A Stolen Heart

T .H .R .E .E

What would she do with the eighty dollars? Buy supplies for the kids. Catie found herself in the aisle at the supermarket, picking out fruits. She paused. There wasn't a refrigerator there, was there? Catie placed half of the fruits back, carefully. The kids would still need health foods. She walked down to find some nonperishable foods and snacks for the kids, one cartoon of milk, and a bag of candy. The cashier looked at Catie strangely.

"Are you holding a party or something?" He asked.

"Sure." Catie smiled.

The cashier ringed up her total and Catie paid. She counted her money, a good half of it was left. She shoved it in her pocket and grabbed the plastic bags, "Thanks, a lot."

Next stop? Department store. Clothing... Catie grabbed some necessities, and clothes that she thought would fit. They were a bit big, but it was something they could grow into. She turned to check out when something caught her eye. A doll with button eyes was sitting on a rack, discarded and on sale. Catie pulled it off the shelf and dropped it into the cart, what was a few more dollars?

"Friggin' stupid." Catie muttered to herself. The total amount of money everything required was a lot more then she bargained for. But what did she do? She paid it. She paid all $142.87 of it. Minus the eighty that she had earned of course.

She grabbed all the plastic baggies and headed towards the abandoned apartment.

The musky smell made her nose twitch and her feet falter. As she approached the steps, she heard something she had not expected. A pure, untainted giggle. It filled the stairwell and Catie knew right away it was the little girl. I wonder what made her so happy..

She smiled as she went up the last few steps, now certain that what she was doing was right. She walked down the hallway, to see that the door was wide open.

Catie met a pair of unwavering blue eyes. She stood at the entrance and dropped the bags.

Her eyes lingered on the stranger; he looked to be around 19, his hair was a light brown with a few dark strands carelessly tossed in. It was curled into the collar of his polo and messed sloppily around his face. He had a nice build that showed underneath his clothes and-- Catie shook her head, now was not the time to be looking.

He was holding the little girl in his arms and the boys gathered around him. Even the cold red head from earlier had a smile on his face, and a look of excitement. She took a few tentative steps, and was met with a blank stare from the stranger. He had finally decided to recognize her existence, turning his head to look at the still and frightened waitress. He had probably noticed her before she had even entered the building and chose to ignore her.

Catie decided to take a casual approach, walking in as if she had done it a million times before. The children saw her and paused unsure of what would happen. The twins tightened their grip on the stranger and stared at Catie with large matching eyes.

The little girl squirmed in the stranger’s arms until she was set on the floor and proceeded to make her way to Catie, opening her arms in a gesture which Catie understood. There was silence as the girl approached Catie with her large blue eyes. She had eyes that glistened with knowledge and wisdom, unsuited for those her age. They pierced through Catie’s outer shell and understood who she really was, that she meant no harm.

Catie smiled and complied, scooping up the girl into her arms, and in that moment, she knew she had been accepted.

“Hi there, what’s your name?” Catie questioned.

“Asher”

“That’s a pretty name. You want to introduce me to the rest of the group?”

Asher nodded, arms outstretched and Catie walked closer to the others.

“That’s Caleb” Asher said, pointing to the icy blue eyes. He nodded.

“Tyler,” The brown haired twin smiled. “and Skyler.” The blonde haired twin waved.

Asher giggled, “They’re twins.”

“I can see that.” Catie grinned.

“They’re also the next best thing to ice cream!”

“Ice cream? Really?”

“Yup!”

“Who’s that?” Catie pointed to the red head.

“Finn.”

“And him?” The one who had stolen the purse shuffled uncomfortably.

“That’s Silias.”

His jet black hair and emerald green eyes gave him a look of authority, which made him the leader. He was the obviously oldest of the children, and could not help being very protective of them. Silias had no choice but to try his best to support four other kids at the tender age of fourteen and that thought often made him irritable.

Catie suddenly remembered the plastic bag full of goodies and made a movement to walk over there. She set down Asher and grabbed her hand instead. Gesturing with her free hand , she called over the boys to look at what she had brought them.

It was like Christmas, thats the only way she could describe it. Within moments all the children were scrambling over each other to get to the new things that Catie brought them.

"Thanks I guess." Caleb walked over to where Catie was.

"Nah, it's fine."

"These kids don't really have anything. I'm never here because of my job and stuff, so.." He trailed off, putting his hands behind his head.

"Job?"

"..Don't worry about it. Let's just say you're lucky to even meet me"

Catie raised an eyebrow. "Lucky?"

Caleb knew she was going to dig too far. He dodged the question, "Why wouldn't you want to meet someone as good-looking as me?" and smirked.

WOW, somebody loves himself very much. Catie thought, ignoring his statement. But he did seem to be in pretty good shape. Unlike the kids, Caleb was well dressed and healthy. It made her wonder about the type of person he really was.. She spotted out of the corner of her eye a watch. A Rolex watch.

Wasn't that worth a lot of money? Like a shit load of money.

Who was this person?