Chapter One~Part One
Ron:
I had lot on my mind, and the least I wanted was some drunken customer going on a vandalism drive in my club. Cmon, why this day from all the rest? I didn't have a moment to spare, but duty was calling me.
I clenched my hands into a fist as I stomped towards the private bar’s entrance. As I neared the bar, sounds of breaking of glass increased to deafen my ears, and if it wasn’t enough, the loud thumping music added to the nuisance. I tried calculating the money that was going to waste with every crack. Panic with a tinge of fury rose through me like a fire.
I paused. Maybe I was getting a bit too panicky. A bit too girly. Maybe it was just regular fun going on in there; bit of drinking, bit of dancing and a huge amount of craziness. It could be by mistake that the glasses had fallen on the floor. A human error! I just couldn’t turn hysterical every time I heard noise. Also, it was a pub/disco/club for Christ’s sake. If people didn’t go gaga here, then where would they?
Sticking to my new idea, I turned back and I was glad for it. But it wasn’t long before all my doubts were washed away and another noise entered my ears.
Had somebody just broken a glass? Again?
The mere thought of someone destroying club’s property under my supervision pressed the anger meter within me, and I felt like punching the criminal on their stomach. But I had to wait for now.
Whirling around for the second time, I increased my pace, and to divert my mind for the time being started focusing on the tip-tap sound of my Armani shoes. Armani shoes had to do for now. The manliest thing to do! It wasn’t the best creative idea I had invented, but it was working. My mind swayed to the weird, but soothing echo the shoes created, followed by loud treble of the music.
In front of me there was a silver metallic door, with ‘Entry on Reservation Only’. I puffed in a deep breath. Of all the places in the world, of all the profession why did I chose to become a part of this mad circuit? I threw open the door to find matchstick like figures of people crowding my vision. They seemed to be stained with different colours; green, pink, red, blue radiating from the strobes hanging above. Everything seemed usual, with people strewn like ants; some knocked down on the floor, some lifting high into another world. Everything looked usual, but things were not the same for my ears.
“Gimme back,” a sharp voice crawled its way through the heavy crowd to reach me. Someone had to be shouting at the top of their lungs to get their voices reached here.
Loud voices boomed in my head, although the figures still bopped. Shaking my hands, I ventured deep into the pool of drunkards, druggies and depression addicts. The air was stifling, making breathing almost impossible. Having people sweating on your suit didn’t make things any better. It seemed like the AC had finally given up on us, and I made a mental note to call the maintenance person, Jack. After all, he was charging hefty money from the discotheque owners.
Putting a hand in front of my nose to block the stench that whizzed from people’s mouth, I paved my way. I had to push people, and sometimes some of them would glare at me for a good minute and then realizing something, turned their backs. Maybe it was my suit and CIA agent looks that clipped their mouth shut. It was funny, but these people filled my pockets and stomach. I had to tolerate them. No matter what happened.
“You don’t talllkkk to meee like that!” A girl slurred at a high pitch, followed by a numb silence.
Judging from the voice, I knew it had to be the same one who had bellowed earlier. The music had just stopped, making me realize the kind of noise I had been walking in. As the music no longer boomed in my ears, there was a buzz going in my ears, before they could switch to normal mode.
“Miss, please calm down,” Nathan’s voice soothed down the situation a bit.
My manager instincts had just bolted up the feeling in me that there was much more than just vandalism we were talking about here.
I rushed towards the source of the sound and while in process, I realized how many people were staring at the scene. Everyone had stopped their work, if getting drunk can be counted to that. Eyeballs popping like golf balls, they all watched in silence as the commotion unwrapped before them. Their presence had created sort of a circle where in between the drama took place.
Finally I was there. Near the DJ’s deck, there laid a black gunny bag and Nathan stood near, pointing towards it. He repeatedly roved his hand in the air, and it most likely felt that he was talking to the air. I looked around the gunny bag to realize that the area was strewn with broken pieces of glasses, and a two to three lemons lying, too. My heart gave out a lurch. Why did I have to be a perfectionist all the time, to feel frustrated when in a blip?
Soon, I realized my black gunny bag wasn’t a gunny bag after all, but a seventeen year old something girl who sat curled up into a ball. Her back was bent like a rubber band, seeming flexible enough to be made into dough. First her back rocked, then lifting her head up, she took in the view.
“What’s goin’ on?” I demanded, as I entered the area. Nathan was most surprised to see me. His dropped jaws were enough to make me realize it. He struggled for words to enter his mouth, and for a moment I thought he had been drinking, too.
“Nothing important, Ron,” he finally managed. A weak smile materialized on his freckled face, but it wasn’t enough to reach me. I fixated my eyes on him.
