A middle-aged man in his thirties was waiting by the local supermarket. He was looking very suspicious from the way that he was all dressed up, as his clothes weren't that bad and yet at the same time they weren't that good either. He was wearing a long coated jacket despite how hot it was, he had a knitted winter hat, black boots, torn denim jeans, and a dirty-looking turtleneck.
He was leaning against a streetlight, watching carefully what was happening on the other side of the streets. He was very focused on his target. The way that this man was, everything about him just came clear that the real reason he looked that dodgy was because he was a thief — not even a known thief, a petty thief at that.
His name was Nicholas Borne, and he was a thirty-five-year-old guy down on his luck. Nicholas didn't have much, and he lived in the slums where poverty seemed to hit like an incurable disease.
All his life he'd been having a tough time. Saying that he wasn't the brightest would be an insult to him. Nicholas didn't choose this life because he saw and thought of it as the easiest way to make a living. The reason he was in this life was because when he was about to turn sixteen years old, his parents were brutally murdered, and everything that they left for him was taken by his relatives, leaving him with nothing.
So he couldn't continue forward with his education due to his expenses that he clearly couldn't afford, and so he dropped out, was kicked out of his family home, and survived on the streets until he was twenty years old.
Things started to look like they were getting better when he was recruited by another down-on-his-luck guy by the name of Nox Vox — a small-time criminal, gambler, and smooth talker who taught Nicholas everything he knew. Well, he tried.
Nicholas was really paying attention and focused on whatever was happening on the other side of the streets. Despite the streets being overcrowded and busy, he still remained vigilant and mindful of whatever he was planning to do.
Not far from where he was standing, there was a person sitting by the coffee shop, reading a newspaper, in the same place and street that Nicholas was watching like a hawk.
A black car pulled up and stopped exactly where he was looking, and four guys came out of that black car. They looked like mafia bodyguards, as one of them opened the door and someone else stepped out of the car.
It was a very short but very meaty guy. He was bald, had black sunglasses, his clothes were stylish and elegant. He wore: a white suit and pants, a red shirt, black tie with a touch of red, black shiny leather shoes, and of course multiple gold rings on his hands.
He fixed his suit jacket as he stepped out of that car, and he looked around. To him, he really didn't see anything that he should consider very suspicious.
Nicholas locked eyes with the person who was sitting by the coffee shop and reading his newspaper. The mafia went inside the coffee shop. They didn't have anything with or on them, anything without counting the guns that were on their backs.
The newspaper person pretended to lower his newspaper so that he could drink his coffee. But here was the thing: the coffee was pretend coffee. It was actually empty; there was nothing there.
He took his empty coffee cup and pretended to drink it, so to seem like he was really drinking something. He pretended to sip, making it seem like whatever he was drinking was actually hot.
After the mafia got inside, the newspaper man, whose name was really Nox Vox, looked at Nicholas, gave him a signal by putting his cup back where it was and tapping it against its saucer plate.
Nicholas nodded, looked around the side in both directions, and he didn't see any cars coming either way. Then he crossed.
Because the coffee shop seemed to be a little occupied at the moment, Nicholas pretended to act like a loony, acting up all crazy — which was a simple story to sell since he wasn't just dressed like one, but he was dirty and smelled like one too.
He danced around the car, and when he saw that people were looking at him and the car, he'd step aside and dance around people, clapping his hands and taking each lady that was there, spinning them around the car.
Of course, everyone thought this was just funny and simple entertainment. Even when the mafia looked out the window, all they saw was just a crazy person dancing around like an idiot, so they really didn't put much thought into it.
As much as this was funny and entertaining, what most people weren't aware of was the fact that Nicholas was using his crazy dance moves and dancing with the ladies as a distraction. Because each time and lady he danced with, he'd be dancing near all doors, trying to figure out which one was unlocked.
Before he could find the door that wasn't locked, Nicholas had tried and danced with almost three ladies. But when he was dancing with the fourth one, she was having such a fun time, busy screaming, twirling around with her eyes closed.
"Whoo! This is fun, I haven't danced like this in a very long time!" She was having the time of her life.
Well, honesty is the best policy. The woman wasn't completely wrong when she screamed out that she hasn't danced like that in a very long time, due to the reason that she was so old, maybe in her late eighties to early nineties.
When the old lady was caught up in the moment, she accidentally pinned Nicholas against the fourth and final car door that he was yet to check.
To sell character, Nicholas pretended to be actually enjoying this whole thing, but he knew very well what his aim was. And when the old lady pinned him against the car, he was actually relieved, because it made things easier for him.
While the old lady was having the time of her life, Nicholas was actually trying to open the car door, but it was proving to be difficult, since every time he'd open it, this lady would push him and pin him against the door, causing him to close it again.
He was really starting to get annoyed by all this. By now he should have chosen another lady to be his next dancing partner, but the thing was, the old woman was so over the moon she didn't want to let go. But finally, time came, and Nox Vox came to the rescue.
"Excuse me, milady, would you mind if I took this guy's place and danced with you instead?" Nox Vox just gave her a smile.
If this was cartoonish, the old lady's eyes would have changed shapes and become hearts, because Nox Vox wasn't just good looking; he looked like one of those models when shown in magazines you would sniff at.
"Well, don't mind if I do," the old lady twirled to Nox Vox.
Nicholas sighed with relief, and as he pulled the door once again, it opened. Now there was another problem: he wanted to get inside the car, but he didn't want people to see him.
So after handing over the old lady to his partner, Nicholas tilted his head to the other side of the door, indicating that Nox Vox and the old lady should go to the other side.
