Bleed till sunrise

The search for Kier

chapter four

I woke up with the sun shining through the holes in the torn curtain, i groaned and turned away from the light, my head throbbed and my back ached from the lumpiness of the bed. I inhaled as i remembered why i am here in the first place. I glanced down at my wrist for my watch 8:30 am it read. I sat up and placed my head into my hands lets do this i thought to myself. I stood up quickly, this made the blood rush to my head far too fast and i had to sit down again. I turned to look at Luke,he was still asleep, wrapped in the torn blankets he looked quite peaceful.

"Luke wake up" i shouted

Luke turned over fast, and his eyes shot open like someone had just stabbed him in the foot.

"what what is it whats going on?!" he said while clambering out of bed

"nothing we just need to set off now" i said calmly

"oh" he looked disappointed that an emergency wasn't taking place, he walked over to the sink standing oddly in the corner and tried to turn the tap on. Nothing came out.

"typical" he scoffed

"just get your bag we need to go" i said while picking the room key from the end of my bed i walked towards the door and waited for Luke to grab his things. He checked his bag continuously for two minuets

"are you done?" i said while Luke placed his bag over his shoulder

"yeah i have everything" he said while walking out the door.I shut it behind us and locked the door and sighed. We began walking down the stairs, still in yesterdays clothes we did not smell pleasant. Drunken men lay on the floor downstairs we carefully stepped over them and moved towards the bar. The large woman from the night before who i assumed was cherry Ann the manger was cleaning the bar. She looked up and said

"enjoy your stay gentlemen?"

"yes thank you" i replied, Luke gave me a glance, well i wasn't going to inform her that her Establishment was a wreck, because i think she already knew. I handed over the keys to the room and then we headed towards the door of the venue. I pushed the door open and Luke followed me through,onto the streets of the city. The streets where coated in a think layer of fog, it touched everything in sight. It didn't help my nerves that nobody was in the street.

"lets go" Luke said heading down the street

"where to Luke, we have no idea where we are going?" i said following him

"we will just ask around, surly someone distinctive looking as that boy Kier couldn't get far without being noticed by a few people"

"Luke there is nobody here" i said while glancing around the ghostlike streets

"its just early, oh boy when i was younger these streets where filled with salesmen and farmers and people looking to do business and bread makers you name it" he said while smiling

we carried on walking not sure where exactly where we were heading to. Suddenly a figure in the distance caught my attention.

"Luke look theres someone there" i said while pointing at the figure that was approaching us,it was hard to make out who it may be because of the fog.The figure came closer, it was an old man, carrying a tray of bread.

"can i offer you any bread gentlemen" he said smiling

Luke scanned his eyes over the tray of bread, all different types were available,

"yes please" i said while nudging Luke to get the money out of his bag

"john is that you?" Luke asked while he grabbed a handful of coins

"yes?...L-Luke.. no. it cant be? is that you?!" he looked as if he was going to drop the tray of bread from the shock of this new information. i stood there confused.

"how is your mother?" he asked with a large smile on his face

Luke's face fell flat, his mother was always a tricky subject after the leaders guards had killed her for breaking the rules.

"shes..dead.john." he said while looking at the ground

"I'm terribly sorry... here have these on me" he handed us two bread rolls

"thank you" i said while taking one, i wasn't aware how hungry i was in till now

"why are you here?" john asked

" were looking for someone, actually you may be able to help. His name is Kier. And if you don't know him by name he has a red fringe that is quite hard to miss, have you seen him?" Luke asked

"oh Ive seen him" he replied

" you have?!" i said shocked by his reply

"oh yes, little scallywag stole some bread from me yesterday, he thought i was too old to chase after him but he was wrong, of course I'm not as young as i used to be so he out run me. I'm sure hes the son of Maria who lives on the hill" he said while pointing at a small hill not far from where we were standing.

"thank you john" Luke said smiling

we set off walking again.

"who was that?" i asked Luke when we were far from hearing distance

"john" he said

"yes i know that but how do you know him"

"he was friends with my mother, he would come round during the week and give us bread, lovely man" he said

i stayed silent as we walked towards the hill.