"Have you seen David?" Sebastian and Jarek, who for some reason instead of picking up girls were chatting among themselves in a corner sipping beer, looked at asking Philip.
"He was there, with Kaśka," Jarek replied, pointing in the direction. "But Kaśka is with someone else now... Why, do you need him for something? Isn't a phone call enough?"
Jarek rummaged in his pocket and took out his smartphone. A big message about the lack of coverage informed him that they had a problem.
"Damn, I forgot we were in a dead zone," he said.
"Seriously, did something happen? Can I help you look for it?" offered Sebastian. He was the tiniest of their group. He had short-cropped light brown hair and freckles. He was Jarek's very distant cousin, about in the fifth generation, so no one treated them like family anymore, but they had somewhat similar faces. Apparently, the genes of the same distant ancestor had grown in them.
"No, nothing happened," explained Philip, incidentally David's second-generation cousin, although they didn't resemble each other at all. David one hundred percent stepped into his mother's family, at least in appearance, and it was their fathers who were brothers. "I just saw Berenice..."
"Are you kidding?" Jarek jumped up all the way. "Where?"
"There," he pointed to the center, where people were dancing. "She came together with some guy..."
Maybe this sensational news should arouse their curiosity, but all three hung their noses. They all knew that David had been gushing about her since elementary school, only afraid to tell her. They encouraged him to be bold, warned him that Berenice might find a boyfriend. They assured him that David would not lose anything if he confessed his love for her. He, however, was stubborn as a donkey. Well, and he lived to see it, poor guy, Berenice was at the disco with other man, probably her boyfriend. David was their buddy, so although the mere fact of Berenice's presence at the disco was a sensation, all three felt as if a time of mourning had come. Poor David.
"No girl will wait indefinitely," sighed Jarek.
"But if it's nothing serious, then maybe David will understand that this is the last chance for him" Sebastian suddenly became enthusiastic. It was just like him. "You know, in the face of loss, maybe this boy will be a bucket of cold water for him and he will finally confess to Berenice that he likes her."
"That's why I'm looking for him," Philip announced. "This way or that way, this idiot has to make some decisions. After all, he can't drag this out indefinitely."
"Let's look for him," suggested Sebastian. "Let's split up. It'll be faster that way."
So they started combing the area occasionally asking some acquaintance. Since Kaśka was the last person David had been seen with, Philip approached her as well.
"David?" she blinked her eyes. I guess she was hoping Philip had come to ask her to dance. "Sure, I danced with him, but I don't know where he is now. Ah, wait," she recalled. "He remembered that he didn't do something at the palace and was terribly concerned about it. Maybe he ran to the palace?"
"Idiot! After all, I'm the one with the car," he muttered irritated at his cousin's stupidity. "Thanks!"
Would David be stupid enough to walk five kilometers just because he forgot to do something? He would be, Philip stated with pain. Especially if it was about the palace and the park. But the idiot should come to him and ask for a ride. After all, both their fathers were involved in the project. Admittedly, Philip personally had nothing to do with it, he knew nothing about construction or gardening, but in the end it was his family's business too.
Knowing David, he surely forgot everything, even the fact that he came here in his cousin's car and ran through the fields thinking of nothing but the palace. It was silly, even pathetic, but charming in its own way. Philip didn't know anyone his age who was so dedicated to work as to leave the disco abandoning those girls and run to work. If he ran through the fields, Philip wouldn't find him, but if he took the road, he'd meet him on the way, put him in the car, tap him on the dumb head and, as David did what he was supposed to do, drive him back.
Philip was just walking toward the exit when he accidentally overheard some high school girls talking.
"David, the gardener's son," it was these words that caught Philip's attention. He stopped started looking around to see which one of them was talking.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed a blonde girl. "Did they really go together?"
"Who went together?" Philip couldn't stand it anymore and had to ask. "David and who?"
"Don't pry, it's our business," one of the girls replied snidely.
"Sorry, but I need to find David. It's important."
"Calm down," reassured her friend. She seemed familiar to Philip, but he couldn't remember her name. "I know him, we went to the same elementary school, but he's two years older. He's David's cousin. It seems that David needed a lift and caught up with Jagoda. Her friend got drunk and..." The girl shrugged her shoulders as if the further statement was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.
"Oh, thanks, I know her. Well, I won't bother you any more!"
Uf, Philip was really relieved. Their neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, but different people came to their parties, and they weren't always just about innocent dancing with girls. Some preferred to have a different kind of fun, and every now and then there were riots. Once three guys ended up in the hospital and the police had the place under close observation for a month. Admittedly, Philip was a greaser from elementary school at the time and had not yet come here, but he had heard about the case. After that, there were a few riots, too, only quieter, with no police involvement.
