aston maybach | district one | fin

"Who is the boss around here?"

”Not me, she is not here.”

The conversation always repeats in Aston’s mind. Sometimes he says something different and there is a different ending. But there is only one ending, it has already happened, and it can never be changed. And he has been quiet about it since.

It was just a running club, a social excuse to keep fit. Just the occasional competition. Nothing serious. Now it is Aston’s entire life. Just one morning, one man, one conversation changed it all. Milli used to be the running club’s organiser, now she is on the sidelines. It is not a club anymore; it is an underground gambling empire. The runners are pawns, tossed away when they break down. Aston is an achiever but that is not a positive thing.

There are deliveries to his door, demands to keep fit. Syringes that will make him run faster. Make him earn more for them. He does get a little share of their riches. It hasn’t stopped him straying from the family business though.

Maybach’s Aromas, the best body odour busters. Their best seller is the flower bomb and Aston is proud of it. It is the only thing he has been able to decide for himself.

He has never been good at making his own decisions, not without the advice of others. But the control the gamblers have over him is something he wants to shake away. The only time he feels safe, or any sense of trust is when he is in the family’s shop. The running club used to be an escape, a place to have company but an excuse to be quiet in his own mind. Now he has become a slave to an old hobby.

Aston is too deep into it now. He doesn’t even own himself. Too reserved to complain, he will just keep running. Do as he is told, and nothing should ever go wrong.