Stealing to Survive
#3 of Sweet Nothing
Here's chapter 3, I think this chapter is my best one (and the longest one). I put a lot of effort into dialogue, descriptions and actions. The name of the chapter is kinda weird and the chapter itself seems like filler more than anything, but oh well. Hope you enjoy it anyway. :D
He heard a familiar voice in his dream. The soft, lovely voice of his beloved vixen.
Wake up. Wake up, Fox.
„No... don't wake me up just yet... I want to be with you..." he kept talking while sleeping, moving from one side of the bed to the other, as if he had a nightmare. But it was a beautiful dream, not a nightmare. „Where are you, my love? Come to me!"
I'm here, Fox. I'm always here next to you. I'll never leave you... Wake up...
He opened his eyes, noticing that he wass laying in the bed, with Krystal in front of him, staring right into his eyes with a cute and seductive smile. He recognized the room, his room on the Great Fox. It was the same setting as yesterday when he hit had his head and lost consciousness.
„No... you're not leaving me this time!", he said in a determined voice and ran towards her. „You WILL be mine!"
As fast as he ran, he wasn't getting closer to her. Instead, it seemed like he was getting further and further away from the vixen. She kept slowly disappearing in front of him.
„No! Krystal, come back!", he screamed and tried running even faster, but he couldn't move. Krystal already disappeared, he couldn't even see her in the distance anymore. „KRYSTAL! NOOOO!"
Suddenly, he felt like he was falling, like someone removed the ground beneat his feet. He felt a fast, blunt impact and immediately opened his eyes.
He was on the floor next to his bed.
It was morning and the sun was shining, although it wasn't noticeable from his bedroom. Not a single cloud could be seen in the sky. Birds could be heard outside, people talking, cars going up and down the street. It was a beautiful, morning. Unfortunately, it was a painful morning for Fox.
Still laying on the floor, he looked around, holding his head with his left paw. „I fell off my bed... God... that was such an abrupt ending to a dream..."
A dream...
He felt like crying. It seemed so real to him. He was so close to her. But so far away. His mind kept playing tricks on him. As much as he wanted to believe that all of it was real, it wasn't. It was just a bad dream. To him, it was a nightmare not being able to see her and hold her firmly in his grasp. A nightmare that kept repeating itself every night. A nightmare that would end in disappointment, tears and, in this case - pain.
How much longer will I have to go through this?!
He stood up and started walking towards the living room, when something caught his eye on the bed. There was a big stain on it, although different from the other ones. This one looked like a water stain.
„I... did I piss myself from that dream?", he said to himself in a surprised voice. „Pretty sure I didn't...", a small blush appeared on his face.
„Wait... that must be from that bag of ice... the ice probably melted and leaked out on the bed...". He looked on the right side of the bed and noticed the small plastic bag in which he put the ice yesterday. It was ruptured. He then noticed that his shirt was wet. „Great... just what I needed". He let out a sigh and started walking towards his bathroom, taking off the shirt along the way and throwing it on the couch. As soon as he entered the bathroom, he looked himself into the mirror and noticed that the bruise on his forehead was gone. But he still felt pain. He had a headache. A big one.
„Ah, stupid hangover... and stupid me", he insulted himself, knowing that It's his fault for drinking too much in the bar yesterday. „And no painkillers. Great!"
He walked out of the bathroom and into his living room before getting blinded by bright light. He put his right paw in front of his eyes and slowly approached the window. Finally, after his eyes got used to the bright light, he looked outside. „Well, at least the sun is shining. Finally something that's not depressing."
He felt cheerful and happy for some reason. He hadn't felt like that in a while. He even got used to the nightmares with Krystal, and to drinking constantly. Finally, he felt better mentally, even though the hangover was killing him physically.
„I wonder what's on TV", he said to himself, walking over to the couch and picking up the remote controller. It had laid there for quite a while, since Fox didn't watch TV that much. He'd usually be outside, intoxicating himself with alcohol. He picked up the remote controller and noticed how it was dirty. It had small pieces of food on the buttons and was quite greasy. „Ew...I completely forgot how disgusting this thing is...". He picked up the shirt that he threw on the couch earlier and wiped the controller with it. Huge, greasy stains were on the shirt after that, which he threw on the floor before proceeding to sit on the couch.
