Permission to Enter
“Y-y-y-you…” The booth attendant pointed at Snow and stammered with wide eyes. He quickly stood from where he sat and rushed out the door, tripping slightly twice before he reached the gates. “Where did you get this?” He asked and reached out to take the card from Snow.
“Like I said,” Snow whipped his hand back, avoiding the attendant’s snatching ones. “Your boss personally gave it to me. He said I can come visit any time I want.” Snow smirked as he looked at the attendant’s disturbed face. He pocketed the card back in his trousers and continued. “I’m guessing he doesn’t give his card out that often. Do you still not want to let me in? Are you really sure that’s okay?”
“That—” The attendant’s face soured. If it really was the boss who gave this boy his card, then it really wouldn’t be good if he offended him. Still…
“Just wait a moment, sir. I still need to confirm from the inside.” He smiled at Snow. The kind of smile a customer service staff had to stamp on their faces when attending to people.
Snow nodded and watched the man scurry back to the booth. He wasn’t going to make it harder for the man. At the very least, he wasn’t being sent away anymore. He sighed and brushed a hair from his face.
The booth attendant dropped in his chair immediately he was back in the booth. He leaned back on the chair with his face drawn tight.
“Hey, did you check? Was it really the boss’s card?” His assistant asked curiously.
“Hey, no way. Look at him, do you think the boss would really give his card out to him?” One of the guards with a riffle said, shooting a look at the boy who was too busy playing with his coat.
“Fuck, you all shut up for a bit. There’s no need to think too much, I’ll call for confirmation on the inside first, just to be sure. If he’s someone important then…” The attendant said wearily. He didn’t even have the guts to complete his statement. He gulped hard then reached for the phone, pressing a button on the console. The line clicked open after two rings, static buzzing faintly.
“Yes?” The man from the other end said evenly.
“Ah yes, I’m calling from front gates. There’s someone—” the attendant said, his eyes flicking towards Snow, who stood steady under the rifles’ gaze. “—who wants to see the boss.”
“So?” The voice came almost immediately. On the other end, the attendant could hear the man sigh and then reply, his voice calm but laced with irritation. “Why wasn’t he let in then? If he’s on the list, don’t waste my time.” The man snapped at the attendant.
“Well, that’s the thing.” the booth attendant said flatly. “He’s not on the list. His name’s not there.”
There was a short pause. Then sharply, as if his patience had run dry, the man replied slowly. “Then tell him to leave.”
The booth attendant hesitated, his eyes narrowing where Snow, who had once again brought out the card as if flaunting it to them that he currently had the upper hand. “The thing is… he says the boss gave him his personal card.”
Silence stretched down the line. There was a faint scrape of a chair. Then— “What?”
The booth attendant glanced at the guards who were giving Snow a disapproving look before lowering his voice. “He’s holding the card right now. He told me the boss personally gave it to him. The others are here, you can ask them.”
A hiss came from the other end. “Send me the feed.”
The attendant’s hand moved quickly across the keyboard. A red light blinked as the CCTV camera above the gate whirred, locking in and capturing Snow in the frame. Within seconds, the feed was transmitted.
Inside, miles from the gate, a man leaned back in his chair, a tablet screen lighting his face. The live feed that was just sent to him flickered, then stabilized to reveal the boy who stood calmly at the gates of the Vexley estate.
He narrowed his eye, studying Snow. He couldn’t help but feel that there was something unnervingly familiar about him. His pale skin, the way he stood like his feared nothing, even the style of his hair. He thought long and hard, where he must’ve seen this boy.
Before he could speak into the phone again, another figure leaned over his shoulder, peering at the screen.
“Fuck—” the second man swore under his breath. “Isn’t that the kid? You know, the guy from the other day? The one who called the boss by his name?”
The man with the tablet turned sharply, glare cutting like a blade.
The second man didn’t stop. He jabbed a finger toward the image on the screen, then proceeded to zoom in on Snow’s face. “Sully? That’s him, isn’t it?”
The tablet suddenly snapped shut as the man who held it stood up abruptly from his chair to face the other. A vicious kick landed against the second man’s shin. He grunted in pain, teeth clenching, and hands clutching his leg as the man with the tablet leaned close, his voice a low snarl. “If you don’t want to die, you’ll keep that name buried in your throat. Am I understood?”
The second man swallowed hard, nodding quickly, eyes darting back to the now-dark screen.
The man glared at the other who was in pain. As unnerving as it was, he was able to remember what the other was talking about. It was the kid they had met during the drop off at the school. The kid who the boss had pretended for and even had to drive them out for. He picked up the phone and reopened the line to the booth, voice measured, stripped of the earlier irritation. “Let him in first. I’ll inform the boss myself”
The booth attendant who had been waiting for the order all this time stiffened. He exchanged complicated glances with the guards beside him. One that said ‘I messed up this time.’ He didn’t dwell on it too long, he only gave a weak ‘okay’ to the other side and hung up. The he inched forward, tapping the console to release the gate locks.
Not a second after, the iron bars began to part with a deep mechanical groan.