Remember Me [Jalex]

.10.

Fast forward a few weeks and we've slowly slipped back into the routine I assumed we had before my incident. Every other day, we'd do our rounds and visit the joints. We'd hang around at each place for a while just to make sure everything is running smoothly and that everyone was treating everyone else civilly. While Jack would go to discuss some details with the bartender in charge of the place, I would sit in a corner and watch the activities in the joint as I still didn't really understand the way things worked around here.

The girls, I found, were pleasant company to have and were always up for light chit chat between customers. Just like Pete said before, these girls were beautiful and attracted all sorts of men to pay for their services. They all had their own regulars and favourites among the men and they were more than happy to gossip about them. Call me nosy, but I liked finding out the domestic issues and lonely hearts and other stories unique to each man that walked through the doors. There was an ugly side to things, however. Sometimes a drunken, violent man, would try to get their hands on one of them and I had to tear him away and send him off with a stern warning.

Zack was right when he said that The Cornerstone was my favourite place. I much preferred it compared to the others. It was a vast contrast to the second joint we visited, which I learnt was called The Rave. While the Cornerstone could be busy and lively in the evenings, it was never as rowdy and chaotic as The Rave. And it only gets worse on Saturday nights. I was getting used to it, but sometimes it still gave me a headache and I would have to go out for a breath of fresh air and quiet.

This was one of those times I needed to get away from the hustle and bustle and pulsing bodies on the crowded floor. Jack was nowhere in sight and throngs of people were coming in through the front door. It riddled me how the place could still fit more people in. Even the stairway leading to the upstairs rooms was packed with partiers. Desperately for an escape, I texted Jack that I was going out for a walk and I squeezed my way through the room and out the back door.

Once I was out, I breathed a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes and let the cool night breeze fill my lungs that have been suffocating in the stuffiness of the club. Two bouncers were standing stoically by the door and I nodded to them before setting off down the back alley.

I didn't get very far before the cold started to nip at my ears so I pulled my hoodie up over my head. Jack hasn't seen my message yet. I dug my hands deep into my pocket and trudged on, savouring the peace around me.

Suddenly I heard some movement nearby so I stopped walking and looked around. It was dark and I couldn't make out anything. Dismissing it as just a stray cat or dog scavenging for food, I moved along but I was more alert now. A few more paces and I doubled back, deciding I was too far away from the joint to be safe. Too late.

From the shadows jumped out three men, who quickly had me surrounded.

"Check his pockets," one hissed as he held my hands behind my back.

I struggled as I felt another pair of hands pat my sides. They removed my phone and wallet from my pocket. One man used my phone's light to illuminate the dark alley while a third one flipped through my wallet.

"Take whatever you want and let me go, please," I begged but they didn't hear me.

Instead, they were interested in my ID.

"No way, it can't be," the man with my wallet gasped.

"What is it? Let me see," the man holding my phone said and jostled the other to get a better look. In the white light of my phone's flash, I saw his jaw drop before he turned the light on me and I had to look away from the brightness. He laughed triumphantly. "We hit the jackpot, fellas!" He exclaimed and the other man grinned devilishly.

"Please just let me go," I pleaded, my heart pounding against my chest.

The two men before me sneered. "We're not gonna do that," the man with my phone came up to me and said. I figured he was the leader of this group because he did more talking than the rest of them, also he was smaller than the others but they seemed to listen to what he said. "We're gonna take you back to the big boss," he cackled. "Boy, wouldn't he be pleased to see who we've captured. Maybe we'll get a promotion."

The man who was restraining me seemed just as lost as I was. "Who is it? What's going on?" He asked his friends.

"Knock him out, Buff," the leader ordered. "We're taking him to the big boss. He'll be so happy that we got Gaskarth. This is almost too good to be true," he laughed and the others joined him.

I felt a hard blow across the back of my head and then everything went black.

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Ooh, the suspense. 

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