Ed walked down the stairs and into the storage room. I might as well see what was left behind. Stretching his threads out, Ed hooked into every sheet in the room, and all in one motion, threw them into the air. Pulling the sheets towards the centre, he left them to fall into a pile.

Let’s see what we have here. Most of the furniture turned out to be clothes racks and shelves of various lengths, but there was also a small assortment of other things, including a cash register, a computer, and an EFTPOS machine.

Looks like this was a clothing store. There was something hidden behind a bunch of boxes that caught Ed’s attention. Pushing the boxes aside, he found a dusty old set of machines. Two of the machines were unfamiliar to him, but he was able to vaguely recognise the third, which was an old sewing machine. I think my grandmother had one like this. Grandpa probably still has it lying around somewhere.

He ran his hand across the sewing machine, the thin layer of dust swirled off the machine, evoking memories from his past.

A young Ed, a mere four years old, patiently seated on his grandfather’s lap on the floor at his grandmother’s feet. Scrapes and scratches dotted his dirty torso, as he waited for her to finish patching up his shirt. His grandfather grabbed a wet cloth and cleaned Ed’s body before cleaning the scrapes with a cotton ball doused in rubbing alcohol.

Ed squirmed on his grandfather’s lap; the stinging pain brought tears down his face, but he remained still, knowing it was for the best.

His grandmother fed the shirt through the sewing machine, patching new pieces of cloth to cover the numerous holes on the shirt. Holding it up in front of her, she studied her work for a moment. A satisfied smile crossed her cracked lips as she turned to Ed.

“Lift your arms sweety, let’s see how it looks.” Her aged voice cracked as she looked at Ed dearly.

Ed obediently lifted his arms, as she delicately pulled the shirt over his body.

“There, everything’s better now. Isn’t it?”

Ed sighed as he lifted his hand off the sewing machine. Grandpas strong. He should be okay, right? I’ve been so caught up in everything that I haven’t even gone back to check on him. When I get out of here, I’m going to tell him I’m doing okay.

Ed wiped his face as he moved away from the corner. Let’s see what’s in the boxes.

Opening up the box in front of him, he found it filled to the brim with new clothes. There were various styles, all spread across a range of sizes. They were all tagged and priced, and from a few different brands. Ed assumed that these brands were popular, as he had noticed them being advertised around the city.

He looked out across the room at the scattered boxes. This must be all their stock. It’s a shame they never got to sell it all.

Ed searched through the rest of the boxes, and while most of the clothes and even the shoes were from the same few brands, there was one box that had clothes without any brand name attached to it. Instead, there was a small signature sewn into the inside of the clothes. None of these were priced, and Ed felt as if they had been sitting in these boxes for a long time.

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Combining this with the machines he found earlier, Ed assumed that these must’ve been handmade by the previous owner. This suspicion was all but confirmed when he opened the last few boxes and found a hodgepodge of threads, yarn, and cloth.

I wonder why they didn’t try to sell their own stuff? It looks well made to me. Ed sighed and walked back out into the main room. Maybe they did. From all the dust it looks like they gave up on their craft a long time ago.

Hopping up onto the counter, he sat and pondered for a while in the space. Lost in memories of a simpler time, he made a decision. Pulling out his phone, he shot across a quick text to Wilfred, asking him to send over a crew tomorrow to take away all of the boxes in the storage room and to get rid of the storefront windows.

He wrapped his threads around the boxes of fabric and handmade clothes and dragged them up the stairs. Placing them down in the living room, he walked off to the bedroom with a yawn.

~

“Good morning, Zara.”

“Mornin’ Buddie. How long do I have?” Zara asked, still coddled up in bed.

“You have an hour as usual.”

I’m not going to go out today, so I don’t have to worry too much about anything. “Wake me up in half an hour please.” Zara yawned and started to fall asleep.

“Okay, I will wake you up in half an hour, but just to let you know, you’ve got a special task today.”

Her eyes shot open, as she no longer felt tired. Special task? She jumped out of bed in excitement. “What am I doing today?” She asked eagerly.

“That is for you to find out when the files come in.”

Files? Does that mean what I think it means!? Zara bounced around, eagerly going about her day until an hour had passed. “Throw the files up onto the TV please!” She shouted the second the clock ticked over to the hour. She jumped onto the couch as her eyes were locked onto the screen.

Name: Jared Irvin

Age: 20

Occupation: College student

Biography: Born to parents Duke and Chryssa Irvin, Jared grew up poor, but loved football from a very young age. He watched the NFL religiously with his father, and trained constantly so that he could join the high school football team... Whenever he wasn’t out on the field, he spent his time in the gym, working on his muscles... He was MVP of his high school team several years in a row, and was given a scholarship to attend the nearest big college... He currently plays for the college football team and is their star player... One day at the gym he met Bill, and despite the slight age difference became fast friends. Jared’s family were desperately struggling with cash, so when Bill introduced Jared to Randolf and Kevin, who seemed to be incredibly wealthy, Jared eagerly jumped on the opportunity to befriend them... The group slowly pulled Jared into a life of crime, recruiting him to be the muscle for their operations... Jared has since committed multiple bank and jewellery heists, and is living lavishly...

Name: Bill Nielson

Age: 26

Occupation: Office worker

Biography: Born to parents... Bill was responsible for distracting their targets and helped Jared during the operation...

Name: Randolf stokes

Age: 32

Occupation: IT specialist

Biography: Born to parents... Randolf was the eyes and ears of the operation, as well as the overall leader...

Name: Kevin Barnes

Age: 43

Occupation: Taxi driver

Biography: Born to parents... Kevin was the getaway driver...

-End of document-

I was right! It was more than one person! This is so exciting! Zara bounced around on the couch energetically, her mind bursting with possibilities. She latched onto one idea and got to work creating a room. She designed the room to look like a bank vault and trapped the four of them inside. Four safe deposit boxes were placed in the centre of the room, each labelled with one of the four’s names. She placed tools in each box that they would need to use to ensure their survival.

“I want them to be completely trapped in the vault, and the only way they can escape is if they all willingly sacrifice the part of their bodies they need the most for their operation. They can’t force someone else to sacrifice it, they have to make the decision themselves.” Zara said, finishing up her work.

“Thank you for submitting your plan. I will let you know when it’s ready.”