Bitch

Scarlet and Malcom sneaked forward as they stalked the oblivious kid on his way to the bridge. He hadn't spotted them yet, he was probably too busy thinking about who the letter could be from. Poor kid, Scarlet thought, doesn't know what has been going on or what could happen to him. Scarlet looked over at Malcom who was sneaking beside her carefully with his skinny knees bent and back arched.

Malcom was quite small for his age. And would look a lot younger if it wasn't for the deep long lasting pain inflicting his eyes and the gauntness to his bony face due to under eating. If Malcom had been brought up in a well fed family and with an ordinary lifestyle, he would be a boy with a cute baby face and huge bright chocolate eyes with soft long brown hair. He could be quite good looking with some weight on him. If he had more fat to his sunken lifeless skin, if his hair wasn't so grimy and if his eyes weren't so aged with pain, loss and sorrow. The boy had been through a lot and the history clearly showed upon Malcom like a scar.

Malcom looked over at Scarlet, a tall slim girl and also very good looking. But also an blatantly angry girl. He could see it in her eyes, that look of annoyance towards every person she met. Malcom knew the girl had been betrayed horribly by someone once before and it had obviously left a bad effect on the poor girl. Maybe it was because the incident left her homeless and also opened her eyes up to how cruel and evil people can actually be? He saw the way she looked at Chantelle. More of a glare really. The two had barely spoken a word to each other since Scarlet had laid her despicable eyes on Chantelle and already Scarlet looked at the girl like she was dog shit on her boots. Or maybe she's still angry at the girl who stranded her in the middle of the city, maybe the anger never left and she's been wanting to get her own back for so long. Maybe Chantelle reminds Scarlet of that one girl who once destroyed her life. Scarlet's anger could have come from anywhere. Malcom didn't know. But what Malcom defiantly knew was that Scarlet was just generally an angry person.

The kid slowly started to walk through the highstreet, where there was a slight moving crowd which granted Malcom and Scarlet a little cover. The young boy they were folling was a small child, could have only have been around 12 years old with long scruffy dirty blonde hair and was wearing an old faded pair of jeans with a torn t-shirt that showed off his starved sickly thin arms.

The three soon arrived at the old bridge, Malcom and Scarlet ducking behind the wall while the kid sat on the opposite side of the bridge. He was completely oblivious to Malcom and Scarlet as they hid behind the crumbled wall, Scarlet crouching on the balls of her feet while Malcom gripped the brickwork tightly with white knuckles. The kid was obviously nervous, with his shaking hands clamped firmly together and his spindly legs swinging off the side of the eroded wall back and forth.

Soon a hooded figure started to make his way towards the kid slowly, he wasn't particularly tall but he wasn't short either. The guy had his hood up, covering his face and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his old crumpled jacket with his head bowed low. Malcom could just make out locks of black hair poking out from under the black hood with flashes of gauntly pale skin. The stranger looked like a druggie. Probably was one. And the kid didn't seem to recognize him either. A few words were shared between them but Malcom couldn't hear a word they were saying over the loud heavy noise of New York traffic. But the kid didn't look too happy with whatever was being said. He kept on answering with a quick shake of the head and a frown appearing on his small thin lips but then the distant mumbles of the stranger would only get louder and more urgent.

Malcom looked over at Scarlet and she stared back, giving him a confused look before turning back to the conversation. Malcom wished he could hear them, that was all he needed to solve this case. They were so close and it could have been so easy. Now the kid was nodding, unhappy with whatever he had agreed with but was nodding anyway. He looked like a child being made to tidy his room but with an award afterwards. The stranger didn't seem to notice the unhappiness, just kept nodding and talking. Malcom could see the stranger's lips move, thin and pale lips showing crooked teeth. The boy hopped of the wall and the stranger smiled an uneven smirk, following the boy as they both began to walk away from the bridge.

Once the two were out of sight, Scarlet gave out a loud sigh.
"What the hell was that all about?" She asked, standing up and walking away from the wall.
Malcom followed, giving a shrug. "I dunno...but I think we've got our guy."
Scarlet shook her head, "Are you sure? That didn't look much like a kidnap to me. The kid followed him, it wasn't quite what we were expecting."
Malcom shrugged, "Maybe there is somebody just taking the kids to a new camp? Maybe it isn't kidnap at all," He muttered.
Scarlet shook her head, "Nah, it looked too damn suspicious. Almost like he was insisting the kid follow him," She paused, "Maybe he was threatening him?"
Malcom shook his head, "No, it didn't look like he was giving out a threat...It looked more like some sort of deal."
"A deal?"
"Yeah, the way he kept asking the kids questions. Then the kid disagreed at first but then suddenly changed his mind and decided to follow the stranger."
Scarlet sighed, "Then where do you think they went? It could be another camp or it could be something else."
Malcom nodded, "It must be something else. Why would someone want more kids at their camp? Usually people want less because there's not enough room."
They crossed over the bridge, returning to the bustling mass of city crowd as they both headed back to the underpass.
"I reckon, it's some guys who's offering them stuff if they follow him," Malcom said, "Maybe he's telling them that he can lead them to a better camp or something."
Scarlet shrugged, "Could be, but why?"
Malcom shrugged as they crossed the road and came to the entrance of the underpass.

"You think Kris is still mad as me?" Malcom asked, a sad tone to his voice as he looked into the underpass.
Scarlet sighed, "I doubt he was mad at you to begin with...I don't know what happened with him, Kris has never kicked off like that before."
"No shit," Malcom mumbled under his breath.
"I'm sure it was nothing," Scarlet replied, "I bet something just ticked him off or something." She paused before looking at Malcom, "Are you still mad at him?" She asked.
Malcom shook his head, "No, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said..." His voice was still slightly shaky as he clenched his fists together, "He was just mad, that's all," Malcom muttered.
Scarlet nodded, "Right, and you two can just talk to each other about it later. But I think right now we need to talk to Isaac," Scarlet told him.

The two entered the underpass and were immediately greeted by the usually hot smell of sweating bodies and grime. The usually clatter of conversation and children crying filled their ears as they passed groups of teenagers huddled together miserably and people dozing off in their grubby sleeping bags. They spotted Isaac still talking to Kris as they both sat on the floor in deep conversation, Kris looked a little calmed down, but he scratching the palms of his hands nervously as Isaac spoke to him calmly. Malcom was about to call out to them when Alexus suddenly popped up in front of him.

She was in her usually cheery mood.
"Where the fuck did you to go?" She snapped, her glare swapping from Malcom to Scarlet. "Kris was panicking and wanted to talk to Malcom urgently to say sorry but when we went outside, you weren't there. He thought you had ran off or something because of what he said. He's sorry by the way."
"Alexus, another kid got a note and we decided to follow them," Scarlet explained, her voice serious for once.
Alexus licked her lips, crossing her arms and staring up at Scarlet, "Okay then, spill it."
"We followed him to the bridge and some creepy dude in a hoodie came up to him. They talked for a while but we couldn't hear them, then the two just randomly walked off."
Alexus's eyebrows creased, "And it didn't look suspicious at all?"
Scarlet shrugged and shook her head, "Nope, the kid was actually nodding and agreeing with the guy."
"That's good because someone left a letter for you on top of Chantelle's rucksack," Alexus told Scarlet, digging her hand around in her pocket until she brought out a crumpled and grimy piece of paper. "I've got a plan but we can't tell Kris or Isaac. They're not gonna like it and I don't think you are gonna like it either. But it's all I've got so please read the letter."
Alexus smoothed it out a bit and handed the letter to Scarlet who took it with shaking hands.