The Black Swan Behind

125 Working For Apollo

“Both of you. What are you two doing here?”

The two boys rose to their feet when they heard the deep, hoarse voice of a man rebuking them from behind.

A man with a thin beard around his jaw and a body full of tattoos. He was wearing a wrinkled black shirt with the chest button open to reveal a lion tattoo on it.

Jack and Marcel glanced at each other then looked down. From the appearance of the man, they could tell that he was likely a member of a gangster.

“We.. we’re just sitting around here,” Jack answered quickly.

“You don’t know whether there’s a snake in the bushes or not.” The man said by examining the two boys while sipping his cigarette casually. “Go buy me a box of cigarettes at that store,” he took money out of his trouser pocket and pointed to a grocery store not far from where they were standing.

Jack stepped hesitantly over to the man and accepted the money. Then, the two brothers went to do what the man had told them.

“Here are the cigarettes and the change, Sir.” Jack handed the two items to the man who had just thrown away the butt of the cigarette he had finished.

“Take the change. You look so dirty.” The man said.

.....

Jack and Marcel immediately looked at each other with bright smiles. Even though the change was quite much, the man was kind enough to give it to them.

“What is your boys name?” The man asked.

“I’m Jack, and this is my little brother, Marcel.” The brown-eyed boy answered.

“Are you guys still in school?” The man asked again.

Jack shook his head, “I’ve dropped out of school. But my brother still is.”

“You boys need a job?”

The boys immediately answered in unison, “Yes, we need!”

The man smiled faintly as he lit his cigarette again. Then, he reached out his hand to the boys who were standing with beaming faces in front of him, “My name is Albert. Tomorrow night at eight, meet me at Paradise Cave. I will give you a job that pays good enough to buy you boys some new clothes.”

“Paradise Cave?” The boys muttered.

Albert nodded, “It’s a place to have fun on Bluevalley Street.”

“So.. so we have to work on the.. Bluevalley Street?” Marcel stuttered.

“You mind? If you don’t want it, that’s fine tho,” The man replied.

“No! Of course, we want it, Sir. We will come tomorrow night.” Jack grabbed his brother’s shoulder and squeezed it a little.

On their way home, Marcel just kept staring at the face of his older brother who was taller than him. From the chubby boy’s face, there was a look of confusion mixed with annoyance. They both really hate Bluevalley Street which was full of bad people, but why would Jack even want to work on that street?

“Why did you accept his offer? We hate Bluevalley Street. Because of that damn street, the gangsters terrorized our people. Because of that street, dad was changed. Even, dad died on that fucking street, Jack! Why do you want to work there?” Marcel asked, could not stand to be silent.

“If you don’t want to, then I’ll do it alone,” Jack replied flatly.

Marcel immediately grabbed his brother’s collar to look him in the face, “We can’t do that, Jack! Are you losing your mind?!”

“We don’t have to do it, Marcel. It’s just me. I told you. If you don’t want to do it, then just let me do it alone.” The big brother talked back.

Marcel tightened his grip even more while his older brother could only turn his face to the side, “No way! I won’t let you! Because of that fucking street, dad’s personality changed. He fucking tortured us! He hurt our mom! What happened to you?” He looked at his brother with bloodshot eyes. “Are.. you don’t care.. because dad is not your real father?”

Hearing that question, Jack immediately looked at Marcel sharply, making his little brother gulp because he just realized that he had said the wrong thing. Then, he grabbed Marcel’s hand to pull it off his collar before he walked away.

“Jack!” Marcel chased after him again.

“Mom is sick!” Jack exclaimed, suddenly stopping his steps. He stared intently at the surprised Marcel with both eyes bloodshot, “Mom is very ill. We are really short on money. If we continue to live in this situation, mom would be in danger. Do you understand?!”

“W-what’s wrong with mom?” Marcel asked with a surprised face. He knew that his mother was getting weaker day by day. But he only thought that she was just tired from working too much.

“Cancer. Mom has cancer. She has to have cancer treatment in hospital and we need so much money to afford it. You also have to go with school at least until you graduate high school. Dad’s debt also has to be paid. We really need that fucking money, Marcel. I know, we do hate Bluevalley Street. I know it’s a terrible way. But there’s something more important than our hatred. It is our family.” Jack explained in a trembling voice.

