Aloura West | ✓

Chapter Five

Elias unbuttoned his collar shirt and threw his body onto the coach, his legs spread apart, taking the majority of the space in front of him. His apartment was small, it was all he could afford. But it was something, so he wasn't complaining. He sighed loudly and used his hands to rub his eyes roughly. He was tired, and angry.

Whenever life got one step better for him, it seemed to go two steps bad again, and he had no one but himself to rely on. He had become an orphan at the age of nineteen, with a ten-year-old brother who depended on him, which had forced him to grow up rather quickly. More so considering the shady stuff his father was involved it. Ones which he had to unfortunately take after him. Elias scoffed at the irony, other parents left their children homes and an inheritance, he got a debt with some dangerous people.

Things however, had reached a different level of dangerous after Elias had turned twenty-one, and concerned for his brother's safety, Elias had him removed from his care.

With thoughts of his brother permeating his mind, Elias sighed and reached at the coffee table in front him and grabbed his phone. He scrolled down the three contacts he had and pressed onto his brother's name.

It rang for a couple of minutes, before his now fourteen-year-old brother picked up the call. ''Elias?" he sounded hopeful, and Elias closed his eyes painfully, he knew what his brother was going to ask, again. He had been having the same conversation for years now.

When the teenager received no reply, he repeated, this time concerned, which seemed to snap Elias from his daze. "Yeah, hi buddy.'' Elias sat up in his seat and leaned forward. ''How are you?''

''Great'' his brother chirped, ''especially after I saw your gift. Thank you so much!"

Elias smiled softly from his end of the phone; his younger brothers happy voice was enough conformation he needed to know whether he'd made the right choice. "It was expensive. Right?'

"Don't worry about money Kalian" Elias sighed. He knew how much his brother was missing out with their lack of money, especially considering he would now miss out on friendships too if he didn't have the same gadgets to play together.

"You have enough though right?" Kalian's concerned voice tried again, "I know your trying to pay dads debts back. So, getting me a play station must have tightened things up right?"

Elias looked around his rundown apartment, he had turned the lighting and heating off to save money, and the only meal he'd had all week was the one Agnus had offered him earlier. "Not at all" he lied, "in fact, I went out to eat earlier and I bought a shit ton of pastries home to eat while I watch tv"

Elias didn't have a tv, but Kalian didn't need to know that. His lies seemed to settle the inner turmoil Kalian had, because he had soon forgotten about how expensive the gift was and began to ramble on why Elias should get one too so they can game together.

"We'll see buddy" Elias laughed, dismissing the young boys' words. There was no way Elias would splash the little money he had on useless things. Especially if they were for himself. "How's school?"

"Boring. I don't want to talk about school." Kalian groaned; he hated the education part of life. He had always blabbed about how he was going to drop out the second he had the option. But Elias knew he would never let that happen.

"That's good." Silence settled over them, and Elias closed his eyes in preparation for the question that was dying to be spilt from the start, "so" Kalian started, the clicking of his play station echoing through the call, "when can I move back with you?"

"I don't know bud. I'm trying, okay?" Elias used his thumb and index finger to rub his eyes harshly. Kalian didn't reply, so Elias continued, "I have work to do so, I'll catch you at another time?"

"Sure, bye Elias" Kalian mumbled sadly, before ending the call.

Kalian didn't mean to sound spoilt, but he missed the only family member he had. Living with family friends in Italy wasn't how he'd envisioned his life to be. Especially since when his older brother shipped him off two years ago, he promised it would be temporary. And two years and counting didn't feel like temporary at all.

''Are we going on holiday?" Kalian questioned, his short legs running to catch up with his older brothers' angry strides.

Elias ignored the younger boy, dragging the suitcase through the airport. After a moment he sighed, "I'm sending you to some trusted friends I know. But don't worry buddy, you'll be back before you know it."

The phone call soon ended, and as soon as Elias was certain his brother could no longer hear him, he shot up from his place on the couch. 'FUCK" he yelled out at no one in particular, before punching a whole through the wall. He stepped back, his nose flaring as he assessed the damage his fist had made. He groaned and clutched his hair at the sight of the broken wall, his landlord was going to have a field day with him. He had already warned him that his last hole in the wall was the last one he'd tolerate. Anymore and he would either be evicted, or forced to pay the damages.

His apartment was small, with one bedroom, a living room, kitchen and a bathroom. It wasn't dirty by any means, Elias invested time and money to make it as homely as possible, with photos of their family around the apartment. But it was plain and boring. His kitchen was almost always empty, as the flat cost him almost all his monthly income. Making it extremely difficult to catch up with his dad's debt payments.

His dad was a good man- depending on who you asked. To Elias, he wasn't. his dad was hot headed and stubborn, and whatever he said, was what went. No room for objections or even suggestions were present when he'd decided on something. Which Elias guessed was what got them in this mess to begin with.

His mother had gotten cancer when he'd turned seventeen, and at first, they were all hopeful she'd recover. But as time went on, and she was beginning to struggle with simple tasks such as feeding herself. It was then that they'd all grown to know their days with her were numbered. His father didn't accept this. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his wife, so he searched for any possible means to help her.

He was approached by a doctor in the hospital about a trial for cancer patients. Its success rate was the best anyone had ever seen, but costly. Still, that wasn't enough to deter Elias' desperate father. He was re directed to a company, a shady one unbeknownst to him, and an agreement was made.

The trial was a hoax, a scheme to get the family to become in debt to powerful people, and thus, their puppets.

Elias' mother passed away when he'd turned nineteen, and his dad took his life a couple of months later, leaving the unpaid debts to his teenage sons.

Elias was snapped out his daze as his phone rang. He sent one last regretful look to the wall before walking towards his discarded phone.

Two missed calls from Blayde.

Elias pressed the notification, and held the phone to his ear, "hey man, what's up?" he called out when Blayde picked up.

"Don't what's up me dickhead, I've been ringing you, where you at?"

"You rang twice man." Elias laughed as he walked towards his bedroom to change out his suit. He didn't normally wear suits, but he had a job interview, and had hoped to make a good impression. "But what's up?"

"I'm just checking up. Don't forget the fight tonight. Boss might be there."

"Fuck."

"Fuck is right, pretty boy. So, you got to win this one. It's not just you arse on the line, its mine too.''

"Yeah man, don't worry." Elias sighed as he opened his wardrobe, before bidding his mate farewell.

He threw his phone onto his bed and took out a comfortable change of clothes, before walking to the kitchen in hopes of finding a bite to eat.

The cupboards and fridge were practically empty, so he sighed sadly and made his way to his couch before his eyes caught the pastry box. He knew he shouldn't eat sweet things before a big fight, but it was that or fighting on a practically empty stomach. So, Elias grabbed the box and sat down. Internally thanking Agnus, and the spoilt child she worked with.