2012 at last

Hi Followers (all Five)

Long time no Blog - hope you've all had a great xmas - mine has been ok but different!

Well 2011 nearly over thank god!  What an awful year from worrying about job security to family break up - in a bad way too!

At least at end of 2011 I was able to fuel my passion for writing and actually do some - probably wrote more back end of 2011 than last 10 years - lol
Plus have joined Cleckheaton Writers Group which is good and will hopefully push me onwards!

Resolutions for 2012??

Well I need to sort my head out formost now I'm getting used to being single - then should be able to write -at the moment feel like Hank Moody from TV Series Californication - if not seen it Wikpedia it - it quite good about a writer down on his luck!

Also need to get writing as so far going to enter 3 novel writing competitions next year already!
Will post more details of them at a later date - well cheerio and Happy New Year!

Neil

The Wormhole Effect - Chapter 1

Well here it is at last the first chapter of my novel (un-edited) as was trying to do as much of it in November for Nanowrimo - think will do some at weekend as only on Chapter 3 - hope you enjoy and want more - lol

1

The cigarette in Adams mouth drooped as the heavens opened and he was instantly soaked to the bone.  Big drops of rain bounced onto him and the floor around him. 

Lightening flashed nearby followed by a large clap of thunder.

Adam sighed as he threw the cigarette to the ground, waiting for the guard to open the entrance.  The guard was slow and hobbled closer clutching his side.

Not very good security Adam thought but the clanking of jewellery and the clip clop of high heels made him cringe.

"That you Donna" he called and reluctantly turned around.  He already knew the answer.

 Walking up to him was his ex-girlfriend, she too was soaked and her long tanned legs gleamed with the rain water.  Her very short red skirt looked more like a belt than anything else and her tight white top hardly held in her huge boobs.  They were the reason Adam was attracted to her in the first place back when he was a local celebrity and footballer, back when times were good and money flowed like champagne.

Now though Adam was bankrupt all thanks to a broken ankle from a dirty tackle and a mortgage he couldn’t really afford to pay.  It didn’t help that he had spent the rest of his cash on booze, holidays and women.  But Adam was always proud that he never tried drugs unlike some of his team mates. 

After the injury he had fallen onto a comfortable sports journalism job but the magazine had gone bust.  He needed the money to help pay for a small, scruffy flat and so it was that he was now here in the pissing rain waiting for an old sod of a guard to open the laboratory building door where he was to interview some professor for his first assignment on TECH magazine – a science geek publication he had no idea about.

What made things worse was that Donna, his ex-girlfriend had followed him here.  She was still not over him and for the last month had followed him all over and text him constantly, asking him to take her back.  He did like her but to him she was just another fling, there for a quick shag.  But she didn’t see that as Adam realised she was a bit slow in the head.  She wanted and thought she was in a proper relationship with him.

Adam sighed as Donna reached him before the elderly security guard reached the doors.

“I’m pissed wet through now.  My makeup all over”, Donna exclaimed.

Adam turned to her and saw her dark eyeliner was now running down her tanned face.  Her long blonde hair was a mess and stuck to her head.  She looked like a drowned rat.

“Donna why are you here.  You need to stop following me I’m on a work assignment.  You best go home”.

“I thought you was coming to meet another woman”, answered Donna with a breaking upset voice.

“But we aren’t even together anymore”, exclaimed Adam.  He was frustrated with the whole situation.  She wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Just then the guard opened the windowed doors for them.  They quickly dashed into the warmth of the marbled reception area.

“Sorry about the wait young ones”, wheezed the old grey haired guard coughing.

“I’m not as quick as I used to be and these doors aren’t working well.  They should be automatic”, he continued as he looked the visitors up and down giving a nervous look at Donna.  She didn’t look dressed for an interview..

“I’m here to interview Professor Spencer.  I’m Adam Winter from Tech magazine and....”

Adam looked at Donna “This is my . . assistant”.

“Very well sir I will let him know your here”. Said the old guard as he slowly walked back to his reception desk and rang someone up.

           

“You can stay for the interview but afterwards you need to go home”, said Adam to a tearful Donna.

She nodded in reply.  He wanted her to leave now but couldn’t bring himself to send her home in the pouring rain.  He looked out of the window as the rain pelted down hard onto the floor.  Lightening flashed again but this time was closer.  He shook his dark coat to dry off the excess water.  It was a good coat as his dark blue shirt underneath was dry. 

Adam felt uncomfortable in shirt and trousers as he was used to wearing football shorts and top or hanging around in loose fitting tracksuits but he needed to make an impression for the interview as it was an important assignment for the magazine and it was typical that the journalist who was meant to be here, Terry, had broken his leg playing games on his X Box Kinect.

After a silent and awkward few minutes of waiting an electronic door at the far end of the reception area slid open and in walked a curvy brunette, her glasses were low on her nose.  Her white lab coat fitted her well.  She walked up to Adam and Donna.

“Professor Spencer?” asked Adam with a smile.

He had already forgotten Donna was there.  This geek in front of him was gorgeous.

“No. I’m Kathleen, the Professor’s lead assistant in the experiment.  I will take you to him.  Follow me”. She replied snappily pushing her glasses back up her nose.

She walked to the reception grabbing two security passes for the visitors and led them through the sliding door which Adam noted was keypad protected.

 Kathleen walked the visitors down a long silver corridor, Adam watched her buttocks rise and fall as she walked, a grin appearing on his face.  The clip clop of Donnas heals brought him back to the situation and he glanced over to see her giving him a mucky look.  She had started to wipe her face with a tissue.  Adam thought she looked prettier without all the slap she piled on each morning.

They stopped at the end of the corridor at a pair of double doors, Kathleen swung round to them.

“Before we go in it is imperative that you touch nothing.  The equipment inside is fragile and costs more than you’ll earn in your lifetime”.

She led them through the double doors into a big white room.  There were about seven lab assistants in there.  A couple were at computer consoles and were pointing at screens shaking their heads, they never even noticed the new arrivals.

There was a cable from one of the consoles leading to a small square white machine on a steel table in the centre of the laboratory.  The machine was quite thick but the size of a laptop.  It had buttons and a few levers on the top and a small screen with flashing blue neon numbers.  On one side of the machine was a turret, this was where the laser would be fired from.

As Adam watched the machine in the centre of the room, he realised how pissed off he was coming out all this way for a toy box.  He saw four assistants in matching lab white coats walking around the table, examining the machine.

A tall thin old man was walking up a couple of steps towards them.  Adam thought he looked scruffy as the old man’s thinning long grey hair was flowing about all over the place.  The man’s face beamed brightly under the thin glasses and he gave the arrivals a big grin.  He held out his thin long hand for Adam to shake.

“Welcome, welcome.  You must be the journalist from Tech Magazine.  This is so exciting for us all.  You will later see a milestone in science being made.  A fundamental breakthrough.” He then noticed Donnas wet frame beside Adam and gave her a quick look up and down.

