Royal Thief (Editing)

Chapter 2

Annabelle

I walked into the blue hospital room which mum moved in yesterday with another patient at the left side.  She pulled up the hospital's white sheet with a smile.

"Anna la Belle."

"Mum, how are you?"

"The doctor said I need scissors running around my body mi niña," She answered in her thick Mexican accent.

After finding her bleeding in her room and going through series of test, she was diagnosed with Cervical cancer and immediate Chemotherapy and External beam radiation was recommended, followed by close monitoring.

"Mum, there is no need for scissors during chemotherapy."

"Belle, how are you going to get money for the Chemotherapy and Radiation stuff?" She inquired, with a wave of her hands. Anyone walking in would never believe she was ill.

"I warned you to stop that slashing thing you do."

One thing mum would never call me was a thief or a pickpocket, so she called my act the nicest name she found in her book, "Slashing".

"Mum, I stopped trust me, and the chemotherapy is free."

"Free?" She asked, I could tell she had her doubts. Nothing was free in the world, especially for the poor like us.

I nodded.

"Well that's great, so how are you going to handle the rents? we owe the frowning lady four months already," She said, moving to another rough issue that had me banging my head to the wall every morning.

The frowning lady was the landlord of the terraced house we rented. Mrs Vivian, her constant screaming and nagging, got her many names like the goddess of flame, nagging witch, death glare, but as always, mum gave her the nicest name in her book. "Frowning lady".

"I can call her and plead for more time?"

"I called already, she requested we pack out or pay up, she has been patient enough and you know that."

"I can-"

"Just talking to you about this makes my womb shake Belle," She said, cutting off my suggestion.

"Mum! Don't say that." Mum's womb only shook when bad things are prone to happen.

"You can get the money from your uncle?"

A frown crossed my face at the mention of my uncle. "Uncle Jeffrey? No mum."

"It's better than slashing."

"Let's drop the topic already," I suggested.

"We can't drop it, Belle!"

"I will get the money, in a legal way."

"No illegal?"

I nodded with my fingers crossed,
Illegal was my way of doing things, if we did not want to live out on the street, illegal was the only way out.

"Now leave my room Belle, I was about to pray, or you kneel down beside my bed and pray with your poor mama."

I stood, picked my brown bag, and plodded out the door.

"Always running away from God!" Her voice vibrated out of the room. I looked up to see nurses glaring at me, I smiled and hurriedly walked to the exit.

***
I walked out of the hospital into the crowded street of London, and strolled through Oxford street which was packed with people trying to beat the morning rush.