Chapter one

On a cold dark night, across a street, a teenage boy is seen foraging in a trash bin looking for scraps that can be salvaged. The boy’s name is Marcel, he's tall with dark long  hair that reaches his blue eyes. As he keeps searching two people come across him, a man and a woman

“Hey kid, what are you doing there, isn’t it past your bedtime?” asked the woman

“Go away please, I’m not looking for trouble, just something to eat” replies Marcel 

“In a waste bin? What can you expect to find in there?”

“The hotel in front comes here to throw away things they don’t need anymore, so I come here to salvage what I can “

“What’s your name kid" asked the woman

“Shouldn’t you give yours first” replied Marcel 

“oh, sorry. My name is Kim and the dude with me is Bradley”

Kim, a girl of average height with a good looking face and pony tail hair, she was wearing Jean trousers and a black shirt with the words ‘bitch' written on it,  Marcel stared a bit longer on her chest area before he looked away so as not to be seen as a pervert 

Marcel looked at the man called Bradley, he could tell by his bald head and cold stare that he wasn’t much of a talker, Bradley was wearing some faded Jean’s and black T-shirt with his arms folded. ‘he could pass for a biker gang dude' thought Marcel 

“Well....??” asked Kim 

“Well what"?? Replied Marcel 

“I just told you our names, what is yours?” 

“My name is Marcel, you approaching me means you want something, what is it"?

“Yes, for some time now we’ve noticed that you always come here at night looking for..... whatever it is you're looking for, we would like to offer you a small time job just for you to keep yourself together, live comfortably.”

“What kind of job is that”

“This is not the place to discuss it, if you’re interested you come with us" this time it was Bradley that replies in a grumpy voice. Marcel could tell that he wasn’t going to like this guy at all.

“I think what my associate is trying to say is that the walls have ears and we have to get to a comfortable place to talk, discussing important matters beside a trash bin isn’t exactly civilised, come with us if you want” replied Kim.

    She turned and walked out slowly followed by the grumpy Bradley.  Now Marcel was a bit worried about what just happened, they just made it known to him that his activities here wasn’t exactly as unnoticeable as he thought, keeping in mind that there’s been a lot of kidnappings and unexplainable deaths in the city he was in, but there’s nothing he could do. He needed something and his family at home could really use some money too so he made a choice he hopes he wouldn’t regret, he went with them.

  But before he followed them he picked up a small metal the size of a pocket knife just in case things went south he would be able to defend himself. He followed them through a street with  buildings that has multiple paint jobs that looks like an amateur painter was testing colours, the buildings really needed renovating and as they kept on walking he was in high alert with his eyes searching everywhere which was noticed by Kim  .

“Don’t worry about anything, here can be spooky I know  but just stay close  “ she said

“hmm, this place is all messed up” he replied 

Bradley turned and gave him a nasty look which didn’t faze Marcel in the slightest having seen meaner looks from his neighbours at home. They finally arrived at a building that was buzzing with activities that had Marcels mouth open wide corridor, with the activities being a bunch of scantily clad women walking around searching for customers to spend the night with as long as they can match the price, they entered through the front door and Marcel saw more women moving around in rooms with erotic sounds echoing all around him. 

One of the women stopped and took a good look at him before saying

“Hey Kim, who’s this one?”

“none of your business, why don’t you get back to what you were doing"

“In that case I want to do him then" the unknown woman replied licking her lips 

When he heard this Marcel looked away feeling flustered 

“What’s your name handsome?”

“Umm it’s Mmm-Marcel” he replied berating himself for stammering 

“Well, mine’s Suzy, come see me anytime" she said caressing his face a bit

“Yea sure" he replied before following Kim who had just left them 

“So you gave her your name without asking for hers first , maybe if I dressed like she did you would do the same right?” she teased him, but he said nothing.

“We’re here" she said when they got to a door, she entered and he followed

 Marcel saw that the room was a better than the others he’d seen on his way, there was a man sitting in a spinning chair talking on his phone facing the wall.

