short stories.

leather wallet. chapter one.

"Miss! Miss!" The cab driver yelled to gain her attention, but she was already gone and running towards one of the beige buildings of central London.

Her trench coat rode in the cold breeze and her heels created a loud clacking noises that alerted those in front of her as her fastened pace. Her hair was clipped short and faded to the top, and her melaninated skin contrasted with the dull and lifeless aura of London's working streets. She was thin from hunger and exhausted from the late nights of working through her dissertation for the law degree she could barely afford and maybe didn't even want. Yet, she still had a large smile on her face as she turned towards the cab driver and gave him a large smile, watching him count the money with a look of hesitation. She then began running to her third term work placement, not even realising that she had ran past a man that would soon yield an enormous amount of power over her; impacting her life in many ways.

He walked past her without even glancing up at his phone, their feet moved in opposite directions and reached the floor at the same time; both focused on different things but soon would be of the same agenda.

He was angry, you could tell by the sharp emotions that his face portrayed, his dark hair, light green eyes and flared button nose, alongside his many piercings and exposed tattoos created a dark cloud that hung over him when people looked at him. People moved out of his way or they grovelled at his feet. He swaggered over to the black cab that she had just gotten out of and knocked on the window before getting in himself in and rattling off where he wanted to go.

The cab driver was still looking on as she ran into the building and went through security check.

"Mate, you gonna drive me to my destination or what?" He said as he knocked on the partition that separated him and the driver, his Essex accent coming through with his irritation.

"Yeah, sorry mate, just a young lady left her wallet in the back of my seat and over payed me." He muttered as shifted the gears and drove off, steadily through the semi packed streets of Liverpool Street.

"Why're you complaining about that?" The man asked him as he slouched in the back of the cab, looking as others walked and laughed along the pavements.

"It seemed to be all she had. Her stomach was making a racket in the back, thought it was an accident but she told me to keep it." The cab driver explained and sighed as he made a turn and stood still in the midst of traffic.

"That's nice of her isn't it?" The man uttered, hoping the cab driver would just nod and continue to drive. He hadn't realised that this cab driver was overly chatty and loved conversations.

"Yeah, makes sense na' because I was talking about ow' my daughter wanted a new piano, but I hadn't got enough money to get it for her, and I was saving up." The man stilled and hummed as he listened. It had been a long time that he heard of an act of kindness that had gone unrewarded.

"Maybe I know the lady, I frequent that building a lot." The driver passed over the deflated leather wallet through the partition and the man held it carefully. It were nothing but pennies and subway vouchers with the lucky mcdonald vouchers shuffled between them. There was but one identification card that he could use to find her and that was her ID for the building she'd just run into.

"Tegan, Lane, Lewis?" He tasted the name on his tongue, allowed it to roll off of his tongue with a small smile. He looked at her black and white passport picture, she was smiling with her eyes as she wasn't allowed to do so with her plump lips. She was an enigma, a beautiful one at that with her big brown eyes and heart shaped face.

"You know her? Seen her around?" The man nodded, and thought, sooner or later he would.