At the far corner a drunk sat slumped with his head thrown back in a doze. Three tables forward, a woman sat next to a man who was probably touching her from beneath the table. Loppi walked over to the counter and the barman walked over to where he was.
“Are you looking for someone?” The man at the bar asked. Loppi instead noticed the cross over the shelves of bottles. It was a simple wooden cross but it did not mean anything in such a place unless it meant something to the barman.
“Yeah.” Loppi replied as he sat down.
“What does he look like?” The man at the bar asked but Loppi didn't want to go into specifics.
“I don't know. He said he would be here.” Loppi replied.
“Do you have a phone?” The barman asked.
“Yeah.” Loppi replied.
“Call him and find out.” The bar man suggested.
“Later. Gin and Sprite.” Loppi said. The barman sighed and went to make the drink. Loppi set a five dollar note on the counter before the drink arrived as he scanned for any signals that the dealer would be inside the bar. Nothing.
The third gin and spirte made Loppi think the dealer was not coming or maybe he was somewhere else. He looked back at the cross over the bar and scoffed at the irony of having faith in a place so faithless. He chose not to ask the man at the bar but wondered what the name of the man was. The man was washing glasses and looked too busy to be disturbed so Loppi swallowed his question.
Loppi patted his jacket and felt his lighter. He had a packet of cigarettes in the opposite pocket and decided to smoke them before he went home. He rose and left the bar without leaving a tip for the guy. He made his way to the back and went out into the alley. Gangster movies had made him paranoid of being shot out infront of the bar or getting caught in the cross fire as something went south. He had never witnessed a shoot out but he still wanted to smoke in the alley rather than in the open.
The chilled night air promised rain as he stepped out hoping the door would open both ways. He checked it to make sure before he let it close. He took out the cigarettes and put one in his mouth before he started to check for the lighter.
“Hey Lip.” A voice said to his right. It was strange because there was a brickwall that way and the the alley led off to his left, Loppi would have seen anyone standing in the dirty yellow light from the street lamp but it was too late. The figure was real and moved swiftly. It bumped into him like a person pushing to get past and before he could make out anything more than the black silhouette of the figure he was knocked into the piled garbage bags by the door with an old aluminium garbage can. He felt the garbage can crumple under her weight and then the shot of electricity rack through his body.
“I'm being jacked.” His mind screamed at him.
“No, you're not.” The same voice whispered but it was inside his mind not outside his body. The strange thing was the figure had managed to get inside him and Loppi could feel the stranger wearing his body like a glove. The figure felt large almost like a cow wearing a goat.
“He's looking for something.” Loppi thought as he felt a hundred hands rummage through his body like they were checking a jacket for some key or a phone. The burning sensation of their clawed finger tips was unbearable.
“Of course I am looking for something. Give me what you owe me. You cannot scream. We had a deal.” The voice hissed from inside his head like a broken pipe.
Loppi could feel his body thrash on the ground and the cold rought tarmac scrape his exposed skin. He heard his clothes rip from the violent siezures that racked him on the ground and the rough scratching of the hands inside his entire body.
The absence of his scream made everything feel muted but the pain was a reality checker. It felt like an eternity as hundreds of claw tipped hands rummaged around inside his body like a desperate person checking a jacket for a lost set of keys or phone. It felt worse than death; Loppi wished he would die.
“I will let you die in a minute but first let me find what I am looking for and I'll be out of your hair.” The presence rasped in his mind.
Eventually, Loppi’s eyes rolled up and his body went limp in the darkness. It took thirteen minutes for it to be over but to Loppi it was forever.
The footsteps that retreated into the darkness did not run, they walked calmly as they disappeared unseen into the darkness.
The deal was done.
Inspector Norris asked for the tapes to be sent to him the next day afte the squad had found nothing suspicious in or around the alley to suggest Loppi was with someone other than the confession of the barman. He sat in his dimmed office and played the video through with his headphones on.
In the dim lighting the back door opened and Loppi stepped out into the alley. Loppi looks around and then puts a cigarette in his mouth. He pats his jacket and then is knocked into the garbage cans. Inspector Norris can hear the grunt like someone knocked him over and the crumple of the garbage cans but when Loppi opens his mouth to scream, there is no sound.
On the surface it looks like a fit of epilepsy but the doctor claimed Loppi never suffered from the condition. The rolled back eyes and spasms should have broken him in two as the back of his head touched the back of his heels making him a figure zero on the tarmac. It was only thirteen minutes long and Inspector Norris could only claim that Loppi had been drugged but there was no residue in his glass even though the barman never touched the glasses.
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