Brick Lane Novels & Stories

Mia and Sabrina walked up to me. Sabrina's hand rested at the small of my back while Mia tucked my hair behind my ear, looking at me with a newfound darkness in her eyes. “Let's go have some fun.” *** Brian's apartment on the southside of the city, a couple blocks from the house, was the location of choice. It sat silent and soaking in the darkness, like it'd been waiting for this very night. “He's just here to make sure we get back home safely. Loosen up a little, okay?”

Liam said. ​We burst out of the niche. The Vane guard shouted, his flashlight beam swinging wildly, but his radio was a dead weight in his hand. We scrambled up a ladder, through a manhole, and out onto a rain-slicked street in Long Island City. ​The bakery was two blocks away. ​The apartment was exactly as I had left it. ​The linoleum was still peeling. The air still smelled of burnt sugar. But the quiet was gone. ​I walked to the window. The crack in the curtain was still there.

This passage ran above it. Light came in pieces as they walked past stormwater drains. Brooke’s baton torch shone left and right. Jake’s lamp stayed stagnant with the old sway. An old work light that flickered and stayed on. Rats watched once and disappeared. Old tile. Faded signage. ST JAMES worn smooth by decades of hands. “This branch stays above the flow,” Brooke said, opening the map. “Museum side. Hyde Park. We don’t cross the stream.” Gabe handed Scott a spare torch. “That’ll be my bet too.”

He was a prisoner in a suit. We reached Linden Row. The neighborhood was quiet. I saw the big brick building with the sign that said Kline Logistics. There were lights on in the top window. Amara was working late. I saw a blue truck pulling into the lot. It looked busy. It looked successful. I touched the silk of my scarf and smiled. It was a pretty building. It would look very different when it was empty.

When I did, Neil immediately started with questions. "Who the fuck are you?!" Neil asked as he clenched his jaw. "The name is Braxton, and we had an appointment for today." I said. Neil looked at me, suspiciously. "You are the one that wants to buy the gym." I just looked at him as if he asked a stupid question. "Wants?"

I drank my coffee and left before the guilt could change my mind. Brennan Street was twenty minutes on foot, a narrow road in the older part of the city with small shops and tall buildings that blocked most of the morning light. The coffee shop was halfway down, unremarkable and quiet, with a side entrance through a small alley that smelled like old brick and cold air. I pushed through the side door.

Chloe stood shoulder to shoulder with Damian in the narrow hallway of the Brooklyn brownstone, heart hammering against her ribs as security let Vanessa through the reinforced door. The woman swept in like she owned the place, designer coat swirling around her slim frame, a thick folder clutched in one perfectly manicured hand.

The pedestrian street was crowded, with all sorts of goods, full of life. Amanda loved places like this. She looked at the grilled sausages, craving them for Patrick, but she was afraid of feeling nauseous again, so she resisted. Amanda ultimately held back, and they arrived at the boutique Riley had mentioned. Riley pointed to a boutique across the street and said, "Sister, look! The brand Fragance K has opened up here." Amanda looked across the street. There really was a Fragance K. "It seems Joey is doing better and better."

Large pots lined the stone roads, each with different color combinations of roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, lilies, irises, hyacinths, peonies, and violets. The fragrances of those with strong scents tickled my senses in a blissful way. The architecture of the buildings and homes appeared to be of ancient Greek origin, but the roads were not dirt as used in Greece during the Bronze Age. The clothing very much screamed Bronzed Aged Greece, but the nuns’ attire is still throwing me off. Just as I thought I could not be more confused about the era, culture, or place, a giant white stone building lay before me.

It was warm, confident, and effortlessly charming. A blast of a car horn shattered the moment. “Hey! Get your filthy self off the road!” Drake flinched and jumped onto the pedestrian lane, muttering an apology to the angry cab driver. His ears burned with embarrassment. Maybe today wasn’t the day for daydreams. The gates of Brian’s Academy loomed ahead. tall, and guarded like a palace. Drake stopped just short of stepping inside. It was… magnificent.