Chapter 1: Into the Unknown
It was a cold, dark night in London, as a young man was being marched through the dark alleyways with a sack on his head. To his left and his right were armed men, dressed in black, sunglasses covering their eyes, so there was no escape for him. After a few more minutes, they turned off the alley, into an unsuspecting warehouse, where the bag was removed, and the boy was forced to his knees in front of a nicely dressed man in a white suit, draped in gold necklaces and rings. The man took the cigar out of his mouth and said to the boy, "So, you must be Marron Winchester, correct?" The boy nodded before the man said: " I take it, you don't know, but your father sold you to me as a slave, for use of my services". Marron looked at him, confused, before the man pulled out a signed paper with his mother and father's stamps& signatures. The man said," I'm a criminal lawyer, and your family is in quite the pickle. Your family is being investigated for drug manufacturing, embezzlement, tax evasion, and a whole 'lotta colorful shit". "Now that I've received payment, I'll render my services and get them all dropped, but sadly for you, you must suffer for that to happen".
Marron trembled a bit and said, "W-what are you gonna do with me?" He smiled and said, "Nothing too brash, but my advice to you would be to forget your old life and embrace what's coming next, or you'll surely die". Before Marron could say anything else, the man put his cigar back in his mouth and said: "Enough talk, take him away to the hotel, but make sure he doesn't try to run away... he'll be our guest so long as he cooperates". Marron was blindfolded, ushered by two men into a blacked-out SUV, and belted into the seat. The two men in black got in with one to his left and the other to his right before the driver took off. Part of Marron was glad he was blindfolded as this ride was extremely awkward, but at least he didn't have to worry about avoiding eye contact with the scary-looking men who even breathed silently.
After what felt like an eternity, the car ground to a halt, and Marron's blind fold was removed. The guy to his right stepped out of the car and said, "Come on, kid, and don't try anything funny". Marron said "alright" before following the man to the front desk and quietly waiting as he spoke to the concierge and was given two key cards. The man turned around and handed a keycard to Marron and said: "Everything you need is in your room, you may go now, but remember what I said outside". Marron nodded and said "thank you, sir," and scurried off towards the elevators and pressed the button repeatedly as the guy glared daggers at him. He quickly stepped inside and hit the button for the third floor and breathed a sigh of relief as the doors shut.
As soon as the elevator reached the 3rd floor and opened, he quickly followed the numbers on the wall to room 312, inserted the card, and stepped inside. Thankfully, the doors closed on their own, for as soon as he stepped inside, his legs gave out. He sat there with his knees pulled up to his chest, in shock. His parents sold him to these creepy guys with no clue what awaits him tomorrow. He could end it all by jumping from his window or maybe drowning himself, but that would be even scarier for him. This whole situation was fucked up to him, and he just didn't know what to do or if there was anything he could do, but either way, he wouldn't figure it out until he got up off the floor.
He hauled himself to his feet to find himself standing in a beige hotel room with salmon pink walls, oak furniture that looked handcrafted and super fancy; even the curtains looked as if they'd belonged to the queen's palace. The bed was a cozy king-sized bed, and atop it sat 4 ominous black duffel bags, which he was almost afraid to open. They looked like something those sketchy movie terrorists use to carry bombs, but he figured if they were gonna kill him, they would've already. He carefully opened each bag and found shirts, clothes, hygiene products, and 1 envelope with his name on it, which contained money and a letter from Mr. Turner, the man he'd just met in the fancy suit in the warehouse.
The letter explained that although the boy would be sold for millions as a slave to some traffickers or an unpaid labor camp, Mr. Turner decided that Marron shouldn't have to pay for his parents' sins. Instead of that cruel fate, Marron was to become a "cleaner" like those men who escorted him earlier and work and be loyal to Mr. Turner for the rest of his life. Marron sighed and said to himself, "Well, I can't sink any lower, hopefully I'll die during a mission or something". The boy ordered room service and changed out of his tattered old suit and tie. He'd been in custody since the other night when these men abducted him outside a late-night party he had to attend, which he now knows his father set up".
Marron took a brief shower and quickly got changed into some silk loungewear he'd found in the bag just in time to grab his food from the stewardess who knocked on the door. He brought the two trays over to the bed and sat down on the bench at the foot of the bed, turned on the TV, and ate his nice steak dinner and dessert while watching some of his favorite shows, which momentarily relieved the stress of his situation.
When all the food was finished, he set the trays on the desk, crawled into his bed, not caring to look at the clock, which read midnight, and passed out, unaware of what awaited him in the morning.
