The Cab Boy
Disclaimer: I own nothing Constantine…just love writing fanfics for it, of which I have several, go check them out. I have decided to re-write this from Chas's point of view thanks to a wonderful suggestion from eowenwhitelady1. I hope that you as well as everyone else will now find this more interesting. I only hope I have Chas's age right, I don't think it was ever revealed in the movie…someone let me know if you know his age, from movie and NOT COMIC. THIS STORY CONTAINS LANGUAGE, but what do you expect? It's Constantine.
"Man John, I've been sitting in this damn car for hours. How long is it gonna take you and Father Hennessey to flush one demon out of a three room flat? God, the heat is killin' me!"
My name is Chas Kramer. I'm eighteen years old and I drive a cab for a man who goes by John Constantine.
My view on John? Well basically he's an asshole. He never really gives me a chance to do anything useful other than drive him around, even though I am his apprentice…I have been for about a year now. And to be pretty honest, it gets frustrating trying to keep up with the guy sometimes; I mean, where the hell is his patience? Bad enough I get to smell his cigarette smoke on a day to day bases.
Okay, I know it may sound like I'm complaining…really and truly I think John's a great guy; I mean, yeah he's got his ways…but nobody's perfect right?
But enough about my demon slaying friend, I'd like to recall a little about who I am, once I straighten this stupid rear view mirror…ah, that's better. Man my hair looks like shit today…where's my cap? Oh there it is.
I grew up here in L.A. my mother, Amanda Kramer, raised me all by herself. My dad left us when I was eight…okay, you're thinking; if he left when I was eight, then he partly raised me too. Nope, he was never around for us…the jerk. He just got up one night and took off in the car, never heard or seen from him since.
My mom had to take a dead end job at a waffle café afterwards; trying to afford to keep me in school, put clothes on my back and food in my gut and avoid me being placed in some foster home. And I salute her for everything.
We've had our hardships, God knows, but mom's always held her head up with pride and determination… and fortunately it rubbed off on me. If I was like my dad right now, I'd probably be in rehab somewhere.
You must be wondering how in the world I met John. Okay, let's see…It all happened so fast.
Some friends and I decided one Halloween night that we were gonna do something different; that means no partying, and no trick or treating or pranks.
There was a local legend, a dare, that if you sat on top of the mausoleum in one of the local cemeteries at 1:00 am; something would push you off. My friends all thought it was stupid, but I talked em' into it. I'm good at that.
So we went, and we sat there for hours after wandering blindly through a dark graveyard with only one flashlight.
It started getting late, and with it being Halloween with people out doing their own thing, it was eerily quiet in that huge old graveyard.
My friends, Riley and Jamaal were starting to freak out…paranoia was really kicking into all of us. Though I dare not show mine; it was all my stupid ideal to begin with.
The longer we sat on the mausoleum, the more we started hearing stuff, like something moving around us. I tried to convince them it was probably just a cat, but then we started seeing shadows…weird ones too, didn't look human.
We started shaking in our shoes, man I was getting scared. I started shining the flashlight around, and there we saw it; something dart behind this big grave stone sculpture…looked almost like a giant bat wing.
The next thing I knew, Riley and Jamaal were long gone.
"Hey guys? Guys?" but they left me.
I turned the flashlight off, hopped of the mausoleum and started running like crazy. I was getting the hell out of there too.
I ran and ran, nothing could have stopped me from running…I could hear this rush behind me, just like I was being chased by some beast; I could even make out these snarls and growls, almost sounded like some possessed hog. I could've wet my pants in that moment.
Then I hit something and I fell backwards. I looked up and saw some big heavy set bald guy wearing a trench coat. Then another guy walked up to investigate me…god, they must have seen how shaken I was. The big dude, who I later found out was Father Hennessey, offered to help me up.
"Are you alright?" he asked with much concern. The guy in black, a.k.a. John, acted more like I was getting in the way of something…At first I thought they might be grave robbers.
"He looks like a frightened cat." John said.
"Hey look man, there's something after me! There's something in this graveyard and it was chasing me!"
I could see Hennessey look at John with concern. But John, as always, didn't seem moved by it in any way at all.
"You sure it's not just the imagination of a crazy kid? What are doing in this place anyway? I thought kids went trick or treating on Halloween."
