Handsome Is As Handsome Does

Adelaide Wilson liked to think of the good parts of life. The fact that she had a roof over her house, even if it did leak. How she has her little brother with her, a constant comfort and remembrance of the life she once knew. How she had lived each day as it comes, managing to see another sunrise and set.

Of course there are parts of Adelaide's life that weren’t that pleasant, but who has a perfect life? At least this is what Adelaide thought whenever things seemed to be getting on top of her, pulling her into a depressive state she did not want to slip into, no, one she couldn’t slip into. Her little brother was her main priory and she would do anything to make sure he was safe. That’s why they were living where they were, with the people they had grown to know.

"B-but Addy, you can't go," the four year old boy said, holding tightly onto his sisters skinny legs, his big eyes pleading at her to listen to him.

"Cay, I'll be gone for only a few hours. When I get back I promise you we'll have food. I know that’s what you want, so just let me do this, okay? I promise I'll be okay," the teenage said, picking up her little brother and cradling the crying child in her arms.

Caiden may seem like a needy child, but there is much that needed to be known about him for this to truly be understood. Caiden had been very young when their parents had died, yet still knew that that was where the substantial change happened in their lives to take them to where they are now. Of all the people that were around them constantly, Caiden only trusted two.

Adelaide and Pippa.

Pippa was Adelaide's 'secret' best friend. Pippa's parents had a strong hatred for the Wilson family stemming from many years of resentment and would most probably act very radically if they were to find out about Adelaide and Pippa's exchanges.

Pippa had known Adelaide since a young age and had stuck with her when many other 'friends' had deserted her. Pippa would try and help the two unfortunate children out as much as she could yet it still didn’t appear to be enough.

"Y-you promise you'll be b-back soon?" Caiden mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Pinky promise, sweetheart. Now you have to be a big boy and just stay in our room till I get back from doing Teresa's job, okay?" He just nodded his head in reply.

As Adelaide left the room, she accidently knocked into Teresa, the woman she was hoping to avoid.

"I thought you'd already gone, we have a lot of people depending on your 'findings' today, don’t mess it up!" With that she turned swiftly on her heels and stalked off, probably looking for the next person to shout at.

If there was any one person that could disappear at this moment in time it would be Teresa, Adelaide thought bitterly but instantly regretted it. Although Teresa was a bit of hard work at times, she had been the one to 'adopt' them both into her 'family' which consisted of many other children who had no other place to go. I guess you could compare it to Fagin's 'family' of pick-pocket's, but their leader was a woman instead of a man.

Adelaide was used in a lot of the major plans that were to go down because of her 'innocent' look that appeared to fool everyone from what she was doing to them all along. She hated what she did, yet she would not let her brother starve because of her own conscience, that’s what kept her striving each day.

The door to the back alley squeaked a little as the door was carefully pushed open just enough for the girl's thin frame to fit through and slid into the deserted pathway. With a deep breath Adelaide added herself to the throng of people that were present in the busy street, all seeming to be in a rush to get to places.

Her eyes skimmed over everyone, but instantly stopped once she'd spotted her target. A smirk found its way to her fragile features, this one would be easy.

When she was standing no more than a few meters away her body went hurtling into the boy, knocking them both to the floor. A fake gasp escaped Adelaide's lips as she flew into the usual false apologies whilst secretly finding a place to stash whatever I had managed to grab. Teresa had described my target to me and exactly what I needed to grab so as soon as these things were safely hidden I would normally have ran away, leading them away from our 'haven' then doubling back on myself.

But this time was different, this man was different. His firm hand was wrapped around my arm as we both clambered our way up till we were standing at our normal height again, yet his hand remained in the same place. Panic flashed across Adelaide's eyes just long enough for the boy to catch it.

"You didn’t accidently bump into me, you wench. Now I demand you tell me what the hell you are doing?"

"N-nothing," Adelaide's breathing became heavier, her pulse rising rapidly. Her body was shaking almost like she was her own personal earthquake. These signs just fuelled the boy's anger, making his grip tighten and his demeanour more menacing.

"I am not in the mood for these petty games; I demand you tell me right. This. Second!" The booming of his voice caught many peoples attention, his own leaving the girls just long enough for her to release her bony arms from the man's grip release the items she had hidden and take off running in the opposite direction.

Shouts and commotion was left in the chaos that was behind her yet growing closer and closer. Adelaide found it getting harder to outrun the figure that was hot on her tail, her lungs failing to produce enough oxygen running through her blood steam and black spots started to appear in front of her eyes.

Just as the boy made a grab for the slowing girl in front of him, her body collapsed too quickly for him to do anything, her head rebounding off of the cement floor, leaving red liquid to run in the spaces between each tile.