A Dark Reality

Introduction

The cold breeze flew through streets as well as alleyways, attacking those who dared show their faces during the witching hour. The many noises of the city were loud under the judging gaze of the moon. People always said that cities like these showed their true colours at night, in the dead of night no one could possibly disagree. Signs shone brighter than his future as drunken laughter ran through the streets. Tall buildings boxed into the city, shops and restaurants as far as the eye could go. A jungle of concrete which would never end.

A lone boy was sat in the dark alleyway behind a nightclub. The darkness swallowed his small shape as he sat on the steps of the building. Time passed oh so slowly, it was painful. The boy's long hair, which would normally be close to shoulder length- was in a small bun at the back of his neck. The pale boy was skinny, had always been, at that moment his thin body was protected from the wind by a tank top and a thin bomber jacket.

Alexander shook, his back was leant against the building behind him. He was absolutely miserable at that moment as his arms hugged himself weakly in an attempt to savour some body heat. His body temperature was low and so was his mood but he didn't dare leave that alleyway because what if his client came after he had already left? That would be the end.

The bags in his pockets weighed him down, more than anything else had done before, but he had become quite good at ignoring that, at becoming numb. The drugs were no longer terrifying, just exhausting. The life he had had before them, was nonexistent, he now belonged to them, his value and freedom stripped from his raw soul. His grey eyes stared into the black abyss before him, praying for any sign of movement, just any. A bad wish considering were he was at the present time.

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The hair of the client danced in the wind as the man left. Sander was now stood up, his back straight and expression serious, but jacket just a bit lighter. Once the broad back of the man passed the corner the skinny boy collapsed against the door, only then did he allow himself to show weakness once again and so he did.

A glance towards his phone, told him that there was just one client left for the day, with that information the young male made his way back into the nightclub, this was a new client, or rather a new one for him. The lanky boy stood by the door for a few moments just enjoying the warmth which invaded his person, normally he hated it, despised it, but now it was certainly needed.

After fixing the bun of his dark hair he made his way to the appointed meeting place. Once Alexander arrived he spent the time looking around at the intoxicated people all around, the people who supposedly danced but it looked more like sex than anything else, the ones who jumped up and down in excuse for nonexistent dancing skills and those who like him, stood watching, what made he, himself different from those people though, was that he wasn't hunting. He wasn't here looking for the next best attractive person, he was here because he had no choice, it was a way to survive.

Occasionally people came over, shared a drunken word before stumbling away. Sander wasn't extroverted per say but he enjoyed socializing all the same just not in the situation he was in at the moment.

The rest of the night was a blur of drunken people, bright lights, loud music and eventually the cold, the pain and shame of meeting with the long awaited customer. Somehow he had managed to not get robbed that day either which certainly helped with the near impossible task of paying his part of the rent of the dingy two room apartment he shared with three or four others, at this point he didn't even know, they rarely saw each other and had barely ever spoken.

The walk back to the apartment wasn't all that long as the club was quite a bit into the less trustworthy part of town but not far into it that Alex could ever afford to live there, but it was far longer than he would have liked with the abuse his body had suffered that day, his back hurt with every step he took, the last client certainly hadn't been gentle but Sander didn't earn enough to say no to anyone so he would probably meet the man again quite soon.

When the skinny boy arrived to the door of the apartment building, he was on the verge of collapsing, barely paying attention to the car with shattered windows close-by or the angry shouts that rang through the block. Had he eaten today? He had no idea, the drugs tended to keep the hunger away, oh how much he wanted to take some at that moment to make everything feel easier but even that was too much energy that he didn't have, he really couldn't afford it either but drugs had come before rent quite a few times in the past.

It probably took the boy around tem minutes to get up the three pairs of stairs, heavily leaning on the railing, but then he was home, home sweet home and soon he was finally collapsed onto his thin mattress, clothes and jacket still on but the itchy, thin blanket covering it.