The thick curtain of darkness slowly opeaned to find himself laid flat on the hard ground with large stone slabs. Everything hurt in his body, where his head was the main source. He felt as if his brain was melting while everything was messy and disordered.
The palce was dark yet strange without any form of light source. The only things he heard were mice running cautiously and furtively somewhere far added by ~tap-tap~ sound of water droops hitting the hard surface. The place he was confined had been barred with thick shiny metal, like a prison or some place for torture.
"Where is this place ? Where am I ?" His eyes wandered around in confusions then locked at his position pondering how he ended up there, until his memories replayed everything. He recalled himself from night before, waiting for someone to pick him up but instead got knocked out. His hands tried to examine his head searching what pierced it, but they were weighing him down.
The huge metal chains around his wrists were very tight. They were rigid and firm. It wasn't simply attached to the wall but with twists and turns to make it stronger and harder to break.
August tried to stand from the ground but couldn't. His dark orbs were inspecting as he had to adjust himself on his knees. The answer to the question for him being there was still unknown. For his state, everything was fine from his toes to neck, in all black bartender wear. He realized, he didn't even had a time to change his outfit and walk out with his bag.
Come to think of it, the taxi driver didn't charge him. "Was that a coincidence?" he thought.
After a while, he was fully aware of his situation but his body was still weak.
"Hey, what is happening ? Are you okey?" He remembered concerned Sophie. Snapping out, tried to contact her but his pockets were empty. "Aghh, f*ck" he cursed and searched for his phone if they fell somewhere around, but there wasn't.
~fl..fl..flick~
His attention turned towards the sound when bright light from long fluorescent lamps hanging in ceiling hit his eyes, making them squeeze harder with the pain. It was too bright to adjust after long hours in the darkness.
[After a while]
"Look, who is here ?"
He recognized them, the voice. August's breath was uneven and his claws trying to free from strong metal grips. So close, the person who threatened him was so close but he couldn't reach. His chains didn't allow him to do what he wanted.
"Look at this, it's beautiful" Lil. Hunter praised opeaning his palm towards someone behind him.
"What do you want ? Why you doin this to me ? Who are you ?" August greeted his teeths with tensed eyes glaring at his enemy, from his knees and hands tied to the wall.
"So August. Tell me, You are indeed special aren't you ?"
Lil. Hunter adjusted himself on wooden chair crossing his legs, just brought for him and didn't bother to answer his questions.
He wore a sunglasses in his various geometric patterned white suit. His face had long faded scar that slit in half, diagonally. He had the short light brown hair with cornrow man braid going straight towards back of his head. He didn't looked like a typical rapper if judged from his appearance rather than his name.
The socks, shoes he was wearing and even his chair was painted white. That meant, he loved the color. Beside him stood a scary faced man with short black hair giving evil grin of victory over something.
"You thought we wouldn't find you ? You made a great mistake exposing yourself. Now you have to become one of us. A soldier, who would go to hell and come back just for me".
August was confused with what the creep in front of his was blabbering about. He didn't know how long had it been. His throat was dry, hearing deceived him and his gaze unfocused.
"Bring him the meal, Tony" Lil. Hunter snapped his fingers. Just a moment later, Ariel heard a scream and pleading. There was a women holding a little girl tightly on her embrace, fear reflecting on them of life and death. He was watching with his tired eyes, Tony pushing them aggressively inside.
"Help yourself" Lil. Hunter walked out with Tony leaving three of them in complete silent.
"Wait", August was trying to say but his voice buried inside him.
A little girl was whining and her mother was comforting, her eyes locked at August on opposite wall. They curled at corner with horror, confusion and nervousness not knowing why they were on the same place with him. The women in red was in her thirties and her daughter about eight.
"Everything's going to be fine" August said in his croaked voice trying to comfort them but words wouldn't come out loud enough. His eyes were blurry and half closed finally fading into the darkness, only hearing,
"Why are you tied there ?"
~~~
"Hey we need to deliver this goods to mystery guy" the one wearing red hoodie said. There, under the bridge where vehicles passed nonstop vibrating the concrete with their every drive, were three people looking at each other. August was among three of them, wearing white water-proof jacket in black cap like his other two friends.
It was late at night. The busy Whitedale city full of happiness, prosperous life was above the bridge and dull with horrors, terrors, crimes, pollutions below it.
The day passed with heavy rain finally subsiding down with little pour late at evening. They stood making circle locking their arms before delivering the package. At first, they always did a rock-paper-scissor to decide. Whoever lost had to get the job done, no matter what the circumstances.
