"..."
"Hello"
"..., why are you looking for me?" August said in serious tone.
"Sorry ?" The voice asked confused.
"I said, who are you and why are you looking for me?" He raised his tone annoyed.
"Just kidding...., I knew you would call, ..... Mr. A ?"
August heard a creepy loud laugh from other end of the line. Somewhere inside him didn't feel right. He could feel his teeths gritting and fists clenching at the laugh which didn't seem to stop.
"..."
"Someone wants to meet you" the voice finally spoke in threatening way.
"...., WHO ?"
"You will know....YOU.... are something, aren't you ? HaHaHaA...".
"Why you doing th...."
- - - - -
~tut-tut~
[Call Ended]
August grip tightened harder on handset at his ear, almost breaking it. His eyes were dead serious with anger raising inside. When the call suddenly ended, he took a coin from his pocket inserting it, then pressing numbers. [the subscriber you've dialed is not available at the moment please try again later]. Trying again and again, he swinged the handset of telephone and stopped in halfway almost crashing it against the wall. With no idea what was going on and why did a stranger contracted, he stood in front of the public payphone doing nothing. The handset swinged in the air halfway. After a while, he adjusted his black cap overlapped by his hood. It still confused him as he started trying, dialing the same number until there was no change left.
~~~
"Who could it be ?" "Who the hell is he ?" August laid on an old couch with fingers crossing at each other in back of his head. The bright mixed light of blue and white from full moon wondered around the living room trying to find every corners possible, through the large window. It was already a midnight but he didn't feel like sleeping. His mind was blank as he leaned forward turning on his laptop.
~scroll~
~scroll~
August searched about the man named Lil. Hunter in google including every possible search engines but found nothing. It only consisted of some articles about the gang but old onces. Every articles filled with unsolved murder case of gang leader and their downfall after. One, two, three ..... tabs and pages but nothing latest.
He browsed through shared videos from Gaming Cafe with lots of comment. They mostly talked about the Gunner and his crimes from past years but not a trace of a man named Lil. Hunter. Some comments read,
OnePiecefan:
Oh shit! that most have hurt alot.
Cherrybloom298:
I don't know who the other guy is but he looks strong. Marry me.
1 like
Samuelsummer:
That's Gunner people. I have heard he got away from murder, is it true ? does anyone know? He was from the Skull Gang which were very active five years ago. My dad was police officer solving one of their drug case back then.
Godsson5:
I think they are still secretly running illegal businesses. And I heard they can shut down any anonymous users who are threat to them, so I will just zip my mouth. After all YOLO!
.....
...
....
...
August couldn't find any other clues after surfing on internet for long non-stop hours. There were no useful information other than the names of Gunner and bulked up guy with tatoo on his neck named Big. It was their nicknames and he didn't feel interested enough to know their real ones. The images only included of mugshots of young Gunner, other criminals and random pictures. Big had none, as he seemed to be new in the arena.
August hacked some of the confidential information from local police departments for latest cases but they all were minor offenses like marijuana, theft and fights. No any files or documents about the person named Lil. Hunter even in the dark web, like that guy could erase his trace from anywhere. But the one thing; he belonged to gang was what August believed.
After searching every possible way, his tired eyes shut down slowly fading into deep sleep.
~~~
[Next morning]
August found himself waking up in the same couch with laptop on his lap. It was morning, alarm went off inside his bedroom waking him up and birds chirped in distant. He didn't go to college after tiresome long night instead, went to bed sleeping comfortably. As usual, except for college, he tried to forget everything. The things in bar was going well with same routine and nice tips from some nice people. At some moments, he could feel Matt's gaze but he acted as if everything was fine and nothing bothered him.
It was around quarter past ten in the night . August, Matt and Sophie were having normal conversation while wrapping everything up and calling it a day, heading home. All of a sudden,
~crash~
A beer glass fell from the corner table. All three of their heads turned towards the sound and focused on what was going on. The usual low and dim lights in the ceiling were all turned off, leaving the counter area. After sniffing and scanning the place, there was someone inside.
"OH MY GOD !!! I thought the place was empty" Sophie with her wide amber eyes whispered covering her mouth with her both hands.
"Same here" Matt nodded towards her and looked back at the unconscious man in the corner. The place were always filled with human scents as they completely forgot about someone still being there. They didn't notice a thin thumping sound of man's heart by their got used to vampires hearing in that place. All four of waiters were alerted in dressing room. "It's fine, nothing serious" Matt whispered.
"I will go and inform him that place is closed" Sophie took a deep breath from exhaustion placing white bar mop towel from her hand in the counter.
She walked towards the door inside, when a long hand blocked her way. She with shock continuously blinked at the hand with long black sleeve near her face and whose it belonged to.
"I will go, it might be dangerous " August said walking past her. Matt almost burst out laughing.
