Worlds Collide

The neighbourhood looks just the same as it did the last time Daniel was here. He isn’t surprised to discover that, but it has been many, many years since he was last saw it.

This had been where he’d grown up as a kid, and he knows Vince still lives here. He doesn’t know for sure which house, but he can take a, not very wild, guess.

Daniel’s mom, Clarice, would hate to know that he has stepped foot back in this neighbourhood. They moved out when Daniel was a teenager and settled in a smaller but less crime infested area. That move had cost his mom everything, but she’d done it for Daniel. She didn’t want him going the same way as Vince, who she gave up on years ago. It was clear that once he’d gotten himself into the seedy world that was the soul of this neighbourhood, that he would never leave it. He actually loved being the criminal, the villain, and their mom had never been able to understand that or change his mind. She’d even reasoned that perhaps Vince was too much like their father. A father that neither Daniel nor Vince had ever known, seeing as he skipped out on them when they’d been very young and barely out of diapers.

But Daniel is only here for one reason, to confront his brother, the man that today ruined his life. Though, he’s made sure to conceal the sawn-off under his suit jacket. He doesn’t want to give the police any reason to roll up on him, find he has no carry permit and then slap cuffs on his wrists. Not that many police ever come to this neighbourhood anymore, and when they do it’s in force with body armour to complement their guns. Daniel can’t blame them as two gangbangers appear from out of some shadows and block Daniel’s path.

“Hey homes, you don’t belong here. This isn’t a place for suits like you.” One of the pair of gangbangers, who is covered from head down in tattoos, advises before the other chimes in with. “Yeah, you need to turn about and be on your way, before you get hurt.”

Daniel isn’t afraid of them. Whether that’s the alcohol in his system or not, he can’t say. Though, it is the truth and that strikes him as odd. He has always been afraid of the seedy violent citizens of this part of town, even when he himself lived here. None of them ever seemed to be like him and from what he can see from these two gangbangers, nothing has changed. Perhaps, he suspects, it is me that has changed, because of a determination unlike any Daniel has ever felt before in his life. He decides that must be the case and then fires back bluntly, “This isn’t the time or place. I’ve got somewhere to be. Move aside.”

The gangbangers laugh in response. It isn’t the first time they’ve come across someone who believes that they can issue orders in this hood. But like those few before who have dared to be this brazen, this guy will learn a lesson. Hence why both of the gangbangers pull knives that they had concealed somewhere about their person. Neither of the blades the criminals have in their hands are particularly large, but both are more than capable of doing a lot of damage to Daniel.

“You dare pull shivs on me? Do you know who I am?” Daniel roars the questions loudly at the two gangbangers, while feeling nothing except anger course through his veins.

“Why would we know you homes? You’re just some desk jockey.”

“Yeah, bet you never even held a shiv in your life, you grovelling bitch.”

The pair feel safe enough to mock him. Little do they know that their mocking only riles Daniel up more, which is why he informs them, “My name is Daniel Jameson, brother of Vince Jameson. Sound familiar?”

Then without giving the men a chance to even exchange a glance he pulls the sawn-off from beneath his suit jacket. The immediate response from the gangbangers is the sudden release of their hands on their knives, which tumble to the ground with a rattle, and then them holding their hands up in surrender.

“We meant no disrespect essay.” The heavily tattooed one begs.

“No, we swear we didn’t.” The other gangbanger pleads.

“Vince still live in thirteen five twenty two?” Daniel asks ignoring the sudden shift in the gangbangers’ tones, which have gone from violent and disrespectful, to nervous and apologetic.

“He does. He does.” The pair exclaim in unison without considering why Daniel is asking a question that he should really know the answer to. They don’t care; they just don’t want their brains splattered all over the sidewalk. With a sawn-off that would be a simple task, especially from this range. They don’t know if Daniel knows how to use the weapon, but seeing as he’s the claiming to be the brother of Vince, they are not about to take the chance and risk finding out.

“Good. Now back the fuck up!” Daniel spits angrily while keeping the twin barrels of the gun aimed vaguely at the criminals heads.