He kept mashing the „On" button to turn the TV on since it was broken as well. Angry and drunk, he would sometimes throw objects against the wall. The remote controller was, sadly, the unlucky object that he kept smashing most often.
Finally, the TV turned on, revealing a football scene on the TV. It was a sports channel.
„Nope", he said to himself, changing the channel. This time, it was a movie channel. There was a kissing scene between a Bulldog and a female Husky. It kept reminding him of Krystal, so he changed the channel again. It was a news channel. „Finally something informative", he put the remote controller on his lap and started stretching out, followed by a loud yawn.
Good morning everyone! It is now 9:00 AM and you're watching Cornerian News Central , we've got some big news for you today!
The famous Cornerian couple Krystal and Panther are making a two week visit to the city of Tontassia as a part of their tour around the solar system! The couple will arrive in their private space craft on Thursday at 2 PM CCT. There will be a small press confference before the couple gets driven off to their private mansion somewhere in the suburbs of the city.
„She.. she's coming to my town?!", he said in a surprised voice and stood up, making the remote controller fall on the floor. „Yes! I'll finally be able to see her for real now!". A huge smile stretched across his face as he almost started dancing across the room from happiness. „But wait... she's coming with that Panther asshole...", the happines suddenly turned into anger and the huge smile that he previously had on his face was now gone.
„God dammit, how will I be able to see her if she's with him?!", he kept talking to himself in a worried voice while rapidly walking across the room. „He'll kick my ass, knowing how much he hates me...", he stopped walking and stood there in front of the TV, thinking about something.
I kicked Krystal out of the team... why does he hate me for that? What did I do to him?!
„And Krystal probably won't want to see me either because of that...", the reality slowly started to sink in. He sat on his couch and rested his head on his arms, letting out a huge sigh. „Ah... nothing's simple in my life...". Immediately, his attention was brought back to the TV, when he saw Krystal and Panther in the news report. They were both close to each other, with Panther having one hand curled up around Krystal's body. Krystal was dressed in a beautiful green dress with sparky emeralds on the edges of it. Panther had a tuxedo and was dressed pretty much like he was on a wedding. The view behind them looked like an airport.
„So, how do you both feel now?" The news report asked them.
„We're excited! It's been an amazing trip so far. We are tired, but we'll make it. The trip to Tontassia is the last part of our journey before we head back to our home on Titan", Krystal explained.
„Yeah, we definitely are tired. I mean, our space craft isn't as spacious as our home back on Titan. It's quite crammed, actually. Besides, moving from one planet to another gets annoying over time", Panther followed in an annoyed voice.
„Hum, you don't seem very happy regarding your situation...", the reported said in a surprised voice. „Is everything okay or are you just tired?"
„What kind of question is that? Of course i'm okay, i'm just tired from so much traveling. You never traveled for several weeks without taking a break, did you?", Panther replied in an almost offended voice, scolding the reporter with his sharp look.
„Uh, sorry sir, I didn't mean to be offensive-„, he got interrupted by Panther.
„Whatever, just hurry up with your questions". Noticing his behavior, Krystal pushed him softly with her right arm, getting a weird facial expression from Panther. Before he managed to say anything to her, the reporter continued talking.
„Uh, alright... one last question. This one's very popular among the public and our viewers wanted us to ask you this. So, Krystal, how do you feel like going to Tontassia, knowing that FoxMcCloud lives there?", the reporter said in a frantic voice, like he was worried that something would happen.
Hearing the question, Krystal made a surprised look on her face, opening her mouth to say something before being interrupted by Panther's reaction. „Alright, that's enough questions for her, we are done with this interview! Let's go Krys". Very upset and angry, Panther suddenly pushed off the camera with his right arm, pulling Krystal to him with his left one. They got out of the cameras now changed shooting angle in a hurry. Immediately after that, the reporter got in front of the camera.
„Uh, anyway, that's it for this... interview. Remember, Krystal and Panther are coming to Tontassia on Thursday. Over to you Miguel" the reporter said in a confused, almost scared voice. „Okay, thank you Mike. I think we're all quite surprised by the reaction that question attracted. Anyway, in our other news..."
„Huh, that son of a bitch still has his kinky ol' attitude. He doesn't seem friendly at all.", Fox kept mumbling to himself. „I wonder if he's that aggressive to Krystal as well...", a thought that made the fur on his body stiffen up. He shook his head and pushed the thought away.
