5 Luke

"Well what do you know" Reek spoke up. "The Fire Nation's lying to us."

"Who would've thought?" I continued, chuckling despite the scene that had just befallen the two of us.

By the time the guards had gotten up to pull the body away, the crowd was already turning around to get back to their daily routines.

We continued cracking jokes and laughing, but I couldn't help but shake the look the monk gave me. It was as though he recognized me, knew me. It almost felt as though I recognized him. I shook the feeling and kept on walking.

The headless corpse was pulled offstage by the two guards holding his arms in a gruesome display. Once the crowd dispersed, they would begin looking for the head.

We left the city center back into the slums. It was fascinating how quickly the scenery changed from wealth and power to poverty and death. The first thing I say back home was a man quite literally puking his guts out in an alleyway, skinny to the bones, reminding me that I hadn't eaten yet today and should do something to change that.

"Reek" I said. "My information?"

Reek looked at me like he had no idea what I was saying, but just as quickly recollected his thoughts and said "Oh. Right. Give me a sec. Gotta piss" before running into a secluded alley. I checked if I needed to do the same, but came out negative. I had had nothing to drink yet that day.

As I stood there, I looked at the scenery around me, admiring the wonders of 3rd world life. A man at a pawn shop flipped a sign to the side that read "Out of money and goods. Come back next month," a kid no older than 3 fought with a dog for the bone of chicken leg, and a prostitute held her toddler by his right arm, dangling him in midair while she waited on a street corner for potential customers. Shit was righteously fucked up.

I leaned against a wall next to an alley after checking inside of it for potential threats. I checked inside my pockets and recounted how much money I had. Just 10 coppers from Danev and a silver from Reek from yesterday. Word on the street was that Miro got 3 of his guys into one of Riu's stashes and stole some food to sell. I gave them the location of the stash, manpower, etc. and got a cut of the profit. It sometimes came as a wonder that despite my usefulness, nobody had had me killed yet. It was all just a matter of not outliving my usefulness.

I heard somebody say something to my left that vaguely resembled name so I turned how my head and prayed I hadn't just screwed up.

As if on cue, if felt two hands grab me from behind into a chokehold and drag me into the alley. I tried calling out for Reek, but it achieved nothing. I tried grabbing at my attacker's arms, but was unable to achieve anything. My arms were practically twigs incapable of acting against the slightest force pushing against me. I screwed up. I screwed up bad and when you screw up on the streets, you die.