Standing in front of this large and imposing man. I focus slightly on my surroundings, while waiting for the man to speak again. In order to not be caught off gaurd. (Even with all I do know. There's no reason to assume that he will be honorable or reasonable).
There's a window to his left, but it's barred and boarded. There is a vent, that a small enough person could possibly fit through. One entrance (unless he's got some secret door behind that bookshelf?) I thought, bemused by the imagery.
"Little, Richy!" (If I'd had any idea something like this might have happened. I wouldn't have gone full troll on what now seemed like a janky job application)
"You have been under my care for just under 2 years now and today your services and our business is formally concluded. As you have negotiated for since coming under my wing. You have successfully earned ME enough money to buy out your Parents debt, and cover your.... Stable Fees. You've been a good little work horse and earned your way out. So, without a further preamble. Your cut of the take for your final fight. +$1000 USD
MARK, see our young friend safely out of my fine establishment. Mark, as it were is another of my former bosses, security. Walks in, puts a hand on my shoulder and surprisingly. Gently walks me to the door, but just before the threshold I hear a "I'm sure you're smart enough to know that whatever goes on in my business".... It stays your business, I said.
"Well. It's not like the police would do anything, anyway. I'm just another street kid from the inner city" Richard thought. Besides, if they were gonna do something about my (former) situation, they would have done something about it nearly a year ago, at least. First 48 and all that. I hope those loving and caring parents of mine at the very least get arrested as recompense for my situation." I thought, resentfully.
"By the time I emerged from my own musings, I had also emerged from door into the morning(?) Air." It appears that the Fight club let's out into an abandoned lot.
"Good luck kid!" I hear those words as Mark, tosses a duffle bag my way, before closing the door on me. Putting an end to our interaction and that chapter of my life.
I pick up the bag and throw it over my shoulder. "First things first. I need a bite to eat. I don't like the idea of spending unnecessarily, but I like the idea of making my important first steps on an empty stomach." Eenie meanie miny, that way.
I pick a random direction and immediately head that way, without considering much (Having no idea that if I had stuck around just a minute longer, I would have made one of the most important and fateful encounters of my life). Just as the young man known as Richard Grande turned the corner, the warm summer air of that abandoned lot, get suspiciously colder before what appears to be a man in a trench coat and fedora.
Said man inhales slowly, before commenting "Something strange and foreign was just here. He looks down and kneels next to a set of small foot prints head away from the lot". But before he can continue his search. A noise behind him gets his attention. "Another time then" the man mutters before suddenly disappearing as a poorly dressed inebriated man stumbles out of an alley. Said fellow looks where the man in the trench coat and hat had disappeared from, looks at his bottle and mumbles "I gotta lay off the sauce, I mean it this time!" Anyone that even looked at the man would have had either had something to say or had doubts. But surprisingly, that man, rather continue drinking. Dropped the bottle where he stood and stumbled his way to the nearest clinic.
30 minutes and half a kilometer away!
"OKAY!" Richard says. "Down 11 bucks out of the 1000$ I had, and I'm sated for now."
Sitting down at park bench, he began pondering. "Should I just buy camping gear and find a place to hustle down for the night? Or take my chances at trying to find someone that won't take advantage of an obviously lost kid looking for a cheap room?" "Hell, what do I even know? I don't know what average rent for a room is and even if I did. I couldn't rent at 13 any.... HOTEL!" "I CAN JUST FIND A CHEAP HOTEL." I can find some place looking to hire cheap labor or something. Hopefully they don't ask too many questions I don't have answers to. This will be easy-
(At that moment, The universe or something less benevolent decided to take that as a personal challenge). A cop who just spilled his coffee on himself is understandably annoyed. Looks up in time to see Richard smirking. Said cop decides to be a good and concerned citizen by walking towards the youth and asking "Hey, what are you doing and not in school?"
[ 2 minutes and one conversation later. ]
"Great, now I'm 1 step closer to being a statistic". I'm not sure what caused me to freeze up like that, but I need to work on my poker face. I Thought, while the officer in the front seat drives us both who knows where. At least he let me keep my bag.
"Hey Krispy Kream! How long until we get to holding? I'd like my first call as soon as we do."