Little Thief

Rina comes from a family of five — three children and then the parents. Being the second child, life has been unfair to her. She stopped going to school at a young age, learned how to cook at a young age, and refused to play with her mates.

After her parents lost their jobs, life became a bit harder for them, especially for her. Her elder brother, the first child of the family made the whole thing worse by becoming useless. He squandered the whole money their parents saved, sold their properties, and left for another city.

When he used up all the money, he resolved to gamble and do all manner of illegal just to earn money.

Meanwhile, Rina felt that as the first and only daughter, she had to take it upon herself to see that her family was okay. As such, she began to do all manner of jobs to make a living. She could have gotten a better and payable job but because she couldn't go to school, no company was willing to employ her. Nevertheless, she was not heartbroken and focused on the little ones she was doing.

With her hard work, her family was able to have a three-square meal every day and her parents were thankful to her. They were happy to have her as their child.

But one day, something bad happened to her.

"Rina!" The woman called as she walked into the eatery where Rina was working.

"Mam, you called," Rina replied and rushed out from the inside. Seeing her madam looking angry, Rina was scared because it was her first time seeing her looking so angry.

"Come here, you little thief!" Her madam yelled and Rina was taken aback. Nevertheless, she rushed and stood before the woman. "After all the trust I have for you, you still went ahead to steal my money? How evil of you!" The woman said very angrily. The customers in the shop all stopped what they were doing and began to stare at them.

"Mam, I don't understand—" Before Rina could finish, a slap landed on her cheeks, and that spot turned red immediately.

"You still dare to lie to my face?" Her madam who slapped her asked furiously.

"I—" Rina was short of words. She could not understand anything that was happening. What money? She has never taken anyone's thing, not even things that belong to any member of her family so what was her madam talking about?

"You are lucky that I did not call the cops on you, I would have made sure you rot in jail, slut!" The madam grunted and tears began to stream down from Rina's eyes. However, the tears didn't move the woman because she was sure of what she was saying.

The money that was missing was kept in one of the lockers and Rina was the only one in charge of the money. The madam made it so because of the level of trust she had in her. Not to blame her wrongly, the madam went as far as checking the CCTV and when she did, the footage showed that Rina was the last person that went there. All of these made the woman certain that the girl was the one who took the money.

"Your services are no longer wanted here, leave my presence!" She said to Rina and then turned to another female worker there. "Make sure she leaves, if she doesn't, you will pay for it!" After that, she left and returned to her office.

The female worker, scared, turned to Rina and began to plead. "Please, Rina, you have to leave. I don't want any problems at all."

"But Elsa, I didn't take the money. You know that," Rina cried.

"I know but what has that got to do with me?" Elsa replied. "Just leave, okay?"

Rina realized that no one was going to believe her no matter how she cried or what she said so she wiped her tears and went to carry her bag. After that, she left with her head lowered.

It was approaching night and her house was quite far from the workplace, nevertheless, she refused to take a lift. As she walked, she thought of everything the madam had said but none of them made any sense to her. Yes, she was the last person to go to the locker but she didn't take any money from it. She wondered why this was happening to her, and she could not help but conclude that it was done by someone to punish her but for what? She never offended anyone so why would someone plan such an evil thing for her?

Trying not to cry again, she wiped her face and continued. She tried to console herself with the thought that all hope was not lost because she still had three more jobs so losing one was not the end of the world.

She had not gone far when the sky changed and rain began to pour down. Slowly at first but soon after, it began to pour down aggressively. Many people began to run around, looking for a place to hide whereas she didn't run. As the rain poured down on her, she felt her worries watched away little by little and she soon found herself loving the downpour.

Suddenly, someone running, ran toward her and collided with her. Because she wasn't looking, she tripped and fell.

"I'm sorry!" The person said and continued running.

"Huh?" She muttered and rose to her feet. She could not see the person properly because he was wearing a mask but she knew it was a man. After picking up her things, she continued her own little journey back home.

After she had walked for a while, her phone rang. She didn't want to pick it up at first but it continued ringing and she was left with the choice of picking it up. Getting under a shade, she took out her old cell phone and picked up the call, it was from an unknown number.

"Who is this? You've endlessly called me and it is adding to my anger!" She said.

"Hello, is this Miss Sabrina?" The male caller asked.

"Yes, who is this?" She replied.

"I am calling from Royal Hospital, your father was brought here a while ago, and your presence is needed," the caller said.

"What? I am coming!" Rina said and hung up. She went to the main road and waved at the first cab to come by. "To Royal Hospital, please."