Flash Fiction

The wide road was long and very dark. A lone. pathetically lit, car gunned it's engine hard in order to pass the rattling trolley bus. As the car disappeared into the distance the sole passenger of the trolley bus pulled his hood closer to hide his scarred face. He had another ten minutes to ride before his stop. It was the only halt before the terminus.The driver grunted loudly to indicate that they had reached the passenger's stop. He got up from the seat, securing his two bags tightly over his thick hooded overcoat and descended the creaking steps onto the lonely road. No more cars had passed. There were no street lights. He looked up at a mass of darkened windows trying to determine which were the ones that fronted his rendezvous apartment. After four abortive attempts he found the narrow alleyway that led to the rear of the towering block. From the smaller of his two bags he produced a portable ultra violet torch that he attached securely to the shoulder of his bulky coat. The snow had started to fall, he could feel it on his hands as he turned the torch on. Gloves next time.

Now that he couldn't be seen from the street he turned on the torch. The violet beam illuminated strange markings that indicated his route. He followed the iridescent markings up four flights of foul stenched stairs. He knock quietly on the serene signed door. As he knocked a gorilla of a man opened it. another grunter. He stepped inside quickly pulling the larger of the bags over his head in the same action. The gorilla called a smaller, no less simian, man over. They inspected the bag together, grunting. Happy, the pair put several bundles of cash into the passengers remaining bag. He left.

On the street the trolley bus was waiting at his stop. It's interior lighting dimly highlighting the fresh fallen snow. As he ascended the bus's front step he laid a bundle of cash on the driver's collecting plate. The driver grunted jovially. He was the only passenger the bus had ever had.