Philip, however, was most concerned about something else. David was a little too pretty for a boy. Usually they were amused when someone hit on him by taking him for a girl, but that was probably because they were all together at the time and could turn everything into a joke. But if someone didn't understand what 'no' meant and tried something when David was alone. Or, God forbid, if those guys were a group and David was alone....
They were the same age, yes, but David was a bit like a younger brother to Philip. Sure, he was a grown man, but that didn't mean something bad couldn't happen to him. That's why he was relieved when he learned that his cousin had been given a safe ride by a girl from the village where the palace stood.
***
The grounds of the palace, which consisted of a park, the main building and several smaller buildings, were very extensive and a wedge decorated with a clock turret cut into the village. Part of the two-meter-high white wall that constituted the property's fence bordered the main village road, while the other wall of the wedge contained residential houses. Most of the wall, however, had no neighborhood other than meadows and farmland. A wide metal gate specially made from archival photos to resemble the original as closely as possible was located by the main road, where the girls had dropped David off, and was locked with a chain and padlock. The gate was also locked, but with a key. A side gate on the side of the village buildings and a large gate "from the back" still led to the property. All of them were decently locked, so that no unauthorized person could wander the grounds of the just-renovated palace after night. All the keys, main and spare, were in David's house.
For the 20-year-old, however, this was not a problem. He had been working since early spring on renovating the house and bringing the garden into relative order, so he knew literally every corner and every structural deficiency. He knew that the small wicket easily snapped shut, but all it took was a slight lever and a jerk to the side of the lock for it to open. He approached it, looked around to see if anyone was looking, and tugged. The gate gave way. He slammed it shut as soon as he entered the property.
Although no street lights reached the area, the full moon made it easy for him to see his surroundings. From this point to the main house, where he had left the washers, was about two hundred meters, which he covered in no time. The grass beneath his feet drenched his shoes decently and a passing stream of water sprayed his pants.
Well, beautiful, he thought angrily at himself for not noticing and avoiding the stream. Those were his best pants. However, the weather was so nice and the night so warm that the pants would soon dry out and there would be no trace on them.
He quickly dashed to the control box located on the wall by the watchtower and turned off the device.
Mission accomplished, he smiled with satisfaction. For a moment he regretted that he had missed the rest of the fun at disco, but he still had to get home early. Now he faced a two-kilometer walk along the main road. In twenty minutes he will be there. Earlier, if he moves with a more nimble step.
Walking toward the gate, he saw a tool case lying on the ground. He cursed under his breath annoyed at himself for forgetting this today as well. But it had been so hot during the day, and he was so looking forward to tonight, that he was a little distracted. Fortunately, he remembered about the sprinkler. If the new owner found such a mess on the property, he might not want to continue working with them.
He picked up this case and headed for the tool shed.
Booty, something smacked him in the back and he suddenly plunged face first into the wet grass. Something caved in between his shoulder blades and pressed him to the ground so that he felt a sharp pain and couldn't move....
What is it? What happened? David was pierced by a shudder of horror. Crushed with his belly to the ground with something heavy and hard slamming into his back, he couldn't move. Someone had knocked him to the ground, damn it. Who? A thief? A murderer? Or maybe...
"Gotcha, you thief," someone hissed over his ear. A man.
Thief? What? It was someone who took him for a thief? But who? Surely it wasn't his father, nor his uncle, nor any cousin... A policeman? He sincerely hoped that he was not dealing with some psycho.
"I'm not a thief!" he tried to free himself but felt a stronger pressure. He hissed in pain.
"Don't struggle or I'll hurt you. If you are not a thief then what are you doing here at this hour?"
"I can ask the same thing. Who the hell are you?"
"The owner. And you, bird, will end up behind bars."
The owner? What kind of owner? After all, the house was quite empty and was going to stay that way until tomorrow.
"Impossible. The owner doesn't arrive until tomorrow!" he growled confident that he had caught his attacker in a lie.
"I came today." The knee was painfully driving into David's back. The man knew how to overpower his opponent. David, although boiling with rage, was totally helpless. But could it be that he was really dealing with the owner? Did the owner actually arrive earlier without alerting anyone?
"What's your name?" asked David, feeling the distinct smell of wet grass and the adrenaline pulsing in his blood.
"What?"
"Your name. You say you are the owner...."
"I didn't give it to anyone," growled the attacker.
"You did give it. It was on the contract when you hired the repair team...."
"Meiden" The word like bells buzzed in the night silence.
David sighed with relief. He felt a little calmer.
"My name is David Krosny," he explained. "I'm working with my father and uncle on a renovation. I forgot to turn off the sprinkles and came to do it. I'm not a thief!"
"..."