„Ugh, I don't even want to think about that... still, I'm gonna be there when she arrives, no matter what! I want to talk to her, even if that means that I'll have to cope up with Panther beating the shit out of me", he said in a determined voice. He picked up the remote controller from the floor and quickly turned off the TV. „Thursday, 2 PM. That's in... two days! I'll be there, Krystal!"
Still occupied with the fact that Krystal was going to arrive at his town on Thursday, he failed to notice that he was hungry. His attention was quickly shifted to that, after feeling pain in his stomach and hearing a quiet growl. „Well... I haven't eaten anything in days... guess I'll have to occupy my mind with that instead of Krystal for now". Throwing the remote controller on the couch, he made his way to the fridge. He approached the fridge's door with his right paw but immediately pulled it back, as if he touched fire. „Ah, no need to look in there for food. It's empty", he remembered.
„And my wallet is gone as well... not that I had much money in it, but it would still be enough for me to buy something to eat...", he said to himself in a disappointed voice, remembering the old wolf that snatched it from him. „The only thing I can do is steal now...", he felt uncomfortable saying that, knowing how famous he was and how money was not an issue before. But it's different now, he literally had to steal to survive. „Guess I'll make my way to Foxmart... and steal something... ugh". He picked up his jacket that was laying on the couch and threw it on before making his way to the door. As soon as he opened the door, a thought jumped into his mind.
„Didn't I lock the door on my way in yesterday?", he thought to himself before looking at the keyhole. The key was still in it. „How smart of me", he said in a sarcastic voice and pulled out the key with his right paw, placing it in the pocket on his trousers. „Good thing that I didn't get robbed last night... or killed... wait, I should lock the door now... God, I'm an idiot", Cursing himself, he took the key out and locked his apartments door before placing it back in his pocket. „There we go, it should be safe now".
He walked down the stairs before approaching the entrance of the building. A small red stain on the floor left of the stairs caught his eye. It was his blood from yesterday when he fell on the floor. „No one noticed that?", he asked himself. „Or maybe they did, but they didn't want to clean it up. Whatever". He opened the door and got outside, noticing the warm and sunny weather. „Hm, it must be early in the morning...", he kept looking at the sun squinting. „It's quite low on the horizon". He continued walking.The grocery store wasn't that far away, it was very close to his apartment, just a street away. After walking for a few minutes, he could see the groccery store. It was big ans spacious with a red „Foxmart" sign on top of it. The bottom of the letter „F" was curled like a fox's tail. It was a nice store with friendly staff. He knew most of them, so it was hard for him knowing that he'd have to steal from such nice people. Still though, he had to make a plan. He could just walk in and take what he needed, but he was afraid that the store's staff might notice him stealing things. It would be a huge embarrassment for him. A famous war hero stealing stuff from stores?! It was preposterous! If it ended up in the news, he couldn't walk out on the street, knowing that everyone would consider him a pitiful punk who steals stuff for a living.
Before approaching the sliding door of the groccery store, he first looked through the windows to see if there was anyone who would notice him. Luckily for him, the cashier wasn't there. He pulled on his hoodie and pushed his paws deep inside the pockets of his jacket. As soon as he stood in front of the door, it slid open.
Alright, I'll just grab some food then I'm out of here, he thought to himself. And maybe some painkillers for my head...
He kept walking through the store quickly, looking at the signs above the shelves. He was searching for the „Food" sign. He saw it and had an arrow pointing to the right, so he turned right and saw heaven for a hungry fox. It had all sorts of food - chicken, noodles, fruits, etc. He thought fast, looking at what was the easiest thing to steal. He looked inside of the freezer that was left of him and noticed a can of potted chicken meat.
Since when did they put chickens into cans? Ah, whatever! I'll take it.
Before picking up the can, he looked left and right to see if there was anyone who could see him. No one could see him, he was pretty much all alone. It was early morning anyway, so there weren't many customers. Looking left and right again to make sure that he's safe, he quickly took the can of potted chicken meat and placed it inside of his jacket, right next to his body.
„Ah!", he let out a loud moan. The can fell on the floor, making a loud sound, rolling over and bumping into a nearby shelf. He felt pain in his chest. But it wasn't the usual pain. He felt like something very cold was placed against his fur. He didn't have a shirt on, he only had a jacket.