“Good day madam,” he said and kissed Donnas hand eccentrically.

They all followed Professor Spencer down a couple of steps into the main part of the room where the four lab assistants were examining the machine.

Adam moved closer to Donna and whispered sarcastically into her ear, “Well  this looks fun!”.

The Professor pointed to the closest of his assistants a stocky bald guy who was leering at Donnas legs.

“This is Max, one of my main assistants in this experiment.  How are we doing Max are we nearly ready?  Is the second machine now fully operational?”

“Urm,” started Max mesmerised by Donnas beauty, all thoughts of his wife who was waiting for him at home disappeared from his mind.

“Well we are just putting the finishing touches to the second machine to bring up – we should be able to proceed in the next forty minutes or so.”

“Good, good.” replied the Professor turning to Adam and Donna.  “I suppose it’s time to explain more about the experiment and answer any questions before we begin?”

“Fine.” Answered Adam as he pulled his writing tablet from his coat inside pocket – luckily it was dry and unharmed from the rain. 

Phew thought Adam I wouldn’t have been able to replace it.  He switched it on and a Word document and keypad appeared.

Adam couldn’t really remember what the experiment was meant to be about as he wasn’t really interested in being here but the journalist who was meant to be covering this event rang in sick.

“Well,” started Adam in his smooth deep tone, “I guess I should ask what is the experiment is about.  What is the background to it.”

Professor Spencer smiled then chuckled to himself, he was like a child in a candy shop.  He looked over at Kathleen beside him then clapped his hands together.

“It all started a few years ago with the Large Hadron Collider experiment.  You’ve heard of that right?  To find a particle involved with the big bang.”

He waited a moment looking for some kind of acknowledgment from the two arrivals.  Both looked at him blankly especially the pretty young woman.  There was just an awkward silence.

After a few moments he continued.

“Anyway the experiment at first was a success,  but because the machines were so big to check over something malfunctioned with the laser.  There was a blast and a scientist I was working closely on it with died horribly.  His bones were missing from him and his organs were burned on the inside.  It was a sad day for me as I had been his best man a few months earlier.”

The Professor stopped talking and looked as if into the distance of his memory.  He shuddered and started walking to the other side of the room.  Adam with his writing tablet followed along with Max, the bald assistant and a young spotty assistant who was huge and shabbily dressed with a tight white coat on.  He was picking wax from his ear as they walked.

“Where was I?” the Professor continued, “ah yes the blast.  Readings from the experiment indicated that at the exact moment of the blast a small tear in the fabric of space appeared and disappeared within a second.  Unfortunately it was where Bob was standing.

But that is why I have dedicated my time and money to what we have here.  This is a smaller advanced version of the collider.  Well this and the other laser we will be bringing up shortly.

Once they are both fired at one another with energy faster than light with the same parameters of the original blast we will hopefully open a tear in space, a window to the cosmos.”

Adam yawned and blinked, this white, bright room was hurting his eyes making them tired.  I must seem interested and ask questions he thought as he looked at the Professors grinning Cheshire cat smile.  His bony cheekbones were jutting out at each side of the his mouth.

“So,” started Adam, “once you’ve opened this window what next?”

“We can look at the beginnings of the universe, start to answer the questions of our origins. 

You there what you touching!” he shouted.

He strode over to the machine with Adam and Max close behind.  Donna was looking sheepishly up at them as she took her hand away from the machines touch screen interface.

Should have left her outside thought Adam.  She’s going to balls up my first assignment, I’ll be looking for another job because of her.

Donna saw the anger crossing both Adams face and the Professors and stepped back.

“I’m sorry..” she began but the professor snapped at her like an old headmaster chiding a naughty girl.

“Do not touch anything you don’t know about it is delicate equipment.  You could endanger the whole experiment.” He blasted at her.

The Professor, his assistants Max and Kathleen, the huge spotty assistant and a medium built bearded assistant all closed in around the machine, looking at its touch screen and buttons determining what the blond woman had done.

One of the assistants at one of the consoles started down the steps towards them.

                                                            **

Outside the complex, the wind howled loudly and blew litter around the car park.  A tabby cat ran from the side of the building to the safety and dryness of under a nearby car as the rain pounded relentlessly to the ground.  The large raindrops bounced from surfaces like ping pong balls.

High above the laboratory complex a huge four pronged electricity bolt shot out from the clouds hitting it fiercely.

                                                            **

Inside the complex, in the white room the console linked to the machine lit up and gave out a large bang, all the screens flashing. 

The Professor and Adam looked around at the cable attached from the console to the machine and saw a white electrical charge ride down it.

As the white charge hit the machine there was a bright flash that lit up the room blinding everyone.  When the flash had gone – so had the machine and everyone around it.

Nearly Xmas

My my it nearly Christmas already - can't believe this year has nearly gone - it been so fast!

But what a difference a year makes - now single and actually managed to write something - done more writing last few month than in last 8 years - lol
Although I have to admit been a bit slack in last 3 to 5 weeks - in fact I miffed I haven't managed to get to Cleakheaton Writers Group last few times but will make sure I go from now on!

But instead of writing I have managed to do some reading - it's all good - lol
Finished a very good heroric fantasy novel by David Gemmell called Waylander 2 - although had been reading it from July and it only 325 pages - but due to bad personal things from around August it was hard to concentrate on it!

But now my head screwed on abit more then I hope to finish my next book sooner! Even though it 700 plus pages - another fantasy novel by Terry Goodkind called Wizard's First Rule - very good so far!

Anyway enough waffle - tomorrow will post first chapter of my NanoWrimo novel - The Wormhole Effect - which I think everyone in my writers group are eager to read - hope I don't dissapoint!

See Ya

December Already

My my, this year has flown by and what a year!  Not a great one I have to admit as those who know me will know but at least I've had more time to do my writing - so can't be bad - especially if I end up with a published novel at the end of it all !

Hopefully plan to write more this month than last month even though was participating in NanoWrimo - so technically should have written 50,000 words last month . . .. but only managed a paltry 6000 words - arhh!

So the plan is to write double that this month for my novel The Wormhole Effect - the first chapter of which I will be putting on my blog at the weekend! Hope you enjoy it!

See you at the Weekend - Live long and Prosper!

Photographic Memories

 Here's a story I wrote after the one I mentioned in last blog (You Don't Know Jack) and for a short story competition for Calderdale Libaries - I always try to write fantasy. sci-fi. horror but find myself writing the opposite - anyway enjoy Photographic Memories:

The man staggered to the rock, swivelled and slumped,  slowly sliding down it.  He sat there dazed and disorientated  not knowing where he was and he couldn’t hear anything except a constant loud ringing noise.  He was scared and cold.

