Cats and Mice

[Ami89E1234]

Well near the end of the school year Ms. McClain, our English teacher, had us write our own novels in a project called 'A Novel Endeavor' and took all of our novels and bound them into one big book at the end and gave us all copies. So I'm gonna post mine here. It's not in it's absolute final form but it's really close. Any constructive criticism/comments, etc. are welcome. Ms. McClain called me the 'King of Editing' for most of the year because of my uncanny ability to properly edit the hell out of what I and others write and she said I should "...seriously consider becoming a ---- editor". (the ---- meaning I forgot exactly what she said lol).

So here's the prologue:

P R O L O G U E

Abandoned Medical Facility

Mojave Desert, 3:24 A.M.

Quietly, five shadowy figures crept through the cool, dark night with one being carried in between two others.

When they got to the chain-link fence surrounding the complex, one took a spray can from out of his clothes and sprayed a three foot wide, four foot tall section of fence. A mist hung about the section that had just been sprayed as the figure pocketed the can and kicked the fence in front of him. The sprayed area gave way and fell inward, allowing them entry.

As they approached a small storage depot, they entered the building through an open window. The one being carried was laid down on the floor. Two of the figures started to work on the one on the floor as if he were injured.

A tall, muscular looking shadow stood by the window, bathed in the faint moonlight, strong enough to give leeway as to the clothes it was wearing, but not much else. It took a cigar out from a pocket, put it in its mouth and lit it, illuminating a rough, scarred, and yet soft face. As he stood by the open window taking in the fresh air, one of his companions approached.

“Nice, screwing up a simple bank robbery like that. Four security guards, three bystanders, two cops….”

“…And a partridge in a pear tree,” sang the large man in a mocking tone.

“This isn’t funny. Now we’ll have every cop from L.A. to Albuquerque looking for us by tomorrow morning. Not to mention Jenkins is wounded and we’re stuck in this place.”

The large man took another long drag from his cigar. “You complain too much. Look on the bright side; we’re about $465,000 richer.”

“Is that all you can think about, huh? Money is your only comfort apparently. You don’t care who lives or dies or what the consequences are; you just want money,” the other man said, turning away.

“Look, there are only two things the world revolves around; one is its axis, the other is me.”

“You greedy son of a…”

“Take one more step closer, I dare you,” said the large man, pulling a pistol from his jacket.

The other man stopped approaching. “We both know you won’t do it. Put the gun down.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said the large man, turning around. “Then again, maybe you’re not.” He spun around and shot the man in the stomach. He turned towards the others, who looked as if nothing had just happened. “Any more questions?” which was quickly answered by several head-shakes.

“Good. We leave in two hours.”

A groan from behind him made his attention focus on the injured man.

“And as for you…”

BTW the formatting of the actual book is way different since the forum screws it all up.

So whaddya think?

[Newfoundking]

One thing that might help with formating is using code boxes. I was gonna do that, but I never bothered.

[Ami89E1234]

Meh okay. Anyway here's Chapter 1.

C h a p t e r 1
I had been on the streets of L.A. for almost a year now. I had left behind a family, a huge house, fortune, and every comfort you could possibly imagine behind. I had hated my parents for as long as I remember. They had always tried to keep me close to them, to hold me back from the entire world. They wouldn’t let me leave the property, let me drive, or even let me go to school. I felt so restricted, so held back and oppressed for a 16 year old that I finally made up my mind and decided to run away the night before my 17th birthday. It wasn’t even a hard decision to make. I didn’t care what happened or if they were looking for me, I just wanted to experience how it is to be free, no matter for how long.
I had made friends with most of the other kids that were on the street; other runaways, orphans, outcasts, you name it. Point is, I don’t really trust adults anymore.
I was just taking a walk by the normal spots me and my friends hang out at when Tommy Links, one of my best friends and nearly three years older than I am, ran up to me, followed by CJ and Anita Ramonez.
“Hey,” said Tommy. 
“Hi Tommy,” I replied. “So, what do we do today?”
	“It’s a surprise. Come on.” I went with the trio for a couple blocks until we came to Sam’s Fine Merchandise. 
	“So?” I asked. “It’s just a store.” 
	“Ah, but look inside.” So I did, and to my joy I saw the thing I had always wanted: a gold necklace studded with diamonds and even pearls. 
	“Oh, my god! I… I don’t know what to say,” I shouted with joy. Then I thought ‘Why?’ “Well, so why are you showing me this?”
	“It’s your 18th birthday tomorrow, and we decided to get you a gift.”
	“But how will you get it? You guys sure can’t afford it.”
	“We have ways of getting it,” turning to CJ and winking.
	“What, you guys aren’t thinking of stealing it, are you?” I asked, shocked.
	“Think of it more as ‘borrowing.’”
	“Oh no, you are NOT stealing it! Really guys, think; it’s not worth it to steal anything for my birthday. It’s trouble waiting to happen.”
	“Come on, don’t be such a pushover. It’s just a necklace. They can get another one.”
	“No, it’s the cops I’m worried about. We don’t need any heat right now.”
	“Whatever. We’re outta here,” he said, motioning to the rest to follow.
	I watched him disappear around the corner, leaving me lost in my thoughts. Ugh, how come I always screw up things like that? I took another look at the store, put my hands in my jean pockets and shuffled down the street alone.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
	Midnights in L.A. are always fun. Usually still warm, not as busy as day, and the night crowd, the fun crowd, is out. I was just enjoying life as usual in my ordinary spot on some street that was at the very edge of the night life scene. I liked just watching the nightclubs from a distance, just thinking of how it’d be like to be in one. 
So it started out like a normal night until I saw Tommy and his gang walking in the shadows, slowly making their way to the store they were going to steal my present at. They didn’t notice me so I followed them from a respectable distance. They got to the store and CJ pulled out some heavy object. I quickly got to the store but something held me back from approaching, as if I was somehow curious to see what would happen. CJ smashed a window and, being fortunate that this store didn’t have an alarm, which is surprising for this part of L.A., they jumped inside and headed towards the necklace. As they started to loot my present, I went up to them.
“What the hell are you guys doing!? We’re all gonna go to jail for this.”
“Ah, what’re you doing here,” said Tommy, stumbling back in surprise and turning towards me. “If we got caught, we didn’t want you to get busted, too. Why do you always have to follow us whenever we do something like this?”
“Because I care about you guys. You’re some of my only friends, and I don’t know what I’d do if you went to jail.”
So Tommy and I stood looking at each other for a few seconds before a voice behind us brought us back.
“Hey! What are you kids doing in here?”
I turned in horror to see that some passerby had seen us. He got a good look at all of our faces as we stood in horror facing him.
“Crap!” shouted Tommy. “Everyone scatter!”
All four of us sprinted out of the store, rushing past the man. We split in different directions. 
“Hey, come back here! I’m calling the cops!”
That’s how I found myself running as fast as I could towards Skid Row, where I thought I could hide out for awhile at least from the cops.