Page 11 of Darkness

“I picked them. Hayden, I wouldn’t have told Uncle David you’re ready if I thought you’d fuck it up.” Leaning back in my chair, I see his body relax a little. Once he knows what he’s doing, he will make a very good hitman. “Have faith, Hayden.” He smiles and I know why, it’s the Crawford way. To have faith in ourselves, and in the family.

“Thanks Cain. Are you coming over tomorrow?” he asks putting the envelope in his back jeans pockets.

“You already know the answer to that.” My reply makes him laugh because he knows I don’t do family meals, and again they know why. I can’t risk hurting anyone else. Talking to them for the small amount of time that I do already is putting them in enough danger. I don’t want them to become targets.

Hayden nods his head a few times, and tells me he will see me in the week at some point, as he gets to the door I call his name. “Hayden, to answer your question, I was ten. It was either him or our grand-dad. I got a few more years with grand-dad before they killed him.” Even I hear the lack of emotion my tone, not caring that I was only ten when I first killed a man. Hayden’s mouth opens a little and his eyes widen. I can only imagine the thoughts going through his head.

“I know you hate talking about what happened down there, but you have to remember, dad lost his brother, his dad and his nephew all in one day. He only wants to listen to stories aboutgrand-dad.” Not saying anything to him, he leaves my office, and I close my eyes for a moment.

What the hell am I meant to tell him, nothing good happened down there, does he really need to know the pain we both went through?

Opening my eyes, my hands move on the desk, waking up my screen. I didn’t even hit the mouse to wake it up. There she is on my screen, her beautiful smile, bright blue eyes staring at me.

I sit up in my chair, and look at the picture, not just her face but the picture. She’s standing on a podium with a gold medal around her neck.

Autumn-Rose White three times World Champion, two times European Champion, and she was meant to appear in the World Championship to defend her gold medal but never showed up. And since then no one has seen or heard from her. Her parents said she wanted time out of the spotlight as she has been in tournaments and competitions since she was a little girl.

I bring up another search and type her name in again. There has to be more to her story. No one who is the best in the world, wakes up one morning and never wants to do it again. Seeing only one picture of her with the gold around her neck, you can see it in her eyes. She loved being there, so why drop it all, leave your country and move miles away?

The software looks up everything it can about her, from all the competitions, to every school, and social media post she ever made, to where she lives and what she does here in the US. I set it up to print everything out for me. Looking at the screen for so long will just make my head even worse, so I’ll read it while the club is still open, there has to be some answers as to why she is scared of something. Or someone.

Six

Cain

Staringat the printer is not going to make it go faster.

I was losing my patience because the printer was taking a long time to spit out the information on her, so I needed to get out of the office. I went on the rounds of the club, which I don’t normally do, but it was the best idea I could come up with.

“Whiskey,” I tell the girl behind the bar. I know most of the staff who work here now, but there are few new ones who Lincoln hired recently.

“You going to bed tonight?” Lincoln asks, leaning his back on the counter of the bar, looking out at the club. It’s a busy night, there are a few regulars. They spend many more nights here than they should be.

“I could ask you the same question. I’m sure you came back when I did.” I nod to the girl behind the bar to get him a glass too. “You find anyone to hire as your right-hand man?” I ask.

I could have found someone for him, but I’m not the one who has to teach them, or work with them every day. Lincoln isn’t a chatty man, so to find someone is going to be hard. That’s the reason I told him to find someone himself, and I’ll get all thechecks done to make sure they are right, to look after this place if myself or Lincoln can’t be here.

“Not yet, but I will.” He turns his head slightly to face me, his eyes moving to my hands, then turns his head back to the club. “You should get your hands cleaned up.” He drinks his whiskey in one go, then asks for another. I washed my hands, but every time I ball them up, the cuts re-open. “You going to tell me who the girl is yet?”

He keeps asking who Autumn is, I never move people around in the club. They come to have fun, and I leave them to it, well until they make trouble anyway. So, he knew there was something going on when I moved her to the third floor. For two days he's been asking, and he’s been getting the same answer.

“No one.” Downing my drink, I look around the club as Lincoln laughs. Prick.

“You know finding a girl won’t be the worst thing-”

“First, take your own advice. Second, my soul is tainted, and so dark no one needs to be close to it. They will only burn from the flames surrounding me.” I pat his back and walk away before he can say anything. I had a girl, she was my everything, but I lost her because of the darkness which lives above my head. This thought reminds me I might be out of The Pit, but The Pit will always be a part of me. And someone as colorful as Autumn-Rose doesn’t need to be tainted by my darkness.

Walking into the office, I make my way straight to the printer as I can’t hear it printing anymore.

Fuck, that’s a lot of information. I know I can skim through her early parts of her life. Its later in life I’m more interested in.

I call Lincoln to let him know I’ve gone up to my apartment and to only call if there is an emergency.

Standing at the back of my office, I wait for the elevator to arrive. One reason I wanted this building for the club was because it had eight floors.

Already knowing I was going to use six of them for the club, and the eighth floor for my apartment, that left one big open floor empty so the sound wouldn’t come up to my place. Stepping into the elevator, I place my thumb on the key scanner, and the door closes to take me up to my sanctuary. The only other people whose thumbs are registered here are Lincoln and Hayden’s, which he doesn’t know about.

As the doors open, the first thing I see is the night sky. I feel more at ease looking up at it than looking at the daylight. The night is the only time I knew I’d be safe. Well as safe as one can be. You learn early that monsters are everywhere, and you have to not just watch out for them, but listen for them as well.

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