing beside Evan, what could I do?

  Revealing myself now in some futile attempt at rescue would just spell the end of us both, followed by Colton soon after.

  “I’m so sorry, Evan…” I said in my head. “I’ll get your son out of here. You will live on through him. Promise.”

  With everything in place, Aiden instructed two people to throw fuel over Evan and the wood around his feet using a jerry can each.

  Memories of the dream resurfaced when I smelt the stench of that fuel.

  Aiden was handed a lit torch from a woman in the crowd. He walked (or rather floated in a manner most elegant) towards Evan, stopping not far from him.

  “The father of such a brute should not be spared,” Aiden declared. “The answer to this is obvious given your loudmouth ways, but do you have any final words?”

  Evan looked up. His eyes wandered around at us all. At one point, he looked right at me.

  “Yeah, I got something to say.” Evan smirked at Aiden, showing some teeth. “You were always a lazy, lying, sack of shit, Henry. Pretending to be posh won’t ever change that. Ever.”

  “Henry? Is that Aiden’s real name?” I wondered.

  Aiden’s brow lowered in anger. Immediately, he threw the torch at Evan. As soon as it made contact, Evan was engulfed in flames.

  A bonfire of death had been started.

  We all watched on silently. Only the crackling sound of the burning wood and the pained cries of Evan rang in the air.