I was thinking; man this guy's a total creep.
"Hey, I'm not lying…" but before I begin a good argument, I was pulled out of the way by Hennessey. And from that point, I witnessed John make some flame with a rag or something; and in the light of the fire I could see dozens of winged demons, shattering into pieces at the light.
"HOLY SHIT!" I let out. Hennessey helped me to my feet again.
I stood there pointing, my hand shaking like a rattle snake's tail.
"S..se…see? I Wasn't…lying." I stuttered.
"Congratulations." John said casually, as if burning winged freaks up was no more than spraying poison on a roach. "You're not another little boy who just cried wolf."
They walked with me out of the graveyard and I continued to follow behind them down the dark lonely street.
"Hey, what the hell was all of that about anyway?"
"Go home kid." John said. But I was gonna play stubborn too.
"Go home? You want me to just go home and forget about that? Jesus Christ man, what the hell's going on around here? Is L.A. turning into some freak show or something? Does it only happen on Halloween or what?"
"Please watch your tongue my son, it's un-holy…especially after witnessing such demonic scenes."
I glanced at Hennessey, he looked as shaken as me. I saw him searching for something in his coat, then he pulled out something, a canteen of some sort. I know now he was wolfing down liquor…and he told me I was un-holy.
"Listen kid, it's a world you'd never be able to comprehend…sadly you're a witness to it now." John said. I could hear tension in his voice.
"Well I'm scared now! How the hell am I gonna forget this?"
"You don't. You live with it, lots of people do."
"You mean other's know about demons being real?" I could tell he was getting annoyed with me.
"Haven't you ever heard of possessions? I'm an exorcist, I drive demons out of the mortal world as best I can."
"You're an exorcist? So this is what you do?"
"Yeah. There's been word of people visiting that graveyard and becoming possessed afterwards."
"So that's what you were doing there?"
"Yeah," He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. These two had a fine way of easing their stress.
"I had to get to the root of the problem." he finished.
Okay, that was smart. But then it struck me… my friends and I could have become possessed by one of those things. The thought made me wanna pewk. I could've endangered mom.
"Where are you going now?" I asked. Hennessey gave me an address, and it stuck in my mind even after I parted with these two strange guys. It was an address to a catholic church.
All week I was unusually quiet. I could tell mom was secretly concerned, so I tried to smile whenever I saw her.
I just couldn't stop thinking about my encounter in the graveyard. I couldn't get over my curiosity about the two strange men, of which I did not know their names.
So one day after school, instead of going straight home to our old tattered shit hole of an apartment, I decided to stop by that church and do a little investigating of my own.
And there they were, both of them standing there speaking about something. Looked like their conversation was related to the crucifix I saw John holding.
"Hey." I greeted them casually…and as I predicted, they didn't seem too eager to return the greeting.
"What are you doing here?" John looked at me as if I was some unwelcome criminal.
"I wanted to…" come on Chas, tell em' why you're here. "I just wanted to ask you more about…"
"The graveyard incident?" John raised a brow.
"Uh, yeah."
"I don't have time kid." John and Hennessey pushed past me, as if in a hurry to get somewhere. But I eagerly followed them.
They walked for some time, god the heat was torture, but I was determined to know more about them… these demon hunters…and I especially was curious about John.
I followed them to this shabby apartment building, looked as run down as the one I lived in.
Whenever they glanced behind them, I was sure to hide around a corner. I knew they didn't want me there.
I followed them up these stairs, keeping far behind. The closer I got to wherever it was they were going, the more I could hear these terrible screams. It sounded like some guy was being stabbed.
I peaked around the corner of the hall of the fourth floor, dozens of residents seemed gathered around this one open door. Some of them holding crosses and bibles and crying and praying all at once. They were all African American, obviously the family of the possessed man, with a couple of old gruff white guys crammed into the group.
"He's on the ceiling! He's on the ceiling!" I could hear an old lady say, maybe the guy's mother.
I saw John and Hennessey push past the group in a haste. I could hear them in there struggling with the guy. I could hear crashing and bumping and I could see the people at the door shrink at the site of it all. I then heard John beckon to some of the men to come and help him with something.
At last my patience vanished and my curiosity drove me to go and look inside the room.
