The Alley
Chapter One
“Mum I’m home,” Jamie shouted as he walked through the door.
“Where have you been?” She shouted from her spot on the couch, the drunken slur in her voice ever so obvious as she tried to read the clock on the wall.
“It’s… si...sev… late you should have been home straight after school.”
Jamie was grounded for an undefined period of time, for a reason yet to be uncovered, though if Shelley really knew her son then she could probably find at least a handful. As it was they rarely communicated unless she (if not both of them) was drunk and even then it was shouted conversations from different rooms like this.
“You get in’d here, Jammy’ and tell me where you hav’d been,” she shouted when Jamie didn’t reply to her first remark.
“It is raining mum, I missed the bus and had to walk home the long way,” he said hoping she was to drunk to realise he was over two hours late.
“Okay sweetie,” her voice softened. “I just worry about you okay, make you own night tonight.” Just when she was making it easy to hate her she went and did something like that making Jamie feel bad for the way he felt about her.
He walked back to the door kicked his wet shoes off and headed down the hall towards his room. He walked past the pile of clothes and the dishes in the sink, he wasn’t in the mood for cleaning today. If his mum was this drunk at this time of the day then she wouldn’t notice.
He flopped down on his bed, his room, his favourite place in the whole world… Well other than The Alley. His entire room was covered with posters and even his roof was hidden beneath Kerrang covers, he loved it, it was so him! He looked up at his Ville Valo poster and laughed at the lameness of the joke he had made inside his head.
He rolled over on his bed and hit the power button on his CD player, he did not know what was in it but that didn’t really bother him. The music for the start of ‘The Howling’ filled his ear and he smiled Within Temptation if the guys from The Alley knew he listened to this… Well they wouldn’t say anything because of who he was but he knew what they would think.
He curled up his bed, the foetal position, he had been doing this when he came home from school everyday for two years, it helped him get perspective.
His day washed over him in a blur, until he got to his afternoon.
It had started to rain towards then end of what would have been his maths lesson so they had set up The Alley to be waterproof. It wasn’t fully water proof on it’s own because they couldn’t have the wrong people noticing it. He had stayed in his seat, watching the tarps and various pull outs being set up around him. The smiled to himself, they had been taught well, his predecessors would have been proud of how he had looked after The Alley.
He looked over to were a kid was tugging at a tarp that had got stuck in the corner, he looked at Jamie pleading in his eyes.
Jamie sighed and got up to help the kid who in actual fact was a year older than Jamie.
“What have you done?”
“It’s um, stuck on the gutter I think,” he said studying his shoes rather than looking at Jamie. He tugged it again but it would not move without being ripped.
“You had better go up and get it then!”
“What in the ra-” Jamie looked him in the eye, “-err what if the people on the second story see me?”
“Well be careful then,” Jamie had replied walking away.
Thinking back on it now, he probably should have been more careful but he just wasn’t in the mood.
He rolled over onto his back, a lot of water had gotten in because of that kid and his socks were still wet, though that may have been from the walk home. He hoped that no one had seen him getting the tarp.
As the bell rang for the end of the day once again Jamie was heading for The Alley, initiation soon and they had to get ready for the n00bs.
He arrived to see Rick, Mikey, Sally and Jay waiting for him; they all played there own roll in keeping The Alley stocked and secret. They were the best Crew in Alley history, Rick was in charge of managing drinks and substances within The Alley, he managed everything once it was inside. Sally got the supplies she had loads of connections on the outside and like Jamie she was just 15, she was also the first girl to be made a leader let alone in the most dangerous position. Mikey kept track of the people coming and going in The Alley, he knew everyone who was allowed in, those who knew, those who didn’t and those who couldn’t find out. Finally Jay, he was second in charge to Jamie and looked for new possible candidates to become Allies.
They always made sure at least one of them was in The Alley at anyone time, to watch over things. The meeting was brief Jamie told of the kid, Sally had lost a dealer and Jay handed out a list of possible Allies.
His pocket vibrated and he was snapped from his memories. He flipped it open to see a new message from Jay, “Problem. Come. Now”.
