Aurora
Author’s Note:
Hey, everyone so I just wanted to clarify a few things. This my first time posting one of my works and while I have done writing for school and such, this my first time writing an actual book. I have been working on this for a while now and thought I might give it a shot putting it up. I will also mention that there is profanity, mature themes (will come up later in the book), violence with and without weapons, and there is sexual component, however, nothing real explicit (later). The next thing I want to bring up is that I sometimes skip over words when I am typing so if you catch stuff like that please mention it and I will try to get it fixed. Also if you could give me some feedback on pacing and plot that would most appreciated. Last thing I promise, I have no idea when this will be finished, so please don’t ask.
Aurora
I was laying on the floor of my loft, under the sink trying to figure out what was wrong with plumbing this time. I literally just replaced most all of the plumbing in the loft and now the sink isn’t working. Since I own the building it means that every time something breaks I’m the one who has to fix it; especially since I can’t afford to hire a plumber, an electrician, or anything like that. I bought the building from the city for pennies on the dollar and believe me when I tell you the building was a complete wreck when I first bought it. Most all of the pipes for the plumbing needed replacing, not to mention the AC unit was busted as well the furnace, the electrical was just about shot and nowhere near up to code, the carpet was rotted and smelled, and the sheetrock was covered in mold from water damage and was falling off the walls revealing the brick beneath but, despite all that the building was still structurally sound. I think that is mostly due to the fact that this building (instead of the usual wood framework and flooring) was made out of brick, mortar, cement, and metal framework. Out of all the work that had to be done pretty much the only thing I didn’t have to tear out and replace was the ductwork. I speculate the reason the city was selling it so cheap was that it was one less thing on their to-do list.
Anyway, I finally managed to get the connecting pipe loose and as I look down it, I can immediately see the problem is the shut-off valve. One of the few pieces of plumbing I had neglected to check until recently was completely rusted over and sealed shut. I sighed picked my wrench backup and removed the valve from the pipe, wrote down the valve size I need, then threw the stupid thing away. Getting back up to my feet I said aloud “Looks like it’s time for another trip to the hardware store.” Walking into my bedroom, I grab my signature black leather jacket that I lined with kevlar. The one time those home ec. classes I was forced to take in high school actually paid off. The familiar weight resting on my shoulders as well as the weight of my fairly large pocket knife in the inside pocket of my jacket. Another kind of cool feature I added is; I bought two karambits and sewed the sheaths into each sleeve of the jacket so I can pull my karambits out very quickly and you can’t even tell they are there. I also grabbed my black leather, fingerless gloves with hardened kevlar and carbon fiber knuckles from where they were sitting on top of my dresser. I was already wearing my favorite pair of leather pants as well as my plum purple halter neck tank-top. It took me a minute or two though to find my tall, lace-up, black leather combat boots. As I searched for my boots I passed the mirror in my room and I stopped for a minute to look myself over, my crested mohawk braid with the tail end of the braid running down just passed my shoulders which I had put in this morning was still holding strong, despite me crawling around under the sink for the last hour or so. The color is rather strange when I was born my hair was ebony black, but as I got older my hair started getting a dark purple almost eggplant tint to the ends of it. Probably my most striking feature (aside from my hair color) is my eyes they are about the same color as amethyst and are sharp and bold. My nose is small and straight, though its size fits well with my heart-shaped face. I also have a moderately sized rose-shaped birthmark on the right side of my neck which stands out against my lightly tanned skin. Under the jacket, it’s hard to tell, but my muscles are extremely well toned and defined; I am also very thin mostly due to the fact that I probably don’t eat enough. For only being 5-10 though I can have a very commanding presence when I want to.
Once I had my boots strapped on and slid my throwing knives into the tops of them, I was ready to head out. Locking the door I walked over to my window, opened it and stepped out onto the landing for the fire escape which is about 15 ft off the ground and grabbed hold of the ladder. I put one foot on the ladder and held on to another rung with one hand. Thanks to the rope, weight, and pulley system I rigged up the ladder slid down at a moderate speed until it hit the ground and as I walked away from it, the ladder slides itself up and back into position. I stepped out of the alley by my building and began walking down the sidewalk to the hardware store just over 2 miles away.
I was about three-quarters of a mile away from my building when I passed The Alpha Wolf nightclub owned by Simon Collins (a good friend of mine).
We met a few years back when I first moved into my loft, he decided to take a shortcut to the bus stop to go to the bank to deposit the earnings from the night before, when he got jumped by a pair of muggers, I was passing by on my way to the grocery store to pick up something to make dinner with. When I heard scuffling and a few muffled shouts, I slowed my pace and looked down the alley and saw Simon being held against the wall by a tall heavily built man and the other was going through Simon’s bag looking for something; instinct kicking in I reacted, knocking out the one going through the bag first, with one solid kick to the head, I then rounded on the other who had let go of Simon and was preparing to charge me. I stood my ground and let him come at me moving out of the way at the last second, letting him crash into the brick wall behind me. As he started getting back up I walked over to him bent down and spoke into his ear and said “You have two choices, you can either take your friend, walk away, and never come back here or I can throw you away instead and leave you for the cops to find.” he looked up at me and I could tell he was very unnerved by the fact that I had taken both of them down so easily. He shakily got to his feet and hoisted his friend onto his back and got away from me as fast as he could. I turned around and found Simon picking up all the stuff that had been thrown from his bag while frantically looking for something specific. I picked up what I assumed he was looking for; a fairly large yellow envelope that contained all the money he had gotten the night before. I walked over to him and nudged his knee with the tip of my boot and said “I’m guessing this is what you’re looking for.” as I held up the envelope for him to see. His jaw tightens as he looks from my face to the envelope in my hand probably wondering what I would make him give me in order to get it back. I held up my hand, then reaching up in the envelope I pulled out a 100 dollar bill. I showed him the bill then pocketed the cash shut the envelop again, and held it out to him. He eagerly snatched it back and I could feel his eyes on my back as I turned and walked away. From behind me, I heard him yell “Is that it, your not going to ask for anything or take more money or, or, or something?!” I kept walking and simply replied “Nope.” he yelled again “At least tell your name!” he almost sounded like he was ordering me to. I stopped walking, spun around and looked him in the eyes at which point he visibly shrunk back and I replied “Aurora Smith.” he just nodded as I spun back around and started walking again.