Ah, fuck! How did I forget to put my shirt on?!
He heard footsteps and they were approaching fast, but he didn't know from where, which only made it worse for him. He started panicking, his brain kept processing hundreds of thoughts. As fast as he could, he bent down, picked up the can of meat and placed it firmly against his fur before putting his jacket over it and clenching it tightly. It was cold as ice, but he had to go through the pain unless he wants to get caught by the stores staff. He quickly turned around, facing the freezer and started acting like he was looking at the food. His heart was racing, almost to the point that he thought that he'd get a heart attack.
Please don't notice me, please don't notice me he kept thinking to himself, while biting his lower lip with his teeth and clenching the jacket even harder.
He could hear the footsteps clearly now. Whoever that was, it was behind him. He wanted to take a look, but he didn't want to risk exposing his face to the person behind him. To his surprise, the person kept walking very fast. Someone would think that the person was actually dancing.
„Charlie, sweety, get over here!", he heard an angry female voice behind him, which made his urge to look behind him even stronger. He decided to take a peek, slowly looking behind his shoulder. He saw a red vixen approaching a small kit. The young kit held a balloon and kept walking around the shelves as if he was playing. „Charlie, get over here, don't make your mom angry!" He recognized the face on the vixen. It was Julia from the bar.
Fuck, I can't let her see me, she'll recognize me in a second.
Still looking at the freezer, he started walking to the left, avoiding eye contact with the red vixen who was still chasing down her kit. Perfect distraction. Once again, he took a small peek behind his shoulder - he couldn't see both the vixen nor the kit, although he could still hear her yelling at her child. He let out a sigh.
That was close...
He didn't want to go back there and try to get another can of meat. One was enough for him, and he didn't want to risk it again. By the time the whole situation ended, he barely noticed that he was holding a cold, metal can next to his fur. It wasn't so painful anymore, he got used to it. There was now one last thing that he wanted to take. Painkillers. He kept searching for a „Medicines" sign, not realizing that he was already in the medicines department.
Ah, there we go.
He started looking for the bottle of painkillers. He didn't have to remember the name of the medicine, since the store labeled them as „Painkillers", they didn't exactly have a fancy name for them. After all, he was in a groccery store, not a pharmacy. He knew exactly where they were, since this was not the first time that he had bought painkillers. He'd always visit this store a night after getting drunk to buy a bottle of painkillers. The difference being that he was stealing them now. He saw the painkillers, they were on the bottom right corner of the shelf. It was a small bottle, perfect for him to place it in his trousers pocket. Without looking around to see if someone was watching him, he grabbed the bottle of painkillers and stuffed it in the right pocket of his trousers, right next to his keys.
Finally! That's it!
A small smile formed on his face, knowing that he had what he needed now. He started walking to the exit of the grocery store, looking down at the floor to avoid eye contact with anyone and pressing a small spot on his jacket where the can was located to prevent it from falling down. However, near the door, he noticed that the cashier was back at his work place. He lifted his left arm up and looked behind his wrist. He was pretending like he looked at his wristwatch. Soon, he started running towards the door, like he was in a hurry. It was still morning, he was hoping that the cashier would interpret that as him being late for work. He ran past the cashier and through the door, looking at his wristwatch again to make it even more realistic. He slowed down his pace, walking normally again with a big smile on his face.
„My God, that was stressful..." he said in a relieved voice and let out a loud sigh. He was safe now. Although he still felt bad for what he did, he didn't care anymore. He was a mercenary. Life taught him to get whatever he wants the way he could. Even if he had to steal.
Now that he got what he needed, he made his way back to his apartment, almost running towards it. He was so hungry that he felt like eating the meat on the street. He got in front of the building, opened the door and started walking upstairs. As soon as he got to his apartment, he got his keys out and unlocked the door.
Yes, finally home, finally able to eat!
He walked over to the fridge, opened it and placed the can of meat inside of it. He then put the bottle of painkillers on the counter while filling a glass with water. He quickly opened the bottle, took three tablets and popped them into his mouth before gulping down the water. Not only was he hungry, but he was thirsty as well. The last thing he drank was the whiskey from yesterday.
„That felt good, and hopefully the painkillers will kill this hangover", he said to himself before remembering what else he stole. The can of chicken meat. „Oh boy, this is going to be a feast!" he said in a very happy and excited voice while licking his lips.
So hungry!