Human Sized Hurricane | Michael Clifford

Chapter 1 - 2013

As the guests filed out of the Royalty club, the dawning sun rose above the horizon, illuminating the roof of the club with dazzling red and yellow light. A woman stood at the floor-to-ceiling window in her office on the roof of the club staring out of the window at the beach not too far away. She noticed some early surfers and watched as they rode the calm waves bathed in the sun's beams. There was a knock at the door as she half turned in the light to face it, then the door opened in the corner of the personalised office and a balding man poked his head around the door to look into the office. He quickly scanned the room for Her, then his face lit up once his eyes fell upon her slim figure in the window. "Harvey..." The woman said, looking concerned.

"Something's wrong!" Harvey replied, beads of sweat glistening on his shiny forehead.

"What is it?" The woman cried, as the bald man disappeared as quickly as he appeared. "Harvey...!" She yelled as she rushed towards the door and around the corner, following his descending shadow down the wooden staircase to the dressing rooms where most of the girl's were rushing around trying to gather things. "What is it? What's going on?" She asked, grabbing one of the girl's by their arm. The girl she grabbed was crying and had make up streaming down her face, and she pulled her arm away and ran off. The woman began to panic, then turned and continued down a black metal spiral staircase to the narrow corridor near to the Staff Lounge.

"Holly!" Harvey called, standing in the doorway of the lounge with a black coat slung over his shoulder. He beckoned the boss woman over to him and she moved as quickly as she could in her tall black Louboutins until she almost ran into his body. He caught her before she cold fall and supported an arm as Holly looked into the lounge. On the floor was the young blonde woman who received her at the beginning of the evening, surrounded by a pool of blood on the shiny wooden floor, her eyes were wide open and staring across the room and her arms were sprawled out at her sides as she laid in an uncomfortable, twisted position.

"What the hell?!" Holly yelled as she was held back by a police officer. "What the hell happened?!" She cried to Harvey, turning to face the police officer.

"Let's get you back upstairs, Miss Tate" The police officer said to her, taking her by the arm as he tried to lead her away.

Holly yanked her arm away from the officer and stood her ground, accidental bumping into Harvey behind her. "I don't want to go upstairs. Tell me what the hell happened!" She cried, an angry tear forming at the edge of her eye.

From across the street, a hooded man dressed all in black watched from a high up window as he held a red stained knife and pocketed a gun. He walked down a set of stairs and onto a lower floor, placing the knife on a long table in the middle of the empty room. There was nothing in the room but for the table and bare concrete walls and floors. He went into the next room where a man with mid length blonde hair and a SnapBack sat on the floor with a laptop over his crossed legs. His green eyes were fixed on the computer screen as flashes of the security footage from the club flashed before his face, illuminating the piercing on his right eyebrow. "Is it done?" The hooded man asked, taking off his hood and walking back and forth through the thresh hold of the two rooms.

"Almost" The teenager replied, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Good. I don't want them looking through the footage and seeing me" The man in black said, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag, then he dropped it onto the bare concrete floor and stubbed it out. He turned to his companion as he lowered the screen of his laptop and leaned back on his elbows, bending his head back to stretch it. "Done, Michael?" He asked and the blond boy nodded, making him smile with delight.

Michael wore a long sleeved black and white shirt and ripped black skinny jeans along with big black boots. One side of his hair was a long fringe that slightly concealed his left eye, but it didn't go as far as his chin. "What now, Bobby?" He asked.

"Now we plot our next move" Bobby replied. "For now though, go back to school and I'll let you know who it is"

"Okay. See ya" Michael replied, picking up his laptop as he stood up. He put it on his back and headed for the staircase.