The young man patted his breast pocket and with shaking fingers pulled out  a black and white photo.  Examining it he stared lovingly at his family in the photo.  His father was on the end standing tall and thin.  Next to him was the mans 18 month son crawling, facing the camera looking as cute as can be in a baby romper suit with his long black hair over his face.  He had a big radiant smile on his face. 

Finally in the photo was the man’s young wife with her long black hair swept to the side exposing her dark eyes and full lips. 

He missed his family dearly then realised his mother wasn’t there in the photo.  She had died when he was a boy.  This made him think back to his earliest memory of his mother.  He was about  5 year’s old.  He was sobbing holding up his knee as his mother washed a cut, smiling at him as she did so.  He remembered her plump face with her rosy red cheeks and her curly black hair.

“You’ll be fine Henry”, she reassured him, “There all better.” She said in her soothing soft voice.  She kissed his knee and he felt better immediately.  They both gave a little chuckle to each other.

Returning to his present situation,  Henry wished his mother was there with him right now reassuring him that everything would be alright in her soft soothing voice.  Henry sighed as his thoughts went back in time again.  This time to the last memory of his mother when he was 12.  He was  standing by her bed as her now pale thinner face looked up at him.  The twinkle she once had in her eyes had gone and she coughed violently.

“Love you.” She called over to him as his father ushered him out of the room. 

“Come on now Henry.  Your mother needs her rest” advised Henry’s father.  His father was tall and much broader back then and he seemed to fill most of the room.  Henry reluctantly left his mother’s side and didn’t see her alive again.  She had died of pneumonia.

Henry noticed tears splattering onto the photo he was holding.  Still shaking and with his ears still ringing  he stared at his father.  Age had not been kind to him as he was still tall but now his stout broad figure was thin and weak.  His hair had almost totally gone.  He had never been the same since mother’s death and had taken to drinking heavily.   Henry then realised he had never been close to his father.  When he was younger his father was away in the army so would only visit when he could.  He even missed a few of Henry’s birthdays and Christmases.   His father only really lived with them once he left the war.  This was due to bad shrapnel wound to the leg.  When his father was there they hardly spoke and there were quite a lot of silences.  Although Henry loved his father he never really knew him and the only memories of him he could muster were ones where he was shouting and ordering him and his mother around.  It must have been the military upbringing he had had.  Thinking about it more clearly Henry realised he had always been fearful of his father.

A sudden movement and shadow falling over Henry’s family photo awakened him to his present situation.  Henry looked up at the source of the shadow and gasped.  An English soldier from Henry’s regiment was stood in front of Henry.  He was covered in blood, mud and sand and to Henry he looked to be shouting at him but Henry could hear no words only the constant ring in his ears.  The man was as young as Henry and was pale and frightened.  He had lost his helmet and his blond hair was matted to his head with sweat and mud.   Henry noticed the soldier was holding something in his hand which was bloody and disfigured then realised it was the soldier’s foot which had been blown off by a mine.  Henry looked at the man’s injured leg and saw blood gushing from a mangled stump which was just below the knee.  The soldier limped closer to Henry with a mixture of shock and fear on his face.  Suddenly a bullet hit the soldier in the forehead.  There was just a tiny hole but the back of the soldiers head had been blown away.  The soldier fell backwards and lifeless to the sand and mud.

Henry retreated back to his family photo now intently staring at his wife.  She was beautiful and he wondered if he would see her again.  His memory went back to the town dance where he had met her.  He was stood near the exit of the dance hall ready to leave after losing his friends.  Then out the corner of his eye he saw her on the opposite side of the hall watching him.  Henry noticed her hair first.  It shimmered in the light and was black as night and long with curls.  She reminded him of the actress Veronica Lake which he had seen on bill boards in town.  She wore a short black velvet dress and considering the rationing it was in good condition.

Henry wasn’t sure what he was wearing that night as he just remembered buying two ginger beers and walking across the floor to her.  The trip he made as reached her made him embarrassed as he had nearly spilt the drinks over her, yet soon they were embraced and dancing to the music.  They also talked about themselves long into the night.  Her name was Elizabeth, she was 17 and her father had died in the war.  Her mother was well off as she had inherited a small publishing business printing magazines and romance novels.

Henry explained about his mother’s death and that he too was 17 and worked in the local tobacco factory.  He also mentioned his father’s injury in the same war which had claimed Elizabeth’s father’s life.  They both shared a long kiss at the end of the night.

Three months later and Henry had married Elizabeth and they were living with Elizabeth’s mother.  To them both it was a whirlwind fairy tale romance and they knew they loved each other dearly.  A month after their marriage and Elizabeth fell pregnant.

Henry remembered vividly the birth of his son as though it happened only yesterday.  It was one of the best days of his live.

“What shall we call him?” asked Elizabeth.

“How about we name him after your father,” replied Henry.

Elizabeth smiled up at him “That’s perfect.  Welcome to the world Charlie.  We love you.” She kissed the baby on the head.

Henry realised just how much Charlie looked like his mother with his long black hair, strong cheek bones and rosy cheeks.  He was perfect and Henry loved looking after him and playing games.

Charlie was 11 months old when Henry was drafted into the army to join the war and was starting to walk.  He pulled himself up and stumbled along the furniture to where his daddy was sitting.  Henry had his head in his hands as he looked up at his son and smiled.  He picked him up and sat him on his lap.

“I can’t believe I will have to leave and fight in the war.  It’s not fair.  Everything in life is perfect.” He exclaimed looking up at Elizabeth.

“We don’t want you to leave either.  I’m scared for you but it’s the law.  It’s compulsory.” Replied Elizabeth.

Again tears splashed onto his family photo as Henry remembered hugging and kissing his wife and son goodbye and boarding the bus to his barracks.  He watched them and waved and blew kisses as the bus slowly pulled out and speeded up down the road.  Would he ever see them again he thought.

There was suddenly a loud popping noise in Henry’s ears and they suddenly hurt.  He felt himself coming round and shockingly was back in his present situation, sat behind a boulder on Sword beach on D Day.  He kissed his photo and put it safely back into his top pocket.

Unfortunately he could now hear everything going on around him.  Everything was so loud, and in amongst the explosions and artillery gun fire he could make out the screams of his comrades shouting out in pain and anguish.  He looked to his left to see a tank going slowly past him and could hear the ricochet of machine gun fire bouncing off the side.  Not so far away were the bodies of fallen comrades who had either been shot or blown up and the sand was covered in blood and guts.

The sight of what he saw was so powerful and disgusting it made Henry sick.  He spat on the ground and glanced up to see the second wave of landing ships arrive.  A couple of the landing ships hit mines and exploded sending bodies and metal flying out into the sea and at other soldiers.  Some of the soldiers that came off the successful landing ships were gunned down as soon as they hit the sand.  The sea had turned a dark crimson colour.

Some soldiers that made it came running up towards Henry.  A few were shouting orders and a few were firing their weapons at the German machine gunners.

