52stories

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Jill stood in the center of the Trieste Centrale station, looking up at the train schedule. With Carlo’s forty Euros, she had just enough for a ticket to Rome, and twenty minutes to spare. She walked to the ticket counter and purchased a one way fare.

She turned from the counter warily, her eyes scanning the wide room to see if Carlo might have followed her here. She didn’t think he would. He had said he was on his way to the piazza for some reason and hopefully that reason would keep him there. She felt a small pang of guilt for taking his money; he’d been a really nice guy. But she needed it more than he did, and the ends justified the means in her limited perspective.

Her eyes paused on a family of four that was standing in line for coffee on the other side of the atrium. They were striking because they were all blonde and well-dressed in colorful clothing that stood out from the sea of black and brown around them. The parents were an attractive couple but it was their children that held her attention. A young boy and girl, maybe four years and six years old respectively, and dressed in similar bright colors. They were holding hands and standing together with their backs to her, their attention obviously centered on the chilled display of pastries attached to the espresso cart.

Her mind travelled quickly back in time, to the day that she discovered she had a talent for taking things. She couldn’t have been more than six years old herself at the time, and Seth would have been four. Her mother had taken her and her younger brother to the county fair, where they got to pet cows and brave rickety carnival rides that had definitely seen better days. Somewhere between the 4H displays and the food booths, they had run into one of her mother’s friends. While the women briefly caught up on the usual town gossip — who was sleeping with who and oh my goodness did you see what Charlene wore to church last Sunday — Jill and Seth wandered over to the pony ride tent. Seth was in his “I want to be a cowboy when I grow up” phase and his eyes were locked on the horses, but Jill had found something entirely different to focus on. A woman had placed her handbag on the ground near the corner pole of the tent while she attended to her young son who was riding one of the dappled ponies. The bag was small and dainty, and made from pink leather. Jill thought it was pretty and she decided that she wanted it. Now. She casually inched over to the corner of the tent, then quick as can be she grabbed the little purse and stuffed it into the elastic waistband of her pants.

“C’mon, Seth, we better get back to Mom,” she called out as soon as she was certain that her orange t-shirt covered her new acquisition.

She clearly remembered the sense of excitement that she’d felt when she realized she got away with it. The woman probably thought some drunk carnie had made off with her purse; she’d never suspect the angelic little blonde girl holding her brother’s hand while they followed their mother back to their car. After this first success, she started to steal things whenever she got the chance. Eventually, that sense of excitement turned into an addiction, and by the age of ten Jill was an accomplished pickpocket. It wasn’t that she needed the money; her dad was a successful doctor with his own practice in downtown San Diego. His children wanted for nothing. She was simply addicted to the thrill of doing it, of getting away with it. She never got caught, either. Until that one time, when she was sixteen years old and the clerk at the local drugstore caught her swiping a tube of lipstick from the Maybelline counter. What an embarrassment that was to her father — Doctor Weiland’s perfect little girl caught shoplifting. She’d been grounded for two months and shamed into eternity. She’d never stolen again until today. At first she thought she’d lost her touch when her first attempt to grab the Italian’s cash at the newsstand had failed. But the poor guy was oblivious to the attempt, and she didn’t fail the second time around. Still, she wasn’t happy about having to resort to old habits, especially when Carlo had been so nice to her.
“Damn you, Amanda,” she cursed quietly under her breath, her mind coming back to the present. She continued scanning the crowd in the atrium to be sure Carlo wouldn’t suddenly appear.
When she was satisfied that she hadn’t been followed, she made her way to the platform where her train was due to arrive. It was crowded with other travelers and she had no trouble blending in, looking like any other tourist headed south. She needed to blend in right now. It wasn’t just Carlo she was hiding from.

Jill shuddered. “Damn you, Amanda,” she said again, more agitated this time. They had been having a great time on their grand adventure through Europe. Until they ran into an old friend of Amanda’s a week ago at a club in Amsterdam. Jonathan was tall and almost handsome, but he had the wasted, wiry body and feral look in his eyes that implied serious drug use. Jill was immediately uncomfortable around him. When he’d offered them a place to stay that night she had initially refusted, but Amanda pleaded with her until she’d reluctantly agreed to the idea. They might as well save some money where they could.

Jonathan’s flat was small and dirty, and he’d offered them something to smoke the second they walked in. Jill had just shaken her head but Amanda had giggled and followed him into the bedroom while Jill staked out a place to sleep on his couch. It was comfortable enough if she didn’t think about what might be hiding underneath the cushions. Amanda had awakened her early the next morning, a finger on her lips indicating that they should be very quiet as they gathered their stuff to leave. She seemed like she was in a hurry to get out of there.

“What is it with all of the rushing and secrecy?” Jill had asked her as soon as they were clear of the dingy apartment.

