Dark Direction

Chapter 10: Charming lad

It had been a few days since Simon had spoken to Amy at the deli. He had time to think things through and decide if he really wanted to continue to follow along with the scheme. He knew she was telling the truth. If it is meant to be, then things will happen and play out on their own. Simon knew he had to take the next step and check out the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant.

He called Amy at work and made plans to pick her up after her shift ended. He needed to make sure he had a full tank of petrol in his car - the last thing wanted to do is get stuck in a violent part of town with an empty tank. He pulled into the service station on his way to the cafe. "Please pay first" signs were posted on every pump. He got out of his car and took a mental note as to which pump would need to be turned on.

He entered the store to a heated argument going on between the clerk and a teenage boy. "Sorry, but I will not lose my job..." says the middle aged man behind the counter.

"You can't be serious old man! All I want is a pack of smokes," says the teenaged boy who looked to be about 18 or 19 years old, in all black clothes with spiked, mousey-brown colored hair.

"You must be 18 years old!" exclaimed the store clerk in frustration.

"Clean the cobwebs outta your fucking ears old man! How many times do I have to tell you, I AM 18!" screamed the teenaged boy as he leaned over the counter.

"And how many times do I have to tell you - No I.D., No Sale!" as the clerk pointed to the displayed sign on the cash register. 

The teenager then went into his front pocket and pulled out a balled-up wad of cash and threw it on the counter.  "How about double or nothing, dumb shit?!" said the teenager, tilting his head side to side, cracking his neck bones.

Simon was standing behind the kid, observing the altercation taking place.  Just as he was about to step in and confront the kid, the clerk spoke up "How about I call the cops on your punk ass?!" as he gathers up the money and hands it back to the kid.  "Now, take your money and get the hell out of here!" he says, pointing to the door.

The kid takes his money, shoves it back into his pocket, and turns around to leave. Making eye contact with Simon the kid pauses and says "What the hell are you looking at dickhead?" and bumps his shoulder into Simon's as he walks off towards the door.

 Simon turns around and watches the kid exit. Shaking his head, he says to the store clerk "Charming lad!"  the clerk nods his head in agreement.  "What's happened to kids these days?" Simon asks as he reaches in his pocket for his wallet.  He pulls out his credit card and tells the clerk he needs to fill up on pump number 6.

As he puts his wallet back his phone vibrates, indicating he has a text.  As he looks down to check the message, a piece of paper on the floor near his feet catches his eye.  He bends down, picks up the paper, and discovers it's a picture.  He quickly puts it in his pocket and heads out to pump the petrol in his car.

As he's filling his tank, he pulls the picture out of his pocket.  It is of a teenage boy and his mom.  There was a striking resemblance to the boy who was just in the store.  He turns the picture around and sees a caption:

"To my Louis, Thanks for the Mother's Day memories - Keep smiling, baby. Love you - Mom." 

Simon shrugs off the whole thing, finishes pumping the petrol and tosses the photo into the glove compartment of his car.  He pays for the petrol and heads off to pick up Amy.

Amy is waiting outside of the cafe, standing up against the building with her purse over her shoulder and her jacket draped over her forearm.  Simon pulls up alongside the curb, and Amy opens the car door and gets in.  As they approach the intersection before the restaurant, Amy couldn't help but notice the rundown buildings covered in graffiti.

Simon pulls into the parking area of the restaurant where his car was broken into.  He finds a parking spot and turned off the car.  "Well, this is it," he says as he leans forward and looks through the windshield.

Amy looks out the passenger's side and driver's side windows.

"So ...” Simon says with a pause.  "Did you want to get out of the car and look around?  Maybe you'll get a vibe or something," he says, looking at her with both his hands on the steering wheel.

She shoots him a look as if to say 'are you serious?'  "Really, Simon?  It doesn't always work that way!" shaking her head side to side.

"Well ... " Simon with his head turned to face her. "There isn't much to go on," he says, looking around.  He points to an area outside her window. "That's the alley the kid disappeared into.  We could go check it out, if you want." she peers out her window into the dark alley.

"Can we drive through it?" she asks as she turns and faces Simon.

" I'm not sure what's down there but, let's give it a try yeah?" he says as he starts the car up. They slowly head down the dark alleyway almost coming to a stop as the breaks make a squealing sound.

Simon applies the high beams to the light up the big brick buildings on either side of the car. Aside from dumpsters and scattered rubbish there was no indication of anyone hiding out or dwelling down there. They drove straight through to the other side with no clues.

"Hey" says Amy as she looks around. "Do you know if we're close to the 34th Street Bridge Underpass?" looking for street signs.

"I don't know?" Simon says slowing the car down. "I could check it out on my GPS." as he started punching the address into the keypad. The voice activated system starts speaking the location and then recalculating that they were only two miles away. Simon starts following the directions given on the GPS. "Did you have another vision?" he asks glancing over at her as he continues to follow the directions.

"Haven't we already been over this?" she said in exasperation. "No... I did a research paper on drugs and hang-outs known to be populated by local junkies and drug dealers." she says looking straight ahead out of the windshield.

"Oh" Simon said glancing over at her again. "Handy piece of information to have at a time like this. Did you actually go and investigate it?"  he asked very interested at her at her response.

"Yeah, it was scary!" she covered her face with both hands while shaking her head. "It's not completely car accessible though!"  She says looking out the window. Simon stops the car.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he exclaims. Amy looks at him and turns her head and looks through the windshield again.

"You have to take the shoe leather express through the playground... It's just past there, not hard to miss."

Simon looks over at her with his eyebrows furrowed "shoe leather what?" says a very confused Simon.

Amy giggles and looks down as she unbuckles her seatbelt. "It's an old expression my grandmother always used to say... it means "by foot". she says as Simon turns off the car.

"You really want do this?" Simon asked in caution.

"NO" Amy says as she steps out of the car. "But what other choice do we have?" she says shrugging her shoulders. “Let’s just make it quick." she says turning towards the playground. “Don’t forget to grab the baggie...you do have that with you?" she asks as she turns to face Simon who is just stepping out of the car. Simon holds it in the air waving it in front of his face.

"Just grabbed it from my glove compartment." he says as he shoves it along with his keys into his pocket. Taking a risk they set off to the bridge underpass to inquire if anyone recognizes the logo on the baggie.

With only a few junkies' coherent enough to talk, they were able to obtain a first name, Zayn as the dealer and that he shows up every few days or so. Satisfied with the information they received they headed home in hopes of returning in a few days.