"You can either believe me or take me to the police station. I don't think you want to spend the whole night like this." David certainly didn't want to.
"We'll check your story," the pressure eased. "But you'd better not try to run away. You may know the area better, but I'm faster."
And stronger, stated David remembering that he couldn't free himself from under the guy crushing him to the ground. But that wasn't a problem, because he had no intention of running away at all.
He got up and shrugged off his clothes. Gosh, he thought, he was all covered in grass and water. He won't wash those stains and not only that, they really were his best pants, but also his favorite T-shirt.
"If you want, Mr. Meiden we can go together to get the keys," David muttered, imagining what his mother would say when she saw him in such a state. "Without them you won't get into the house. The building has better locks."
"And where are the keys?"
"At our house. Father keeps them."
David got the impression that the man was looking at him. He raised his eyes and noticed that he was taller and bulkier than him. No wonder David couldn't get out from under him. He couldn't see Meiden's face clearly, it was just too dark, but he got the impression that he wasn't as old as he assumed. The man acted alert, but not aggressively. Maybe he was indeed the new owner?
"But he will only issue the keys after checking your passport," David explained.
"I don't have it. We're in the Schengen zone."
"And, right. Then he'll check the ID card."
The man sighed and looked toward the palace, which was black against the night background. Massive two-story building. The moon was just disappearing behind its roof, casting a shadow over them. In this light, David seemed to notice a strange flash in the man's eyes. He trembled. Owner or not, this guy could prove dangerous.
"Go ahead," Meiden finally instructed.
David headed toward the gate. The night was not cold, nevertheless he felt a chill due to his wet clothes. He looked at his T-shirt, where he clearly saw traces of shredded grass.
"Damn, I liked this T-shirt so much. Now it's to be thrown away."
"You should not have broken into someone else's property in the middle of the night."
"After all I said I forgot to turn off the sprinklers!"
"If your story is confirmed, I'll buy you a new T-shirt."
"Do not bother" he muttered. "And how did you get here?"
"Through the gate on the side of the village."
"The lock is already quite broken," David whined under his breath. "We couldn't find a suitable spring anywhere, so we thought about replacing the whole thing, but it's the only original gate in the whole fence."
"To be replaced," decided the owner in a firm tone.
"Okay, I'll tell my father."
They went through the gate. It did not latch on its own, although David tried three times. Annoyed, he moved the spring with his finger and finally there was success.
"But" he became concerned "I can't see the car."
He believed the guy to be the new owner, but if it's some thief, or worse, who happened to know the right name and now wants to remove an inconvenient witness?
"It's parked in front of the main gate."
Hm, probably so. David wasn't entirely convinced, however, it looked like he had to take a risk and go before the man. It's true that his advantage was his knowledge of the area, but the guy was walking so close and gave the impression of being alert enough to seize him at the first attempt to escape. David decided to take a chance. A thief or other criminal would not leave his car in front of the main gate, from where it is perfectly visible. If the car is actually there, it means he is dealing with the real owner. And if he is not there... there are instead roadside bushes on the other side of the road. He should be able to jump there in time to lose his attacker in the thicket. Everything will turn out in a few steps....
***
"I can't believe you haven't had any luck with any of the girls," Luke shook his head in disbelief. "Whoever, but not you!"
Luke was a completely average boy both in appearance and behavior. There was nothing special about him, except maybe that he put up with Greg's changing moods as if it was no big deal to him.
Greg squirmed. He combed his dark brown hair with his fingers in a nonchalant gesture. He knew it made him look cool. All the girls almost squealed when he did it. Now, however, he felt embarrassed. Who did he want to impress? Those village pumpkins? He should be ashamed that he even thought that for a moment.
"I got bored with this place," he replied simply.
He could have added that there was only one person at this village disco who piqued his interest, but the boy left. Damn, sexy he was, Greg should take care of him, but today... Today I guess he really wasn't in the mood for it. He let himself be persuaded to go to this disco because he wanted to get away from domestic issues, from his parents' quarrels, but the atmosphere here wasn't good enough for him to relax the rest of the way. Maybe if he had picked up the boy there he would have felt better, maybe not.
"If you want we can go back..."
Maybe he would like to, but he shook his head. They'd be back in town so he'd have to go home too, and that wasn't a pleasant prospect.
"No,it's cool. Let's hang around here a bit more."
After all, you never know, maybe the black-haired boy will come back and Greg will have a chance to play with him a bit. And if not today, then maybe at the next opportunity. This boy was the only thing in this neighborhood that was at least of the slightest interest to Greg.
Thinking about the future fun with the black-haired and blue-eyed boy, he didn't even know that his eyes had turned kind of dark at that moment. He didn't know that Luke had noticed it and trembled.
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