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Chapter 9 - Late Night Escapade

His parents appeared soon after and got into the car. The awkward silence was heavy and his father sat in the driver's seat refusing to start the car. His father had glanced back at Will several times, opening his mouth but closing it soon after and furrowing his brow.

"Dad, is it possible for me to skip school for a few weeks?" the tires screeching and the car skidding to a halt scared both of his parents. His mother held his hand out in comfort from her position in the front seat. Will didn't like to pretend, especially over something he could easily solve. 

But he didn't have the power yet to easily hide a person disappearing. At the most he could only go about it this round about way. 'I need to find my own power soon' Will said clenching his brow. His parents however mistook his thoughts at being distressed. They could only nod and sound their agreement at keeping their child away from the school for now, they didn't want to expose their child anymore to the dangers at the school.

"We'll do our best for you. When you feel ready to go back, let us know" his mother reassured Will. He could feel a twinge of guilt at how his mother had d an expression dull of care when he was trying to manipulate the situation that would be best for him...and then hopefully best for them.

Returning home the family was quiet as they entered the house. Will retreated to his room while his parents were left alone in the kitchen.

"You should go up" Will's mother said trying to nudge her husband to talk to their son. His father had a perplexed expression on his face.

"Wouldn't it be better rid his mother went instead? You know a female's touch and all that" he replied back. His wife was staring at him as he had a smiling face of confidence in his words. It was hard not to remember how when she had met him when he was younger that he would talk one way and his feet would go the other.

"As a father Will can relate to you...he's going to be a teenager soon so it might be time you focused more on him" she replies. Grimacing, his father left the kitchen and walked up the stairs, each step felt unnaturally heavy. Reaching the second floor, he knocked on Will's room.

"Will?"

"Yeah Dad?" Will said behind the door. He was hoping he would get a few hours of rest from what had happened today. Plus he had plans to make tonight.

"Did you want to talk?" his father asked worriedly. The door opened quite suddenly and Will stood out in the corridor with his father. 

"I'll be alright Dad. I just wanted to rest that's all" Will said trying to reassure his father. Coaxing a man that was technically his senior for some reason disturbed Will a little.

"Ok, we'll be having dinner early tonight so let us know if there is anything you want" Will only nodded and softly closed the door. His father let out a sigh and went back downstairs. Although the wife kept prodding him for answers in regards to her son, his father could only give some standard replies. To take his mind of the worry he had, dinner was already prepared and cooked before the sun had gone down.

After calling Will down to eat with them, the usually lively table was quiet tonight. Will finished up his food quickly and brought over to the sink to wash up.

"I'm going to bed now. Night mum, night dad" and Will climbed up the stairs and closed his door shut to his room. His parents looked at each other, a feeling of guilt was passed between them as they indicated with their haze. The silence was overbearing and none wanted to be the first to break it.

"Should we go to bed?" Will's father said, trying to initiate the conversation. For his mother, she barely tasted the food and nodded as they both retreated to their room. Hearing the door to the master bedroom was closed Will opened his door and poked his head around the corner to see if his parents had retreated for the night. Satisfied, he locked his door and opened the window to his room. The night although young, had easily blanketed the neighbourhood in darkness. As he shifted his legs out the window, Will braced himself before leaping down from the two storey drop and rolling to disappate the force.. Although he felt that he could easily just drop down with feet straight he wanted to make it less showy. In fear that people would notice a random crater around the back of his window.

He already knew his destination for the night, the late convenience store to purchase an important item. Patting his pocket he felt no guilt from easily taking away the cash from the hospital when he bumped into the two movie mafia dons. A crinkled hundred note and the business card he had were his only possessions. Having already memorised the route after spotting it on the drive back home as he jogged swiftly in the night.

The sound of rapid footsteps did wake one neighbor however. She was rubbing her eyes as she glanced out the window, seemingly unable to rest for a moment. The figure of a man do as appearing on the road from one edge of her vision to the next caused her to hesitate as she thought she was still seeing things. After looking around from her window, Fiona could only shrug it off as being too tired and went back to catch up on her beauty sleep.

Having passed several streets he could see the neon lights of the only late night store open up.Thankfully his parents had turned in early, giving him enough time to make his much needed purchase. Walking up to the door he pushed it in. The sound of late night radio was in the air as Will glanced around the store. Seeing the line up of phones, Will paused for a moment. Back when he was much older, buying a throw away phone could be done in an hour easy and they were much better then what the 1980s had as they're best lineup was still a decent size brick phone. This made him hesitate a little as he remembered that the business card had a personal number on it, which was surely an easy sign of wealth. Otherwise why would even parents not have a mobile yet? But with risk came rewards.

