Midnight Neighbor ||18+

62|| Angst

Unedited~
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There was a solemnity to the atmosphere, deep inside the basement of an underground facility in a place that was harder to find and even harder for some to get out of if they found themselves inside. It was a special kind of feeling yet the group inside the basement were hardly moved. Although the day was bright, that warm light didnt reach them and did absolutely nothing to lively the mood or brighten the already dim scene.

The group of men chatted in hushed tones amongst themselves, playing cards out of boredom and nothing else. There were bills of every amount scattered on top of the wooden table and an argument threatened to break out between men of varying ages. Although the air was charged, their actions remained calm which were a heavy contrast to the aggressiveness in their tones.

They were friends. That much was clear...Even more than that, that were basically brothers who kept to their team and witnessed life and death together when carrying out their shady businesses or doing whatever was ordered with maximum efficiency.

The entire building above and around them was dreary and not in a good way. Ever so often a muffled scream would sound out from one specific place but no one paid any special attention to that. Again, some pour soul mustve tried swindling out of paying their debt. Debt collecting was a major funding part of their operations so that much they were used to.

The solemn mood from earlier that still lingered only presented itself because someone brought up a pretty dismal topic but after that, it later fizzled out by an expertly done maneuver by someone else who showed his card after keeping his strict pokerface intact to the end. After winning that round, he reached forward to scrape up the money for himself under the scalding glare of everyone else. He brought back a little normalcy.

Still...only another few minutes ran by and the very bleak subject worked its way back into the forefront, like a plague, done again by the same man who brought it up the first time.

"The boss is fucking insane, I tell you," The man, with a very odd hair cut and deep set eyes and a short scar above his eyebrow that visibly twitched everytime he opened his mouth, spat out with some distate. He went by the name Dan among his companions. Dan brought up this topic every chance he got.

The others, four other men, three younger and one older looked over at him with sullen faces.

"Ah this again..."

"We've been over this already Dan-"

"I know, I know," he listed a hand in surrender, "-but it still bugs the fuck outta me man," He crossed his arms. The others rolled their eyes and turned back to the card game they were playing to past time.

"If you dont like it, try taking it up with the boss." Someone suggested offhandedly, although his voice was filled with ridicule and tease, one could not miss the pinch of respect mixed in.

"I most definitely will not," Dan snarled in reply, "-you fucktards saw what happened to little Johny when he spoke up about this didn't you? He got his fucking face bashed in-!"

"Exactly," One of the men looked away from his cards and hid his laugh with a cough, "You know boss has a temper yet you're here calling boss man insane as if you dont know these walls have ears?" He took a card up from the deck then grimaced when it wasn't to his liking. He then took up another one.

"Down here I can say whatever the fuck I want, if boss finds out then I'd know that one of you little shits snitched on me," He took his knife from its sheath and picked at the table with its razor sharp edge. "No one likes a snitch-"