4 Chapter 4: Angel in disguise

Rats were running around on the sewer floor and bats thronged the roof, the smell of the sewer no longer bothered Leo. As they walked ten feet into the sewer, it expanded to become a huge hall and the floor of the hall was covered with a thin film of sewage water.

The area was dimly lit and Leo heard some people chattering, he could barely differentiate the faces in that faint lighting, but in all that alikeness, he felt a glare that passed right through him, it was so intense and devilish that it made him anxious and pushed his adrenaline up, Leo had to turn his face away from that pair of eyes to take a proper breath.

As he reached the hall, he saw heaps of white powder on large polythene sheets and people sitting around the heap were packing it in small packets, while some of them looked like typical Winterwich hooligans, some were dressed in costly formals. Among all those people there was a person sitting at the centre of the hall, his aura was so dark that Leo was intimidated by it, there was a table in front of him and the Cocaine was spread on it, he took a currency note and rolled it into a thin roll, he licked the two ends of the roll and put it close to his nose, he bent down to the table and took a deep snort, he then lifted his neck very slowly and gazed at the lamp right above his head, for the first time Leo saw his face, he was so pale that his facial nerves were visible and had long grey curly hair almost touching his shoulder.

He stood up on his chair and the Cocaine made him stumble a little but he managed to stand still, he then swayed his hair away from his face revealing his sharp eyes, they were the same two orbs that scared the shit out of Leo earlier. Everyone in the room except Leo bowed down to him, He was wearing a biker jacket that exposed his chest and a blue coloured bell bottom, Leo could see his ribs as he walked onto the table, he then jumped off the table and his touchdown disrupted the thin film of water on the floor, he lifted the hair off his face using both his palms and Leo barely managed to look into his eyes, they were as black as night as if he had never seen the daylight.

"What do you want?" He asked, staring deep into Leo's eyes.

"A meal...I am hungry."

He terribly failed at framing a proper sentence as he hopelessly tried to avoid his devilish eyes.

" Master Mario...this kid looks useless...you should kill him," said a man dressed up in brown formals, he was pretty old and he was the only person that dared to break the awkward silence after Leo's request. Leo took aback, he was scared and regretted his trust on Khan, his flight adrenaline was about to reach the brim.

"I'll give you a meal but on a condition...Eat and come back," said Mario.

He took out some crushed currency notes from his trouser pocket and handed them to Leo.

Leo took the money and sprinted towards the sewer-opening, he didn't know what that condition would be but he was happy that he was going to have a full tummy that day, though he was still scared of Mario, he wanted to go back to that sewer.

" Do you really think he will come back, Master Mario?" said the man in brown formals as they both looked at Leo running towards the opening.

"He will Zoe...He got something in this sewer that his world failed to give him, he will come back for more."

Mario gazed at the running boy, as scenes from his poverty-filled childhood popped up in his mind. He then took out a Sawed-off shotgun from his left trouser pocket and loaded it with 12 gauge. As he cleaned the barrel of the shotgun with two fingers, there was a sudden upsurge in the temperature, everyone in the hall knew someone was going to die that day, he pointed the gun towards Khan and before he could utter a word, pieces of his head were everywhere on the floor.

" Before you bring kids down here ...first feed them," said Mario, looking at Khan's corpse.

Everyone in the hall let out a sigh of relief and went back to their usual work.

Leo got so much money that it could feed him for ten days, he had a decent meal at a local burger outlet, that meal couldn't be tastier for him, he enjoyed every bite as if it was his last meal, every quench made him like that sewer more, he finished the meal and headed straight to the sewer, he wasn't worried about the consequences, he just wanted that meal every day and decided to do anything for it.

With the brightest smile ever, he climbed down the sewer, the darkness beneath didn't bother him anymore and as he reached the hall, his smile faded away, the room was filled with the smell of meat and Leo was petrified by the horrific sight of a headless body lying at a corner.

"So he came back," mumbled Zoe,

"Don't be scared kid, he doesn't deserve to live...but you do," said Mario as he wiped the gore that splattered on his shotgun with the hem of his jacket.

"But ...why do I deserve to live and not him?" asked Leo, staring at the headless body of Khan, his legs were trembling and he started to feel the dark aura of Mario again.

"I want you to be Mario De Mean, I never got to learn anything and the circumstances made me the guy I am, they call me a god but the truth is... I am evil... bad...villain...I want you to go to school, study and be the hero version of me. I want to see him, I want to see how he looks and what he does...and if I am losing to somebody, it's going to be him."

Everyone in the hall was listening to him carefully, Zoe was turning some papers, but he couldn't be more concentrated on what Mario was speaking.

"But... why me?" asked Leo, hesitantly.

"Because you are facing the same circumstances...I will look after your expenses, all you have to do is choose a school with a proper dormitory and study...also never return to this place unless you think you have become the version of me, I would like to call it an incarnation... and if I don't like you, then be ready to get your head smashed...now run."

Mario licked the barrel of his shotgun out of admiration towards its shine and Leo was confused and scared, all he knew was that he was going to have a great life ahead, so without uttering a word he ran towards the sewer entrance as his hopes for his future rose and for the first time, he had a goal other than survival.