“Are you alright?” asked a tall lean soldier who had somehow managed to get to Henry within seconds.

“Yes, Yes. I should be ok.” Replied Henry using the boulder to push himself up.

The soldier picked up and passed Henry his rifle and Henry looked into his dark sparkly eyes.  He looked like the sergeant who had given him his orders on the landing ship.

“To victory, for England” was his last words to him before a mine had gone off near him and sent him stumbling to the boulder.  He was lucky he hadn’t got shot.

The soldier with Henry ran past him after he had seen that Henry was fine.  Henry took in a few deep breathes as his heart pounded wildly in his chest.  “This is it.” He thought.  “I’ll go down fighting though”.

Henry gently patted at his family photo in his breast pocket then ran around the boulder to face his enemy head on.  He saw many small gun turrets and some Germans behind machine guns.  As Henry ran towards them over the sand and the dead he fired at the nearest machine gunner and somehow managed to hit him.  The German soldier fell back from his position.

“That was lucky,” thought Henry as he carried on with gun fire whistling past him and explosions going off around him on the beach.

Suddenly he was hit on his left arm and cried out in pain but he realised it was just a flesh wound and carried on.  The adrenaline of the moment made him fearless and the pain subsided.  As he got closer to his target the only thing that was in his mind were the words of his sergeant and the faces of his family.

“To Victory, for England”

“For Family.”.

Long time no Blog

Hey happy followers - long time no blog or even write! 
Been abit naughty as hardly written anything for a while - although done some of my novel tonight but was hoping to be more into it by now at least 15,000 words by end of tonight and end of NANO WRIMO - but failed miserably on that never mind the target of 50,000 words meant to be written in November - oh well at least I've written something I suppose and it something I'm enjoying to write!

Its called The Wormhole Effect and will have Chapter One on here soon to give you a taster!
Its an old fashioned pulpy romp through weird dimensions as a group of scientists search for their way home - hoping the next leap will be the leap home - oops crossed into Quantum Leap terrority there - lol!

Other than that not been up to much - had a night out whereby got very drunk - something that seems to be a reacurring theme on this blog - ha ha

Also today was looking on a short story site on the off chance and saw a short story competition that was free - and also last date for it was today 30/11/2011 - so entered a story I was going to put on tonight called You Don't Know Jack - so will leave that off until competition result in early next year - the competition was The Commonwealth Short Story Competition which has a top prize of £5000 and runner up prizes of £1000 - it for anyone in the Commonwealth to enter!  Wish me luck lol
Blog soon folks !

Being Cheeky

Well my pursuit of finding new followers - or disciples as I like to call them has taken a cheeky turn!

There is a website called The Bookseller - for those who don't know it's like a publishing site where there is news from publishers about new books and signings and general news on the publishing world like sales of paperbacks per month - quite interesting if your eventually wanting to be published.

Well I have been posting comments on some of the news items and including my blog address - for example there is a story about a publishing house starting to sell short story e-books - so i commented saying here's some good stories and included my blog address!

Never know I may get an agent reading the comments - come on here and think we'll give him a chance - here's hoping!!!  LOL

Movie Pitch

Thought up a movie pitch earlier today called:

Sunset: Breaking Wind part One of One

Bella and Edward sat close to one another on the park bench their eyes meeting.  They moved into each other to kiss.
At that moment a Werewolve padded up to them and sat down.  It farted loudly and it stunk of rotten eggs.

For Bella and Edward it had ruined the moment and they got up and went their seperate ways never to see each other again.

The Werewolve was fined for not picking up its poo and arrested for urinating in public!

The End

What you think?  Think I may have found a niche in the paranormal romance market - lol

Message from Earth to Ork

Neil to Orson come in Orson.  Neil to Orson come in Orson ..
Oh there you are my excellance.
This week on Earth has been very hectic and disjointed due to a substance the humans call alchohol.  They made me drink too much last Saturday and suffered till middle of the week.
Will be doing it again for more research for Ork though!

Also this week haven't done much writing even though I joined a site to write 50,000 words - but will try to write all this weekend and next week and hope to get to 15,000 words!

Wish me good luck with that.

Well your excellance I have to go Mindy is calling me to the shower to scrub her back.

This is Neil from Earth saying  Nano WriMo

The Runner

My my almost forgot about this one - it's not a fantastic story writing wise but think it second story I wrote after Bloody Sunday!
I wrote it for the ex-girlfriend as she is into Martina Cole so thought I could do one of those types of stories - i.e. swearing, sex and violence - even though I have never read any of her works - all seem samey to me that why even the title is a piss take of her titles - ha
To date it is the longest story I have wrote at nearly 7,000 words - will rectify that soon with my novel though!
So get comfy, sit back with a horlicks and read and enjoy!  Certificate 18 !!!!

I was knackered and I had only ran two blocks.  It must have been the amount of smokes I’d had recently fucking up my lungs.  My throat was on fire and my legs had a burning sensation in them, I had to stop soon. 

The only problem was, Little and Large were behind me closing in and I dreaded to think what would happen if they caught me, especially after what I’d witnessed over the last couple of months.  Not only that but Mum needed my help.  Everything was fucked up.

I glanced behind me and saw two red faces closing in on me.  I had to lose them and quick.  In front of me were rows of terraced houses.  I quickly darted up the nearest alley way, then another until I had gone up about six and was now lost.

I stopped and leaned against a dirty, damp wall, panting to get my breath.  Looking down I saw a rat coming out of a bin bag discarded on the alley way floor.  It had been there for a while as I could even taste the smell.  I needed to be sick.

How had things got so bad?  When did everything go so wrong?

1

Three months ago.  That’s when everything went wrong.  Dad died.  Leaving me and Mum to fend for ourselves. 

To be honest everything wasn’t fine up until then any way. Living on the edge of the roughest estate in town.  Being sixteen and failing all my GCSE’s.  Although this was largely due to my home life.

About a year ago Mum saw my Nan and Granddad killed by a joy rider.  In turn this sent Mum into severe depression and she gave up work.  Dad was then the main provider, working as a Manager in the local biscuit factory.  With Dad paying out nearly all the bills and looking after Mum he started getting stressed.  This in turn led to him drinking.

After a few months his drinking had got so bad he was pissed nearly all the time.  He would argue with me and shout I was scum.  He would argue with Mum calling her a lazy bitch and telling her to “Get over it”, and “Get a fucking job”.

This went on for months until Dad got sacked from his job for hitting the Business Director whilst pissed at work.  The last month was a nightmare – I was really sad when Dad died of a stroke but also there was a sense of relief.

Unfortunately for us Dad hadn’t paid any Mortgage for nearly a year so we got our house took off us.  There was also a large waiting list for houses on the council.  Mum seemed to shake off her depression enough to get us a two bedroom private flat.

This would have been great if there wouldn’t have been a catch.  It was owned by the Turner Brothers. 