Nox Vox was smart enough to get the message, and he'd done exactly that. He and the old woman went to the other side and danced.
While Nicholas opened the car door and sneaked in.
The next thing, Nicholas came out running like a crazy person. With him, he'd been carrying a black briefcase.
"Damn, would you look at that? Time isn't on my side. You'll forgive me, ma'am, I have to go somewhere else, but thank you for this amazing dance." Nox Vox became a gentleman and kissed the old lady's hand.
And he left and went in the other direction.
Time had passed since Nicholas had pulled that stunt of his. Now it was nighttime, and Nicholas was sleeping in his single-room shack. He was out cold, clinging on to the same briefcase that he had stolen from the mafia not so long ago.
He was drooling, sleeping on a bunk bed mattress without the bed base. He didn't have much around his shack, not even electricity. All he had was just his mattress, a paraffin lamp, a bucket that wasn't for water — that's just it, those were the things he had under his name.
It was hard to tell whatever dream he had, but once Nicholas heard a loud bang on his door, he didn't wake up to go check on it, which was good, because that wasn't a friendly bang — it was a break-in, and someone was trying to come in.
Nicholas didn't waste any time to go and peek through the window and see who was on the other side of the door. Not because he didn't have a curtain to help him, but he could see, clear as day, who was on the other side.
He heard the commotion and the murmurs.
"Is this where this dead meat stays?" The voice from outside did sound mafia-like.
"Yes, sir," someone replied.
While the commotion was still going on, his door was still getting kicked out of its hinges, which was proving to be harder than it was supposed to be, which was very strange for an old door like that.
Nicholas's heart was pounding so hard he didn't know what to do. He knew very well that the people who were trying to break in weren't here for tea or coffee — they wanted him dead.
So he got out of bed, didn't even put on his shoes, he sneaked to his window and made sure that he was not making himself busted. He peeked to see who was there, because he was hoping that whoever was outside wasn't the person that he thought it was.
Once the mafia finally succeeded in breaking in, and since it was dark and they couldn't see anything, they just barged in and started shooting at the bed. Nicholas was smart enough to open his window carefully, which was squeaky, while they were busy kicking the door. Because it was so strong, they eventually got frustrated.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Did you get him?" The mafia boss asked.
The shots fired were more than five times, but all four bodyguards had stopped firing. All of them went to check, only for them to find that there was no one sleeping on the mattress. They were shooting at nothing and no one.
"Boss, there's no one here," one guard informed the mafia boss.
Just as he was left dumbfounded, all they heard after was the window breaking while closing. The mafia boss went to check, just for him to see Nicholas running for his life with their suitcase.
"Fuck! Follow him!" The mafia boss opened the door and tried to run after him, but due to his weight issues, he was out of breath not even a minute later.
Nicholas didn't look back. All that he did was just run across the slums, cutting through people's shacks, going through alleys that were so interconnected they made the whole place look like a maze.
He was fast, really fast. Not only didn't he look back, but he didn't even get the chance to take his breath — not that he had the privilege, after all. The same car from earlier was catching up on his tail, speeding.
The slums were making it hard for it to drive because of the bumpy road that it was, but the car was catching up to him, even though it couldn't cut through like how Nicholas was doing.
After both the car and Nicholas had made it out of the slums and were now chasing after each other on open streets, the car picked up its speed and so did Nicholas. Shots were being fired at him again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lucky for Nicholas, they missed him. But the open road was very long, and from the way he ran, not so long after he was going to need a place to either hide or rest so he could catch his breath.
The car drove off-course, going through the corn field. Not that Nicholas was aware of that — he was really in the zone, running barefoot with his torn turtleneck sweater and ripped denim jeans.
He was running with all his might. Maybe after a few minutes, that's when he realised that he wasn't being chased anymore. He stopped by the bridge.
"Phew, I think I finally lost them," he caught his breath.
Nothing ever seems as it is, because as he was being relieved, Nicholas obviously let his guard down and, without even seeing it coming nor expecting it…
All he heard was the car running through him. He flew up in the air before he fell down, and tumbled to the steel bridge ground, still clinging to the suitcase.
For a second his head was in fritz, he didn't know what happened. All he saw were lights, and his head felt a little bit woozy. Nicholas backed up, getting on one of the bridge's bars.
The car tires screeched as it stopped, and all four bodyguards and the mafia boss came out and went after him.
They pulled out their guns and pointed them at him. Everything was a little bit fuzzy, his vision was blurry, but though it wasn't clear, Nicholas still managed to make out a few images of what was happening.
They didn't shoot just yet. They had their guns on him, but then a fifth person came out of the car, dressed almost exactly like the mafia boss, but his clothes were all black, from his suit, tie, shirt, all the way to his shoes.
"Is this him?" The mafia boss looked at the person who was coming to them.
"Yes, sir, this is him," the person replied.
But here was the strangest thing: this person's voice sounded so familiar, to the point that Nicholas forgot about those who were pointing at him with their guns, and focused on this new mysterious person.
He really tried and forced himself to make this person clear. Once he did, all that Nicholas could remember before he heard this sound:
Bang! Bang!
Two bullets were fired at him and pierced his chest. As the image of this mysterious person became clear, all he saw was his cunning smile right before he shot him.
After being shot, Nicholas let go of the briefcase and he fell on the other side of the bridge, which was a river, and he saw his whole life flash before his very own eyes.
Splash!
As he fell into the waters, all he saw as his final image was his blood, right before he closed his eyes and succumbed to his untimely death.