Die Tryin' (3 page)

‘You too, Charlie,’ Nick replied. ‘I’ll call you sometime.’

‘Yeah,
yeah…’
He headed for the door, passing Maria on the way. ‘Bye,’ he said to her, not making any eye contact.

‘Bye,’ Maria said to the floor before moving away and hitching her baby up in her arms.

Charlie left the room and a few seconds later the front door clicked shut.

When it did, Maria faced Nick, a serious and concerned look emerging on her face. ‘What did he want?’ she snapped.

‘Nothing,’ Nick replied, putting his arms out.

Maria handed him their baby; Nick took him up and touched noses with him, grinning. ‘How are you boy? Huh?’

‘Nothing?’

‘Huh?’

‘Charlie, Nick!’ Maria snapped again. ‘What was he doing here? I don’t want him near us or the baby, okay? You know how I feel about him. Bloke gives me the creeps,’ she added, shuddering.

Nick tutted. ‘I told you: he was just passing. Believe me, I don’t want him near our baby either. Believe it or not he gives me the creeps too. Don’t worry, we won’t see him again.’

Then Charlie’s words suddenly echoed in his mind:
Marco’s back…

And now it’s only you and me…

Nick knew what he just told Maria was bullshit. He
would
be seeing Charlie over the next few days and weeks, no doubt about it, because Marco was back. And with Charlie and Marco in town, then anything could happen. Anything. A shiver jigged up his spine.

And now it’s only you and me…

Down to two. Who was gonna die and who was gonna survive? Who was gonna be last man standing?

Nick looked at his sleeping son in his arms, then at his wife, and he promised Marco and Charlie that it wouldn’t be him. No way.

No fucking way…

*****

Charlie stepped out of Nick’s house and into the cold, his mind flying in a million different directions. So much so that he barely noticed the torrent of rain that had just started up and was drenching him. Seeing Nick and Maria had sent his mind spiralling. Especially Maria. It brought back old memories that just wouldn’t die, couldn’t be muted. Along with the memories came feelings, old rotten decayed feelings that still lingered inside him, like dust in an old cellar. He knew he was going to feel this way even before he left his home to visit Nick. But he couldn’t have avoided it, it had to be done.

He trudged past Nick’s pristine Beemer, wondering when he traded in his famous XR2 for it, but then asking himself soon after if he actually cared; and the answer swiftly followed—not a damn bit. Charlie cared for cars about as much as a Hindu cares for McDonald’s. He stormed past it and out of Nick’s street, wanting to be out of eyeshot of his car, his fucking house, just anything to do with Nick Theodorou. Out of this area and back home. He didn’t care for Southgate; full of flash rich Greek boys like Nick, with their cars and mansions and gadgets.

‘And no morals to go with ’em,’ he mumbled to himself as he marched up to the bus stop on the High Street. He took a seat on the park bench by its side. It was Saturday and the place was strangely dead. Not a soul in sight. Charlie had always lived in a world devoid of life outside his own existence. One more empty Saturday morning wasn’t going to kill him.

‘No, Marco’s gonna do that,
re
Charlie,’
a voice in his head suddenly spoke up, hearing his thoughts and answering them. It was Zorba, a voice that had joined the others a few years ago, just after all this Marco
skata
had started.

‘He’s still after you,
re
Charlie. You think he’ll ever forget?’
Zorba continued.
‘And once he catches you, he’s gonna make kebabs out of you,
re
! Ha ha!
And that fat prick and his cars. And I can’t wait. Pah! You all walk around thinking it will last forever, huh? One day you’ll understand, you bunch of fucking
malakes
. When your bodies are dust!’

Charlie so badly wanted to tell him to just get lost and leave him alone. But, he knew it would do no good; Zorba would just get more irate and then he would never leave. Charlie was old school when it came to dealing with the voices in his head. He'd been young and frightened once upon a time. Now he was just frightened.

He ignored Zorba and checked the road for the bus, wiping rain from his forehead. The street was empty.

‘Maria still looks very nice, doesn’t she?’
another voice suddenly said, displacing Zorba. It was one of the twins, the boy, Gemini Number 1.

Charlie nodded his head in response, somewhat glad to hear the little boy’s voice replacing the bitter Zorba. ‘Yeah, she did,’ he whispered under his breath.

