Chapter 1

Charles Greene and his three mates were loitering around the lower floor of the mall. There were lots pf people in the mall. Kids running around and screaming. Cliques of women pacing around, carrying bags of purchases. Elderly couples eating their ice cream cones. Charles Green's mates were also his classmates and their names were Jim, Casper and Norman.

They had finally finished their secondary school education. They had finally finished school and were now on holiday. Unfortunately they all did badly in their final exams. They failed most of their subjects but then again, most of their classmates failed too. Lucky for their egos, British school students in general tend to flunk most of their exam papers, compared to their continental European counterparts

Right now the boys wanted to have a good time and not think about the future. They had already talked about college and that even students who had university degrees could not find any jobs and so therefore, college would be a waste of time and money. They had also already talked about job applications and what jobs they could possibly do, like somewhere in the near future.

"What day is it?" asked Jim.

"Who cares what day it is? School's finally over and summer is here. We finally finished school Jim," remarked Casper.

It was July, the month in the middle of summer. The sun was not going to come down until ten o clock. It was also very hot where they were and that was Manchester. The four high school students finally finished their secondary school education...

"It's Thursday Jim!" responded Charles.

"Hey what time is the movie?" asked Norman.

Charles took out his cell phone, then looking at this cell phone. He had a vodafone.

"I think the film is going to start at seven. Now it's half past five," Charles said.

"Good. That gives us time to get something to eat. I'm in the mood for Pizza Hut," Norman spoke in a hungry but excited tone.

"Sounds good to me," said Casper.

All 4 boys took the escalators leading up to the top floor of the mall. They found the Pizza Hut restaurant and walked there. Once inside, they found themselves a nice table on some corner. The waitress finally came. She was an attractive young pale-skinned lady with curly black hair; round dark eyes, in her early 20s, 5 foot 3 and very thin.

"Hi my name is Shannon and may I take your order?" the waitress asked in her Irish accent.

The boys ordered a set menu. They had a large party-sized pizza that came with a large bottle of coke, 2 sets of garlic bread, 4 pieces of spicy chicken wings and some white sauces. As for what type of pizza they ordered it was a half-half. Half of it was Barbeque with chicken pieces and mozzarella and the other half was cheese and salami.

The boys spend an hour eating and chatting at the Pizza Hut restaurant. The cinema was on the same floor as the Pizza Hut restaurant. As for the movie they were going to watch, it was Pirates of the Caribbean 4. It was Charles who had bought all their tickets in advance for them.

Charles Greene was a good guy to his mates. He did not have many close friends but still hung out with his classmates as they were mates. Charles was about 17 years old; tall at 6 foot 4, well-built, short Blond hair, green eyes which had the same shade as the leaves, complexion as pale as milk and had high cheekbones, like people from Scandinavia and the Baltic. Charles may have looked like a jock but he wasn't that dumb. He also wasn't too bright either, judging how he failed most of his papers. Despite his height and built, he was also easily intimidated by threats and could easily cave in to pressure.

By 7PM, the boys went into the cinema and sat down on four seats, somewhere on the top row. They had a good view from there. By the time the movie was over, it was already dark outside. The sun was finally gone. The air was still warm. The boys left the mall and waited at the bus stop. When the bus came, they all boarded it and paid for their tickets. As it was a double decker bus, they all went up the spiral case and went upstairs. They found themselves free empty seats at the back of the second floor. They went over there and sat down.

"Man that film was good!" commented Norman.

"I don't know about that. I thought the second film was way better!" commented Casper.

"I am waiting for X Men First Class. I am going to catch it when it comes out," stated Jim.

"Not me," stated Charles. "I hated the first one and didn't bother catching the sequels."

The boys were going to head to their homes. They all chatted until one of them had to get off. The first person to get among them was Jim. After Jim it was Norman. Then it was Casper. Charles was the last one to be on the bus, until he had to get off.

Charles got off at a bus stop, that was somewhere on the suburbs of Manchester. His house was two streets away from the bus stop. He walked past the two streets, crossing through pavements and alleyways, until he reached his house. Charles could see lights shimmering behind the curtains of the front window. He knew his mom was home.

Charles pushed the small front gate of his front yard and went towards the front door. He took out his own set of the house-keys and let himself in.

"Mom I'm home," he cried.

He closed the front door behind him as he was at the front corridor of the house. Charles lived in a one-storey house with his mom. Their house in Manchester had a front yard and his mom's car was parked inside the car garage that was at the back of the house. The front corridor led him towards a hallway that was adjacent to the lounge, the kitchen, the bathroom and the two bedrooms.

Charles went over to the lounge. His mom was standing next to the TV, talking to someone else on her cell phone. His mom saw him and smiled. The TV was running.

"I am going to the kitchen and make myself a cup of tea. You want one?" he asked her.

"No thanks honey. I have to talk to you about something ... later," his mom said to him.

His mom went back to her conversation with her friend on the other side of the cell phone. Charles went over to the kitchen. He took a thermos and filled it up with sink water. He then plugged it towards an empty socket-hole on the counter-table. As the water was boiling, he took an empty cup from the cabinet and placed a tea bag in it. When the thermos water finished boiling, he poured hot water over his cup and took out the tea bag. He then joined his mom on the lounge. His mom was still talking on her cell phone. Charles sat down on the sofa. Right now on TV, he saw videos of armed gunmen firing at a location that looked like the Middle East.

Charles's surname was Greene was because it was his dad's surname. His parents had divorced about three years ago. It was from his mother where he inherited his complexion, hair and eye colour from. She was much shorter than he was but still pretty attractive.

Basically this was Charles's family history. Both his parents came from a small town called Constantinople's Lot. It was a small coastal town that was more or less on the same latitude as The Isle of Man and somewhere between Barrow and Carlisle. The location of that town meant it was somewhere in the north-west of England. As for the name of the town, the person who founded the town was said to have been a Baron who fought in one of the many crusades and named the town after the ancient city that which had been the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in what is now Turkey. Despite its name, it bore no resemblance at all to that same city, which is today's Istanbul. While the modern city of Istanbul was a striving hot Mediterranean city, which got hotter than 100 Fahrenheit during summer time, Constantinople's Lot was usually cold and wet.