Jimmy was panting as he rounded the corner half-blindly and collided with a tall, dark stranger. Without pausing for a beat, he sprinted past the man. He spared him a last glance from over his shoulder as he ran till the end of the street and turned another corner.

The moon above was glowing in its full glory with a few wisps of dark and ominous clouds floating around. The air was humid and everything was still. Amidst the quiet calm of the night, the blare of an ugly siren tore through the silence and got carried across the neighbourhood.

Jimmy increased his pace, sweat beading on his forehead, his breaths came out short and irregular. The gold jewels in the inside pockets of his jacket felt heavier with every stride he took to get to the safe house. Faster and faster, he ran through the alleys and streets, like a mouse scuttling in the dark avoiding the cat on its tail.

Soon a well-built, single storey house on top of a lonely hill on the outskirts of town came into sight and relief settled in his veins. Before setting out for tonight’s little adventure, he had already picked a house for his cover. He never stayed in a single place for long for he didn’t want to leave any traces for the police to find and track him down.

The moment he stepped in and closed the door, trying to adjust his eyes in pure darkness. The muscles in his legs throbbed from the long run and he immediately took to bed, reclining on his back as he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

The loot from tonight was by far the greatest of them all, he had already started to imagine all the wonderful things he could do from the money he’d receive in return for the sparkling jewellery. A smile inched up across his face at the thought of the luxuries he’d buy for himself. No sooner had he began drifting off to sleep, a dull clatter of noises hauled him back to senses.

He looked around the spacious room, but there was nothing he could see, and yet the voice seemed to be coming from very nearby. The hair on his neck pricked. He took a step closer towards the large double-paned windows through which the moonlight was streaming in, and then he saw it — a shadow glided past him.

Jimmy’s blood ran cold and his heart skipped a beat. Frantically, he ran his eyes around the room, his feet were rooted to the same spot on the floor as if stuck. His lower lip wobbled and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

And then with a flash, in a blur of a motion, a black cloaked man was standing in front of him. He recognised the man as the one he’d collided into earlier in the night when he was running from the police.

Was he a detective? Some kind of special agent who had so easily followed him back to his hiding place? No one had ever caught up to him in all his years in the profession. He tried to open his mouth to demand answers, but he was shivering all over. Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he clenched his fingers and tried again.

“Who are you? Were you following me?” he finally managed to say.

“Just stop,” the voice of the man was a lifeless monotone. “Stop stealing from people and I will leave you alone.”

“I don’t — I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jimmy stammered.

“You know, almost a century ago, I lived here. With my beautiful family. I was a happy man, not because I had money, but because my family, my children and my beloved wife, loved me. And then one night when I was alone in the house and my family was out of the city, a gang of armed looters stormed in. They took everything I had spent my life building, but for them it wasn’t enough. With a bullet to my head, they ran away.”

A flash of incredulous confusion brought a frown to Jimmy’s face. “Are – are you actually saying that you’re a ghost?

“Call me whatever you want, but it’s true that I died a long time ago. The reason I lingered here was because I wanted to make sure no worry ever struck my family,” the man’s voice wavered but he continued, “I could hardly bare to look at them so grief stricken, but I had to make sure no further tragedy befell them.”

Jimmy was half listening, instead he was trying to gauge the fastest route of escape from the room and he nearly jumped out of his skin when the man suddenly came closer and fixed him with a piercing stare.

“You have nothing to fear from me as long as you stay away from unlawful activities. I cannot tolerate thieves under my roof. Moreover, I can see that you have a good spirit. I see a spark in you.”

Cautiously, Jimmy took a step back, “Fine, I’ll leave your house right now.”

“But you won’t stop stealing?”

“No. Because that’s the only thing I know that’ll help me earn money, help me fill my stomach. But what do you know about that? Rich people know nothing.” He spun around, no longer terrified of the ghost and strode straight towards the door.

“Remember, you’ll suffer if you don’t stop.”

Jimmy heard the man call out behind his back, but paying him no heed, he walked out of the house and into town, laying as low as possible. The police were patrolling the streets so he had to spend all night in a trash can. The next morning, Jimmy secured the jewels in his usual secret hiding place where he kept his loot for a while before he found a way to sell it, and set out to look for a new target. It took him almost five days to locate a house perfect to his liking and to plan the minutest details of his heist.

Two days later, as Jimmy was running once again with thick bundles of currency notes weighing heavily in his pockets. Once safe inside an old tool-shed in a park, Jimmy counted the money he’d got hold of and made elaborate plans for his future. He wanted to eat fancy food, visit fancy places, wear fancy clothes and he’d be able to do all that with this money and the jewels he’d stolen the previous time.

As Jimmy closed his eyes to sleep, something gripped his neck and hauled him up in the air. His eyes flew open as he choked and he saw it was the same wretched ghost-man.

“Let go of me,” Jimmy croaked. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think.

Pressing in on Jimmy’s throat, the ghost brought Jimmy’s face closer to his own and hissed, “Stop stealing, boy. It’s a sin! You’re making God angry.”

“How am I supposed to survive?” Jimmy muttered weakly, his fingers desperately clawing at the man’s firm grip.

“You will survive,” the ghost-man’s voice softened a little, and so did his grip on Jimmy’s throat. “God loves us, He’ll definitely make a way for you. He always gives us not what we want, but what we need.” He lowered Jimmy so that his feet could touch the ground, but didn’t completely let go of his neck. “Earn the right way, boy.”

“I’ve tried!” Jimmy said bitterly, tears pooling in his eyes. “But it didn’t work. The right way never works.”

“Because you never tried with all your heart. If you do, thinking that you really want to, you’ll be successful. You’ll find peace and calm. I know you feel bad when you do the wrong thing. I’m saying this for your own good. Don’t live at the risk of getting caught and then thrown into jail for the rest of your life.”

“But what would I do?” Jimmy almost whined, sounding helpless.

“There are a lot of things. You can start by confessing and returning all the money and the jewels from the last two loots. For being honest, they’ll only sentence you for a few months which will be a fair and deserved punishment for your crimes. You ask God for forgiveness and once you’re out of jail, start small and find work in places that don’t require any particular skills. Stick to that job for a while and then take a loan from a bank and start a small business. With time and your dedication, it’ll grow. You can live in my house.”

After some long minutes, with a heart steadily going lighter and a conscience yawning and slowly rising from its restless sleep, Jimmy finally nodded, tears streaming down his eyes.

The next morning, Jimmy confessed his crimes, and thus began his journey of an honest life.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 16th, 2021