“.. yeah yeah, I know business has been good, not as much as expected but we’ll manage"

“Marcus, we brought him” said Kim. The new guy named Marcus turned and gave them a look before going back to his phone call “I’ll call you later something came up, yeah we’re still on"

While this was going on Marcel was scrutinizing the Marcus guy who was a good looking guy with normal clothes on the average person you can see on the streets.

“So this is the boy you’ve been telling me about huh”

“Yes his name is-"

“I think he can speak for himself Kim, let him talk” said Bradley 

Why don’t you keep your mouth shut like you’ve been doing all night and stop interrupting me" Kim shot back angrily, 

“Are you two done, I don’t have time for your stupid arguments, in case you haven’t noticed it’s late and I have things to do!!” Marcus told them looking like he was going to punch one of them. When it seemed that they were done, he turned and looked at Marcel 

“So, back to you, what’s your name?”

“My name is Marcel”

“Ok I think you already know mine"

Marcel nodded

“Good, do you know why they brought you here?”

“No, they refused to tell me”

“ As they shouldn’t, do you have any family, I would like to know a few things before I’ll tell you why they brought you here"

“Yes, me, my step father and...” Marcel kept his mouth shut before he could say more

“And what?”

“And my annoying neighbours" he replied 

“Hmm, ok. I would like it if you worked for us, just a few deliveries here and there and we pay you” 

“What kind of deliveries?”

“The kind you don’t tell anyone about, you just take it to where we want you to and that’s it. The pay is good for someone your age "

“What if I say no, I mean don’t get me wrong I could really use some money right now but I don’t want to go into something that might get me killed”

“if you refuse, you walk out here alive, just keep you mouth shut and we’ll leave you”

Throughout their talk, Kim had been staring at Marcel with wild thoughts running through her mind about the boy ‘ he’s handsome, if you get past the worn out clothes he’s wearing I’m sure he’ll be quite the lady-killer with that body of his and to think that I’ve never seen him go to a gym”

“Ok Mr. Marcus I’ll work for you, just tell me when and where I have to show up”

“Easy fella, I’m getting there. You have to start tomorrow by 3pm, its already late, now leave my office” said Marcus. Kim motioned for him to come with her but Bradley remained inside with his boss

“So I guess I’ll be seeing more of you now huh?” said Kim

“Yeah I guess so, hopefully I wont come to regret this decision that I just made, I still have a lot to live for”

“Relax, all you have to do is make the deliveries on time and that’s it  don’t worry too much, you’ll get wrinkles on your lovely face" replied Kim while licking her lips a little. Marcel was red on his cheeks a bit after hearing that comment before he turned so couldn’t see it 

“Umm thanks, I gotta go. Goodnight Kim, see you tomorrow.”

“Good night and don’t be late on your first day”

“ I won’t” and then he ran off. 

  When he got home the doors were already locked and lights out so he went around the house and tapped on the window “Jacob, Jacob open up it’s me”

A silhouette showed up and the window opened 

“Marcel, you’re late this time what kept you?” Jacob  asked 

“You will not believe the night I just had” marcel climbed through the window as he answered.

“tell me about it, it’s never a dull day with you 

“So I was around that hotel looking for the usual and this chick approaches me talking about giving me a job, I asked her what kind and she said to follow her which I did. We got to this brothel and -"

“wait did you just say a brothel, I didn’t think there was any. Where did you say it was?”

“Its had to describe now can I get on with it?”

“Sorry, continue”

“Right, we went into the brothel and one of the ladies stopped me and said a few things before telling me to come meet her when I feel like it, I met the man in charge, or at least i think he’s in charge and he offered me a job to make deliveries for him at locations he will direct me to and I said Yes"

“Deliveries huh, you do know what that means right?, Drugs and cocaine” jacob said “look Marcel this is a very bad thing why did you accept it do that kind of thing"

“well I need the money, we all do, look at us man we hardly eat twice a day ever since your dad lost his job" Marcel reminded him

“Ok ok, i know but just be careful man”

“I will, well seems like I’ll be going to bed hungry this time"

“No food man, sorry" Jacob told him with an apologetic face

“Its ok, goodnight" and he slept off

Meanwhile, right across the street beside a lamp post stood a figure watching the house before leaving.