The Bagman's Direction

Chapter 9

"In ten seconds the drugs that were placed in your champagne ever so sweetly will take action, leaving you defenceless and asleep and strewn across the floor. Do not fear, now that the real threat is gone and you're aware of us being your protectors, we won't let anything happen to you. While you sleep we will make our escape, as we are multiple and then we will ring the police in order for your safety. Have a lovely nap" The head of One Direction snickered.

I was in a horror movie. All those porcelain faces were morphing, all their porcelain faces became the same. They held such black, thick eyes and long, bleeding tongues. The taste of iron rushing around in their swollen mouths so much I thought I tasted it too. I thought I felt the lumps in my gums and the scratches up my arms producing cuts so deep I was bound to die. Vinegar was still lingering in the air which churned my stomach and made my eyes water. What was happening? I couldn't taste my own spit but everybody else's as they hovered over me and grabbed at me and clawed at me and hissed at me. I was in a Labyrinth and I was trying to escape. I was drawing arrows with their stolen lipstick but they kept turning the panels around like Devils in the wind and the walls grew wider and when my fresh eyes gazed upon openings they'd simply disappear. I struck a dead end. The walls were now green flowerless bushes high above my head. The thorns pricked my fingers which attracted all those masked vampires to rush at the presence of the gruelling red liquid oozing from a tiny hole at the tip of my finger. A dead end could only lead to death. That's what I was always taught. A dagger. I could see a blood stained dagger like Macbeth when he drew close to killing King Duncan. Treason, he was so treacherous and wrong and a murderer. When I stood up and reached for the dagger I was a murderer, I was Sparrow.

I was Sparrow.

Hallucinations, oh god, it must be a symptom. Not of the drugged drink but of shock and loss. I blinked and it all slotted back into place. People around me were wailing as the representative of One Direction stood looking down on us from the illuminated stage.

I thought the hallucinations had continued when suddenly everybody started falling down. They dropped like flies and hit the floor gracelessly. It was if their body weighed a thousand tonnes and Gravity was just pulling them to the ground in which it would be impossible to get up. A fairy kissed their eyes and a slumber was cursed on them like in every other fairytale. True love's first kiss was not the solution this time.

In all honesty when was it ever the solution? Maybe in those films that give you such high hopes and expectations on what love is like. They raise you to believe that this is what is lined up for you. They feed you bullshit from a young age and hope that you fall for it. I fell for it. You fell for it. Daddy fell for it. Love is not going to save us, it never will. Maybe it'll make us feel better but when the deadline hits it won't be our rescuer. Love couldn't save Daddy's life and love isn't going to save mine and love isn't going to save yours and love isn't going to save One Direction and love is bullshit.

I wanted to stop feeling but the love I had for Daddy was overwhelming and now the heartache is thrice as much.

Littered on the floor around me were the bodies of those who attended this evening's benefit and who will leave dazzled and afraid. Their champagne glasses had been removed from their perky hands before the announcement which gave me some relief. I might not have been able to save Daddy but at least One Direction could save others for me.

I could see the president. He was positioned on the ground, passed out like everybody else. He was no better, he blended in. He was just another hopeless human being like the rest of us.

"Oi!"

There was a screech and I turned around, stepping out of my havoc ridden thoughts for a minute.

It was the Irish waiter with the bleached blonde hair and the crooked smile. Except he wasn't smiling. His mask had been removed and he was red with rage. His apron had been torn off and a beanie had found his head. He held up a large machine gun, something you'd see in a movie featuring a bank robbery. I threw up my hands out of fear and gulped down hard. I was going to die and I would never hear Sparrow say goodbye.

The gun was aimed at my chest in which my heart beat heavily and sweat began to run down my brow. I parted my drying mouth trying to find some words so that I would receive mercy but I choked.

"Liam! Ah for fuck sake... Why aren't you asleep?! " The waiter grumbled, eyes glued on me.

A man strolled over who I presumed to be Liam. He was the one I showed my pass to at the door and it would appear he had obtained weaponry of his own. Now there were two machine guns aimed at me whilst these enemies of mine stood in a tangle of sleeping bodies at their feet and grimaces stuck on their tired faces. I was tired too.

"Wait a second, Niall"

Niall must've been the waiter.

"Ain't he Daddy's bagman?" Liam added, edging closer to me.

I stayed silent as they lowered their guns and investigated the lines and pores of my face trying to identify me. They looked at each-other after confirming my title and they gulped hard. Suddenly their weapons were drawn again and instead of panicking about death I was thinking how much my arms were starting to hurt.

"Kill him for his crimes" Niall hissed.

"Probably too smart to have drunken the champagne but not smart enough to cheat death now. Say goodbye, laddio" Liam growled.

I closed my eyes and waited for death to consume me. I could feel their fingers on the triggers and their agonising hatred for me as they went to pull it back. Yet no bullets pierced my tuxedo, no bullets pierced my skin.

"Wait!"

My eyes opened and followed the sound. They landed on the leader who was racing over to stop the two. He had gold and diamond necklaces in his hands, dangling through the gaps in his fingers like a pirate with loot. He was stealing them from the people he was meant to be protecting. I guess it was their fee for being such good 'bodyguards'. He crammed them in his pockets when he halted beside Niall and Liam who I assumed were apart of One Direction too.

"You can't kill him, I have plans for him" The leader objected with a stern face.

"But he's Daddy's bagman, his consigliere, his right hand man. They're related. Do you not remember anything? He's as bad as Daddy is if anything!" Liam snarled.

"That's not true" I managed to cough up, "Daddy rarely told me his plans, especially the ones involving the President. I was kept in the dark"

"Then why are you here now?"

"Daddy knew about you. He wanted me to protect him, to keep him alive. I failed, alright? You can kill me if you want, I'm a waste of breath" I blubbered, trying my hardest not to cry.

"Enough of the melodramatic pity party. We're not going to kill him" The leader rolled his eyes.

"Well we can't let him go, now. He's seen our faces!" Niall muttered.

"He's coming with us. Bag him. I'm sorry, Louis" The leader ordered and stared at me through his mask with such glossy green eyes.

I didn't understand but Liam snuck behind me with the handle of his gun raised. Suddenly there was a sharp pain as it collided with the back of my head and everything went dark.