The Stolen Wallet

Milo Grant never asked for the life he lives. He never asked to have deadbeat parents. He’s lived on the streets almost his whole life. He never really had a job, he ran low on talent and education. However, Milo had one talent, he could pickpocket anyone, and not get caught, It wasn’t the best talent to have but it kept him alive, and he was grateful for that. 

Milo made his way through the crowded streets of New York. He studied every person as they passed him. He took note of what their clothes looked like, if they looked like they had money, what building they walked out of, and the most important factor for Milo, how easy it would be to grab their wallet without him noticing. He watched the girl in front of him. Her wallet was hanging loosely out of her pocket and Milo could see the Louis Vuitton logo printed onto it. She reached for the handle on the door to the coffee shop. Milo rushed in front of her, grabbing her wallet quickly and held the door open for her. “Thank you” she gave him a sweet smile. Milo smiled back, he was excited. She looked like she had a lot of money, or at least her parents did. Milo walked behind her, pulling out a wallet he had taken from a man previously, to pay for a coffee. He didn’t like coffee but he couldn’t just leave, that’d be too suspicious.

Milo waited anxiously for his coffee, just wanting out of the small shop so that he could get back to his apartment. The girl walked up to him. “You okay, you seem anxious,” she said. The voice scared him, since he wasn’t paying much attention. “Yeah, yeah, just in a hurry” he gave a slightly nervous laugh. She simply smiled and nodded and went back to her seat. The barista called Milo’s name, once again causing Milo to jump. He cursed himself for using his real name because now the girl knew it. He left the shop quickly heading back to the apartment he shared with his best friend Daniel.

Milo and Daniel have been friends for years. When Milo was kicked out at the age of 12, Daniel had found him on the streets crying. Daniel was abandoned around the same time Milo was kicked out. Daniel stole things for them, he was good at it too. Milo soon found out that he was a good pickpocketer. This went on to be how Daniel and Milo survived. They were very grateful for each other. 

Milo entered the small apartment, emptying his pockets. “Dani, I’m back” Milo called out through the house. Daniel entered the room swiftly, plopping down on the couch next to Milo. The boys went through the wallets one by one, hoping to have enough to not only pay for rent but buy groceries as well. It wasn’t as easy for Daniel to steal their food anymore. The boys sounded like flat-out criminals, and they were, but they would never admit that. But they only did it to survive. Though every once in awhile, when Milo would get a good wallet, they would splurge and buy something they didn’t need. Milo finally got to the girl’s wallet. “Dude Louis Vuitton, how” Daniel asked in amazement. “Some rich girl at the coffee shop, it was loosely hanging out of her pocket and I grabbed it with ease” Milo said. Milo opened up the wallet to find a couple hundred dollars, two credit cards, and a gift card to the coffee shop. “This is enough for rent and food,” Daniel said, sifting through all the cash they had now. 

Milo waved goodbye to Daniel as he left his house for his nightly rounds. He once again made his way through the streets. They were no longer as crowded as they were before, college students seemed to roam the streets at this time, and most of them went to the best college in state, and were loaded with money. Milo took a wallet as he walked by someone, then taking another, only to find that the first one was gone. He stopped for a moment. Maybe I dropped it. He thought to himself. But that’d be impossible, he couldn't have dropped it he would’ve noticed. He shook his head, ignoring it, and continued walking. Once again, the wallet he had stolen was missing. He began to get paranoid. What if someone saw him? What if someone knew? What if they caught him? What if they called the police? The thoughts ran through Milo’s head at a mile a minute. 

He turned around quickly and headed back to his apartment. He took a couple wallets as he passed trying to test the many theories going through his mind. Each time, the wallet would disappear without a trace left behind. In all honesty, it terrified him. Although many thoughts were going through his head all he could really think was, ‘what if I just dropped it, and the person picked it up thinking they did.’ He didn’t want to believe that someone had caught him. He couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

He entered the apartment quickly, wanting to get away from whatever was happening. He was out of breath, and answers. “Milo, I left the house to go get food, and I swear to you I locked the door, but the wallets, the money, our safe, it’s all gone” Daniel’s voice was panic filled. “Everytime I took a wallet, it would disappear, someone knows Daniel” Milo said. He didn’t like the fact that he had just admitted it. It the distance, the sound of cop car sirens could be heard. “Do you think someone called” Daniel asked. “I don’t know, we hear the sirens all the time, it could be anything” Milo said. He knew in the back of his mind, those cop cars were most likely coming for him. 

Minutes of silence passed and the sirens were outsider their apartment. “This is the NYPD, open up” the voices yelled. “Dani, I don’t want to go” Milo cried. He was absolutely terrified. “Milo, they have a good reason to take you” Daniel reasoned. Milo was taken aback by what Daniel had said. Daniel was just as bad as he was. The door flew open and the police took Milo, and cuffed him. Milo looked back to Daniel, who had a smirk on his face, and he was holding the Louis Vuitton wallet, and standing beside him? The girl from the coffee shop.