The Shadow Thief

Loud, raspy panting could be heard echoing down the dark, narrow ally. Suddenly it stopped, and a few seconds later, gravel shifting could be heard, then, silence once again. About half and hour later, the town's guards, almost 15 of them, stopped right at the beginning of the ally.
"Where could it have ran?"
"They couldn't have gotten that far."
"We need to keep looking!"
"It's too late. The Unmasked Bandit got away again."
Mutters of hate could be heard as the guards shuffled back to their fancy mansion homes for the night.
Far off in the distance, twelve metallic chimes could be heard as the town clock tower struck midnight.
The unseen shadow that had been in the ally much earlier was already gone, on the hidden paths towards the next town in the kingdom.
The Shadow had struck, and left again, leaving nothing but a basket of steaming bread rolls, fresh fruit, and a few strips of leather at the back step of each poor, run-down, leaning, broken shed of a house near the edges of town.

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All was quiet in the majestic castle like mansion at the edge of the grassy meadow hills. Glass and gold glittered in the blood red sun, bathing the view of the town's richer side in streaks of light pink, bright orange, and delicate lavender. Sighing, a young man turned away from the painting of a view to face the dreary, grey, desolate living room. Ruffling a hand through his chocolate colored hair, he sighed again.

This young man, 19 years in age, looked nothing of the proud aristocrat as he should currently. His attire was wrinkled and loose, his hair freshly mussed, and his eyes bloodshot. His sky blue shirt was kept one button open, and his crisp silk vest long thrown carelessly onto one of the many velvet couches positioned around the silver room. Collapsing on top of one of these couches, the young man scandalously propped his feet up onto the pure glass and gold coffee table.

"Mother and father won't be back until next month, again. You're on your own now, Alexander," he thought. Closing his eyes, he gradually nodded off into a light slumber.

A few meters away, in the exact same mansion, a sliver of a shadow was soundlessly prying open one of the many glass windows from the outside wall of the mansion. With a satisfying small click, the shadow promptly slid into the mansion through the barely open window, and vanished from sight.

Still drifting in and out of consciousness, the young man was jolted awake in shock from the telltale clink of wine glass meeting. Tense, he silently got up from the couch and stalked towards the noise.

Meanwhile, the shadow was gathering items in the kitchen, shifting items out of place, then returning them so one could never notice it was ever touched in the first place.

Alexander cautiously peered around the corner. The clinks had gotten more frequent, and he had been led to the kitchen. Glancing into the kitchen, his heart nearly stopped at what the sight which fell upon his eyes. It was a young lady, girl even, dressed quite informally, sifting through the kitchen. She seemed to grab any food she stumbled across, and blindly took a few smaller trinkets. She was slowly filling up a worn leather pouch which hung from her belt. She was decked in dirty, dusty clothes that hung from her thin but healthy frame. Strange as she already was, even stranger was the way her clothes were designed. She seemed to be wearing clothes a young gamin boy would wear, except it was crossed with the designs of a rich man's clothes. Gasping, he caught her attention. Whirling her head around, they both froze. Her sharp green eyes met his soft brown ones. Neither the robber nor the rich man moved. Time stood still.

Suddenly, the moment was broken as the thief quickly moved for the window. The young man immediately grabbed her arm, and she took a sharp intake of breath.

In a low voice, he whispered, "Wait. Who are you, and why are stealing from our house?"

Wordlessly, she effortlessly slipped her arm out of his grasped and slid through the window, only pausing halfway to answer curtly, "And they shall drown in the lake of their sins."

The shadow disappeared once more, leaving behind no trace behind but a puzzled young man in the newly turned night.