“Where have you been?” She shouted from her spot on the couch, the drunken slur in her voice ever so obvious as she tried to read the clock on the wall.
“It’s… si...sev… late you should have been home straight after school.”
Jamie was grounded for an undefined period of time, for a reason yet to be uncovered, though if Shelley really knew her son then she could probably find at least a handful. As it was they rarely communicated unless she (if not both of them) was drunk and even then it was shouted conversations from different rooms like this.
“You get in’d here, Jammy’ and tell me where you hav’d been,” she shouted when Jamie didn’t reply to her first remark.
“It is raining mum, I missed the bus and had to walk home the long way,” he said hoping she was to drunk to realise he was over two hours late.
“Okay sweetie,” her voice softened. “I just worry about you okay, make you own night tonight.” Just when she was making it easy to hate her she went and did something like that making Jamie feel bad for the way he felt about her.
He walked back to the door kicked his wet shoes off and headed down the hall towards his room. He walked past the pile of clothes and the dishes in the sink, he wasn’t in the mood for cleaning today. If his mum was this drunk at this time of the day then she wouldn’t notice.
He flopped down on his bed, his room, his favourite place in the whole world… Well other than The Alley. His entire room was covered with posters and even his roof was hidden beneath Kerrang covers, he loved it, it was so him! He looked up at his Ville Valo poster and laughed at the lameness of the joke he had made inside his head.
He rolled over on his bed and hit the power button on his CD player, he did not know what was in it but that didn’t really bother him. The music for the start of ‘The Howling’ filled his ear and he smiled Within Temptation if the guys from The Alley knew he listened to this… Well they wouldn’t say anything because of who he was but he knew what they would think.
He curled up his bed, the foetal position, he had been doing this when he came home from school everyday for two years, it helped him get perspective.
His day washed over him in a blur, until he got to his afternoon.
It had started to rain towards then end of what would have been his maths lesson so they had set up The Alley to be waterproof. It wasn’t fully water proof on it’s own because they couldn’t have the wrong people noticing it. He had stayed in his seat, watching the tarps and various pull outs being set up around him. The smiled to himself, they had been taught well, his predecessors would have been proud of how he had looked after The Alley.
He looked over to were a kid was tugging at a tarp that had got stuck in the corner, he looked at Jamie pleading in his eyes.
Jamie sighed and got up to help the kid who in actual fact was a year older than Jamie.
“What have you done?”
“It’s um, stuck on the gutter I think,” he said studying his shoes rather than looking at Jamie. He tugged it again but it would not move without being ripped.
“You had better go up and get it then!”
“What in the ra-” Jamie looked him in the eye, “-err what if the people on the second story see me?”
“Well be careful then,” Jamie had replied walking away.
Thinking back on it now, he probably should have been more careful but he just wasn’t in the mood.
He rolled over onto his back, a lot of water had gotten in because of that kid and his socks were still wet, though that may have been from the walk home. He hoped that no one had seen him getting the tarp.
As the bell rang for the end of the day once again Jamie was heading for The Alley, initiation soon and they had to get ready for the n00bs.
He arrived to see Rick, Mikey, Sally and Jay waiting for him; they all played there own roll in keeping The Alley stocked and secret. They were the best Crew in Alley history, Rick was in charge of managing drinks and substances within The Alley, he managed everything once it was inside. Sally got the supplies she had loads of connections on the outside and like Jamie she was just 15, she was also the first girl to be made a leader let alone in the most dangerous position. Mikey kept track of the people coming and going in The Alley, he knew everyone who was allowed in, those who knew, those who didn’t and those who couldn’t find out. Finally Jay, he was second in charge to Jamie and looked for new possible candidates to become Allies.
They always made sure at least one of them was in The Alley at anyone time, to watch over things. The meeting was brief Jamie told of the kid, Sally had lost a dealer and Jay handed out a list of possible Allies.
His pocket vibrated and he was snapped from his memories. He flipped it open to see a new message from Jay, “Problem. Come. Now”.