The Midnight City Social Hour

Ch1: Mall

It started with binoculars looking out of floor to ceiling windows. Tommy wore a suit. Vince wore a technicolor raincoat. 

(The raincoat came from a showing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Following a poor performance, Tommy and Vince and their gang robbed the group of their prop. It was so bad, Vince stood up near the climax, shot a pistol into the ceiling, and as the room began to scream and empty, the gang went on stage and took the coat.)   

Tommy's suit complimented his sunken eyes and inky hair; he held black binoculars. Vince wore purple glasses and his binoculars were fluffy and pink. He stood out with dark skin. 

"If you aren't going to buy anything sirs, you'll have to leave." One of the women working the shop said. "This store is for paying customers." Precious stones were on display in glass cages. The carpet was clean and crisp. 

"How much longer Tommy?" Vince asked.

"Soon. Just wait." Because Katy was supposed to be here. 

"How do you know Katy will be here?"

"I know these things. Trust me."

"Mini told you."

The women behind the counter began to pull at their clothes. Tommy and Vince didn't look away from the window. They held the binoculars to their eyes, from a jewelry store in the mall, and waited. 

Katy walked out from a staircase between two shops. A woman with black hair, tattoos up and down her arms, in a red shirt and blue jeans. That was their cue. They ignored the women threatening to call security and walked onto the second floor of the mall. Vince pulled out a walkie talkie from inside his dreamcoat. "Alright Jamal you ready on the other end?" Vince was still looking through his binoculars, at Katy, as Tommy and him passed her from the other side of the second floor. 

"Yeah dawg I'm straight." 

Tommy could hear Jamal's voice through the walkie.

"Alright we're about to swing around." Vince and Tommy walked to the other side of the second floor so they were behind Katy. She had a leisurely pace and she didn't look to be rushed. "We're following her now. Make your move."

Jamal turned a corner in the distance, walkie in hand, sunglasses over his eyes, with a button down grey shirt over dark skin. Black pants and black shoes. Like a professional hitman. He just didn't have a gun: 

Showing at least.

"The fuck is he wearing those sunglasses?" Tommy asked. Jamal looked like a thug. Mini said they used to be in a gang. Even when Jamal and Vince dressed professionally, they looked different.

Dangerous.

"Jamal get the shades off your face."

As Tommy and Vince increased pace to get closer to Katy, and as Jamal approached, he pulled off his sunglasses. His eyes were red. The color of wine. It was prominent, even from a distance. 

Tommy said, "Dude he's so fucking stoned. He looks like a demon." 

Katy slowed down. Then she stopped. Looking to either side of her, as if the man walking towards her was there for her. They she began to inch forward. Jamal had his eyes in every direction, as if noticing everything but Katy.

"Jamal, buddy, did you smoke before this?" Vince asked into the walkie.

"Yeah dawg everything is like a wave." Jamal replied into the walkie, his eyes still looking around. 

"Alright well Katy's walking right at you."

Jamal passed Katy. He didn't say anything. He walked by Tommy and Vince and whispered, "Jesus fucking Christ." But it was soft and he kept walking.

"Dude Jamal dropped the ball." Tommy said.

Katy turned around and saw Tommy and Vince looking at her. With binoculars. Those binoculars were staring directly at her. Vince had the walkie close to his mouth.

"Alright act like our binoculars aren't on her," Vince said.

The two resumed their pace, binoculars at the stores around them, at the ground and every which way that wasn't at Katy. Then Katy broke out into a run.

"Dude I think she knew you two were looking at her," Jamal said through his walkie. 

He was near the jewelry store, on the other side of the second floor. The three decided to get something to eat.