“W-what..?” Marcel’s knees went so weak that he fell to his knees. His mother? Cancer?

Jack rubbed his eyes which couldn’t hold back the tears. He tried to control his breath which made his nostrils hurt. Nothing could make him cry more than watching his family suffer. He could take excruciating blows to his body, he could work so hard that his bones broke, but he couldn’t bear to see his mother sick like that.

“You don’t have to work there, Marcel. But I have to. To save our family,” He said before walking away again.

The next day, Jack was on Bluevalley Street in his best clothes. It felt like he was hitting his own face. He hated the street so much, but had to work there. Holding back his hatred and shame, just for the sake of getting the bundles of money that seemed to control his life.

After asking the way to several people, Jack finally arrived in front of a door made of iron bars that led directly to the narrow stairs going down. Even before walking down it, Jack could already feel that the place was a hellhole. But according to the people, it was the path to Paradise Cave.

The boy with brown eyes and hair gulped hard before stepping down the stairs.

“Jack,”

He stopped his step when he heard a voice call his name. He looked back and found a fat boy wearing a shirt that looked too small on his stomach.

“Why are you here?” Jack asked with furrowed brows.

Marcel smiled, “I will save our family too.”

Jack looked at his brother deeply, “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been so sure. I’ll fight with you, Jack. It’s not just your family, it’s mine too. Please teach me to be strong like you.” He smiled.

Jack couldn’t help but smile at what his little brother said. As a man, of course, Jack wanted his brother to be strong and independent. They were a pair of legs that must stand together so as not to limp. By standing together, they would become strong and could support the family.

As soon as Jack was about to take another step, Marcel immediately held his hand with a serious face mixed with regret, “Forgive my words yesterday that said you are not dad’s son. I was an idiot.”

Jack shook his head, “Don’t hate dad, Marcel. Even though everything he did felt bad, we shouldn’t hate him. Even though at the last moment, dad seemed to hate me because I wasn’t his son, I still remember the times when he still loved me like his own son. We can choose the way we judge someone. And I will judge dad as a good father.” he explained.

Finally, they arrived in a huge place crowded with adults. The two boys did not expect that there was such a massive underground cave under the Bluevalley Street. Maybe, their father used to come to this place so that he rarely came home. When they were about to enter, they were detained by two guards. Jack mentions that it was Albert who asked them to come. After that, they were immediately taken to a room on the second floor.

Jack and Marcel entered a dimly lit room with a lot of cigarette smoke billowing out. Not far from the door, there was a desk with a man behind it. It was Albert who was only wearing a black tank top which exposed his full tattooed body.

“Oh.. You guys really came, huh?” Albert greeted after exhaling his cigarette smoke. “Come in, sit over there.” He pointed to two frail metal chairs in front of his desk.

Jack and Marcel sat on the chairs that Albert pointed to, “We came for the job, Sir.”

“Just call me Albert. I need someone to serve at the bar. You just need to clean up, take guests’ orders, and sometimes entertain them if necessary.” Albert explained directly.

“Sorry, but are we really allowed to work here? Because, we’re still underage.” Jack showed his student ID card. Marcel followed his brother’s actions.

“Do you think this place is legal? Why do you think Paradise Cave was built underground?” Albert laughed, “So, you want it or not?”

“May we know how much we get paid?” Jack asked without any chitchat.

Albert lowered the corners of his lips to stare at Jack for a long time. But the dark brown-eyed boy looked at him back. Then, Albert smiled, he realized that the boy was kind of brave. He liked it. So, he took out two pieces of paper from his desk drawer and slid them in front of the two boys.

Jack immediately looked for the numbers on the paper until he found a description of the nominal salary he would receive. It seemed that his heart would cheer with joy by seeing the information on the weekly salary which he thought was quite big. But he didn’t want to show his joy for fear that Albert would think low of them. After being satisfied with the nominal salary, Jack read all the terms and conditions written on them. However, there was a condition that bothered him.

‘By working in Paradise Cave, means the first party is also working for the Apollo group.’