Top Boy

8

"Fine, you know what? Fuck it. Which one is it?" she gave in, standing closer to Sully as she squinted her eyes to analyse each of the men at the table.
He shot her his wonky toothed smile, putting an arm over her shoulder and pointing to the right guy, "Him."

"We'll wait it out. When they go separate ways to their yards," she shrugged, sitting on the curb as they had now walked back down the road to be closer to the pub and therefore too far to return to the bench.

Sully bent down to spud her before pacing on the pavement behind her slightly, letting a cigarette hang from his lips as he used his lighter to light it, shielding the flame from the coastal wind.

Thirty five minutes passed of the pair catching up and sharing a fag on a random curb in Ramsgate but there were no complaints from either end, they both missed it deep down and with Jason gone, Sully hoped Imani would be here to stick around this time.

"Sul," she tapped his chest with the back of her hand, eyes glued to the group of men leaving the pub, "Sul!"
"And then I was like-"
"Sullivan!"
"Bruv what? Baiting out the gov, you-"

"Look," she put out the butt of the cigarette on the floor beside her before letting the man pull her to her feet, "Come on, time we set the dickhead straight."
"Time for a taste of his own fucking medicine," he corrected, laughing lowly although no smile present on his face.

There was no more nervousness in her demeanour as she settled back into her old ways, only the feeling of excitement showing as her adrenaline grew.

"Alright lads," the man they were targeting parted from his friends on a street corner, heading towards a foot tunnel.

Sully nodded to the girl, silently telling her to grab one of the steel poles from the construction site beside them. She did so with caution, her sleeves covering her fingertips as she passed it to the older man who had no worry, readjusting his bare grip on the object as they got closer to the man.

The pair reached the entrance of the tunnel, where Imani stayed on watch and Sully lunged forward with the weapon already above his head, "Oi!"

She heard him batter the guy, groans and splatters being heard from behind her as she gagged; never one to deal with blood. The sounds stopped and she turned to watch as Sully stood over his body as he tried to crawl away.

"You killed my friend," he said in disbelief, still not coming to terms with it, "My family?"
She winced as she watched him bring the metal pole back down on him and the figure stop moving.

"Alright Sul, let's go."
He stayed frozen to the spot as she peeled the object from his hands, wiping it as much as she could before disposing of it to her left.
"Come on g."

———

The train ride they shared was quiet, a few small exchanges of words here and there but ultimately the pair were both deeping the situation; Jason's death only really resonating with them now.

"I watched it all happen you know?" he broke the silence, still staring at the floor as he sat slouched with his hood up and hands in his pockets.
"I can't even imagine."
"I just smelt smoke and panicked. I thought he was already outside with the Arabs. I didn't help him," his voice cracked, eyes glossy but clearly fighting to hold back the tears.

She shook her head at a loss for words, not great with these types of situations, "It's not your fault Sully. You helped him make so much more of his life. He probably wouldn't of lasted this long without you."
He sniffed, wiping his nose on his jacket, "It was all orange. In the window. Then I just see his shadow and he's bare banging on the glass, shouting for me. I told him to break it, grab a chair, just something! He didn't listen to me."