A/N: Okay, I'm gonna up the rating for this chapter but please tell me if it should go higher.
We walked quickly up the streets. Lydia seemed to be a person who thought being late should be punishable by law. Apparently the Boss didn't approve of lateness no matter what the circumstances.
'...He just doesn't like to be kept waiting – it's not good for his wellbeing he says,' Lydia explained.
'I could understand,' I said with thought. After all, Grandfather had the same habit of punishing those who kept him waiting. Though, it had been years since I was one of those people – it was generally new kids who suffered. He thought it was best to scare them when they arrived, so they'd know what was expected of them in future. Unfortunately, even blood relatives were no exception.
'So, Kai ...' Lydia trailed off.
'Hm?' I said to let her know that she could ask. Though, it would have been simpler if she'd just ask quickly. Like my Grandfather, I didn't like people wasting my time.
'How old are you?' She asked. My eyes widened a little. Was that what she wanted to ask? No one normally asked me that out of interest. It was surprising and definitely caught me off guard. Without knowing what to say I just answered.
'Seventeen,' I paused. 'You?' I didn't know what else to say, it was an awkward question for me to be asked by someone.
'Eighteen,' Lydia replied. She diverted her gaze from me onto the star scattered sky. 'I thought you were older,' she stated. 'You look it.' Her eyes were fixed onto the sky, scanning the heavens. Mine were fixed straight ahead of us, where the first bar just came into view.
I didn't reply this time. I didn't know what Lydia was getting at. No one tried to make conversation with me at all, they had common sense. Maybe she'd hit her head during her many falls the previous night.
We were level with the many bars now. Multicoloured glows of artificial light mixed on the cracked path we were walking along. There was different music echoing from every bar – some club, pop, soul, rock, goth, punk ... the list was endless.
Every now and then people would stumble out of one of the bars and be sick so we had to be careful to step over or around that. Others would just jump in front of us and try and sell us drugs from cannabis to heroin. Some, on the other hand, would just fall out, sprawled on the ground, passed out. Now and again, we came across some people who did all three.
I glanced over at Lydia. She just watched some of this with amusement, a twinkle in her sapphire eyes. It seemed that she saw this every night and was not fazed by this, even when a drunken or drugged man fell and gripped tightly to her long black coat that billowed out behind her. She just turned and looked at the man and he let go immediately. Perhaps he knew her.
'Ah, here we are,' Lydia said after a while. I looked up. The bar definitely needed construction work – it tilted slightly to the right and the roof tiles had fallen and shattered on the ground. The windows were broken and the door was hanging off its hinges.
'Come on then,' Lydia sighed. 'Let's get this over with.' We entered the bar.
The lights were covered with a thick red material casting a dim red glow around the room. There was a drinks bar at the front and a few people sat there drinking one shot after another. The rest of the crowd were sitting in small groups at round tables which covered the remainder of the room. Their heads were brought together to assure no one could hear what they were talking about. There was only smoke in the atmosphere of the bar, and the overall feel of the bar was suffocating.
I coughed.
'Don't worry Kai; this is only the front of the bar. We won't be meeting the Boss here,' Lydia said thickly. She put her hand on my shoulder and steered me around the tables and the bar. She showed me to the back of the room and stopped in front of a furnished wooden door. There was a small window in the door to see into the next room but it was painted blood red so it was impossible to see into it.
'You need permission to get into here,' Lydia explained. 'If the Boss let's you enter he gives you a key.' She pulled out a silver key matching the silver of the lock below the window. Lydia placed the key in the lock and turned slowly.
The door unlocked with a click and Lydia pulled they key from the lock and placed it into her coat pocket once again. She pulled the silver handle down and pushed the door open.
'We won't be meeting in here either. The office is on the other side of the room. This room is called the Black Room for some reason. The Boss named it.' Lydia glanced around the room. I followed her gaze.
I could see why 'The Boss' named this room the Black Room. The lights were covered with a thick material – this time black, so there was little light. The room was filled with black furniture and small tables which were glossed black.
There were people slumped on the chairs and couches. Some were passed out, some were laughing quietly. Some people were even piled together. In the shadows I could just see a couple making out – there was a young teenaged boy crying softly in a corner and other couple by the door – this time they were both male. Feeling uncomfortable I let my gaze leave the people and onto the tables. There were many discarded syringes, many bottles of different pills and packets of white powder. There was also white powder scattered on the floor.
There was a teenaged girl, couldn't have been more than sixteen attempting to gather the powder from the floor. On the couch above her, a man had taken out a razor blade and dragged it along a woman's arm. She moaned quietly as he started to lick the blood from the wound.
Lydia took hold of my arm. I tore my eyes away from the grotesque scene and allowed myself to be lead away across the Black Room – over the drugs and the messed up people towards the door on the other side of the room.
Lydia, not letting go of my arm, knocked three times on the door – no answer.
'Sometimes the Boss doesn't answer for a while,' she said. 'We'll have to wait ...' She stopped.
'Stephan! Get up from there!' She exclaimed, half annoyance, half amusement. She bent down and grabbed a man by his hair and hauled him to his feet. I recognised him and one of the men who were making out by the door.
'Hey, don't spoil my fun Lyd,' he said through glazed eyes. He was a young man in his early twenties from what I could tell. He had shoulder length black hair and pale skin. His eyes were a deep amethyst that any woman would get lost in from one glance.
'Hm,' Lydia said in mock anger. 'Honestly Stephan you'd think you were a customer by the way you act.' She laughed.
'Just coz I work here doesn't mean I can't have fun,' argued Stephan. 'Anyway, I caught you with that Boris dude the other night didn't I? You're not one to talk.' Stephan smirked.
Lydia just smiled. 'Hey, he paid me good money, he did. I bought myself a nice new coat with that and with plenty more to spare. I don't see your little lover handing you a nice healthy load of cash.'
'Well, he might have done we just never got round to it thanks to you.'
'He wouldn't have,' Lydia began. 'He was too young and pretty – if you want money you've got to go for the older ones. They're more desperate.' Lydia smiled.
'They're not all desperate,' Stephan argued. 'Only the ones who spent their youths drinking and wasting their money on quality drugs.'
'Not the Boss though,' Lydia stated.
'Yeah, but he's a fundamentalist isn't he? He's too uptight with Religion and stuff,' said Stephan.
'I guess,' said Lydia, admitting defeat. Stephan grinned triumphantly.
It was a while before anyone spoke. Lydia eventually broke the silence.
'Kai, this is Stephan by the way.' I let my gaze fall on Stephan. He returned my gaze with some interest.
'So this is Kai,' he said to himself quietly. 'Nice to meet you,' he held out his hand. I didn't take it.
'Good to see that in you mate,' he said smiling broadly. 'You can't be too careful around here. Strange people.' His smile faded slowly and he proceeded to look around the Black Room.
There was an awkward silence after Stephan's comment. We remained silent for a few minutes before a deadly, hissing voice called out from behind the wooden framed door.
'Enter.'