605 A Fresh Start
Crowley had found himself in a taxi staring out of the window. Life felt a little crazy for him at the moment. He was an adult, one that was 35 years of age and had his career path quite set out.
He enjoyed his job, loved what he did and didn’t mind if he was to do it for the rest of his life. Which was why he found the current situation frustrating and strange. The car was filled with his belongings, all taken from his apartment, and he was leaving the city he had lived in for a long time, in order to head to a new place.
‘Slough, I can’t say it's a town that I have heard much about, but when I did some research it seems they have been in the news relatively frequently.’ Crowley thought. He wasn’t the type to focus on what was happening in the outside world, because he had dedicated everything he did, to his job, and now he had lost that.
‘Honestly, I don’t know much about the Howlers Group either, but it was too good of an offer, that I couldn't refuse.’
Crowley was thinking back to the phone call he had received. He was in a desperate situation, at the end of the day an adult needed money to live and get by. There were no benefits from the local government apart from housing in the even lower tier cities, which was a life that was hard to rise up from.
The Howlers were offering a high generous wage, one that matched what he had got form the AFA, which was hard to believe. A tier-3 town able to do such a thing, it seemed almost too good to be true.
What tipped him to accept the offer in the end, was the fact that it was, in a way, better than what the AFA offered. Giving him free accommodation and meals as well, and the job role was quite similar as well.
It was an offer he couldn't refuse, and if there was anything he needed, the man on the phone had stated that they would try their best to get it for him. Every bone in Crolwey's body was telling him that it was a scam, but while on the phone he had seen another rejection email and decided to give it a go.
When the taxi finally arrived in the town, turning and twisting his head, Crowley was left with awe. The roads didn’t have pot holes, the sidewalks were wide with aesthetic trees planted every so often, and the buildings were well maintained.
‘This doesn’t look like any tier-3 town I have been to… this looks almost like a tier-2 city.’
Due to Crowley not being involved in the gang business, he only read the news that was available to the public, so he knew nothing about the fact that the Howlers controlled Notsburg as well as having partnerships with many of the other Tier-3 towns.
A lot of wealth had been placed to upgrade Slough, and when the annual GDP would be calculated, it would soon be recognised as a tier-2 city.
‘Maybe I didn’t make a bad decision after all?’ Crowley thought.
Near the centre of the town, the taxi stopped in front of a high rise modern apartment building. Crowley didn’t even have to open the doors himself, as two men opened it for him.
“Mr. Crowley, correct, may we take your bag for you sir?” The man asked.
Crowley was fine taking his own bag, but still thanked the person for offering. His strength made the bag fairly light anyway, but he did notice that the two that knew his name and came to greet him, weren’t staff of the building, they were wearing a different uniform, one that was Gold and Black in colour.
“This is a key to your apartment, inside there is your schedule for this week. If there is anything you need, then there is also a work phone that has been provided with several contact numbers inside for you to use.” The man explained. “We hope you enjoy your stay here, and we look forward to working with you, teacher.”
The last word had caught Crowley off guard, how did these people know he was a teacher? He didn’t really have fame outside of the AFA, but he could only assume whoever he spoke to on the phone had informed everyone.
Regardless, entering the apartment building, the floor was made of marble and there was plenty of staff to help and ask about things. The more things Crowley was seeing, the more and more he thought he had made the right choice.
He was starting to feel a little less bad about what had occured now.
‘Change is good at times, maybe it pays to do some crimes.’ He chuckled to himself, thinking back to when he hit James. The fact that he was rhyming was proof of his good mood.
Making his way to the elevator, he saw the door was in the middle of closing, and there was someone inside.
“Wait!” Crowley shouted out, he ran quite fast, but not too fast to alert the others. Altereds were rare beings after all and if the public knew of this they would be quite surprised.
Still, there was no need for him to reach the elevator door, as the person inside had pressed a button in time.
“Thank you.” Crowley said, as he looked at the young girl inside. He stared at her for a little while as there was something a little strange about her.
“I haven't seen you before, have you just moved in?” The girl asked.
“Yeah, it looks like we're both on the same floor as well. I guess we're neighbours. It's my first time in this town as well.” Crowley stated. He found it a bit strange talking to a girl, but for some reason he couldn't help looking at her, staring at her from the corner of his eye.
When the elevator reached the floor, the two got out in the hallway and went their separate ways to their rooms. The girl quickly walked in and closed the door behind her.
“Why… did I keep looking at her, have I seen her before? But I’ve never been to this town… that's impossible, maybe she was an AFA student?” Crowley thought, and ignored all that as he went to his room.
——
When the girl closed the door behind her, she started to rub her shoulders as she got chills all over her body.
“What's wrong, Amy?” White asked as she was busy watching tv.
“I think there’s some pervert on our floor, he wouldn’t stop staring at me.” Amy replied.
“A pervert in this building, I doubt it, but you never know these days.” White replied. “Speaking of, if he is a pervert, we should go to that class that Kai sent us. He told us to be there, that Self Defence class.”
“Oh, it starts tomorrow right?” Amy said. “Yeah, maybe it will be good, you never know what could happen. What are you watching anyway?”
Looking at the TV, it looked like an Altered match was going on. She never thought White would be into these things, but she was a strange girl.
“Introducing form the Town of Slough, our sparky fighter from the AFA with her debut match, XIN CLOVE!!!!” the TV announcer shouted.
*****
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