Short Story – Revenge

The door of Michael’s chicken and chip shop opened. Two men walked in. There was one man at the counter.

‘What you gonna have?’ One of the men said.

‘I dunno yet,’ The other one said. ‘what are you going to have Al?’ Al ignored him. He was too busy looking at the food list above the counter. The lights were bright inside. It was about 7pm so it has gotten dark outside.

‘So,’ said Al ‘I’m going to have a chicken leg along with large chips.’

‘There are only wings left.’ The man behind the counter intruded.

‘What?’

‘There are no-‘

‘Why is it up there then?’

‘We ran out about ten minutes ago from the recent customers.’ A head poked out of the doorway leading to the kitchen. The cook knew arguments were going on. He went back round the corner of his small kitchen to stop getting involved.

‘Just give me what you have then.’ Said Al

‘Same here.’ Said Max, Staring at the counter. The two men were given a box with their food. They kept the hoods of their black coats on whilst eating.

‘What drinks do you have mate?’ Max said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘Um, Coke, Fanta, Sprite and more.’ The man replied.

‘Lucozade?’

‘What did you say?’

‘You trying to be funny? Do you have Lucozade, George?’ Max said looking at the name tag on the man’s shirt.

‘Sorry, no.’ George replied.

‘What kind of place is this!’

‘This place ain’t good enough.’ Al said. George was confused. Most people who want a drink let it pass if the place only has a certain selection of drinks. He wanted to be rude but realised it was better of trying to stay off arguments.

‘What’s that look on your face, huh?’ Max said. George quickly turned his face to look at the wall.

‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

‘No.’

‘Why you lying.’

‘I’m not.’

Max grabbed George by his shirt. ‘You’re annoying me now.’ Max said. A man in a business suit walked in. He was looking at the floor as he pushed the door open. Al turned round. ‘You better get out of here.’

‘Huh, what’s going on?’ The man looked up darting his eyes around.

‘Unless you wanna get banged, get out.’

The man slowly back stepped through the open door. He was shaking slightly. He walked round the corner until he was out of sight of Al. He reached for his phone in his back pocket. He tried to switch it on and it stayed black.

‘No, switch on!’ He said loudly. Al was about to help out Max until he heard the voice of the business man outside. He pulled open the door and took a look round the corner.

‘Ay you, I see that phone.’ Al shouted. ‘Do you think I’m that dumb, you calling the police.’

‘No I’m not, it is not what it looks like.’ The man said frightened. Al ran out towards him and snatched the out of battery phone.

‘Go home or we’ll get you later.’

The man scrambled off in the dark. Al tried to turn on his phone. The cracked screen stayed black.

‘He wasn’t lying.’ Al said. He returned to the shop. Things returned to a calmer state. Max was sitting on a chair with his arms rested on the table. He put his head down on the table.

‘Ay Al, what’s going on?’

‘Bruv, I had to make sure he didn’t call the police or something.’ Al said.

‘And?’

‘And what?’

‘Did he do it?’

‘Nah, I stopped him.’ Al said looking for the man behind the counter. ‘Where’s, um, George?’

‘He’s been dealt with.’ Max said putting away a kitchen knife.

‘Alright then, we done here?’

‘Yeah, let’s get out of this budget place.’

Max and Al walked out the chicken and chip shop. They put their hands in their pockets.

‘You going home now?’ Max said to Al.

‘Yeah sure.’

‘K, see you later bruv.’

‘Cool, see ya.’

Max went the opposite direction of Al. However he realised someone was behind him. Max went into an alleyway but still heard someone’s footsteps at the same noise level.

‘No one goes down this short cut. They’re always afraid of getting mugged or something.’ Max whispered to himself. ‘Is it the police?’ He continued to think a walk. The person behind kept a steady pace.

‘Nothing’s going to happen if I turn round anyway.’ Max thought. ‘It’s probably someone just walking home as well.’ He then acted like he saw something on the wall as he walked past it a tried to catch a glimpse of the person.

‘Damn, didn’t see it properly,’ Max raged in his head. ‘I’ll try again.’ He turned around and flicked his head back. The person was a very tall man. His hands were in his coat pockets. Max walked out of the alleyway to a silent road. His flat was across it.

‘It’s been a busy day, I wanna go bed now.’ Max said to himself whilst rubbing his eyes a bit. The man’s footsteps behind were louder and faster. Max ignored that, he was rummaging all of his pockets for keys. Accidentally he dropped a small pocket knife.

‘Didn’t want to do that dammit, where are my keys?’ he said. The tall figure tailing Max whispers to himself  ‘Good, I’ve been following the right one.’ Max paused outside the flat door to find his keys. He thought he may have dropped them and turned around to see the man crossing the road towards him.

‘You looking for something?’ The man asked.

‘Yeah, I lost my keys somewhere.’ Max said rubbing his eyes again and yawning. His vision became quite blurry. The man noticed this.

‘Are they silver? Is it this?’ The man said getting closer.

‘I think so, pass it here.’

The man held the silvery object by a handle. Max realised too slow. The metal glinted before it pierced his stomach.

‘That’s what you get for killing George.’ The man said. He then put his hands back into his pockets and walked away. Max was left on the pavement bleeding.