2

Bob and Jake Turner are the towns most notorious underground drug dealers.  Everyone runs scared from them.  Even the Police can’t touch them, mainly because of their Cousin working high up in the Council.  They control all of the rough estates – supplying drugs and booze to those desperate for it.

The block of flats me and Mum moved into also doubled up as a drug den and Illegal brothel.  This I noticed on our first day there as rough slag’s were staggering about on the corridors drugged up to fuck and wearing the shortest and dirtiest of clothes.  A couple of them were leading small fat business men into their rooms giving them their prices – as well as their diseases.

What usually happened was, when the girls had been paid, all the money ended up with the Turner Brother’s.  Half was for rent and half for the drugs they had been supplied with.  The Brothers were raking it in.   

When we first arrived at our small scruffy flat me and Mum seemed fine for the first couple of days, we just saw a few of the hookers in the doorways now and again, plus the occasional old bloke going into some rooms.  I was mainly concerned with getting a job as we only had benefits coming in and I wanted to contribute to the bills.  I checked the local papers but couldn’t do much as was still in the process of getting the flat together.  Also I was looking after Mum as well as she was still suffering from depression but didn’t seem that bad.  This was probably due to the amount of pills she was popping.

On the forth day at the flat in the early hours of morning there was a loud banging on our door.  This woke us up.

“Who the fucks that at this time?” shouted Mum.

She sounded pissed off.

“Don’t know I’ll get it,” I called back.

I grabbed some shorts and opened the door.

In front of me stood two large drunk guys.  They stunk of whiskey and were wearing matching tracksuits.  It was the Turner Brothers.

The larger and youngest of the two, Jake, gave a smile.  I noticed he was like a bear.  Big round shoulders, thick arms and huge hands.  I wouldn’t have liked to get into a fight with him.  One punch and I would be dead.  He was also the slow one of the two, following his older brothers every word.

I glanced at the older brother Bob.  He didn’t seem as large and fat as I had thought.  True he had a large beer belly on him, but he also had a small frame with skinny arms and a skinny, rat like face.  He also had a large scar running down the centre of his face.  From his eyebrow to his pointy chin.  I didn’t like the look of him one bit.

“Hey kid, we need to speak to your Mum about the rent” sneered Bob.

“OK”, I replied, “Mum.  It’s the landlords for you”.

Mum came to the doorway, smiled at them and invited them in.

“Kid.  Nip to the shop for us for snacks.  Get yourself something too.  We need to talk to your Mum”.

I did as Bob said and slouched down to the local shop at the corner of our street, bumping into some old guy coming out of one of the flats, scratching his crotch, with a big smile on his face and brushing his comb over to the side.

“These gals are good aren’t they” he said to me.  “With this place there’s no need for a wife”.

I smiled back at him as he walked off in front of me still scratching.

The shop had only just opened when I got there.  Mr Patel looked over and smiled.  I decided to take my time at the shops as it seemed I wasn’t wanted by anyone.  I strolled around the litter strewn streets.  The roughness of them was now oblivious to me.  I didn’t notice the graffiti on the walls or the bordered up windows and doors.  It was normal to me, although it didn’t mean I liked where we were.  I just wish we had money to get off this shitty rough estate.

When I returned to our flat the Turner brothers were just leaving.  Both had a smile on their face.

“Hey Kid”, said Bob.  “Be at the front door in about two hours we may have a job for you, cash in hand.  Be handy for you and your Mum”.

I nodded back at him slightly shocked at the proposition.  I wondered what it was, probably dodgy like the brothers but money was money.  I walked into our flat.  Mum was sat drinking coffee, with a fag in hand, tapping her foot on the table nervously.

She looked up when I entered and gave a weak smile.

“What did they want Mum” I asked.

“They have offered me an opportunity to earn some money at last” she replied.  “I’m not happy about what I will be doing but it needs to be done, only for a short time till we save up enough to move out”.

“You what!!  Your not seriously going to become a prostitute are you?  Dad hasn’t been gone long.  It’s fucking disgusting”.

“Look Johnny.  We need the money.  My decision is final”.

I stormed off to my room, my face red with anger.  I couldn’t believe that Mum would go so low.  I felt sick to my stomach thinking of her in the next room with different guys each night.  She had lost all respect I had for her.

For two hours I sat on my bed thinking over what had happened.  I felt so angry, my blood was boiling, but there was nothing I could do.  Once Mum made a decision she stuck to it.  I remembered I had to meet the brothers and didn’t want to keep them waiting.  I threw on a pair of dirty jeans from the floor and a t-shirt. 

The brothers were waiting for me at the entrance to the flats.  Jake still looked pissed but Bob looked in a bad mood.  He scared me, especially how he looked at me when I turned up.

“Where the fuck have you been?  My heads fucking banging, I want to go to bed”, he snarled.

“Go easy on him.  He’s doing us a favour”, replied Jake.

“You can fuck off too.  I’m off to sleep”. 

With that Bob brushed past me and sloped up the stairs to his room on the top floor.

After he had gone Jake smiled and went into his pockets.  He pulled out two small packets wrapped in tin foil.

“You don’t need to know what these are although you’ve probably an idea” he said to me in his deep voice.

I nodded at him, my mind racing thinking over what he was about to ask me.  They wanted me to be a drug runner.  Delivering drugs to users and probably getting the payment.

“You don’t say much”, he continued, “Anyway we need you to deliver these to a house in Spencer Avenue.  Number fourteen.  When you get there say we’ve sent you and they should automatically pay you for them.  When they do take thirty quid out for your self.  That ok?”

“Yeah that’s fine” I replied and took the parcels from him.

“We may need to use you everyday and you should make more money depending on how big the drop is.  Right I’m off to get a blow job from one of those slag’s then have a kip too.  See you in a few hours.  We will find you for the money”.

After Jake had gone into the flats I looked at the parcels in my hands.  Well it should be easy money, I thought.  If Mum is going to get paid for something easy I don’t see why I shouldn’t.  But it’s also wrong.  I sighed and started to stroll to my destination which was only fifteen minutes walk away.

3

After walking to an even worse part of the estate I arrived at number Fourteen Spencer Avenue.  It looked a right mess almost as if it was a derelict house.  The side windows were bordered up and the window in the front door was smashed.  The drive way was full of litter and an old broken television.  I didn’t like the look of it one bit.  I even had to step over some broken needles on the path.

I knocked on the door.  There was no answer.  I knocked again more loudly this time then heard some shouting from inside.  The door flew open and in front of me stood a mess of a man.  He was about six stone, tall and unshaven dressed in what looked like rags.  Down his arms were bruises, parts of his arms were even bleeding.

“What you want kid?” asked the man in a slurred voice.  He seemed out if it.  His eyes were looking past me and darting all over the place.

“I’m here to deliver you something from the Turner Brothers”, I replied,  I pulled the foiled wrapped parcels from my pockets.

