Meeting The Chief

Inside the house was a tense atmosphere, it seemed the discussion about Sar possibly going to jail was heard. The door to the room they had gone in for their little meeting wasn't the most soundproof, so Yern wasn't surprised. Sar was only thirteen and jail for him would be very different from someone closer to an adult jail. If Sar was put in jail it would be him against not only his age group but boys who were soon to be adults. He would be outmatched and outnumbered.

Allen was talking to the employees from the clinic as Yern walked to a room that was almost small enough to be called a closet to begin his much needed sleep. The room wasn't the best for sleeping but Yern had slept in worse conditions, though he missed the small blanket he normally slept with. 

"I hope this plan works" he said quietly to himself, before drifting into his sleep. He dreamed of the wonderful life he would have when he got out of the slums. He saw his beautiful wife and children outside their large house with a huge yard filled with green grass. Then he felt someone grab his shoulder and start shaking him back and forth.

He opened his eyes to see an outline of a person crouched over him. He was confused. Where did his wife and children go? And who was this person?

"Boss. You have to get to the PE's HQ. What are you doing sleep still?" Sar whispered. Then reality hits Yern like a truck. He didn't have a wife or kids and he was still in the second district of slums. After a few seconds of cursing his parents for leaving him in this place, he accepted reality and started to slowly get up.

Yern was surprised Sar coming into the room didn't wake him. He was usually a light sleeper but it made sense after the extreme day he had yesterday his body needed proper rest. Sar had already slipped out the door to his room and probably laid back down. The door to the small room he slept in was open so he had to be quiet not to wake anyone or it would ruin his whole plan. He slowly got off the hard wooden floor and made his way towards the door out the room. After avoiding a few creaky wooden planks on the floor Yern was at the door and peeked out.

What he saw wasn't making his plan any easier. In what would be considered the living room of this house lay almost everyone in his gang. The women and young girl were probably in the only other room in the house. It was like a minefield in almost complete darkness, the only thing helping him being a single light that was extremely dimmed. One wrong step and the plan would be over. Unless everyone else was in such a deep sleep they wouldn't feel being stepped on, which Yern doubted.

He carefully took his first step out the door and into the living room. Then another where he almost tripped over Titan's leg. It seemed the man chose to sleep closer to Yern's room since he was supposed to be guarding him. After a few more steps he was in the middle of the room and had just a little more until he was at the front door. He was standing in front of the room he'd assumed the woman were in when he heard footsteps from inside. And they were getting closer. He hurried as carefully as he could to get to the front door. Just when he thought he made it he heard a voice behind him.

"What are you doing?" the voice said. Realizing he was caught Yern decided there was no point in lying. He turned to see the woman who insisted that she be a guard instead of a runner. Her name came back to him after a second.

"Hello, Lilith I was just on my way out to the PE's HQ. Sorry to disturb your sleep." Yern said just loud enough for her to hear.

"I thought you guys agreed Sar would take the blame and time." She responded in a voice full of sarcasm. She obviously knew Yern didn't agree to this.

"No, Allen said Sar would take the blame. I never agreed." Yern said, no longer whispering He grabbed his lips as he remembered that he needed to be quiet.

"You're the boss. You know that right?" Lilith said, before going back into the room not giving Yern a chance to answer her question.

'Of course I know I'm the boss.' Yern told himself as he finally made it to the door. Lilith confused Yern more than he would ever admit. Every chance she got the woman would question him and Allen's decisions. But not to the point where it seemed like she would go against them.

Yern got rid of the thoughts about the woman as he opened the front door. It was so early it was still dark outside and it was still somewhat cold outside. He quickly closed the door so the cold breeze wouldn't wake anyone. 

Outside was dead quiet and it creeped him out. He started walking towards the exit to the one way street. It wasn't too cold and he saw no need to rush so he casually walked alongside the houses that were on the street. He was coming up on the clinic when a rat ran out from under a trash bag and scared him into the street. After looking around to make sure no one saw his embarrassing act he continued on his way.

A few minutes later he was arriving at the Marketplace and the Peace Enforcer's Headquarters was not too far away. Around this time the Marketplace had the fewest people it ever did. Most stalls were closed until later in the day and the only places that were open were small restaurants and the upper level. The upper level was a platform that stood above the Marketplace where things from the city were sold. Most people didn't have enough money to buy anything from the upper level so there were only a few stores.

The whole time he'd been walking his mind kept drifting back to how Lilith acted. Her questioning every move him and Allen made but still going along with it. Thinking over it in his head for a while Yern realized that it could be a good thing. After all, he didn't want people who did his every command without thinking about it. It still made him look like he had no control in front of everyone else though. He decided he would talk to her about questioning him in front of everyone, it wouldn't be fun but it had to be done.

He was now approaching the Peace Enforcer's Headquarters. It was a large building, the biggest he'd ever seen. The building was so big he could see it over the walls that separated it from the outside. He had heard stories about the place but never been inside the wall and under any other circumstance he would never be willfully coming to this place. A shiver was sent down his back as he saw the ominous gates into the compound.

There were no guards standing at the gate so Yern was kind of confused on how he would get in. He stood there for a minute or so to see if the gate would open. It didn't. Then he noticed the watch towers that were built into the wall. There had to be someone in there so he figured he would try to get their attention. 

"Hey! Up in the watchtower! Open the gate!" He yelled as loud as he could. A few seconds later a man came and looked down at Yern.

"What the hell do you want this early in the morning?" The man yelled back at Yern.

"I wanna talk to whoever's in charge." The man stared back at Yern for a while before walking away.

"Your funeral!" The man yelled before laughing.

Yern was confused by the man's word but before he could respond the gates started to open. This was when Yern started to regret coming here. He walked in after another look at the man in the watchtower who was motioning for him to go in with his hand. After wandering around for a while he found a sign that said "Chief Office '' with an arrow pointing at a building. He made his way to the door of the building and knocked.

"Who is it!" a voice said fiercely from behind the door. Yern had no idea what to respond. It wasn't like the chief would know his name and he honestly expected to be in cuffs by now.

"A troublemaker who would like to make his mistakes right." Yern blurted out, surprising himself. Then he heard heavy footsteps coming towards the door. When the door finally open there was a man no taller than Yern behind it. While he was the same height as Yern he was certainly older, somewhere in the mid-forties. He was in decent shape for someone his age. When Yern finally met his eyes he gave Yern a mean mug. 

"What are you gawking at? Get in here it's cold." he said before going back into the office. Yern reluctantly followed.