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Step 5: Party
They had been walking through for nearly an hour now and Anika could feel the air getting a little chillier. As time passed by. She regretted more and more having followed Hugo. The comfort she felt in the presence of this boy was as confusing as it was pleasing. The regret she felt was due to the fact that she thought to herself that maybe she was comfortable in her misery after all, that she should have stayed alone and kept quiet for a good while., mind her own business and not depend on anybody for happiness… Where this was going, she felt she would become dependant on Hugo very quickly for happiness and she knew that it could possibly hurt her alot…
But then again, maybe it would be better for her to deal with such a situation when and If it happened. So far, she had been able to solve alot of problems for herself , so why would would she be affraid of such a detail ?
Hugo, still holding her hand as they walked, had very soft and delicate skin… Rather unusual for a child of the streets, but pleasant to touch nevertheless.
« Are we there soon? » Anika asked in a low tone.
« Do you hear that music? » answered Hugo squeezing her hand a little harder in a reassuring way « It’s the sound of us approaching the party…We’re almost there… »
Listening carefully, Anika could distinguish a faint drum techno beat from far away, eaxch step she took made the beat sound a little nearer. Unconsciously, Anika and Hugo started to walk with the drum beat…
« How old are the people in your crew? » asked Anika.
« Well, the ages vary from 8 year olds to 40 year olds… We’re just a bunch of people that the system fucked, big time who decided to stand together instead of being picked on one by one, by those who would be our predators… »
She was almost sorry she asked, she could detect the sadness in his voice everytime he mentionned anything that concerned the political system they were all living in, and the last thing she wanted to do was push away this boy with sadness .
« Welcome to sector 16… Welcome to your new home Anika… » said Hugo warmly, showing nothing but sincere happiness this time around.
« I didn’t say that I’d move in here yet… » she replied .
« No, but you can still consider this your second home… I want you to know that you will always be welcome here and that you will always be safe here… »
« I’ll keep that in mind, Hugo… Thank you… » Anika was at loss for words…
The drum beat was getting louder and louder and she could now distinguish the sound of a faraway bass playing too. It was clear to her ears that both drum and bass we’re of an electronic nature. Hugo turned left and right in a maze of alleys as the music approached both of them. Eventually, Anika could see far away a , in the alleys, a crowd dancing to the music… There were easily 300 to 500 people having fun and dancing to the music that was given to them. As they aproached the crowd, Anika could feel the bass of the Techno music ringing through her whole body. And it was a feeling that she appreciated.
Soon, they were in front of the crowd and the young girl couldn’t help but be amazed the sight that was presented to her… A whole group of homeless people, mostly teenagers and children, dancing away to the music that eight huge speakers provided. Near one of the brick walls, approximatively one hundred were stacked up in a pyramidal way, all of them plugged somewhere so that they could display psychadelic images that were in syich with the music… In front of the televisions, a Dee Jay was spinning his records and seemed very much concentrated on his job.
As they made their way through the crowd, Anika was amazed that these people were all having so much fun, everybody was smiling. Everybody was happy, It was clear on their facial expressions that their problems were the least of their worries for the moment, that all that mattered was dancing and having fun… And she envied them, she wanted to dance her worries away too, even if it was only for a little while…
« Do you want to dance? » screamed Hugo to make sure that Anika could hear him. The young blonde smiled at her spikey-haired friend and nodded..
As she looked at her friend make graceful moves to the beat that they could both hear, Anika started to let go of herself and soon enough, her world consisted of nothing more than Hugo, the music, the pavement on wich she was dancing and her body who was nothing more than a way to express herself…
For the first time in quite a long time, Anika felt graceful, she felt beautiful and she felt truly at home…
Home..
Home was where her heart was, and it looked as if it ran away here when her parents were murdered and she finally hagot the chance to find her heart again, today, with Hugo, in this party in an alley… Thinking about it, the possibility of such a scenario would never have occured to her the night before that…
But then again, who was she to complain?
Tonight, she was whole again and she was going to enjoy every single moment of it from here on…
Three men were in a poorly lighted office. One was behind a the desk with his fingertips pressed together and a dead calm expression. The other two were sitting in front of the desk, on comfortable leather chairs.
The man behind the deask was big, tall, large, and didn’t have a single hair on his head. His face was well-known throughout the whole city because he was the infamous Vincenzo Bonnano, leader of the Bonanno gang, one of the biggest organized criminal organizations in the District…Vince Bonanno, the man who was above the law, Vince Bonanno, the man who could get away with anything… He had gained quite a reputation since he first got into the world of organized crime and he was rather proud of it.
Bonanno’s gang was surpassed only by the Syndicate itself, and it was a well known fact. The two men in front of him were members of his ruthless enforcing squad and it was clear that they were extremely nervous for the moment.
« So you’re saying that the Jansen girl ran away? » asked Vincenzo Bonanno with a dead calm tone, holding back on his anger.
« But Mr. Bonanno… » started the first of the two men.
« DID SHE OR DIDN’T SHE? » bursted Bonanno crying and hitting on the desk, his face turning red as blood rushed up to his head..
« Shut the fuck up, Archie! » said the second man as the first man jumped back on his seat, obviously shaken by the outburst of their employer « Look boss, she ran away, but she never identified any of us in the past three years… I simply think that If she knew who we were, then she’d have come forward to the authorities since then… i just don’t thinkthat she’s a threat… If the day does come and she does identify us, I’ll finish the job I started with her folks… Trust me… »
« You had better be right Forsythe… Because If not, I’ll have your goddamn HEAD! » screamed Bonanno…
« No trouble at all sir, that’s the way I’m used to doing things! » answered Forsythe calmly…
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