Remorse Part-2

Marco emerges from his thoughts. He thanks the driver and leaves the taxi. He is at the gate of his mansion, far outside the city. “Home, Sweet Home,”, he mutters, before entering his house.  He turns on the lights and sees his wife waiting for him. “You’re late,”, she remarks. “Sorry honey, something had just come up… You know how it is,”, he says anxiously. “It’s ok,”, she says. They both hug each other. Marco then has dinner. After his meal, Marco sees his daughter’s door open. He looks at his watch.  It was now five in the morning. His daughter would wake up at six for school. He sees her sleeping. He then goes and sits next to her. He accidentally wakes her. “Good morning dad,”, she sees. He smiles, “Good Morning princess.”. She yawns.  He gets up. “I’m extremely sorry for waking you up so early, you can go back to sl- It’s ok,”, she interrupts him. “I needed to wake up early anyway, after all, it is my first day back to school.”. Marco smiles. “Have a great day champ,”. “Thanks, Dad.”. He then proceeds to leave. “I love you,”, he says. “Love you too,”, she remarks. An atmosphere of happiness envelopes Marco. In a world where your enemies are everywhere, it’s nice to be appreciated and loved sometimes.  He then goes to his room where he dozes off.

Alice, Marco’s daughter, proceeds to wake up from her bed and follow her daily routine. She packs her school bag and is about to leave. Her mother wishes her the best of luck on her first day. She then goes to school. 

On reaching school, she gets out of her taxi and enters the school premises. She thanked the driver. He was a new person, as the old one had retired. He welcomes her and drives off.

How strange, no one’s here. Not even the teachers, maybe I must have come early. She notices some red stains near a few lockers. Wow, someone is trying to prank the school staff. Amused, she heads toward her classroom.  Strangely, no one was present in the school at the time. She notices someone at the end of the hall. It was a Janitor. Relieved, she runs toward him to ask him about the time. He turns around and sees the girl. He has a menacing look. He immediately grabs hold of the girl and doesn’t let her go. He tries to choke her and knock her out. Perplexed, she kicks and bites him, and he lets go of her in pain. “She’s stronger than that ol’ cranky mob boss!”, he mutters. He runs after her. Alice screams for help, but no one hears her. Her voice only echoes throughout the empty school halls. The man takes out a gun and shoots at her foot. In pain, she stops. The man catches up to her and punches her, knocking her out. He then carries her towards a van. Some masked individuals open the van door and let him in still dazed, she sees one of the people who were not wearing a mask- it was her driver!

They then escape. Soon, buses, students, and teachers arrive. One teacher is shocked to see the security guards dead. Even the surveillance cameras had been completely wiped out. 

Marco wakes up and is drinking coffee. A guard enters his room. He informs him of something. Marco throws his cup across the room, yells at the guard, and starts crying.

Police arrive at the school the investigation of Alice’s sudden disappearance. A man is there amongst the crowd present outside the building. He is wearing a black suit and tie. He has jet black hair and a dashing countenance. He surveys the area. He shows the cops a police badge. They allow him to enter and examine the crime scene. He sees the bloodstains on the floor. He notices a sliver of golden hair. He bends down to collect it and puts it in a sealed bag. He notices something in the corner. He goes over to get a better look. It’s a badge. He picks it up. “Jason Lockley,”. He mutters. He puts the badge in his pocket and leaves the sight. Taking a taxi, he travels to Marco’s house.

“So Liam, what did you find,”, questions an extremely nervous Marco. “Well, we found this badge and hair sample, but apart from that, we have had little to no progress.”. Marco sighs. He takes a quick stroll around his room and sits behind a desk. He sternly looks at Liam. “You know how I got here, Liam?”. “Sir, this house?”. Marco shakes his head. “No, I mean, where I am, my position in this city, the power I have, you know how I got that?”. “No sir.”. “Well, after my mother died, and my father was imprisoned, I grew up in an orphanage, in the heart of the city.”. “Sir, but- Shut Up,”, Marco halts him. “I ran away from that godforsaken orphanage and turned to a life of crime. I stole just so that I could survive on the streets. I joined the previous mob just to make ends meet. After the Russians destroyed them, I found an opportunity.”. “But sir, what does this have to do with the search?”. Marco clenches his fist. His anger stuns Liam, who keeps quiet.