"Oh God, save my son!" the old lady behind me cried. I felt sorry for her.
When I saw what I saw, I nearly jumped out of my skin…had this guy been to the graveyard too?
John was on top of the possessed guy who was strapped to the bed, and the four men were holding this old mirror up and where the possessed guy's reflection should've been was instead the reflection of a demon.
I saw John stick the crucifix to his forehead and Father Hennessey began chanting out of the bible.
Then the next thing I knew, John was hanging on to this rope that was attached to the mirror that the demon seemed trapped in, and before I knew it I saw it disappear out the window, and beneath all the ruckus, I could hear it shatter.
The guy looked okay and his family pushed me out of the way to be near him.
I waited in the hall until John and Hennessey came out. And let me tell you, John looked pretty pissed at the sight of me.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. I stuttered, but I could tell Hennessey felt a little sorry for me.
"I don't think you'll be getting rid of this one John." he said.
"The hell I won't. I'm taking you back to where you came from." John grabbed me by the arm, forcing me out the building.
"Hey what the hell's your problem man?"
"You don't have any business following and stalking me. What I do is dangerous, and if you get killed it's not my problem."
Geesh, what an asshole.
"John, maybe you should let up on the boy."
"This punk's gonna learn some respect. Where the hell do you live kid? I'm taking you home…it's obvious you don't have anything better to do than follow me around L.A. which is pretty pathetic."
"Hey look here," now I was getting pissed. "I've got plenty to do! My mom's got a dead end job, and I'm struggling in school because I'm having to spend most of my time taking jobs myself to help pay the rent."
"Then why aren't you at work now?"
"I had the day off, okay? Now let me go."
He let me go, and I brushed myself off with frustration. I could feel his stare on me, as if he was suddenly sizing me up. Next thing I knew, the guy was puffing another cigarette.
"What's your name, kid?" he asked.
"Kramer. Chas Kramer…I'm seventeen."
"You drive?"
"Yeah, I've been driving since I was fourteen, though I didn't get my license until recently."
"Ever been pulled over by the cops?"
"Heck no, I'm a damn good driver. Why do you wanna know anyway?"
"I need a cabby, and if you want a job, a real job, I'll give you one."
So that's how it started. Next thing I knew I was reading about the paranormal, the after life, the underworld. Yeah, I was really getting into that stuff. I wanted to know everything there was to know about exorcisms. Though I mostly just got to drive John around the place.
So that's how I got here. Yep, it's been a real hell ride with John Constantine. But ya know, having him in my life has sort of…I don't know…filled in the empty void of not having a father to lean on. Not that John's the fatherly type, god knows don't get me wrong. But he's sort of there for me, a friend…not a nice friend, but somebody I can trust. It feels good to know I met him. Though to be honest, I think mom knows how to handle him better than I do. John seems to have a weakness for her chocolate cake.
Sometimes, if you can catch a glimpse, you may see me driving John around L.A. "The City Of Angels". Sure it's tough, but it's not a bad job. There's a lot of kids eager to get off the street who'd have my job in a skip if they could.
Sure, I've seen a lot of bad stuff. Demons and possessed innocents….but it's a living, isn't it?
But sometimes I just wonder if John knows just how lucky heis to have me around…ahem…not that I'm a big ego or anything, it's just, a little more appreciation every now and then would be nice. I mean, what's so hard about saying, Gee thanks Chas. You're the best damn cabby an exorcist could ask for…okay, maybe not that petty, it's not John, but still; one little thank you?
Does it ever get boring? Yeah, when I have to stay in the hot car like I am now. But I figure it's worth the wait…I think I'm gonna get the chance to prove myself eventually, hopefully soon.
Probably the one thing I hate most about this job is that, I hardly seem to have time to date…god I could've asked Halle Burns to the movie last week; but as usual John needed me…oh well.
I'm Chas Kramer, cab boy…apprentice. Over looked, bossed around, told to stay in the cab…yeah, John would be lost without me.
THE END.
Author's Notes: I hope everyone enjoys this version of The Cab Boy much better than the last. Oh, and does anyone know why John doesn't drive himself? I'd appreciate any info on that! Oh yeah, eowenwhitelady1, tell me what you thought of this version. Thanks again for the suggestions.