All those emotions were now running through him again since seeing Maria. Affection?
Love?
He didn’t know. Didn’t know exactly what love was or what it was meant to feel like. If it was that feeling he got in his head and stomach every time he thought of Maria, then he knew it very well.

‘It didn’t take Nick long to get her pregnant, did it?’
a little girl’s voice snarled in his mind—the other twin, Gemini Number 2.

Charlie shrugged, wondering if she even knew how Nick ‘got’ her pregnant.

Nick didn’t hang around,
he then thought to himself in response
. That’s why we used to call him XR2, ’cos they don’t hang around either.

‘You’re just jealous,’ Gemini Number 1 retorted.
‘You
and
Charlie. Just jealous and angry!’

‘I am not jealous!’
snapped Gemini Number 2.

‘Yes you are! Jealous! Jealous! Jealous!’

Charlie closed his eyes. The twins were squabbling again, and that’s exactly what they were—a couple of kids squabbling in the playground.

‘We’re not jealous of Nick XR2! He’s a fat idiot! And he’s got a big nose, like a clown.’

Charlie smiled to himself. Nick
had
put on a lot of weight; probably from all the fine wine and expensive restaurants he was doing these days. In that sense, the twins were all right to have around; at least they could bring a smile to his face.

Now, if it was the
Old Witch…

She
hadn’t made an appearance since the voices came back recently and he was grateful for that. Very grateful. But, he knew it was just a matter of time… He shivered at the thought, his skin crawling.

‘Anyway, Nick’s gonna die soon,’
Gemini Number 1 then said, making Charlie’s head twitch.
‘Marco’s gonna get him, just like he got Tony and the others.’

‘Marco didn’t kill Tony,’
argued Gemini Number 2.
‘Two brown skinned girls gave him some funny white powder and then pushed him off a building.’

‘No they didn’t, you liar!’

‘Did too!’

‘Did not!’

‘Not!’

‘Too!’

Charlie’s chest heaved and he rubbed his face with both hands. He wished they would stop bickering, just for a damn minute. They usually only ceased their squabbling when they were worn out of shouting at each other or when another voice took over like the Old Witch or Zorba. There was another way, the tried and tested way, but that was a path he didn’t want to tread again in his life…

‘Did too! Ever since they met Marco, he’s been killing them one by one, and he hasn’t finished yet!’
Gemini Number 1 stated.

‘No he didn’t!’

‘Yes, he did!’

‘No. He didn’t!’

Charlie wiped the rain from his forehead, Gemini Number 1’s words suddenly tripping him back to that night at the fair years ago, when all four of them were there, all alive, all well, and all together. He often reflected with deep regret how different things would be if they hadn’t gone to that fucking fair that night. But Tony was insistent. He wanted to go. Wouldn’t let it lie. And that was Tony Savva’s problem in a nut shell,
God rest his soul…

Jesus, he could remember it like it was yesterday. Clear in his mind like just waking fresh from a vivid dream or nightmare.

Then suddenly:
‘Oh no, it’s him!’
Gemini Number 1 stated with horror.

Charlie’s head snapped upwards and was met by the towering figure now standing next to the bench. The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention like perfectly trained soldiers.

‘We better get out of here!’
Gemini Number 2 suggested.

‘Yes. He’s Mean! Mean! Mean!’
Gemini Number 1 added.

And with that, they were gone, and Charlie was thankful.

He smiled thinly at the bloke who had scared them away, just as he took a seat on the bench next to him. Charlie adjusted, and had a sly look round to make sure there was no one watching.

No one was.

‘Did you tell him what I told you to?’ the bloke asked, his eyes dark and brooding.

Charlie nodded solemnly and placed a hand over his mouth. ‘He believed that I’ve still got my cut,’ he replied in a quiet voice.

‘Good. Now let’s work out what you’re going to do next…’

And with that, Charlie leant back in his seat and listened, the rain wetting his head, and the memories of that night at the fair playing once more in his mind like a looped projection reel.

Nick Mavro sparked up the spliff he’d just rolled and took a long drag. Straight away he could tell it was good shit. Skunk. And already it was giving him a nice numbing buzz.

‘I could see this shit happening from last year,’ Tony Savva said, typical anger lacing his voice, crunching a finished can of Stella Artois in his hand. ‘Rammed full of kids back then too, I’m telling you.’