“I used my wit and brain- my only two allies- to survive and build this empire. I had nothing in my entire life, no friends, no happiness. All this power, this little sliver of success, was on my own. Ever since my childhood, I had promised myself never to be helpless and weak. To never be threatened again.  And now,”, Marco starts sobbing.” an enemy- who we don’t even know an iota about- has taken away from me the one thing I love. My precious angel.”. Marco turns to Liam in anger. “And you can’t even find ANYTHING? NOT EVEN A SINGLE, GODDAMN CLUE!!  The only reason why I don’t kill you where you stand is because of our friendship. Liam, you are a good friend, but I would do anything to keep my daughter safe. ANYTHING!”.

Liam is now terrified. His arms trembling, and sweaty. Marco leans closer to him. “Now Get out of my face before I completely demolish you.”. Liam stands up and runs away from the mansion in fear, never looking back. He takes a cab back to his home. On his way, he sees an alleyway. He stops the cab and ventures into it. He looks to his left and sees an old, silver car. To his left, he notices a baseball bat laying on the floor.  He picks it up. Enraged, He destroys the car. After calming down, he takes another look at the badge. “Jason Lockley,”.

Marco, having calmed down, is still sitting in his office. He is angry but distressed. His son, Ivan arrives to inform him of some news. “Father, now that we have taken over the Santelli’s- What?”, snapped Marc. “Well, it is the right time to Take over their supply ports.”. “Yes, using the Santelli’s ports would be extremely profitable to our business,”. “Well, they receive the goods via a harbor on Staten-island. I was wondering if we could capture it and expand our empire.”. “Yes, yes, you have my permission.”, Marco replies in a gruff voice. He is distracted by his thoughts but is well aware of the situation. “Just be sure and look out for anything suspicious.”. Ivan nods. “Now go.”. He stands up and goes to the door. He hesitates. “By the way, I hope we find whoever took my sister. Once we’ll do, I’ll kill him myself.”. Unmoved, Marco replies, “Just, be safe.”. “Thanks, Dad.”. Ivan then leaves. Marco stays in his office for some time. He then leaves the room.

A man is present in an apartment. He is surrounded by multiple people wearing black, traditional, Japanese masks. They are seen gearing up. They are testing and loading multiple varieties of artillery. The man is present in a corner. He has dark golden hair and a white spherical face. He is wearing glasses and has a scar mark on his forehead. He is peering through a window. He sees the city.  In the window, he sees his reflection. He focuses on his scar. A vivid memory manifests within his mind. A group of teenage boys is seen beating up a small child. The child is crouching in a corner, his head in his arms. He is trying to protect himself. He is weaker than the bullies and is severely injured. His arm and ribs were broken. His forehead, bleeding. He is about to pass out. One of the bullies stops “Let’s go, he’s done now. No point in killing him.”. “Yeah,”, one of the boys agrees. All three teenagers leave the child and run away. The child is almost beaten to death. No one came to help him. He is alone and afraid, his mind and soul broken. The man sighs. He receives a message on his phone. We have started.  One of his followers calls him. “Theodore, is it time?”. He turns away from the window. He gets up and grabs a shotgun. He loads it. “Let’s go everyone.”. Outside the window, a sign is present on an adjacent street. Welcome to Staten Island!

To be Continued….

About the Author

Pratyush is a proud student at Wisdom World School. A sincere student of class X, he took fascination to books, sports, and music at a very early stage and which inculcated in his daily routine. Excelling in Piano grade exams (Trinity College London) and a Red Belt in Karate (Chi Combat System UK), he has been awarded ASA Swimming Stage 5 (UK) and RoboCHAMP Pro Engineer in Robotics. Having received several Head Teacher Awards while schooling in the UK, he has been a consistent performer in his current school in India where he was awarded for his academic excellence in the Annual Prize day. He likes spending hours slumped over a variety of books and which got him to pen down his thoughts in the form of stories as his creative outlet. Imbibing the joys of primary years, he likes playing football and cricket in his pass time.