Looking over he saw a smaller one that he could afford although he rather not make a scene to steal the item and save some cash it was not the right time. Although CCTV was not so popular at the moment, having the police on his tail when he was setting things up would definitely be a hindrance.

Grabbing one and a large sim card he brought them over to the counter, a man with a large beer gut and stained white singlet was happily listening to warbily radio. The noise of products dropped at his counter made him open his eyes, the sound of money easily energised the man.

Looking down he saw a ten year old child and only felt disappointed. How could a small brat afford the stuff he had in the store or the phones that had shipped in recently. Although they begun dropping in price recently, it was not something you could pick up off the streets like a five dollar bill.

"I need this phone and the sim card setup" Will informed the cashier. Despite his scepticism the man held out his hand. The till had let out a ring and the number was displayed on the electronic reader. Will pulled out his crinkled hundred dollar note, surprising the man. Giving the note a tug and a smell he was satisfied that it was authentic.

"You know how to set this up?" The man asked Will, he could only feel kind when it came to people who earn him money regardless of who it was. Adding in an extra service wouldn't kill him. But to the man's surprise Will wordlessly opened the back of the brick phone and placed the SIM inside going through a few standard checks. 'Although it was bulky it would do the job that he needed' Will confirmed in his mind.

"When will the service start working?" Will asked in a sure tone. The cashier scratched his head at the question.

"Might take a day or two, depends if they want to do it fast. I just sell the stuff" he replied with a grin. This kid seems to want to call someone so bad, ahh it must be a girl. Only young love could prompt a child to run in the middle of the to his store. Will however was cursing internally.

'How could it be this difficult to get started with such a simple thing. God this shitty technology was infuriating' getting used to old technology for him held only novelty for a moment as the inconvenience was much more urgent matter to deal with. Giving a nod to the cashier he disappeared into the night. The man gave a wave and had a wide grin on his face. Will leaving as soon. as he could, remembered spotting a pay phone along the way. Saving some coins previously that he left in his pocket he walked over to one and brought the business card out letting the light capture the silver lettering. Placing a few coins he dialled in the number quickly as he listened on the tone.

Not too long after a few dial tones the other side picked up. 

E was sleeping early as he had been overworked quite a bit by the new boss. Establishing territory for their new gang was stressful as the boss was happy to lash out when things didn't go right. The sound of his phone ringing made him hesitate to pick up, hoping not to hear the sound of his boss cold voice. But after a moment of thinking he came to the conclusion that if he didn't pick up, the boss would just find that as an excuse to beat him anyway.

"E here" he answered. Very few people had this number so he was confident that it would be an important call.

"It's the brat" the voice on the other end answered. The voice on the other line almost made him have his back bolt upright but he then relaxed a second later. The voice was definitely not hard to forget since it reminded him of his own boss too much.

He mulled over his words in his head before speaking.

"What do you need?" Keeping the conversation upfront and blunt. This move however gave a few brownie points with Will since he hated beating around the bush when he needed to do work.

"Organise a time to meet your boss. I need to do some jobs quick for cash. Make sure to convince him otherwise it won't take much effort to hunt you down myself. And if that happens then you can kiss your ass goodbye" Will said, although his voice was not outright threatening guesses could be easily made.

E wanted to retort at the attitude from such a young child. But after remembering what happened early that day he held back his tongue. 'If he got this kid on their side would the boss be happy it found a good seedling?' E was happy over the thought.

"Okay, but how will we contact you?" E asked in a more professional manner than before.

"Just received a new phone. I'll call in a few days again to check on the date with your boss. Use that number from then on to get in contact with me."

E nodded his head and didn't wish to disagree.

"We'll make the date in three days. It should give me sometime to ease the boss into it. Not many people would believe a child would be dangerous as you are" the reply elicited a laugh on the other side of the phone.

"Haha, truly a funny man. I will leave to finish up some work. This business has to be attended to before I come by."

After both made confirmations Will hung up the payphone. Seeing the stars were coming out, Will rushed back home and clambered up the wall of the house to reach his room so that the parents didn't notice his late night escapade.

E however was hesitating on his phone before making a call. He didn't want to irritate his new boss so soon, but the potential rewards were too tempting.

"Boss, I think I found a good one to have work with us. Sounds like his eager so long as we have the money ...mmm yes I'll make he comes by. He said he wants to clean some things up before he drops by...okay three days should be more than enough." E hit the end on the phone before letting out a broad smile. Although he was not the best in the organisation for accounts or fighting he was definitely cunning. He could almost feel the potential from the annoying brat. It wouldn't be surprising that he could make a rise in the world where no one who wanted to work a fair and safe life would dare to tread.. Smiling to himself, E finally had a sound sleep for the first time in a while.