Chapter Two

 A sharp light suddenly radiated through Fraser’s closed eyelids and he jumped, letting out a startled yelp as he did so. He looked up from his place on the cupboard floor in the dusty portacabin and instantly knew he’d been rumbled. Worse still, it was his foreman looking down upon his fatigued body.

“Laziness can be cured with a swift kick of my boot, I’ve always found”, his foreman said before noting his name on his clipboard and walking sternly into the distance. Fraser had never had the best relationship with the man and this was bound to make things worse, although he was more concerned about the fact that his favourite hiding place had been compromised.

“Well done, mate, you’re a shoe-in for employee of the month now”, his co-worker Jessica chuckled. They’d both started on site on the same day and had bonded over a mutual disrespect for their foreman who had inducted them with tales of how hard everyone worked and how profitable this made the company. Regardless of profits, their wages had remained consistently low, yet Fraser could never find an income from his passion and so had resigned himself to a life of building his employer’s empire.

Jessica had never contemplated life outside the concrete supplier as it had provided her with a suitable barrier from her intolerable mother. She had grown up with Victorian values and was expected to be a wife and parent first, only bringing money into her household through minor labour and discreet favours such as ironing and sewing. After securing the job, Jessica had told her mother that phones weren’t allowed to be kept on an employee’s person to negate the possibility of being interrupted constantly while at work.

Fraser rubbed his eyes and dragged himself off the floor to the disgust of two passing workers. Jessica looked across at them before returning to her sleepy co-worker with a grin. “They’re just jealous”, he yawned before returning her mischievous look. He noticed her pink hair falling out of place behind her hard hat, an extremely rare occurrence as she always kept it neatly tucked just under the brim. “Your hair’s a mess”, he uttered automatically.

Jessica grabbed the back of her head and re-tied her messy bun. “That’ll teach us both for staying out so late last night”, she said as she secured it once more. Fraser thought back to the previous evening’s events and the memories of the shots made him feel sick. Jessica noticed his complexion start to pale and shot him a warning glance. “Don’t you dare throw up, you wuss. Keep it together”.

Steadying himself on his feet, Fraser closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The feeling passed slowly and left him a touch dizzy, yet he knew he had to push through and get some work done. One of their main duties was to load barrows and transport bags of material from one side of the yard to the other, a job he felt wasn’t suited to his narrow frame. Still, it had kept him relatively fit and he dutifully grabbed a barrow before going to the main office for a job card, leaving Jessica to her task of sending out missing orders.

At school, Fraser had been told he could have any administrative position when he’d left and had felt aggrieved at not being given a university option. Had he been told to study architecture or medicine he may have applied himself in a given direction, however he’d felt lost and simply applied for the first job that had come up. Seven positions later and he’d found himself with Jessica at MJF Concrete, London’s third largest supplier to the trade. He wasn’t particularly proud of the part he played in the business or even the company itself, which lauded its commitment to families while simultaneously taking away any chance of him having his own. Despite this, he enjoyed what little work he was allowed to get away with and happily spent his salary when it arrived at the end of each month. Drinking on a work night was a very rare occasion and one he was starting to regret, although it hadn’t been entirely his idea.

Fraser and Sunni had been together for six weeks, a time that she had deemed worthy of an anniversary. Fraser was concerned that he’d have to buy her a gift and would most likely have complained at the premise of such a gesture. However, Sunni’s idea was for them to have a meal and drinks to celebrate and so a table was booked at a local restaurant for the two of them.

The meal had passed without incident, a rare occurrence for such occasions. Strangers often asked Fraser why he was wasting his time with such a rude and obnoxious individual while his friends had started to invite him to imaginary occasions just to give him a break from her. Although six weeks wasn’t a long time for a relationship, many felt that it was longer than they could have coped with Sunni as a partner. Fraser was overcome with the attention as he’d rarely found someone he found attractive to reciprocate so had seemingly settled regardless of how difficult she was to be around.

The night had descended into madness after the initial meal as Sunni had insisted on them going to a nightclub she frequented often. Fraser had avoided clubs where possible as he found them claustrophobic, particularly when those who were excessively inebriated decided to dance next to him and spill their sticky drinks down his clothes. He tried to recall an occasion where he’d voluntarily entered a club but drew a blank as his new girlfriend took him by the arm and led him across the threshold.

Five minutes of relative calm preceded a young girl with dark hair and a figure-hugging white dress launching from the dancefloor and into Sunni’s side. The girl was giggling as she landed and looked back towards the floor where two young lads were competing for her attention. Sunni turned to face the girl and immediately adopted a furious tone, telling her to watch her step and offering her outside.

“You wanna go, old lady? It’s a bit late for you to be out isn’t it?” came the reply, to which Sunni launched Fraser’s pint of ice-cold lager into her face. The rest of the club fell silent with just the beat of the music in the background and the girl raised her hands as the cool liquid dripped from her brand new attire. “You bitch”, was all she managed before Sunni tackled her to the ground and grabbed her roughly around the neck.

“How would you like to see a crazy old lady in action?” Sunni asked, giving her no time to answer as she moved her hands to the front of the girl’s face. A scream shot from their place on the floor as Sunni grabbed her head on both sides and pushed a thumb into each eye socket with the intent of blinding her. Fraser found this all too much, jumping forward to grab his girlfriend and stop her from ruining both of their lives.

The two young lads saw this as an aggressive move and dove into the situation, landing punches on Fraser’s ribs and back before one caught him just beneath his eye and the pain caused his anger level to rise. He retaliated with a wild swing that caught the side of the smallest lad’s head and sent him flying back towards the dancefloor. Fraser managed to pull Sunni away from the girl and had just enough time to watch as she covered her eyes in agony before the two bouncers waded through the crowd, grabbing Fraser and Sunni to remove them roughly.

“Your lass is a psycho”, one of the bouncers helpfully declared as he turfed the two of them out of the club, “You want to get away from her”.

Sunni was swinging wildly at the other bouncer as he said it and Fraser was pleased to see that she hadn’t heard the comments. He wasn’t in a position to disagree, yet he knew that this unsolicited feedback would have sent her over the edge.

As the two of them sat peacefully on the kerb across the road from the club, Fraser decided to end the relationship as quickly as possible to avoid another unruly scene. He told Sunni that he didn’t think they were right for each other and that, although she was a great girl, he didn’t see the relationship lasting the way it was going. Her drunken state made her actions incredibly unpredictable as she was prone to violence even when sober, however she looked deep into Fraser’s eyes and started to sob. He’d been more prepared for aggression and so was taken aback by this softer side, watching as the tears slid down her cheeks and took her mascara with them.

Sunni offered to change, even to get counselling if necessary, though he was adamant that he wouldn’t change his mind. She threw her arms around him and begged him not to end it, hugging him as tightly as possible to avoid allowing him to escape. Fraser was stunned at this turn of events, particularly as she’d very recently tried to blind a young girl who’d collided with her unintentionally. It took a further ten minutes to convince her that he was leaving for good and, as he walked off, he decided not to look back in case her soft crying enticed him back to her. He knew he was better off on his own and followed his instinct, realising at that point that he was still very drunk and had to get to work the next morning. However, being past the point of no return, he’d phoned his old friend Jessica and invited her to join him for a few drinks to ensure he had someone to get him up in the morning.