He lanky man smiled “Come in”.

As he shut the door behind me I could feel my heart racing.  I hadn’t realised how scared I was,  they could kill me in a drug fuelled frenzy.  I walked past the lanky man as he gestured me into the living room.  He stunk of stale sweat and had probably not had a bath in weeks, just getting high on a cocktail of drugs.

I walked down the dim, stinking hallway to the room.  Wall paper was hanging off the walls and the floor was littered with beer cans.

When I turned into the room the sight shocked me, I was nearly sick.  On the shabby couch was an equally lanky man, scruffy and smoking a spliff.  Next to him sat a spotty young woman in a tattered dressing gown, bruises all over her arms and legs.  She was eating a Pot Noodle and clearly not all there.  She smiled at me when she saw me.  The room was dark as the curtains were drawn but I could make out cans of lager all over the floor as well as burnt foil and pizza boxes.

Then I saw a few dirty nappies on the floor and looked to the furthest corner of the room.  There in a small cot was a scruffy looking baby looking sad and hungry.  Laid next to him was a stale pork pie.  I couldn’t believe it.  I felt really bad that the baby was in such a state.  The tall lanky man who greeted me at the door took the parcels from me and gave me a roll of twenties.  There must have been about a hundred quid there.

“On your way kid.  We going to have some fun”, mumbled the lanky man and they all started to laugh manically.

I left the house and made my way back to the flat.  Well this seems like easy money I thought, although I felt bad about leaving the baby with such druggies and in a bad state.

When I got back to the flat I couldn’t find the Turner Brothers anywhere.  They must have been in bed still sleeping off their hangover.  After a few hours there was a knock on the door.  Jake’s lumbering figure was stood in the doorway when I opened the door.  He gave me his usual smile.

“Everything go OK?” he asked as I handed him over the roll of money.

“Yeah fine”, I answered nervously.

“Good”, with that he counted out forty pounds for me.  “I will finish doing the drops today, you’ll do more tomorrow.  See ya then”. 

After he had strolled away I looked down at my money, not bad.  Will help towards buying some food in I thought. 

I sighed, this was now my new career.

4

Over a month had passed and I was now settled into my job as a drug runner.  I was now starting to see the world in a different light.  Real careers and people didn’t mean anything to me, all that mattered was that I was delivering death to people and being paid for it.  In a bizarre fucked up way I felt superior as I was raking money in for doing almost fuck all.

I was doing four or five drops a day and getting paid from twenty pounds to sixty pounds for each one depending on what drugs were being dropped and the amount.  The only downside was that the Turner brothers had got me hooked on cigarettes and weed so too much of my cash was going on that.  Because I was so active I had lost weight and smoking weed had suppressed  my appetite.  Every time I looked in the mirror my slim gaunt looking reflection haunted me.

Mum was also doing well with her new business.  She had around ten guys a day visiting her although the thought of what she was doing still disgusted me but she wouldn’t listen to me especially now the Turner brother’s had her hooked on ecstasy and she was off her head most of the time.  So again quite a lot of the money she earned ended up with the Brothers either in rent or from buying drugs.  She too was underweight and looked like a zombie.  We were both a mess but we didn’t seem to care.

We were both like vampires as we slept most of the day because Mum had most of her clients over at night and that led to arguments as I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to be there when there were filthy strangers in the next room.  Because of this I decided to do most of my drop-offs  in the evenings and nights.

The Turner Brother’s were doing well too – raking in money from the drugs and the prostitutes and seemingly untouchable.

The younger brother Jake was looking stressed despite all the money coming in as he was virtually in charge of the operation, getting the drugs from the suppliers and arranging the deals.  He wasn’t really up to the job as he wasn’t gifted in the brains department.  Also he was trying to control Bob who had gone into meltdown as he was drinking too much and had broken the rule of not touching what you are selling.

Bob was even more short tempered than usual when the drugs and alcohol wore off and would argue with Jake all the time.  He would shout at the prostitutes and me too.  Everyone was scared of him.  He was too unpredictable, like a faulty firework ready to go off.

Because of this I kept my head down and away from Bob.  I would occasionally chat to Jake though, although he was quite quiet and wasn’t very conversational.  He would usually grunt at me asking how Mum and me was doing, or comment on the football.  He wasn’t a happy guy.

Deep down I wanted to get out of this life I was living but also resounded to the fact that as things were I couldn’t move on.

This was until something happened that sounded my alarm bells and had me thinking I got to escape.

                                                          5

          I had done a drop off as normal, everything went fine.  I found myself leaving a dingy, grubby house where the people inside were smacked off their tits.  As I walked away from the house and down the road to the flats I couldn’t help but feel I was being watched.  It made me nervous and I kept looking around me but saw no sign of anyone.  Mind you it was one in the morning.

When I arrived at the flats Bob and Jake were waiting outside.  Jake looked glum as Bob was leaning on him for support.  He seemed out of it, his eyes were red raw and his face bright red and puffy.  He saw me approach and smiled, then called me.

“Here kid.  Wait with us we got something special arriving”.

As soon as he had said that a small Ford van came around the corner and pulled up next to the kerb by the brothers.  Out jumped a small skinny big nosed guy.  He looked really shifty with his combed back hair and sleazy grin,

“Hi”, he called to the brothers, “You’ll like these goods, very pretty. Doesn’t say much though”, he laughed.

He went to the back of the van, and opened it up.  Inside sat scrunched up and shivering with fear and cold sat an asian girl no more than eighteen years old.  He was right though,  she was pretty.

He leaned over and roughly grabbed her arm pulling her out.  She was crying and saying something in her language.  She was very distressed.  Her slender body reluctantly followed the sleazy guy out of the van.  I couldn’t believe they were trading in illegal girls for prostitution..

“You like”, asked the sleazy guy.

“Best takeout we’ve ever had”,  replied Bob handing over a bundle of cash to the guy.

He counted his money and got in his van.  “She love you long time”, he shouted back as he drove off.

I followed as the brothers dragged the screaming girl up to their flat.  She was crying and repeatedly shouting something in her language.  I had a bad feeling about all this as I had an idea what was going to happen.  I went with them anyway in case I could do something to help the girl.

Bob opened the door and I reluctantly went in as Jake pushed the young asian girl onto a grubby single bed.  The room stunk of stale booze and piss it was awful.  It was Bob’s room.

“We might as well try the goods” laughed Bob to Jake. 

He looked at me “Kid this will be your first time” as he said that he leaned over the bed and unzipped his pants.

The asian girl seeing this screamed even more loudly and kicked and punched at Bob.  One kick caught him in the balls.

“Ahhh fucking bitch”, he screamed.  “Jake pass me the piece maybe that will shut her up”.

I looked over to Jake who had pulled a gun from under his shirt and passed it to Bob.  His brow was sweating and he was getting nervous about the situation.