They take the implied threat at face value and comply in the seconds after Daniel issues the order. As soon as they are out of his path they turn and run back up the alley they appeared out of the shadows of. Daniel shrugs and then carries on. The pair deciding to flee suits him, seeing as there was no way if they had stayed for him to be sure that they wouldn’t try and jump him as soon as his back was turned.

Daniel makes no attempt to try and hide the weapon now as he walks with it hanging at his side. The visible presence of the shotgun is a clear declaration that he is not to be messed with. You see few people in this neighbourhood can afford guns. That is why knives are the preferred weapon of choice, because they are, by comparison, cheap and/or easy to fabricate.

The only exception to this are people like Vince and that is only because they are higher up the food chain and make larger sums of money, or bank as they call it, from the criminal activities in which they take part. As a result of being higher up the food chain everyone keeps out of Vince’s way and business. Not complying with such things often leads to those daring and stupid enough to breach such lines disappearing for good.

Right now Daniel is the big dog. The man that everyone wants to stay out of the way of and they do as he continues to pound down the cracked, weed infested concrete of the sidewalk.

He is stewing in his anger and one wrong word from anyone will result in a violent response. One that may be completely disproportionate compared to the transgression committed. Not that Daniel cares.

The only solace he can take is that the lethargy he’d felt, when he’d managed to wrestle the sawn-off that is now in his hand from the bartender before his departure, is all but gone.

Daniel looks up. To his relief and surprise he finds that he’s reached his old house. It looks like it’s in a much worse state compared to how he remembers it. But he can’t say if it is or if that is just because his childhood memories are skewed and causing him to misremember. In reality it’s a mixture of both. Though, it doesn’t surprise Daniel at all to see that there are no guards, goons, protectors or whatever else they might wish to call themselves around the perimeter. At least as far as he can see that is, and he has no reason to believe they would be hiding. In this part of town there is no need to hide anything relating to violence and crime, especially for a man like Vince who has  very little to actually fear.

Now he is here at his old house, Daniel wastes no time in heading up the straight path that cuts the front yard in half and then up the two shallow steps that takes him to the front door of the condo.

Daniel wraps on the door with the grip of the sawn-off as it sits nestled tightly in his hand.

After a few moments and there having been no answer, Daniel wraps on the door harder now.

He notes that the door is still yellow, though it isn’t bright anymore. Instead, it is faded and flakes of paint have broken lose to reveal the dark brown stain below. Like everything else in this neighbourhood it is in a grim state of disrepair and neglect, people included.

A full minute passes without a reply. Daniel curses before then pounding angrily on the door of the condo. New flakes of paint are dislodged as a result of his assault and fall to the well worn welcome mat under Daniel’s leather shoe wrapped feet.

“OK. OK. I’m coming.” Vince shouts from somewhere inside the house.

Now that Vince has answered, verbally, Daniel sees no reason to wrap on the door a fourth time, so instead he simply waits. Before long Daniel hears a bolt being retracted and then a door chain being removed. Seconds later the front door opens barely more than a crack. It is at this point that Daniel barges his way into the house he hasn’t stepped foot in since he was a teenager.

Vince stumbles back because of the sudden shoving of the door which nearly hit him in the face, cursing as he goes. But he manages to stay on his feet, though he’s angry now and is about to cuss out whoever has dared to barge their way into his home when he realises it’s his brother.

“What you doing here Danny boy?” Vince asks surprised to see his brother. Danny never comes back to their old hood. Too busy pretending to be some high and mighty guy with a stick up his ass, Vince thinks.

“Shut up Vince.” Daniel spits back.

Vince has noticed the sawn-off in his brothers hand and so queries, “What you got there Danny?”

“I lost my job today cause of you.” Daniel declares with an accusatory tone.

“Ha! What?” Is Vince’s only response in the moments before he begins to laugh uncontrollably.

Unfortunately, Vince’s laughter only helps to build upon the seething rage that Daniel is already feeling flow through every part of his body. That’s why he screams, “Stop laughing, this isn’t funny!” As the words erupt from Daniel’s mouth he raises his arm and aims the sawn-off at Vince’s face.