Ever since then whenever he needs an extra pair of hands I am the first person he calls. I had just passed the door when I heard someone call my name “Aurora! Hey, can I talk to you for a minute.” I stopped walking, turned around and sure enough here comes Simon. Simon is a very hard person to mistake especially around here; he is very slight in build, wears glasses, and has the blondest hair I have ever seen. He has a real head for numbers though, the reason he owns a nightclub in the shady part of town is he made some very stupid decisions when he was 19, but after doing a 3-year stint in the state pen he cleaned up his act and opened his club (many people call it The Alpha for short). Though the one thing I will never understand is why he got into bed willingly with the Shadowcast Swords one of the biggest, most ruthless gangs in the country and whose primary headquarters are in centered in this part of Chicago. You see The Alpha is one of the most popular clubs around, but the club wouldn’t exist if wasn’t for that loan he received from the gang. Now, most people/businesses in this area typically all pay protection money to the swords for protection from not only them, but from other gangs as well, who try to pick a fight with the Swords and Simon is no exception to this: however, many members of the Swords like to hang around The Alpha and while overall it is good for his business, they can get pretty rowdy sometimes, and by rowdy I mean, way too drunk, to the point where they will start picking fights with anything that moves. On top of having a great stereo system, lights, and full-time DJ, he also has a large dance floor, a good-sized kitchen in the back and a pretty good chef who can cook just about anything, but I would stay away from anything fried that he serves I learned that one the hard way. He also has a fully stocked bar with a very large selection of drinks. Once Simon caught up with me he asks “Aurora I’m glad I caught you listen, one of my security guys had something come up and.” I cut him off there and finish the question “Aannd could you fill in tonight?” as I roll my eyes a little and I give a sigh and said “What time does the shift start and as per usual all my non-alcoholic drinks on the house and the pay is 25 bucks an hour, correct.” He nodded his eagerly and added, “The start of the shift is at opening time today so about 6 and you can probably leave around 3.” I purse my lips for a moment and reply “Make it 2 and you got a deal.” Again he nodded his head eagerly and went back to the club saying thank you until the door had closed behind him. I shook my head a little with a smile on my face and started walking again. Either when I need some steady cash for a little while or he has a last minute bouncer/security opening that needs filling he calls me first. He is a good guy and I have no reservations about working for him; it’s the patrons I have a problem with as I mentioned his club is frequented by many members of the Swords and as you can probably guess I don’t particularly care for them.
Many of the low tier Swords members are nothing more than bullies that are packing. That is not even my biggest problem with them, they try to push me into paying them protection money, they hit on me a lot, and they have even come to my home. Which is unfortunate for them because my loft is basically a fortress. The walls are brick reinforced with rebar and concrete, the floor is 5-inch thick concrete also reinforced with rebar, and there are only three ways in; one is coming up the fire escape ladder which I lock up every night with a chain and it helps that the bottom of the ladder is 10 feet off the ground; second is up the stairs if they are down: I cut the stairs lose from the wall and the floor so, I had to make some changes to how the landing and the wall next to it were supported. This project, in particular, took me about three weeks to get everything put in including the load poles that I had to put in place under the landing: I attached heavy duty hinges to the to the top of the now free stairs and hooked up a heavy cable and pulley system to the bottom of the stairs, to the ceiling, and ran it through a heavy ratcheting crank which I anchored to the wall. I also replaced the wood stairs with 1/2 inch galvanized sheet steel which is reinforced with rectangular tubing, so when the stairs are up they act as a barrier. The third and final option is climbing up the side of the building (which is very difficult in of itself, trust me I have done it before) and then coming through one of the windows again is also going to be very difficult due to the fact that I put new metal latches on the 5 windows in my loft and replaced the normal glass with bulletproof glass. Reinforcing my loft was kind of an expensive expenditure (it took most of the 5,000 dollar prize that I had won in a street tournament a few years ago, but it would have been a lot more if an old friend who welds for a living hadn’t owed me a favor or two) though with the area I live in it’s kind of a necessity; especially with the swords and other gangs prowling around.
I have been confronted by low-level members of the swords multiple times in the past since I refuse to pay them protection money or join their gang. Every time they sent people to my loft I send them packing with a boot print on their asses. Eventually, their higher-ups got the message and they stopped sending people.
Though the timing of this job works out well I need to buy some 2x4s and 4x4s from the lumber yard so I can put up the framework for a couple walls, as well as buying some more wire for the electrical in my loft, and buying that new valve for my sink. Of course, there is the street fighting tournament I’m going to be in about a week from now that has a pretty hefty cash prize, but it is a little bit of a gamble because I only get the money if I win and while I haven’t been beaten yet, there is always a possibility.