“Maybe we should leave it?” he said to Bob.

“You turning into a fucking pussy”,  Bob snarled back at him as he waved the barrel of the gun in front of the asian girl.

“You fucking lie still I want some”, he shouted at her.  With that she struggled more and hit out at him again.

 Bob struck the asian girl on the head hard with the gun.

She slumped back onto the bed as blood seeped from her head.

“Fucking hell Bob what you done”, screamed Jake.

“She’s fine”, replied Bob as he felt her neck for a pulse.

“Oh shit” Bob cried after a few minutes.

“Jake you fat lump get over her and help me carry her.  Kid you grab her legs”.

With that we both grabbed the asian girl.  Blood poured from her head as we took her down to Bob’s car.  We placed her on the back seat.

“She’s just knocked out.  We’ll take care of her kid.  Now forget about all this and say nothing to anyone alright” said Bob.

With that the brothers got in the van and drove off.  I couldn’t help wonder if she was just knocked out or if they had killed her,  but I never saw or heard anything about her again.

6

Over a week had passed since the incident with the asian girl and I still didn’t know what became of her.  I pondered on it for many hours and no matter how hard I tried the worst thing came to mind.  She was dead.  Killed by a drugged up maniac.  I couldn’t even mention it to Mum.  She seemed too far gone and I suspected she was on cocaine now by the way she was acting.

I sighed as I went to the front of the flats to meet Jake.  He didn’t seem his usual chirpy self and you could tell there was something on his mind.  Something was very wrong.

He didn’t even smile as he saw me and just gave me a large package that was in a carrier bag and told me to deliver it to a snooker club on the other side of town.

This was a big drop which would take me over an hour to get to my destination.  The snooker club was on the edge of another rough estate and the first drop to take me out of my comfort zone.

As I walked to my destination I was feeling paranoid again that someone was watching and following me.  No matter how many times I looked around me there was hardly anyone around and when there was they were usually street kids hanging on street corners drinking cans of super strength lager.

When I eventually arrived at the snooker club my nerves grew even more as the sight of it scared me.  There was a large snooker hall sign on the outside although some of it had broken off.  All the windows had been boarded up and graffiti was painted around the building.

I opened a big old door slowly then made my way up some cold stone stairs.  The smell was like Bobs bedroom, stale beer and smoke.  All the way up the staircase the walls were full of graffiti like the outside.  When I got to the top of the stairs I opened a green metal door.

I stepped into a large snooker hall with three big snooker tables taking up the middle.  At the far side was a small grubby bar with a small framed guy behind.  Only four people were in the place playing snooker.

As I strolled over to the barman everyone stopped to look at me.  They were rough looking types with bald heads and tattoos.  The small framed guy behind the bar looked over at me and smiled as I reached him.

“So you’re the Turner brothers kid”, he sneered.

I composed myself as my nerves were almost getting the best of me “Yes I am.  I’ve got a delivery for you”.

“Just put it on the bar” he replied, cracking his bony fingers.

I placed the package on the bar for him expecting him to give me payment for it.

“Now fuck off you little twat and tell the same to those loser brothers.  They’ll be out of business by the end of the month.  They’re fucked up”.

The shock of what he had just said froze me and my mind was racing.  What would Bob say if I went back without any money.

Without realising it the four burly rough guys playing snooker were stood behind me.  I glanced up at the nearest guy.  He smirked at me as he leaned on his cue, showing of his tattooed muscles.

I turned fully around and even though I shouldn’t have I panicked and ran through the snooker hall guys and out the door.  I could hear them all laughing as I ran down the stairs.

I walked as slow as possible back to the flat afraid of what the brothers would say or do to me.  Part of me just wanted to get on the nearest bus out of town but I needed to be there for Mum no matter how messed up she was.  After nearly two hours I was outside Jakes flat.  I knocked nervously on the door.

7

After I had told Jake what had happened at the snooker hall he looked totally angry and pissed off.

“What the fuck am I going to tell my brother, he’ll go berserk, especially with all the shit he’s been taking recently” he said.  Then he let out a big sigh as he sloped past me to Bob’s room.

I heard nothing from the brothers all that day and Mum was whacked out on the sofa.  I was bored so I started to count my savings that I had hid under the bed.  Since the incident with the asian girl I had decided I was going to try save up and try get a flat somewhere else with Mum.  We needed to get out of this lifestyle it was killing us.  I had dreams of going to college and getting qualifications in a good trade.  Maybe an electrician’s course would be good.  I always fancied doing something like that and always good with electrics at home.

It got to about ten thirty that night when Mum came into my room and told me to go to the front of the flats as Bob and Jake were waiting for me.  Tired I wearily got off my bed and went to meet them.

Jake was stood at the door to his car.  It was a bright red Renault and looked quite new.

“Hi”, he called over.  “We’re taking you for a ride”.

I looked at the passenger side and Bob looked off his head.  His eyes were dilated and he was drinking heavily from a whiskey bottle.

I was very nervous now.  Were they going to kill me and hide my body?  Were they going to bury me where they probably buried the asian girl.  I reluctantly got into the back off the car.  Jake drove as Bob drank and there was an awkward silence.

After a few blocks I realised where we were going and after five minutes we had pulled up outside the snooker hall.  I looked over at Bob and he had a wicked smirk on his face.

“Come on kid”, he called.

I sheepishly followed the two brothers as they went through the old door, then up the stairs.  Jake tried the green metal door at the top of the stairs. Locked.  He used his bulk and fat to barge the door open with his shoulder. 

Inside was empty and dimly lit.  Behind the bar we could see a bright light.  We quietly made our way towards it and found the owners office.  There sat with his back to us was the small framed barman who had took the drugs earlier.  He jumped out of his seat when he heard Bob saying “Get out the fucking chair you skinny twat”.

The barman looked like a rabbit caught in headlights.  A skinny rabbit.

“Bob”, he pleaded in a faint voice “I was just messing with the kid.  It was just a joke.  I was going to pay you tomorrow”.

“Bullshit”, slurred Bob “and no fucker calls us losers.  You’re the one who’s going to be out of business.  Jake”.

With that Jake landed his fist in the small man’s pointy nose and he fell backward over his desk.  My heart was racing with fear as I suspected what was going to happen.  I just wanted to get out of the place as I felt sick.

Jake pulled the barman from the office to the main snooker hall with his hair.  The man was grunting and crying and trying to struggle from Jake’s grip but he just made it worse for himself.

“Lie the bastard on the table”, Bob asked Jake.

Jake grabbed the guy and held him face down on the edge of one of the snooker tables.  He had his arms behind his back and leaned on him to keep him from moving.  The guy was completely helpless.  I nearly chucked up as Bob staggered towards Jake and the barman with cue in hand.  Holding the small side of the cue he swung the heavy part straight into the mans face. 