“It’s nothing, I just made a mistake, that’s all.” Jill thought Amanda looked a little more worried than regret over a one night stand might account for, but she didn’t press her for details. Instead, they decided to cut their stay in the Netherlands short, and boarded a train headed for Vienna instead. Jill had done a paper on the Habsburg dynasty in her freshman college history class and she was excited about touring the Hofburg Imperial Palace there the following day.

“Do you mind if I don’t go with you to the Hofburger Palace tomorrow?” Amanda had asked.

“Hofburg. Not burger.” Jill sometimes wondered why she was friends with Amanda. She wasn’t the brightest bulb in the room.

“Okay, do you mind if I don’t go with you to the Hofburg Palace”? Amanda repeated, emphasizing the correction. “I’m not feeling that good and I want to sleep in.”

“No problem,” Jill said. She was actually kind of relieved — Amanda had a tendency to whine after short periods of cultural immersion. She was much more interested in the shopping and clubbing aspects of their travels. Jill would have a much better time touring the palace on her own. The following afternoon she returned to an empty hotel room and a note on her bed.

Dear Jill,

I am SO sorry to leave you like this. I got a call from my stepdad today while you were out. My mom is having another episode and I have to go home right away. I’m off to the airport to catch the next flight out. I didn’t know how long you’d be and figured you’d be fine on your own, anyway. Call me when you get back, okay?

Love,

Amanda

Jill ripped up the paper and threw it into the toilet. Amanda was such a loser. She’d never felt the need to rush to her mother before during one of her “episodes”. She usually stayed as far away from that drunken woman as she could. She just didn’t want to go to Venice and this was her way of weaseling out of Jill’s part of the trip. London and Paris and Amsterdam had been Amanda’s choices. Vienna and Venice had been Jill’s. Amanda wasn’t thrilled about the Italian portion of their trip, in fact she’d been downright whiny about it. She hated tomatoes, she hated smelly canals, she hated Italian men. Jill was better off without her. She spent the next day touring other Vienna highlights, her enthusiasm somewhat dampened despite her determination to enjoy the rest of her trip. She planned to stay three more days in Vienna after which she’d move on to Venice.
He caught up with her two days later. She was walking back to the to the hotel after touring the Liechtenstein Museum when a somewhat familiar voice called her name. She turned around and saw Jonathan staring at her. He looked like he hadn’t slept in three days. And he didn’t look happy to see her.

“Where’s Mandy?” he sneered. Jill didn’t like the way he said Amanda’s nickname. Plus, Amanda hated to be called Mandy. No wonder she’d regretted sleeping with the guy.

“She’s not here.” Despite her anger about being abandoned Jill wasn’t about to rat her friend out to this jerk. Suddenly, Jonathan smiled and his face looked almost handsome again.

“I missed you the other morning. Mandy didn’t say goodbye.”

“She didn’t want to. How the hell did you find me here, anyway.”

“Mandy told me you were going to Vienna next. I figured you’d eventually visit the Liechtenstein, so I waited for you there.”

“You waited three days?” Jill asked incredulously. Jonathan just shrugged his shoulders.

“Where’s Mandy?” he asked again, walking closer. Jill looked around nervously. It was getting dark and the street they were on was empty.

“I told you, she’s not here! She left Vienna two days ago.”

“How convenient.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t you?” Jonathan’s tone was menacing.

“No. Look, you better leave me alone or I’m gonna scream.” Jill swallowed, secretly wondering if she’d be able to scream loud enough for anyone to hear.

Jonathan suddenly laughed. “Scream all you like, little girl. You have no idea what trouble you’re in.”

“What are you talking about?” Jill intended for this to sound like a demand, but it came out as a whisper.

“Your friend took something from me. I want it back.”

“I have no idea what she took from you. I have no idea where she is.”

“Don’t you?” Jonathan said again. He took something out of his pocket, and Jill’s knees went weak when she realized it was a knife.

All of a sudden, two figures turned onto the street, two blocks down. Jill couldn’t believe her luck — even that far away she could tell they were policemen. She screamed. Jonathan ripped her purse from her shoulder and ran. The policemen were immediately after him. She had no idea if they caught him or not, and she didn’t stick around to find out. She needed to leave Vienna, and she needed to leave now. She ran to the hotel, quickly packed her bag — fortunately she’d left a little money and her passport in there — and hurried to the train station. The next train out was headed for Trieste and she took it.

A day later here she was on her way to Rome. Rome wasn’t on their original itinerary, so hopefully Jonathan wouldn’t think of looking for her there, assuming he had escaped the police. And even if he did, it was a huge city. He’d never be able to find her in the short time it should take her to lift enough cash for a plane ticket home. “Family emergency.” she sneered. She wondered what it was that her friend had taken from Jonathan, and had a sinking feeling that he might make a trip to San Diego to get it back. She would have a nice little talk with Amanda as soon as she got home, and then she would decide whether or not to go to the police. In the meantime, she had some more pockets to pick.