Most of August's times of delivering, it was always hard and tough. He would meet up with dangerous peoples, different psychos and get beaten up sometimes. He never complained to his friends thinking they might have gone through the same. He did that job knowing it was illegal to support himself also doing a part-time job at Macdonald as a waiter.
All three of them met after joining the small street club and were appointed for secret delivery of drugs and illigal medicines. At that time, August was about sixteen including other two. They were like Triplet bestfriends spending a lot of their time together. He cared about them and they all protected each other.
They would go to eat together paying in rotation, sometimes smoke blunt together, they even introduced drugs to August but he refused and they understood in the name of friendship.
August was an A student in highschool. Despite the hardships, he had a dream to live a decent life in future. He knew it was a risky job but to his ideal beautiful future, it was worth taking risk for. And, he finally had friends and family.
That night, it was cold, damp and dark. At the game for deciding, August lost with paper cut by both of his scissor friends. They gave him a plastic pouch which was full of white powder and walked away.
August lost them just around the corner after staring at their backs. He was alert and little scared, walking to different direction than his friends.
After walking a while, he realized himself holding a lighter on his other hand. One which belonged to his friend. He paused for about a minute deciding to run back and return so that his friend wouldn't have to worry, searching for it.
Just a twist around the corner, he saw them taking shelter from the drizzling rain and sitting on small stone mountains while smoking blunt under the yellow dim light from street pole. He was relieved they didn't go far but before he tried to call them,
"He is such a pain in as*. You know how much we have to listen and smile at him ?", his friend in red hoodie said. August somewhere inside tried to convince himself not to believe and made an excuse thinking it wasn't about him but it was.
"Yea, and useful on harder times like this. Hey, how did you know we would win the game ?", other friend asked laughing.
Snatching the blunt, "he always did paper no matter what. Fu*k man, he is like a child who always whines around. Friend this friend that. Does he think he owns us? That's why I always took us to expensive places everytime he had a turn to pay. That stupid bi*ch have no idea".
~mur-murr~
[Hi-five]
August who inhaled the air to call them, slowly let out with his sad moist eyes. His so called friends who he cared and always had his support weren't kind as he thought. They, who always smiled and comforted him on his hard moments were actually stabbing at his back. First, his parents abandoned him then his friends, who he thought was a family.
He never had a reason to trust a single soul after that moment. It was too painful than the brushes he got in there places.
August turned around and walked back. He wanted to deliver that package and go to his shabby apartment with his heart filled with betrayal. It was like a dream, a dream he never ever wanted to be true in millions possibilities.
Without realizing, he reached the destination he had to. The place was dark from where the main road could be seen. There was a pole with dim light and flies flying around it. A pile of wastes with huge plastic bags were beside his way, under the tall brick wall.
There, August saw someone standing far in front of the pole, wearing black raincoat. He was very tall with face covered in shadows. August was already tired from everything that had happened and for a moment forgot about the person in front of him being a dangerous guy, no one in the gang would ever deliver goods to.
August gave the package receiving a roll of money and returned back thinking his fake friends would've been gone by then, from that place before.
"STOP THERE" August heard the dark creepy growl from the same guy when it flew towards him with anger. His eyes were bloody red and something was different about him. He wasn't a type of regulars August would get beatings and fight back. His right hand with dark dirty nails grabbed August's fragile neck. He was pale as dead and cold as an ice.
August struggled to breath from strangle and his toes desperately searching for the ground. Then, he was thrown real hard on the wet floor, mudd all over on his white jacket. He backed up from the tall figure approaching, trying to get away but that figure flew right in front of him. Stabbing his pale neck with sharp fangs, his body was becoming numb and his cap feel on the wet floor.
Despite the cold painful pierce on nape of his neck, August fought back. Throwing himself out of the hook, he blindly bit back whatever his dull teeths found with an anger finally gathered towards his friends, who despised him all along. The cold vampire again stabbed and drank every single drop of his blood, when gallery of memories flashed in front of August's eyes.
His lifeless pale body was tossed into the trash pile. The vampire walked away wiping his mouth and taking back his money from the pocket of August's dead body.
[Replay]
When August got lost in his thoughts not believing what his friends were talking about him behind his back, his human ears couldn't hear the last sentence his so-called friend in red hoodie added saying,
"I've replaced the drugs with something else. He wouldn't come back alive. The real one is with me. we will share and party later", then they did hi-five, laughing.