Nick barely heard what Tony was saying. When Tony was bitching like a little girl, it was best to just lay back, switch off, and chill…

‘Look at it!’ continued Tony, waving his hand out in front of him. ‘Full of fucking kids, just like last year, except now we’re one year older and they’re even younger.
Skata
!’

From the small grassy knoll they were perched, Nick gazed down at the centre of the park to where the funfair had been erected. The Waltzer was waltzing, bumper cars were bumping, Techno music was thumping, and kids were screaming. And yeah, Tony was right. It
was
full of kids. But, what did he expect? It’s a funfair. Who goes to funfairs? That’s right, genius! Kids! Nick reckoned he could have let him in on that little secret before they left their houses and saved them all a wasted trip. It was Tony’s bloody idea to come down here anyway, so if anyone had a right to be pissed, it definitely wasn’t
him
.

Nick couldn’t care less. As long as he had weed and a place to chill, he was happy. And there were no better places to chill than outdoors, in a park alongside Nature. Tony on the other hand didn’t do puff; he drank too much instead. Didn’t vibe with the mellow buzz the good weed dealt, and Nick realised long ago that was the essential problem with Tony Savva. It was his
hamartia
, his tragic flaw.

He took another long drag on his spliff and sighed absently, only now noticing Tony was wearing a brand new Ralph Lauren while sporting his chunky gold wrist chain. In that respect, Tony and the other Nick, Nick XR2, had a lot in common. They both loved the flash—gold, nice cars, designer clothes. Nick Mavro didn’t give a monkey’s about all that materialistic bullshit. It was unnecessary, and not the thing to judge people by.

‘We’re in our twenties now,
re,’
Nick XR2 then said to Tony to try and placate him. He was sitting on his arse, hands outspread behind him. ‘We’re too old for shit like this.’

Tony waved his hand on the air and placed a fag between his lips. ‘Whatever. I thought we was gonna come down here, bump some cars, then bump some nice pussy, but I weren’t intending on getting nicked in the process.’ Nick XR2 laughed. ‘It ain’t funny,
re,’
Tony said with a serious look on his face. ‘You know, I ain’t had none since that Marcia bird.’

Nick XR2 stopped laughing. ‘Which one was that?’ he asked. ‘The one with the lazy eye?’

‘No, man. The Brazilian tart. Remember?’

‘Oh yeah. The one with the moustache.’

‘She never had a fucking moustache!’

‘Yes, she did, Tone. At first I thought it was a caterpillar crawling across her top lip, till I realised it wasn’t moving.’

‘Whatever. ‘Tache or no ‘tache she was a good fuck. And I ain’t had none since her, and it’s fucking killing me, man, believe me!’

‘Count yourself lucky,
re
. You could have to wait as long as Charlie. You think you can hold out
that
long?’

Tony glanced over his shoulder. Charlie was on his haunches, staring at the funfair, not listening to a word they were saying. He resembled a meerkat, concentrating on the landscape, paranoia stamped all over his face.

Tony exhaled smoke from his lungs.
‘Re
, Charlie!’ he shouted at him, but Charlie didn’t flinch. ‘We’re talking shit about you. When was the last time you got your dick wet? Huh? You remember it?’ But, it was like Charlie had suddenly gone deaf.
‘Earth to space cadet Charalambo,’
Tony mocked, placing his hands round his mouth.
‘Come in, Charlie…’
Still no response. Tony looked back at Nick XR2 and shrugged.

‘What’s wrong with you, Charlie?’ Nick XR2 then asked. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘There’s a bloke down there wandering around near the rides,’ Charlie immediately responded as if the ‘on’ switch inside his head had suddenly been flicked. ‘Keeps looking over at us. Something tells me he’s bad news.’

Tony spun his head round to where Charlie was staring. ‘Who? Where?’ he asked eagerly.

‘Down there. Shaved head; black tee. Think he’s got a tattoo on his neck,’ Charlie informed them.

Both Tony and Nick XR2 scanned the area. Nick Mavro could sense something brewing here. If there
was
some bloke staring at them, then not only could it send Charlie into a wave of paranoia, it could also send Tony into a boiling rage. And right then he didn’t know which would be worse.