A Deal of Blood and Roses

Chapter Nine - Sickness

Chapter Nine - Sickness

It has been a month and a half since Eris began working for Mr Moran. Every day passes as slowly and as tediously as it comes. Every day is the same. He wakes up at eight, mutters a quick good morning to Jakey before dressing in a matching outfit of the day before and reporting to Jenny. They both sit down on the couch in the shared living room until one of their pagers go off. Then they spend the rest of the day running messages back and forth between people, making coffee, filing documents or answering phone calls. He was stuck on a carousel that he never came to a stop.

Eris would spend most of his time, until late at night, finishing tasks for Mr Moran. He barely saw Jakey anymore. Apart from quick good mornings or good nights, they rarely spoke. When Eris was having dinner, Jakey was working, and when Jakey was having dinner, Eris was working, and by the time Jakey's shift finished, Eris was already fast asleep or too tired to talk.

Jenny and Eris got along better over the past month and a while. She had tolerated the younger boy for a week or so before she realized that they might just be friends for the sake of having an easier life. After all, Jenny was now the person Eris saw the most, spent the most time with and talked the most too. They weren't friends by any means, especially after Eris had found that she and Mr Moran were lovers. Nothing romantic, just casual flings here and there for the sake of convenience.

His leg had healed entirely too. He only needed the crutches for a week, and after that, he had a bad limp for a while, but that softened out too, becoming less noticeable over the month. It continued to hurt sometimes when he stood for an extended period of time or slept at a specific angle but nothing serious. The wound had healed up into a prominent scar that Jakey thought was "so badass".

"I'll drop these off," Eris offered, picking up the folder from the desk. He and Jenny shared an office down the hallway from Mr Morans. It was small, only having enough room for a desk with two chairs on either side, a metal filing cabinet and a printer.

Jenny looked up from her phone, "Alright, it's nearly twelve anyway. I'm just gonna go grab some food." They both stood up. Eris clutched the blue folder to his chest as he watched Jenny quickly walk off down the hallway, her face buried in her phone.

Eris quickly knocked on Mr Moran's office door, the two guards not even paying attention to him anymore. He was beckoned promptly in.

"Here are the finished documents for the Liverpool delivery, sir." Mr Moran took the file from his hands and tossed it to the corner of his desk.

He kept his eyes on the laptop, "Alright," he grunted, and Eris left the office.

It had become pretty clear what Mr Moran did, what his whole establishment is about. He was a drug lord. The biggest in Brooklyn, so the streets speak. He transported drugs across the Atlantic, over to Europe and all around the city. It surprised Eris when he found out that Mr Moran worked for some big-time mafia in the region, he had no idea who they were, but he thought for a while that Mr Moran was the one on top. It made him wonder how big the criminal hierarchy actually was.

Eris almost walked into Bruno on his way back to the living quarters. "That's the second time you've done that," he joked. Bruno turned out to be a lot nicer than he looked. He was one of Mr Moran's top men, but still, he stayed here. His room was the biggest out of the lot of them, and it was closest to the kitchen.

"Sorry," Eris hummed. Bruno shook his head slowly from side to side; he had a smile on his face.

"It's alright, Eris, just watch where you're going," He straightened out his black shirt, identical to the one Eris wore. "Are you going for your lunch?" Eris nodded, Bruno's face changed. It became more concerned, worried even, "I think you should go and check on Jakey. I saw Tilda going up there again this morning just after you left."