Chapter 7
"Ewww ... salty." he said
	"Sorry, what was that, I was miles away"
	"Susie, You've been back for a day now, and all you keep doing is drifting off into a world on your own"
	"Sorry, Iain," replied Susie, "A lot's happened over the last few months, it feels really strange to be back. What were you saying anyway?"
"Er, it's just they've put too much salt on these chips, I hate that." Said Iain
"Ahh, Glasgow, in a strange way I've missed you," said Susie playfully "Salty chips, Irn Bru, we just need a bottle of Buckfast and my homecoming is complete." 
"So now you're back, what is it that you want to do?" asked Iain
"I dunno, what time is it?" 
"Just gone midnight."
"That late already? Can we just walk home? It's been a long night babe, and I've got a lot of re-adjusting to do."
"Oh come on ...Readjusting?" replied Iain, "you've only been gone for eight bloody months, it's not like you've been in a coma for the last decade"
"Okay, I've got some unpacking to do, and I'm pretty tired. Happy?"
"Of course I am ... you're back in town, right now I couldn't be happier."
"You cheesy bastard." said Susie, with a loving glint in her eye. 
She leant forward and kissed him passionately. 
"I've missed you." She said after.
"It's been hard trying to get on with life without you"
"Oh, I'm sure you managed okay. Let's walk home, it's a nice night, and I'm kind of appreciating being back in Town again"
"Sure."
The couple carried on walking down Sauchiehall Street arm in arm. Susie's eyes were wide as she tried to take all the sights that she felt like she hadn't seen in a lifetime. She couldn't believe it had only been eight months. She'd traveled all over the world. It was something se ad always wanted to do, but had never been able to afford it at all. Just three days ago, she was bashing her way through a Bolivian jungle. Now, wandering through an urban one. She smiled, it seemed all she could think of right now were clichés and corny lines.
"What you smiling 'bout?" asked Iain
"Oh, nothing really, it's just good to be home. Life may take a while to feel normal again"
"What's normal?"
"I don't know anymore. Just a feeling I suppose"
"Speaking of normal, have you got your old job back?"
"I'm going to give them a call in the morning, see what happens"
"Nice one, "replied Iain, he looked over Susie's head," Ah, a toilet, hang on, I'll be back in a mo ..."
And Iain ran off, down some steps leading to some public toilets, leaving Susie with nothing but her thoughts. It was funny really. She kind of felt that disappearing for the best part of a year would have chased Iain off, but they managed to stay strong through it all. Iain came out for the first three months, but due to work commitments had to leave early. Susie, however knew that this was a once in a lifetime chance, and needed to finish her tour of the world. She waited for her man to come back up the stairs. When he did, he was a changed man. Iain's eyes were wide, his face pale, , he even had the shakes. 
"What happened?" asked a suddenly very concerned Susie
"You do not want to know the scene I have just witnessed. It's something that no-one should ever have to see. Can we not talk about it, and just move on please?"
"Erm, sure, let's go" 
Susie took Iain's arm.  Iain jumped as she did so, and then exchanged a glance of relief.
"Are you sure you're okay?
"I'll be fine," said Iain as he looked around the street feverishly, "There! Look over there!"
"What?" she asked, whilst looking where Dan was pointing.
There was nothing there at all.
"They're everywhere, look over there"
Susie looked again, she saw a couple of  children on a corner
"What are you talking about?"
"Let's just get out of here"
"Okay."
As they walked away, the 'children' looked over. Once the couple were at a relatively safe distance, they slowly started walking to the toilet. 
Unknown to Susie, they weren't actually children at all. 
They were midgets.
After them followed several other men
And they were closing in on the toilets