Everyone knew that Sophie was a good fighter and to be clear, a predator. She shrugged her shoulders smiling and pursuing lips at Matt then going back at mop cloth in counter followed by shaking her head.
August walked out from a side door towards the table turning all the lights on. He knew that the man wasn't a threat but with his recent encounter with some ex-gang members and that call, he didn't trust anyone. The conversation with a stranger he had, whose name didn't exist as that person seem to know about his real nature and intentions was unnatural. Then, there was a man at the corner, who sat defenseless and it was unexpected.
"Hello sir, we are closed". August said leaning close enough to be heard. The man sat on the chair laying down on the table with right arm placed straight knocking down the beer glass and other one covering his face. He had placed his brown suit jacket on the table, making him only on his white plain shirt with loose tie and pants.
"SIR, SIR". August slowly shaked his arms, trying to wake him up. The man groaned slumping back into his chair. He had tired eyes almost taking another nap. The man seemed around in his mid- fifties having dark brown eyes with hair mixed of black and white strands. There were wrinkled forming on his face and he had well fit body despite his age. He was quite a looker all most splitting image of August.
"Oh ! I am really sorry". He looked at the chain watch on his left wrist and wide eyes formed right after. " Oh no, I got drunk. I will leave right away". He stood from his chair and saw the broken glass on the floor. "I will pay for it". He apologized as his face was filled with embarrassment. August nodded and gave a professional smile, leading the way.
The man slowly stood up adjusting his tie, picking up his suit jacket and wearing it. He walked zigzag unable to fully control himself. August gave him a hand as the man was thankful and paid for the glass with his credit card.
"Please have a glass of water" Matt offered and the man drank it immediately.
"Thankyou" he said and walked towards the exit placing card inside his pocket.
August watched the man quietly while Matt and Sophie stood inside the counter pursuing their lips at each other.
~phew~
August let out a long breath shaking his head. "I will be right back". He walked out scanning the area as he spotted the man right after, who barely stood in front of the road supporting himself on the pole. Some people passed by looking at him while August rushed to help.
"Where is your address sir ? I'll call a cab for you ?"
"Oh hello" the man smiled brightly at August "Thankyou but first I need to control myself". He scoffed looking at his weak legs.
"Come on, sit here sir. I'll help you" August led the man to wooden bench on the sidewalk, beside the road. Their heads turned towards the road where vehicles with headlights on, passed back and forth.
"It's fine sir. After some rest you can fully control yourself" he confirmed to comfort with small smirk.
"Yes ofcourse, you are very nice. Thankyou"
"It's fine sir." He slowly looked at the man who sat comfortably. "I just thought I've met you before".
The man smiled turning his eyes towards August.
"Around this month in 2000, my wife ran away from me. It was,... I don't quite remember maybe late November ?" He said pointing out inside his head with sad cracking voice. Like it hurt him just to share.
[Inside August's head:]
-I didn't think that he would share such a thing to a stranger like me. He smiled when I asked if we have met before but I feel sorry for him-
[silence]
"Oh! I am sorry sir"
"It's fine. I've waited her for rest of my life. She was such a beautiful women, full of spirit and kind. I just don't understand why would she leave, for all these years I haven't heard about her."
"Maybe she had her reasons". August felt his pain. Even though the man seemed like a person who wouldn't waste time drinking, even someone like him had a weakness as there's saying 'Nothing can stop what heart wants'.
"You are good at comforting, boy. Thankyou. I am Butler. Nice meeting you again". He gave a dab at August.
"Me too sir. wait, what ? Uh, uh,..... Butler John ? I met you once. Oh my god! that day I found you inside the bar in next morning". He scoffed and jumped from the bench recalling everything.
"Yes, and I almost got fired" Butler replied shyly.
They both laughed. "No one had ever gave me that much tip sir. How could I forget" August's expression returned back being thankful and sad again. "Actually at that time, I was going through hard time and your help meant a lot to me, sir"
"It okey. You want me to give you some now ?" Butler asked.
"NO NO NO" August stood and swinged both his hands backing up embarrased. Butler couldn't help but again laugh at him. Seeing that, August smiled back.
~honk-honk~
The cab pulled over in front of them. "Now, can you walk sir?" August tried to confirm. They both headed towards the car.
"Ofcourse, thankyou uh, ..."
"It's August"
"YES, August uh, ...." Butler raised his eyebrows confused before climbing inside.
"Just August, I am an orphan" he said sadly smiling.
"Oh son. I am really sorry" August shaked his head not minding.
"I was an orphan too but now I have someone I want to protect as a family, as a brother and you will find your destined one too. See ? I named myself with my profession. Here, If you feel like needing a parental guidance, call me. Everything's gonna be fine. You are young and should be strong". Butler gave another warm tap at his shoulder. He smiled giving his business card to August, who just took it and stared at it with his wide moist eyes.
They waved goodbye and parted ways. August went back inside the bar and headed home with Matt, who always dropped him on his way home, at same route.