The Beat of the Mafia

The stars will know our names

                                    Anya
As she walked down the street beside Diego, with Matt and Laurie talking loudly up ahead of them, Anya couldn't help but ponder on what that guy said. 'You'll be back soon' what does that even mean? And back where! All the question swirl around her mind, erasing the high she had been feeling back at the club.

"Hey," Diego said, slinging an arm around her shoulder and looking down on me with a concerned face, "You okay? What did that guy want?"

"I don't know, " Anya said with a shrug, "I bumped into him outside the club but then he started saying all this weird shit to me, I was totally relieved when you guys came along."

"Huh that is weird, but don't worry, we will always be there to get you out of trouble,"
He says fondly before messing up her  hair.
Anya swiped at him playfully but truthfully his words did make her  feel better, She knew she could always count on them to look out for her, and they could count on her  to look out for them.

Conversations moved on quickly into much more happy topics and Anya was debating with Laurie about what was better, orange juice or apple juice, when their building came into view,they all looked at each other with proud looks on our faces.

Even though their worn down little apartment didn't look like much,they  all treasured it deeply. Being able to afford it was huge for them but especiallyAnya, after running away from her  children's home at 10 she never really had a home or a place to stay. That is until she met Diego, Matt and Laurie, then her life changed. They  worked hard together, and saved up every little penny they  earned from busking and gigs until they could afford a place to call their  own.

Even seeing the brick apartment building put a smile on Anya's face and banished all dark thoughts to the very back of her  head, where they couldn't bother her.

As Matt put in the door code (He was often the only one who could be bothered to do so) Anya looked up at the night sky and thought about how good life was about to be.

"Hey guys,"She said softly, "Soon enough we will be so famous that even the stars know our names"

"And we'll be so rich that we can have as many houses as we want," Diego said as he smiled wistfully.

"We'll all find love and have beautiful families,"
Laurie said looking up at the stars.

"But our real families will be each other,"
Matt said as he finally managed to open the creaky, old door.

"Awww, Matt's feeling all sappy tonight," Diego said while laughing and Matt hit him over the head.

"I am not sappy," He said defensively but he was still smiling a little bit.

"You guys are actual children, and here I was thinking I was the youngest,"Anya teased as they started up the flights of stairs, we had to walk because the elevator was always broken.

" Maybe you are secretly the oldest, but you're still the shortest!" Laurie joked, but he stopped laughing when she started to chase him up the stairs.

This, this moment and these people, this is what it's all about.

                                        ~~~
"Where are you going," Laurie groaned from the coach, still half asleep even though it was well past 11.

"I'm going on a run,"Anya replied as she grabbed some water from the kitchen sink, making sure that the water ran clear before before she filled up my water bottle. She didn't do that once and was sick for a week.

"All people who run hate themselves," Laurie mumbled as he was already settling back down to sleep.

Anya rolled my eyes with a smile before leaving the apartment and jogging down the stairs. Even though their apartment was kind of mouldy, had a bit of water damage and possibly rats, one good thing about it was the location. You could step out the door and be in the middle of the city.

Anya stood still a second to take in her surroundings, and make sure that she didn't run into someone again, I took of into a light jog, passing bakeries and coffee shops as the morning sun lit up the street.

She didn't know what Laurie was talking about, running was the most freeing and invigorating thing ever, if she could run forever without getting tired she would.

Anya's usual running circuit took her eight blocks north, twelve blocks east, eight blocks south and then a final three blocks west. She did it at least four times a week without fail, so why did this run feel different?

She look around but all she could see was the usual Monday morning foot traffic. Mom's pushing babies in strollers, students hurrying to be somewhere and business men in their black suits, carrying briefcases on their way to the subway. If everything seemed so normal, why did she  feel like it wasn't?

Anya shook the confusing thoughts out of her head, picking up the pace so her leisurely light jog turned into a run, her feet pounding the pavement in unison with her beating heart.

After the next eight blocks had passed Anya slowed down, panting heavily with tendrils of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead. Looking around she noticed that the street had emptied out in the last few minutes so all that remained was a homeless man and a couple of business men.

Deciding to take a moment to catch my breath she went and sat down on a nearby bench, the cold metal cooling her hot skin.

Closing her eyes she thought on how she would spend the rest of her day, maybe she would work on song lyrics and maybe figure out a drum solo for Matt. She also needed to pick up their tips from Louis, hey who knows maybe if they made bank we could even go to the nearby food truck for dinner instead of their dented tin cans that we got for discount price from the local store.

Hearing a slight sound to my left Anya opened her eyes to see one of the businessmen sitting on the bench around 5 meters from her's, looking directly at her. As soon as he noticed that he had caught her attention he hurriedly looked away and focused his eyes ahead. Okay... weird, but she could just have something on her face that drew his eye, she was probably pretty red at this point.
Anya shook her head and looked around the rest of the street only to see another similarly dressed man who was reading a newspaper across the street, the only odd thing was that... the newspaper was upside down.

Okay nope, she could maybe let this slide on a normal day but the day after she had a strange encounter with another man who looked the exact same as these creeps? Not a chance.

Anya tried to stay casual as she got up to resume her run, making sure that the men didn't make a move to follow her. Only, of course, she wasn't that lucky. As soon as she got up the two men seemed to share a look from across the street and they both calmly started to stroll down the street. Oh that's just amazing.

Okay Anya stay calm, you've been in far worst situation than at least two weird suited men following me. Saying it like that it did seem like quite a bad  situation but... fine, it was fine.
She increased her speed until she was almost sprinting down the street, looking behind her every few steps only to see that the men in black had disappeared. She slowed down, looking around the deserted street. Huh? She could have sworn they were watching her, why would they just leave?

Just as she was thinking this, a black SUV came screeching around the corner,she couldn't see through the tinted windows but she would bet everything she owned that one of those men was behind the wheel.

Huffing a humourless laugh Anya started going full speed down the sidewalk, desperately looking for a mistake because, even though she enjoyed running, she would soon tire out and she definitely couldn't outrun a car.
Just as she was losing hope she caught sight of a small alleyway hidden between two brick buildings. Yes! She veered off the sidewalk and ran down the alleyway, jumping over garbage and suspect puddles of liquid as she went.

She didn't know how long she ran for but soon enough it felt like she was inhaling shards of glass and she had to slow down. Huffing breath after breath she sat down on the ground and leaned against the wet brick of a building, closing her eyes.She allowed herself a small smile as she  thought back to her getaway, Anya: 1, Weirdos: 0.

She was just starting to breath normally when a shadow fell over her, blocking any light from falling on her. Anya opened her eyes in an instant only to see the man from the night before standing over her  and smiling slightly to himself.
"Hello Anya."
Shit
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Anya is not in a fun situation, sorry to leave you guys in a cliffhanger :)
Back to Anya's and Laurie's debate, are you guys team orange juice or team apple juice?