Stolen

Another woman has fallen victim to a robbery. Her house was stripped of everything valuable: gold, food, even cutlery. Agatha Harkness has her fingerprints all over this. Every week, another house is left empty, another family left with nothing. All because of Agatha Harkness. Why hasn’t she been caught yet, you ask? Rumor has it that she's untouchable. They say she blackmails anyone who catches her in the act. She’s always one step ahead, after all, robbing people means learning a lot about them, sometimes more than they’d ever want her to know.

Rio Vidal knows she should feel lucky that Agatha Harkness has never targeted her. But truthfully, if it happened, she wouldn’t mind all that much. Yes, financial loss would suck, but Rio has always been fascinated by Agatha. How does one woman manage to build such a dangerous reputation? It’s not like women are often taken seriously these days, let alone feared. 

She lives in a cabin in the woods with one of her best friends, Alice Wu-Gulliver. They met some time ago and have been inseparable ever since. The two agreed to live together until one of them finds a husband. Rio, however, isn’t really interested in that idea. It’s just never been her thing, but she plays along. After all, that's how the world works. Most girls her age were married. Her turn would come soon, arranged by her mother, no doubt. She just hoped the guy wasn’t unbearable.

Women’s worth depends on marriage. Rio thinks that’s unfair, what makes men so superior?

“Rio!” Alice’s voice from the kitchen broke her thoughts. “I’m heading to the market. Need anything?”
“No, just the usual stuff. Thanks.”

Rio and Alice hang out together all the time, but Rio gets bored really easily. She’s always searching for new ways to keep herself entertained. At one point, she even considered finding a job, but that thought quickly faded. Her mother wouldn’t approve, and besides, there are very few women who are able to get a job anyway. So, she discarded the idea entirely. 

She hears the front door close and figures that Alice must have left. Rio drags herself downstairs, steps outside, and settles into the rocking chair on the wooden front porch. The silence is almost deafening now. Earlier, there was a bit of commotion because of the robbery, but that seems to have disappeared now. Maybe she should check on Jen—the woman who was robbed? They’re not exactly best friends, but they’re friendly. Besides, what else does she have to do?

Jen’s house isn’t far, maybe a five-minute walk. As Rio makes her way there, she can’t stop thinking about Agatha Harkness. What would it take for someone to become so detached from the world? Maybe it’s not just survival. Maybe it’s defiance. If Agatha ever gets caught, she’ll most definitely be sentenced to death, probably accused of witchcraft.

There haven’t been many witchcraft accusations in Rio’s village, and she’s thankful for that. She doesn’t believe in witches. It’s just another excuse men use to control women. Say something they don’t like, and suddenly you’re a witch. Burn the evidence, burn the woman.

Sometimes, it feels like nobody in this place likes women, least of all, other women. Men feel superior, women put each other down, and even children… well, they’re taught to follow the rules. Rio is really sick of being seen as “lesser” just because she’s a woman, but there’s not much she can do about it. She never went to school. Women weren’t supposed to. But Rio taught herself to read and write anyways. She wasn’t going to let them keep her in the dark. Her mother often scolded her for being "too outspoken". She said that that attitude was what was going to get her killed.

As Rio walked to Jen’s house, she kicked a loose stone down the path. Better an honest life, she thought, than one spent hiding who you are. The whole system is messed up.

When Rio arrives inside Jen’s house, she notices a local sheriff standing there, scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Did they find out who did it?" she asks, even though she, and everyone else, already know the answer. Without even looking up at her, the sheriff responds, "Yeah, it was obviously Harkness." Rio glances at the sheriff’s notebook, trying to make out what’s written on the page. But before she can read anything, the sheriff looks up at her with a puzzled expression and quickly turns the notebook away.

"You can read?" the sheriff asks, full of disbelief. "Is that so surprising to you?" Rio replies.

She’s so tired of everyone treating women like they’re garbage. Yeah, some of us can read. Shocker! We have the same brain capacity as men, wow! The Sheriff furrows his brow. "What’s your name?" "Rio Vidal," she answers, not sure where this is going. Before the sheriff can ask anything else, Jen steps out of her house and walks toward them, cutting the tension. Rio is happy to see Jen. She couldn't wait to get out of this interaction.

"Rio?" Jen says surprised. "I didn’t expect to see you here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you, but it just... surprises me." It has been a while since Rio saw Jen. They were in the same dance class together, but were never really more than acquaintances. Now she sees her once in a while on the market but that's it. Exept for Alice, Rio doesn't really have any friends. She has her sister, Rachel, and her mother-if you can even call them friends.

"I’m just trying to be supportive, check how you’re doing," Rio replies. Jen lets out a bitter laugh. "I’m obviously not doing so well," she says. "Everything was stolen. All of it."

Rio gives her a sympathetic look. Jen is the town’s medicine woman, the one you go to if you need anything—she can fix almost anything. Her services come at a price, so she probably has the money to replace all the stolen things, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking. Some things hold more value than money. It’s not about the item itself, but the meaning behind it. 

Just as Rio is about to ask the sheriff again what he meant by his last comment (someone’s got to stand up for women), she notices he’s disappeared. "Why was the sheriff here?" Rio asks Jen, trying to piece things together. It's normal that teh sheriff is there soon after a crime was commmited, but the crime happened hours ago, so it's a little peculiar that he's still here.

"They found blood on the floor, most likely hers," Jen replies. "So she’s probably injured. That means she must still be in town, and they’re searching the area. I hope they catch her—that deranged lunatic." "Rio feels a pang of sympathy for Agatha. Yes, she’s done horrible things, but hasn’t the world been just as cruel to her? Stealing might not be right, but Rio wonders if it’s Agatha’s only way of surviving, even though, she has never met the woman, so it could very well be that she just steals for adrenaline. Rio knows that it's wrong to judge someone without knowing all the facts, but she can't help but feel a sense of unease. Hopefully, Agatha can be found and receive the help she deserves.

Rio finally responds after a long pause, "Yeah, I know she's done some horrible things, and I hope they can catch her before it's too late."

She's in the erea.