Chapter 2 The Day The Sky Closed

• Drake was still in shock and confusion.His thoughts scattered like birds in a storm..
• “He blinked, again and again, hoping clarity would return it didn’t.”
• And then something jolted him, immediately. “This dead body must not remain like this in here, else he will spend his Lifetime in jail if the people or the “Mayor” get a hint of it.”
• He went down dragging the body along, filled with blood all over, into the basement.
• Hastily, he searched for what could wrap up the corpse; he felt a weight in the air. A presence. The kind that makes your spine shiver and your mind recoil. Fear wasn’t a scream it was a slow, choking silence crawling down his throat.
• “Using a white robe, he tied up the corpse and patiently waited till nightfall, he couldn't handle the case if at all he was found. Drake knows the crime he has committed and the punishment for it. “Death by hanging.”
• He swallowed hard and sat still, elbows on his knees and eyes wide open,lost in his thoughts.
• “if not for his dire Job he wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. Come to think of it, is he not the most miserable individual in the world right now?
• ***
• The fire had started at 3:17 AM.
• He remembered the call… not the one from dispatch, but the one that never came from his wife.
• His hands had pulled strangers out of flames that night… while his own home turned to ash.
• Charred wood. Screaming radios.
• Two bodies in the coroner’s van by morning. His wife and His little girl.
• He was late saving everyone else but them, sorrowfully tears filled his eyes as he remembered. With his left palm he wiped his tears.“Life must move on.”
• He carried that pain in his heart, even now. It still haunts him.
• ***
• “Every second he stays in the basement alone with Richard's corpse waiting for nightfall, something gets closer,” Rubbing his arms, as if trying to shake off the feeling of invisible fingers…..
• Shadows stretched long and hungry as nightfall draped itself over Black Hollow, muffling the world in silence.
• Drake picked up a shovel and digger he moved the dead body wrapped in a black robe. Digging deep into earth he endures that the hole is deep enough, “four feet” is enough he murmured as if he measured before digging.
• He dumped the corpse into the hole and covered it up, leaving no traces of his movements and activity behind.
• He went back into the basement and cleaned the messy floor. The floor was smeared with clotted blood, its dull maroon shine catching the flicker of dim light. Cleaning up all the evidence he thought might be used against him…
• He left in his car, he needed rest before commencing his journey the next morning back to base with a full “report" of his mission at “Black Hollow even without the money… how will his boss feel–hearing this?.” Richard is dead!!?.
• He parked his Luxury Phantom V8 at a spot. The windshield fogged slowly with his breath as silence pressed in. Outside, the world was still and creepy. A lonely dog barked in the distance, its echo swallowed by the night. The clock on the dashboard blinked mockingly: “2:08AM.” Drake’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel, restless.
• His thoughts slipped like smoke back to the fire. Back to the screams. The heat. The helplessness. He could still feel the weight of the oxygen tank on his back, still hear the crackling collapse of his home… his family inside…..
• Suddenly he Heard A creak.
• “He froze.”
• Something shifted in the rearview mirror, just for a second. His heart kicked in his chest. Was it just his mind playing tricks? Or was he being watched?
• The streetlight above flickered. Once. Twice. Then died.
• Darkness covered up the car immediately.
• ***
• Speaking of a town like Black Hollow, Drake shouldn't have gone in there in the first place. But carrying out an order from his Boss really means life and Death. “A do or die mission he wasn't expecting…..”
• Black Hollow was the kind of town that smiled with one lip and smirked with the other. Cracked roads, half-lit neon signs, and dusty porches told a thousand stories, most of them ending in blood. Every alley had seen a knife. Every house had swallowed a scream.
• Thinking twice before residing might be an option for most citizens, but not a single person will think of that, with everything nature provides. The green land, stable power supply, water and food.
• The only red flag is that Crime wasn’t an accident in Black Hollow. It was the culture.
• The weak got eaten; the strong got rich.
• People knew who ran the streets, and they didn’t ask questions,even when someone disappeared they just turned their porch lights off a little earlier.
• Evidence erased, investigation closed on victims case, and lots of evil deeds that one could ever imagine.
• ***
• Drake cracked open one eye, slumped in the seat of his 2029 luxury Phantom V8, high-tech and custom-built. Yawning as if he confronted a beast In his dream, lazily he stretched his stiff neck and stared at the town ahead.
• He mumbled to himself, his face looking pale and tired.
• “Let’s see how today goes… i need to return to Brixton Asap….”
• His voice was deep, slow, with that dry grit sarcasm. Never rushed. Staring at the morning ray as the tinted windshield of his car caught the glint of the rising sun.
• “His expression…. Like someone who had seen too much and didn’t care to explain.”
• As he was clearing the thin layer of fog that clung to the inside of the windshield, blurring the neon lights outside.
• Across the street, three hefty men. "Built like giants, packed with muscle thick enough to frighten a ghost back to the grave."
• They leaned against a chipped wall outside an old pawnshop: Stone, Wills, and Jude. Discussing and pointing towards his Phantom V8.
• Stone: Buff, gold teeth, and a face that looked like it had never smiled without violence. Wills too was Skinny, twitchy and always chewing on a toothpick like his life depends on it.
• Jude on the other hand was tagged the Brains of the group, wore sunglasses at night, always thought two steps ahead... just not far enough today.
• They’d robbed a store last week, beat the manager, and forced the cashier to open their safe filled with dollars to the brim, packing more than enough money they escaped before passerby could alert the sheriff's. That’s how they rolled.
• “Drake carefully observed them as they strolled towards his car.” He whispered, searching for his pistol “oh man-n…. I guess I don't have to spill any blood today again….”
• Stone slapped the side of his neck and squinted at Drake’s 2029 luxury Phantom V8.
• “Yo, yo... is that a freakin' space car or what, bruh?”
• “That ride looks like it fart thunder!”
• Wills, skinny with pants too low to legally count as clothing, tapped Stone’s arm with his gas station nacho fingers.”Exclaimed loud.”
• “Ay, we gotta jack that. That ride said ‘steal me’, I swear on my ex’s wig.”
• Jude,replied.
• “Nah, y’all stupid. That right there? That’s a future-mobile. Bet it runs on freaking alien blood and Bitcoin.”
• They strutted across the street like they were in a music video nobody asked for. Drake leaned against the Phantom V8, arms folded, chewing gum with the nonchalance of a man who had absolutely no respect for any of them.
• Drake dry and unimpressed he shouted.
• “Y’all lost, or just bored of embarrassing yourselves!!?”
• Stone stopped short, throwing his arms out.
• “Man, what? You talkin' to me like that?”
• “Bruh, this is our block now. You just parked on it.”
• Wills, laughing with that high-pitched, hyena energy.
• “Yo! You hear that? He talkin’ tough in a rental!”
• “Bet he cries in the shower, too.”
• Jude, still chill but getting spicy.
• “Look, big man, we ain't gonna hurt you. Just step away from the car before we turn you into road salt.”