“Get those twin barrels out of my face, Danny boy.” Vince replies angrily.

Vince doesn’t take well to being threatened, even if the man doing the threatening is his brother.

“And what you are going to do if I don’t, huh?” Daniel fires back without making any attempt to lower his arm and comply with Vince’s demand.

“Brother or not I’ll beat you black and blue.” Vince says through gritted teeth.

“You’re not in control here Vince. And you went too far today turning up at the office.”

“What you going to do about it, Danny boy?” Vince asks in response. He knows his brother won’t do a thing. He’s weak, a corporate shill in the employ of the man, trying to reach for a dream that they’ll never allow him possess.

“Stop calling me that, Vince. I hate it. I’ve always hated it.” Daniel demands without an ounce of consideration for the threats his own brother has levelled his way. At any other time they would scare Daniel, but not now. Now he sees Vince for what he is, a bully with a big mouth and not that much to back it up. He lives off a reputation. One that Daniel knows if based largely off lies. It’s the only thing Vince is good at and most people are dumb enough to believe them. But he isn’t. He learned a long time ago that his brother is scum. But it took him losing his job today for him to finally admit it to himself. Until now Daniel had always held out hope that maybe Vince might change, but that hope is gone for good because it’s clear all Vince wants to do is ruin everyone else’s life. And Daniel isn’t willing to let that go on any longer. That is why he is here and Vince will learn that soon enough.

“No. I’ll call you Danny and Danny boy as much as I want.” Vince replies with a smug smile plastered across his face.

Whether it’s the defiance of Daniel’s demand or the smug smile on Vince’s face, Daniel can’t say, but whichever it is sees Daniel suddenly throw himself at Vince. He roars with unbridled rage as he flings himself at his brother, who is taken aback but the severity of Daniel’s rage. Vince had been convinced that his brother was all bluster and nothing else, but it seems he was wrong to make such a snap judgment.

Still, he has to stop Daniel and tries to. But the man’s rage, he soon learns, is extreme and that is why Daniel manages after a short, mainly one-sided tussle to club Vince in the side of his dome shaped head with the butt of the sawn-off several times.

In response to the impacts, Vince stumbles backward and unable to regain his balance, crashes to the floor while cradling his gashed open head.

“What do you want?” Vince queries while sat up cradling his split head, from which a decent amount of blood is spilling, coating his hand. Vince ignores the volumes of blood that have made his hand slick as he continues to keep pressure on the wound.

“For you to stop butting into my life.” Daniel replies between short, loud and clearly angry exhales of air through his nose.

“That’s never going to happen, Danny boy.” Vince replies before to a short pause that is followed by, “And I’m not interfering, I’m trying to get you into the family business, is all.”

“Drug pushing is not a business! And nor is it a part of the family! Not now or EVER!” Daniel bellows at the top of his lungs. He has never felt as angry before in his life as he does right now.

Vince begins to cackle in response to Danny’s outburst. He finds it funny that his brother is so naïve and hopes that Danny takes his cackle as the mocking that it is meant to be.

Daniel does and seeing as it is clear he isn’t getting through to Vince he raises the sawn-off, which at no point has left his hand, up once more.

Vince goes to demand his brother drop the weapon, but before he can Daniel unloads both barrels into Vince’s chest. The booms of the barrels being fired in quick succession are deafening and thunderous and cause Daniel’s ears to ring loudly in reply.

The force of the twin shots slam Vince’s torso backward and against the wooden floor of the house in the moments before Vince dares to attempt to breathe, only to cough up blood.

However, the blood running down from the corner of his mouth is nothing compared to the dark mass of red that is spreading across his shredded chest. His wounds so severe that he dies not long after, having uttered no other words as he stares blankly up at the white ceiling above.

Daniel meanwhile simply stands there with his ears still ringing while he stares at the corpse of his now dead brother, who should have listened to him and stayed out of his life when he’d had the chance.