Another time

Mr boss man

Someone was whispering as you re-emerged from the haze you’d been stuck in.

“This was meant to be a legitimate fucking venture, lads. This was me playing it by the book and this is what I get for my troubles, eh? Opening fucking night, I’ve already got strange women swooning about the place”

You furrowed your brow, the ringing in your ears fading away to a hum, and then nothing. You fluttered your eyes, noticing the lights in the room had been dulled. No, you were in a different room entirely. An office, by the looks of things. The whispering was behind the couch you were lying on, along with the sound of the door shutting.

“What do we know about this?” The voice continued, sounding more done with the situation than you were. If you were slightly more conscious you would have made a joke but you were too concerned with acclimatising yourself at this particular time.

You curled your toes and realised someone had taken your shoes off. A coat was tucked over your legs. Turns out old-timey gangster boys could be pretty sweet.

“Nothing boss. Not a damn thing” The voice of the man who’d first found you took his turn and you tried to remember if he’d ever given his name. No, his twin had – Aaron.

“See, Toby, that’s a problem – because I pay you to know things”

“Well tonight you’ve paid me to find strange girls swooning boss. I’m adaptable like that” Toby replied, his cheeky tone back. Under any other circumstances you’d be enjoying it a little more. There was a pause and you could only imagine his boss was giving him a look telling him to shut up. Footsteps rang out on the creaking floorboards at your head and you slammed your eyelids shut again. They were more likely to speak freely if they assumed you were still unconscious and right now what you wanted most was information that could help form an explanation.

“You think she’s one of Sabini’s girls?” Toby asked.

“No” there was a creak on the leather rest above your head and you felt eyes on you. He was probably leaning over the top to look at you and you tried to keep your breath even, not give away any signs “there’s no reason for him to bother. We already made a deal about the girls. I don’t take none of his, he don’t take none of mine. They work where they work. No point in him staking it out. Besides, we’re the other end of the border, I made sure”

“You’re applying logic to him there, boss” Aaron added, letting him know with his tone that this obviously wasn’t a rational thing to do. The man above you hummed, the leather creaking as he pushed himself away and walked around the front of you.

“What do we know about her? Who she been with tonight?” the boss asked.

“I asked around the staff – no one saw her come in, no one saw he hanging round, no one saw nothing” Toby replied.

“How can that be?”

“Doorman says he didn’t let her in, neither”

His tone set you on edge, the accusation, the suspicion. You were settling into the thought that this wasn’t some elaborate dream, not some stupid prank gone too far. You were convincing yourself – making yourself believe – that you had time travelled. The reality of that was bending your mind but at this point accepting it was the best option. Acting as if it was a reality was going to keep you safe. And you had no friends in 1925. You had no roots, nowhere to turn.

There was a repeated click standing out from the background mumble of the band downstairs, as if someone was turning or tapping something. The silence stretched out around you, flattening against your chest and threatening to steal your breath. When do you choose to wake up? When is the best time to-?