*	*	*	*

Kneeling on the floor in front of a midget's crotch, and doing what Dan was doing was not something that Dan wanted in his permanent memory. Trouble is, it's not a memory that is easily removed. He was trying not to think about what was happening. He had shut his mind off from the physical world, and did his best to pretend it wasn't happening. Inside his head, he could think of nothing but karaoke. 
	Just keep singing those lyrics Dan he thought as he rounded off his version of 'Rawhide'
	As he started up singing 'Song 2' in his head, Dan had a vague awareness of Sylvester's pleasurable grunts and groans. The occasional 'Oh yeah' or 'that's it bitch' came out of his mouth, but Dan didn't hear that. At least he tried his best not to. 
	As Dan was trying to shut out the memory of sucking a midgets penis out of his mind, one thing he couldn't block out was the sound of someone coming down the stairs. 
	"Keep sucking bitch." snarled Sylvester
	Dan didn't even want to look at the person walking into this scene, but listened to the footsteps. They entered the room naturally enough, but then kind of stuttered to a halt. All that could be heard for a while was the slurping sound coming from Dan's mouth, and the occasional groan coming form Sylvester's. Dan kept his eyes shut, but could feel the presence of someone else closing in behind him. This got him worried. What if the guy knew him, and saw him like this? Even worse, what if he knew Sylvester, and was in on this ... did he want a go next? The other person was now right behind him, 
	"Oh, fuck ... sorry, I ... er ... " stuttered the voice
	Dan heard the click of what sounded like a gun. He'd never heard a gun before, except in the movies, but it sounded pretty distinctive.
	"Get the fuck out of here," shouted Sylvester "This ain't a fucking freak show"
	Dan head the footsteps running back up the stairs
	"That's it bitch, you just keep running"
	All the while, Dan didn't falter on his task. He couldn't believe it was happening, but he knew it would be worth it. A few moments later Sylvester let out a huge moan, and Dan braced himself for the inevitable. 
	Dan swallowed.
"There now, that wasn't so bad was it?" asked Sylvester shortly after.
"No ..." Dan said weakly. 
"Now I'm a man of my word, you scratch my back remember"
"I did more than that.. " mumbled Dan to himself
"I promised you a proper session, karaoke to a crowd. Well here you go ... LADS!"
Again footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, Dan sat up and looked into the main part of the room. Two more midgets walked down the stairs, both of them wearing suits and sunglasses (at night? He thought), followed by half a dozen taller men, also in the same uniforms. Dan got up to leave the cubicle and join them. 
"Stay on your knees around me!" shouted Sylvester
Dan got to his knees. He was now only a few inches taller than Sylvester. Sylvester brought the karaoke machine out, and set it up. He pointed at the controls.
"Right, you got two songs, they should fix you up for the next day or so. Select them here" he said, pointing at the selection panel. 
The karaoke machine looked small but modern. It had a built in screen and a massive database of songs. Dan wasn't in the mood for experimenting right now. This was a moment he had been waiting for, for several weeks, a moment he had just paid a very high price for.  Dan picked his first one, and started singing. 
"Picture yourself on a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies" he began.
Dan continued through to the end of the song, he felt good. No, better than that, he felt great. The rush came through his spine almost instantaneously, and what made this even better was the knowledge he was 'double-dropping' his karaoke tonight. He picked his next song, again, going for one of his classics.
"At first I was afraid, I was petrified, Kept think I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent so many nights just thinking how you did me wrong and I grew strong, I learned how to get along ... "
Again, Dan continued through to the end. He was loving every second of it, the rush feeling like no other time he could remember. Not since Cornwall anyway. The group of midgets began to cheer, shout and holler as he closed. He had not received a reception like that in a long time.
"Not bad, Dan, very entertaining. Here take this."
"What is it?" asked Dan while he took the small card from Sylvester.
"It's where you're going to be tomorrow at five o'clock"
"What? I'm fine thanks, I'll be alright"
"You want more karaoke?" 
"Well ..."
"See you tomorrow," said Sylvester, he then turned to the other midgets, "Let's roll"
Sylvester and his gang walked out. Dan was left in a weird state he had never felt before. Part of him couldn't stop grinning. He'd just been given a double hit of karaoke, and he felt amazing, but slowly, as the seconds ticked by, the shock of what he had do to get that became more and more apparent. He felt sick, yet ecstatic.
The events of the evening had been a lot to take in  for Dan, and he staggered his blissful way into the darkest depths of Glasgow, tucked himself up in a darkened corner. He had reached a low that he never thought possible. This was all too much. His craving for karaoke left his mind divided. He played with Sylvester's card in his hand. The temptation was there, and it was very strong
There must be another way, he thought.
Then he realised that there could well be another option out of this. Saving himself, or karaoke? It was a tough decision. On that thought, he fell asleep, and slept a very disturbed sleep indeed.



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