Project Shady

Voices

Marshall bounded down the stairs as fast as he could. He knew he needed to get to Tommy the doorman as quickly a possible. The fact that he had trusted Clara to look after herself was suddenly dawning on him, what if the robbers had guns and she couldn't defend herself. That was just one of the many worries that circulated around his brain at that moment.

"Tommy?" He called out once he'd reached the bottom of the staircase. He wandered into the foyer and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end, why was it so quiet. Normally Tommy would be stood at the door offerings greetings to whoever walked in or just past the entrance to the building, but he wasn't and thinking about it Tommy hadn't been there when he and Clara had walked in.

Marshall wasn't sure where he should look, the lift was out of order so there was no way Tommy had gone up in the lit to one of the upper floors for a few seconds, plus Tommy never left his position ever unless it was the end of his shift. Perhaps he was helping an elderly resident up the stairs or something, with that idea being the best he could think off, Marshall decided to lean against one of the pillars and wait a while. he didn't want to wait too long in case Clara got into any trouble.

"Are you quite alright young man?" Marshall jumped as an elderly woman approached him her face was kind and she looked to be worried for him.

"Er yeah. Um sorry do you live in the building," Marshall strutted out and little weirded out by the interaction, but it was pleasant for him to have been recognised by someone who was a rather over the top fan. The woman nodded her head as well a letting out a small humming noise, "have you seen Tommy around the doorman? I wanna thank him for when he helped my friend move in she lives on one of the upper floors," it was the best excuse he could think off. He didn't  want to frighten the woman by telling her someone had broken into one of the apartments and may be dangerous.

"I'm afraid not. I haven't seen him all day I'm afraid," with that the woman bid him could by and hobbled out of the building her walking stick clunking against the ground. When she got to the door he realised there was a good chance that she wasn't going to be able to open it so, he jogged over and pulled it open for her. She left giving him a smile in thanks.

It was once the door slammed shut behind him that the familiar sound of the ping a lift made sounded catching his attention. He turned to look at it, the metal doors inched open ever so slowly and when they revealed what was inside he wished they hadn't opened at all. Tommy was propped upright in the corner; his eyes bloodshot and wide open, blood dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin standing out against the white shirt he wore as uniform. A rather extravagant, golden, engraved handle of a knife was seen poking out from his chest.  Marshall's action was very must justified to the situation, the blood rushed straight to his head at the shock of what he had just seen, he limbs went numb and limp. The next thing he knew he had succumbed to the darkness and collapsed on the cold tiled floor of the foyer.

***

Clara let out a small breath after she had accomplished her first task of getting into her apartment without being seen. She was able to get through the door and immediately duck down behind one of the sofas that faced the rest of the room. Quickly she poked her head up so she could scan the room without hopefully being spotted. The men were in the kitchen behind the little breakfast bar area she had, they were stood with their backs facing her, their backs lent against the bar. It made her brows furrow because surely they were there waiting for her, but the fact that they seemed unaware of the fact that she had entered the room told her they didn't know much about her.

Taking her chances she stood up and tiptoed as silently as she could over to the dining table and knelt down crawling under the table before she came to the end. She was close that if she where a ghost she would have been able to reach through the counters and touch their feet. There were many advantages from her position, one was that the table cloth hung over the table so she was effectively covered. The second was that she could hear exactly what they were saying.

"When do you think she's gonna get back?" One of the men spoke his voice was more of a drawl and it was hard to hear what he had actually said, but Clara just about figured it out.

"Maybe she has, but called the police," the other was a voice she recognised, but couldn't quite put her finger on who it was.

"Nah she's not that type of girl trust me I know," a third voice entered the room, one that was deep and intimidating one she instantly knew. Now she had wished she'd just rung the police when she noticed the door had been busted open. What scared her about the voice, even more, was that she heard it coming from right beside her on the other side of the table.

"She might have changed since the last time she saw you," the first man spoke again and the third one just laughed and Clara could clearly see without seeing, the man's head tilted back as ran his tongue across his teeth. He always laughed that way it was very much imprinted on her mind.

"Nah, Mr Mathers right here has proved that," Clara  covered her mouth to stop the gasp escaping her as he heard a loud thud that very much sounded like a body being dumped on the floor, " found em passed out by the lift, it seems as if the body of the dear old doorman shocked the poor man. Now, why don't fill that bucket up with some cold water and we'll see where my little sister is shall we."

Clara bit her lip from screaming out as she heard the splash of water and the hard sharp gasps emitting from the one man she was supposed to protect.

"Oh Marshall," she whispered to herself, "I'm so sorry, but you've got to hold on. I have a plan, I promise," Clara did have a plan and she hoped to god it worked. Either way, she had some secrets that needed to be revealed to Marshal concerning her brother.