By the time I was done glaring at Nathan, the girl had somehow managed to stand upright with the help of a pillar. Or had at least tried to. Even when she was on her feet, she would jiggle and repeatedly fall on the bar table nearby. Her bloodshot eyes were welled up with tears, and her skyscraper stilettos created a screeching sound as she tried to reach the dancing floor.
“Miss, are you alright?” I reached for her, and carefully put my hand around her shoulder. Jerking her shoulder, she pushed me away. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ears, she eased herself up and eyed me levelly.
“I don’t wantcha any help,” she bobbed her head, waving me off. I knew she had been the one shouting her lungs away before.
“Let me handle this, ma’am, while you sit there,” I continued to speak anyways and pointed towards a sofa at the end of the room. She considered my prospect for a long moment and looked at the faraway corner, but soon gave up on it.
“Lemme just kill this man,” she spoke, choking on her words. I carried my gaze to where hers was fixated to, and wasn’t surprised to find her staring at Nathan. He did look suspicious to me in the beginning. I backed off a little, but not enough to let her escape out of my sight.
“Please, try and understand,” I reasoned out.
“And why?” She again looked me into my eyes, trying to convey something. I blinked my eyes to break her gaze.
“Just tell me what happened.”
“Would you carre to listen?” She asked, licking her blood red lips. I nodded.
“Fine,” she started in a monotone. I noticed that she had finally found a balance in her body and now stood without bobbling. “This man there,” she pointed towards Nathan, “owes me twenty thousand dollars.”
I looked over her shoulders to find Nathan’s face turned a deeper shade of red. What was it? Embarrassment...Anger...Fear? I had to still figure that out.
My throat tightened as I recalled the figure ‘twenty thousand dollars’. What possibly could make Nathan borrow so much money? I sucked in a breath.
“For what? I mean, why did you lend him?”
She looked around her. At people who stared at her in awe. People who themselves were as befuddled as she was. People, who although existed physically, but their mind had roved off to another world. Heaven is what they called. As if something had struck her mind, she started walking again. Or limping.
“Wait,” I rushed to catch up with her. Soon, the music was blaring again at its top speed, and everyone had joined the DJ to rock. Like nothing had even taken place. I looked back for a moment, but could neither find Nathan following us or a trace of him. I grasped the girl’s arm and ushered her to a relatively silent corner. She protested, but her words were muffled against the music.
“Leave me,” she demanded. I let loose my grip on her, but didn’t leave her way.
“My name’s Ron-”
“Ronald Weasely?” Her face split into a huge grin. “That man...no, boy, is a joke. But not weirder than the great HARRY POTTER,” she laughed uncontrollably.
I rubbed my hands and looked up at the ceiling. Strobes of variety of colours flashed on our faces. The light dancing on her face transformed the colour of her face to a diluted pink.
“No.” I tried to put forward a smile, but that’s difficult when you find your brother to be drenched up in debts.
“Fine, fine,” she spoke with a wague wave of her hand. “What is it?”
“You just mentioned my brother, Nathan, owes you twenty,” I gulped down. “-thousand dollars, right?”
She nodded, twisting her lips into a twisted smile. “I lent him some, but now he won’t give me back.” The word ‘some’ made me doubtful. Either she was a rich lass loaded with buckets of money, or she had bluffed about the amount earlier. As soon as a smile had crippled to her face, it faded again and she was sobbing profusely.
“Umm, sorry, but why you cryin’? I thought back to anything I had done which could have offended her, but could think of none.
“He even cheated on me. Told me that he was going to meet Chan,” she started breathing rapidly. “… but was with Sandra,” she choked on her words while crying like a little girl. So…she was his girlfriend? And who was this Chan?
“I’ll talk to him,” I assured her.
“You can’t…he’s out of anybody’s reach,” she explained as she wiped a tear from her face. Her emerald green eyes were bordered with smudged mascara and what had been applied to make her look pretty spoilt her image altogether.
“What do you mean? Why did you-” I was cut off abruptly.
“Give him money?”
“Yes.” I was glad she had caught my question in this stupor state of hers.
“Uh-huh! Maybe because I have a lot of it, and I didn’t know anythin’ better to do with it,” she spun on her heels, and in process finally fell down. I stepped ahead to take her hand, but she shook her head.
“Don’t you love him? Tell me so we’d save him, to bring him back to you.” This had to work. She regarded me a moment longer and shrugged. She shoved her hand on the floor, and applying pressure on it, got up.
“But he doesn’t love me,” she spoke. Her pain scrubbed off my worries for a moment. Nathan had to be a jerk to toy with someone like this.
“He does. He’s just…please, c'mon tell me.” I was losing patience now. It had to be my patient avatar till now, and I would have been sorry if I had to break it.
