Jerome Valeska: Circus Love

Chapter 8- Give Me a Reason

A/N

Please feel free to leave any comments if you are enjoying the story. I have a couple more chapters to go but appreciate any and all feedback as I am new to writing.

Chapter 8- Give Me a Reason

The women on the corner of Jepson were different to those working Olga square, they didn't wear heels or make-up, some were in stained dresses or boob tubes but most looked dishevelled homeless, their heavy set eyes and sunken cheek bones a clear indication of severe drug dependency and malnutrition. The area itself was the most run-down Jerome had seen so far, comatose bodies were laid about in doorways, smashed glass and used needles seemed to carpet the pavements and the stench in the air was suffocating a mixture of garbage and stale urine.

Jerome pulls up his hood and creeps into a doorway stepping over a shallow breathing body with a pipe still clutched into one hand. He has a good view of the group of women and the factory building on the far side of the street from his position. He studies the women, each one a clear depiction of rock bottom, each face a lost soul. One women stands out, early thirties, painfully slim, but it is her hair that draws Jerome's attention, the blonde tone of her messy bun a signal shining out through the grease and dirt, although filthy it is the exact white blonde that Jerome remembered of Sadie's messy mop. He watches her for a while and his suspicions are confirmed when a John shouts her by name from across the street 'Penny!', it's her, it's Sadie's mother.

Jerome watches Penny disappear with the man into a side street returning some thirty minutes later tucking some cash into the pocket of her dirty jeans. She hurries down the street towards the old factory building and Jerome finally leaves his position in pursuit. He follows the women into the building keeping enough distance not to be noticed.

Penny climbs to the first floor and knocks on a battered door coated in graffiti, when no one answers Penny starts to hammer on the door with her trembling fist, her whole body fidgets with the desperation of addiction. Finally the door swings open, a scrawny shirtless man stands inside, his pale grey skin adorned with scars and homemade tattoos. The man holds out his skeletal fingers taking a handful of screwed up notes from Penny and throws a baggy at her slamming the door in her face. Penny scrambles on the floor retrieving the baggy clutching it tightly as she ascends the stairs further into the building.

Jerome tracks her to a door on the third floor, he hangs back on the stairs until Penny has vanished in to the apartment, he moves to just outside and listens at the door. Inside he hears muffled voices, Penny and a male, they begin to shout and soon objects are being thrown until a stereo is turned on and heavy music blasts. Jerome waits and waits until the voices have stopped, the music still blasts covering the noise of him pushing down the handle and the click as the door is released. He pushes a little, just enough to allow him to peek around the door, it opens into a little dark hallway, exactly as Jerome had hoped.

Jerome squeezes through opening the door as little as possible and gently presses the door closed behind him keeping his body tight against the wall. The hallway is narrow and the lights are broken, this will help him he thinks, at the end of the short corridor is a dank looking kitchen, dirty pots and pans piled high, he can smell the rotting food from the front door. There are two doors on each side of the small hallway, he hears a dripping from the first on the right so determines that must be the bathroom, the second on the right is closed and a heavy padlock hangs holding the door securely shut. The music blasts from the last door on the left.

Jerome creeps past the first door on the left, he flashes a quick look into the half open room, a stained mattress covers most of the floor, a thread bare blanket slumped at the bottom, the minimal remaining floor space is littered with ashtrays, old beer cans and the odd needle. Jerome stands back pressed against the wall next to the last door, slowly he angles himself to look through a gap as the door stands slightly ajar.