The Keeper

Chapter One

Tuesday Morning

4:00 am

ERIC GREENE

4:00 am. That was the time I woke up today. I was an insomniac, what could I do. I made my coffee, decaf, I never liked sugar. I sat at my little table in my small kitchen, one little light shining above my head. Brooklyn, New York; a grate place to buy a small cozy apartment. But hard to maintain when you have little money, in Brooklyn, New York. Especially when you're a mechanic in Brooklyn, New York.

5:00 am. One hour to go before the shift started. From outside my closed window, you could hear the beeps from the cars. The rumbling of the ground. The footsteps of the people walking on the pavement.

6:00 am. Let's go.

****

I worked at Brooklyn Auto Repair Shop, the best in the buisness. My boss, Bill Chapman, was nice and ambitious. He respected people, but he was a greedy fool. He always went to casinos, clubs, any place where gambling takes place. He won a lot of money often times, but when he lost, he took his anger on all his employes. He would even fire some, a lot of times.

My buddy Ted and I would be cautious to not get him mad when he was upset. He hardly payed attention to us, even if we were his best mechanics in this run down place.

The place was old. It had been here since 1983. I find it hard to believe that it still stands, even with an arrogant line of bosses.

I was still rusty from this morning. My eyelids felt like metal, they kept dropping. It was hard for me to focus on the road.

By the time I reached the shop, it was 6:30. Bill was going to be upset. When he saw my car, I cringed. You could already hear his screams from outside. Lets face Hurricane Bill.

"Where have you been Eric!?"

"Traffic," I replied. I took off my shirt, leaving my white tank top on. Time to do whateverI do best, fixing cars.

I ran down to the end of the shop, where I saw the car that I was working on for weeks. I hadn't figured out what was wrong with it, maybe today I would.

"Eric!" I turned around. It was Ted.

"Hey man." We did our back-to-back hand slaap, then a pat on the back.

"Still working on that?"

"Yep."

We heard two beeps from a car ahead of us on the streets. I knew who it was. It was my good friend William, or how I called him, Will. But, his full name was William Montgomery. He oned a cosmetics company alongside his father.

He got out of his fancy car, which would be payed be payed a lot if it ever shut down. You might have thought that Will was a spoiled rich kid. He wasn't, he was the opposite. He dressed casually like any other guy. More casual than me, though.

"Eric."

"Will." We both patted each other's backs.

"How ya doing?"

"Good man, you?"

"I'm excited, especially for tonight." He showed his mischevous grin

"What's going on tonight?"

" There's a new club opening tonight." I lifted my eyebrows.

"Everyone I know is going, so I thought, why not invite my good friend Eric."

Ted stood there awkardly. He knew Will, but they weren't friends either.

"I gotta go," he mouthed.

"Look Will, I'm not sure if I can go. I have to work tomorrow."

"I know, but you gotta loosen up a bit. You're working all day like me. Lets go party, and maybe we'll meet someone."

I sighed, and thought about it.

"What time?"

"Midnight."

****

The club, or Midnight Club was huge. It had lights coming out the windows and doors. It shined. Will came 5 minutes after I arrived. We both stood in front of the huge building.

"Lets go?" he asked.

"Lets go."

The inside of the club was better than the outside. The lights, the amount of people. I don't remember how long we were there. Probably an hour.

I was at the mini bar, sitting down on a stool, when something caught my eye. Or someone. It was a girl. She was with two men. One was buff, the other looked middle aged. The middle aged man grabbed her writs, but the was bale to loosen from his grip.

When she turned around, we made eye contact.