Grilfer - Mortal Reaper

Chapter One - Mr Johnston

The busy streets of London were calm and quiet, the constant noise of traffic and conversation were gone. All that could be heard were the stray cats, looking for their next meal and the wind blowing through alleyways. Most of the shops were closed, it was now late in the evening, all lights off and alarms set, protecting their contents.

Clarke's Jewellers however still had its lights on, inside the manager was going through inventory and packing up the takings for the day ready to put in the safe out back. This was a part of the job that Mr. Johnston hated, it always took so long and felt a little unsafe but to this day he had never had any trouble. It was now 11.30pm and Mr. Johnston was just about done, packing up the last few bits and heading to the safe. 

A Mercedes slowly crept up to the curb and came to a stop outside of the shop. The lights were turned off but the engine was left running, ticking over. Two men got out of the back of the car, one with a sports bag and balaclavas over their faces. The pair made their way to the front door of Clarke's Jewellers, one of the men took a crowbar from his bag, forcing it into the join of the door, using all his force to pop the front door of the shop wide open. Oblivious to what was going on, Mr Johnston made his way from the back room to the front of the shop to be confronted by the masked assailants.

"Please just take what you want and leave, I don't want any trouble" Mr Johnston called out to the duo.

"Where is the safe, gramps" one of the thugs asked

"It is out the back but it is a timed locked, I can't open it now until the morning. If I could I would give it to you, I don't want any trouble" Mr Johnston added

Meanwhile the other thug was using the crowbar to smash the glass counter tops and cabinets filling his bag with as much jewellery as he could carry.

"Listen gramps, you have the chance to get out of this without injury, there is no need to be a hero. Take me to that safe and give me all of the money" the thug shouted into Mr Johnston's face

"I can take you to it, but as I said before I just cannot open it, I really wish I could" Mr Johnston added with a quiver in his voice.

Mr Johnston had been a model employee the whole of his life, never caused any trouble or did anything wrong. He wasn't in the business of lying either and everything that he had told the criminal was true. The safe couldn't be opened however, he took him out to the safe anyway to show he was telling the truth. 

The thug grabbed Mr. Johnston by the arm and forced him to the ground so he was level with the locking mechanism.

"Open it now gramps" he shouted

"Open it now" with these words he struck Mr Johnston around the face causing him to fall forward.

"I told you I can't open it" pleading with the thug, trying to get him to understand he wasn't lying. 

Starting to think Mr Johnston was just lying and didn't want them to take all of the money from the shop, the thug grabbed him and began to drag him along the floor, shards of broken glass tearing and slicing through the knees and legs of Mr Johnston, lacerating him, causing him to leave a trail of blood, as the thug continued to pull him into the middle of the shop in front of his accomplice.

"He keeps saying he can't open the safe, I think he is talking rubbish"

"What do you want to do with him?" the thug asked his accomplice

Reaching down for the bag that was now full to the brim with Jewellery

"Let's just get out of here, we have as much as we can carry anyway, leave the old bastard where he is" the thug responded, while also delivering a blow to Mr Johnston's nose, breaking it, causing blood to stream down his face.

The pair both headed back out to the car, the one with the bag threw it into the boot and got in. The other one opened his door and stepped into the car; he was hesitant.

After a few seconds, he stepped back out of the car and back to the front of the shop where Mr Johnston was on his knees in the middle of the floor surrounded in shards of glass and broken wood. The thug stepped into the doorway and shouted

"You should have just given me the money gramps"

With these words, he pulled out a sawn-off shotgun from behind his back and fired it straight into the direction of Mr Johnston. The shots left the gun and continued along their trajectory straight into his chest and neck. The remaining shot hitting the wooden cabinets and walls that surrounded him. 

The force caused Mr Johnston to fall back onto the ground, smashing his head on the hard-concrete floor and broken glass. Mr Johnston hit the floor with such force that pieces of glass cut straight through his scalp, now embedded in his skull.

The thug ran straight back out to the car, got in and slammed his door closed. The car that had been ticking over the whole time, burst into action and sped off down the road. 

Mr Johnston's body lay motionless on the floor surrounded in a sea of blood and broken glass. The blood began to rise up from the multiple bullet wounds and surround him as he laid there slowly bleeding to death. 

A man that had spent his whole life playing by the rules was now left to bleed out on his own in the middle of his place of work, alone. This was not the end that Mr Johnston deserved and he would lay there until morning when the streets would come alive again and someone would find him, dead.