“Fine, fine,” she began with a vague wave of her hand. “He’s into drugs. Hard drugs. Marijuana, smoking pot, heroin, you name it, and he takes it.” She again started jiggling. Finally, she put her head against the wall.
I was taken aback. Shocked. Like a slat had just passed through my heart. My brother? My own kid brother? When had he grown so much that he could pass through a thing like this without my knowing?
“Are you okay?” She asked, but her concern seemed to be a scoff. She softly held my hand, but I pulled back.
“Are you speaking the truth?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she laughed. Yeah, right. Just a look at her pathetic self spoke of the reasons I shouldn’t trust her. Maybe she had been lying all time; about the cheating thing, debts on Nathan, about drugs, and what not. But I couldn’t completely ignore her. Nathan did seem to be growing odd with passing time. He rarely came to the family reunions, and when he did, it was in his old worn sneakers and an oversized T-shirt. His jeans gave the look of a visit to a jungle where a tigress had ripped off his jeans with her paws. His eyes were always reminding me of beetroot. I snatched myself back from those thoughts.
“I gotta go,” I started walking. “But let me make sure that you’re being escorted safe back,” I added with considerable intelligence.
“I’ll let you do that,” she smiled and soon she was walking in front of me. I noticed how unbelievably small her waist was, and more than a teenager girl, she seemed more of a kid. Her short black dress reached about twenty centimeters away from her knees, and clinched at her abs.
Just a brief look at her, and my mind had again wandered back to the ruins my brother was living in. He had been aloof lately, and I had not even noticed it. Somehow, my mind convinced me that it was my entire fault that he was swimming in such a Death Sea. He had become the bad boy of the family, while I still remained the calm, decent boy.
You’re a useless brother, my mind grumbled.
“What’s your name by the way?” I asked, trying to break the circuit of thoughts running in my mind.
Without turning back, she responded, “Emily.”
“How did you meet my brother?” We were now again in the muddled area of the disco and I immediately jogged to take the lead.
“He came to The Serpent,” she shrugged.
“The what?”
“It’s a kind of pub where they smuggle in everyone.” She coughed. “Including drug peddlers. It’s a great way to make contacts for your business, you know?” I wished I knew.
“You’re into drugs, too?” I shoved open the door, taking a last peek at the crowd to find Nathan, but he was no where to be found. I had to deal with him later.
“What ’bout my money, huh?”
“What about it?”
“The money your brother owes me,” she said.
“Oh, that? I’ll have it sent to you by tomorrow. Give me your address,” I replied.
“Yeah, so you can tell my parents?” She bristled. She seemed pretty realistic and smart sometimes, but at other times, her mind just bent down to alcohol.
“I didn’t have that on my mind,” I replied rather sheepishly.
She didn’t reply this time, and I took this as a closure for our conversation. I kept on treading quietly, trying my best to avoid the turmoil over my brother. How was I going to tell my parents, or should I try to sort this out on my own first?
***
“Make sure she reaches back safe.” I stuffed a huge big green bill in the cab driver’s hands and he flashed a smile.
“Count on me, sir,” he replied enthusiastically.
“Is it gonna take whole night?” Emily tapped her heels hard on the concrete below. I tried to ignore the rudeness and patted on the shoulder of the cabbie. In the last fifteen minutes, she had barfed twice, swooned once and had taken half of my staff to bring her back to normalcy. However, now that she had vomited, she was a bit less weird.
“Try not to be a mess,” I replied to her. Ignoring me, she brushed past me, and hopped in the cab. I tried to avoid the rudeness twice in a row. She had even turned ruder now maybe because now that she was in her senses a bit, she had realized the danger she was in. Did she really think I’d tell on her parents?
The cab took off, storming the area with dust. I coughed.
I looked at my watch. 10:35 PM. Alicia won’t be happy at all.
My phone started beeping, and I dug my hand into my suit’s pocket to bring out my mobile phone.
Flashing on the screen was the photo of Alicia, her smile radiating positive energy all around. Feeling elated for the first time since I had crossed the door of the pub, I picked up the call from my girlfriend.
“Where are you?” She spoke in a whisper.
“Umm, sorry. Got caught with somethin’,” I said, looking around me. The buildings towered all around, and for a moment I had that claustrophobic rising up to my throat. “Should be there in half an hour.”
“God knows what took you so long,” she spoke sadly. “It’s my birthday, and-“
“Your lecture’s going to turn me few hours more late,” I joked. A light laugh came from that side.
“Okay, be here,” she replied and ended the call.
It was my love’s birthday, the day I had planned on making the best day of her life, and here I was…delving into my silly brother’s mistake and...
…there was no one to be blamed but me.
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