The barman let a small squeal as the wood smashed into his face.  His nose exploded on impact and blood poured out of his mouth.  We could hear the cracking of bone.  He looked in agony as what was left of his nose hung onto his face.

“No one fucks with me”, shouted Bob at his victim and swung the cue back into his face.  This time the man just groaned as the cue snapped on impact.  Jake let go off him and the battered barman fell onto the floor almost unconscious.

Bob staggered behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of vodka as Jake stood over the bloodied barman.  Bob took a few swigs of it then went over to the nearest snooker table and poured it onto the cloth.  He then did the same to the other tables.  After supping the last few drops of the bottle he went back to the tables and lit the vodka with his lighter.  The tables lit up in flames and in the light Bob’s grinning face made him look purely evil, especially around the eyes.  There was a certain glint to them.  He then used the end of the cue he had used earlier to smash all the spirits behind the bar.

“There you go fuck face.  Don’t mess with me”, Bob spat at the barman.

He then started to kick the barman in the face.  I couldn’t watch any more this was too much for me and I ran out of the snooker hall and went back to the car.  Tears rolled down my face as I went through what just happened.  I decided there and then I was off by the end of the week and I didn’t care where I would go.

After five minutes I looked up at the snooker club, the flames had got big as they lashed at the windows.  Bob and Jake came out of the door and got in the car.  Jake didn’t look happy but Bob had a smile face wide.  As we drove off we could hear the echo of sirens in the distance.

“That will keep the firemen busy”, laughed Bob then nodded off to sleep.

On the journey back I just gazed out of the window as the rough estate flew by, hoping I could get a break.  Bob was snoring in the front and I could hear Jake mumbling that he had blood on his best shirt.

When I got back to the flat I just laid on my bed staring into space, my mind numb at the sheer violence that I had just witnessed.  After half an hour listening to my Mum’s headboard banging on my wall I finally drifted off to sleep.

8

The next day my mind was preoccupied by recent events.  The disappearance of the young asian girl then last night at the snooker club.  It was all too much for me but I still didn’t have enough saved up for both Mum and I to move out.  Maybe I should move out on my own.  Then I could come back for Mum when I had enough saved up.

Mum called me about twelve thirty in the afternoon after I had dozed off.  I climbed into the same clothes I had been wearing for the last week or so as neither me or Mum bothered about washing.  I gave them a quick spray of deodorant, yawned and left my room. 

The flat was a tip.  Rubbish everywhere, pizza boxes, dirty clothes even a few stray used condoms on the floor.  It didn’t matter to me now I was going to be leaving soon.  I had got so used to it by now anyhow. 

Mum was laying on the couch drugged out.  Now and again she would give a little groan.  She looked up as she heard me walking by and I was shocked at the sight of her.  She was as white as a ghost, with dark circles around her eyes and her cheeks were drawn in.  She looked over ten years older than she was.  She had also lost a lot of weight recently too and as I walked past her I could smell stale sweat and dirt.  I was disgusted with her but couldn’t do anything until I was out of this situation.  Then I could get her sorted out.

I went down and met Jake outside the flats.  He looked shattered too and he seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.  He gave me my drop and hardly said anything but it was a regular drop off so I quickly set off down the road.  As I walked to my destination, a grubby flat six blocks away I again had the feeling of being watched and followed.  Again I looked all around me but saw no sign of anyone.

I reached the clients flat and the owner fell out of the door, whisky bottle in hand.

“Hi”, he called over, “Your just in time you want a drink?”.

“No thanks, I’ll give it a miss this time Keith.”

He grinned under his shabby stubble and handed me his money,  I passed the drugs over.  Sometimes I would have a drink with him and a quick chat, usually talking about the weather or what was on the television nothing great as he stayed in his flat all the time so he didn’t know anything else to talk about.

I left Keith and got back to the flats more quickly than normal as the feeling of someone following me made me paranoid.  I wanted to get in and count up my savings. 

I went up to our flat and the door was open.  Was Mum with a client I wondered?  I walked in and what I saw shocked me and made me take action.  Jake was stood near the door whilst Bob was stood over my unconscious Mum pulling down his zip.

“I’ve always wanted this one” he said over to Jake.

“What the fuck,” I shouted out.

They both looked round in surprise.

“What the fuck are you doing here so soon kid,” shouted Bob.

I ran out of the door and heard Bob shout to Jake, “Sort him out.”

I ran down the stairs and looked back,  Jake was too fat to run fast so was panting and red already.  Behind him I could see Bob zipping up his jeans then pulling his gun from his pocket.  He looked his usual drugged up self and lately was so unpredictable that I knew now I was in trouble.  I needed to get help.

I ran out of the flats and down the road not sure of where I was going but needed to loose them….

Now here I was stood behind a rat infested alley way panting and not sure if I had lost the Turner brothers.  I breathed heavily as I was badly out of shape but I was starting to think the coast was clear as I had been hiding here for over five minutes thinking back.

I decided I was alright and would walk to a police station and report what had gone on.  It was now the only way I could save myself and my Mum.

I looked around the corner of the alley way wall and straight into the barrel of a gun.  I backed away as the Turner brothers emerged red and puffed out.  Bob had wild eyes again.

“Take it easy Bob he works for us remember?  You’ve gone too far this time”, pleaded Jake.

“Fuck off.  He knows too much.  I knew he was trouble, the little shit.  And we’ve been paying him too much.” Shouted Bob. 

With that he pointed the gun straight to my face and smiled.  All of a sudden armed police emerged from everywhere, from  around the corners of the alleyway, over the walls and from a few windows from nearby houses.

“Drop your weapon,” shouted the nearest police officer to us.

Bob looked round him in surprise as did Jake and lowered his gun.  Just as the police closed in on us Bob raised the gun at me again.  I froze as a gunshot rang out and Bob was hit in the shoulder and fell to the ground.  The police ran in and held him to the ground as Jake fell to his knees, hands in the air.  The police arrested the brothers and took me to the police station too.  At last I thought, all this mess is over.  I also worried that I would go to jail.  On the journey to the police station I burst into tears.

  Six months later and I’m now at college on a plumbing course and work part time at a bar.  I now have my own flat too.  What happened was that I told the police everything that had happened in the last past months since Mum and I went to the Turner brothers for shelter.

All I got was community service in return for all the information I had on the brothers so the judge let me off easy considering all the drug running I had done.

Mum was so messed up she got put in rehab for drug, alcohol and depression problems.  I try and visit her at least once a week and she seems to be getting back to her old self and putting on weight.

What had happened was that the Turner brother’s cousin had got arrested for fraud so the  police watched their every move. they and their associates made including me.  That was why I was getting paranoid about being followed,  It was the police.

The Turner brothers? Bob got two life sentences and Jake got one although neither has yet revealed what happened to the asian girl they put in the back of their van.  Best of all their reign of terror is over.

Everything now is at last going right for me and Mum.

I’m not running anymore.