If Ray had a theme song this would be it!

Chapter 1- Ray 'Charlie Brown' King

Ray-----------

At nineteen years old Ray King could still be considered a kid, though he hardly carried himself as one. At six feet two inches with a swagger to his step and an always present cloud of intimidation around him when he entered a room, Ray wasn't one to be taken lightly. He was handsome, charismatic, and intelligent but not in the way you would think. Ray was terrible in school and had dropped out his junior year -- it was street smarts that made him special. That kept him alive.

As a child Ray learned to mature quickly. He didn't get the luxury of birthday parties or play dates with other children and by the age of five he knew better than to expect a hug or kiss from his mother or father. While other kids played with dolls and action figures, Ray learned how to load a gun. While other kids debated on what princess or prince they wanted to be, Ray learned how to read the atmosphere of a room and notice when things were getting tricky. While other kids went out for their favorite school sports teams, Ray learned how to beat a man unconscious without wearing out his own muscles as well.

His lifestyle may not have been ideal but it wasn't like his parents were able to offer him anything better. His father was an immigrant from Scotland and years of hard labor, drinking, smoking and 'gettin' fücked by the püssy higher ups' had turned him into a cold man with a lack of patience for anything that didn't pay bills or put beer in the fridge. He'd tried to live a normal life but eventually the effort wasn't worth the outcome and he followed in his father's foot steps -- deciding to turn to gang work for a quick buck and a free gram if he was lucky. He'd given up on working a stable job and eventually he gave up on his family as well. After Ray turned thirteen there wasn't much more good he could say about his father.

His mother on the other hand was a different story. Where his father lacked the patience for even a conversation, was cold and abusive, and spent most of his adult life drunk and complaining; Ray's mother was controlling, spoiled, selfish, and didn't see her children as anything more than free labor. She managed Ray and his younger sister's lives to the 'T' and put them to work at things like luring in men for her to entertain, transferring their father's drug packages, and even stealing when they didn't have enough money to buy what they needed. She was, in short, an ungrateful crack whore who resented and blamed her kids for ruining her young life but also looked to them for companionship when her husband spared none. She was terrible and should have never been granted the ability to bare children, but if Ray had to choose who he loved the most it would always be his mother. She at least tended his wounds when he returned home from a fight.

Needless to say there was never a point during his childhood where he was actually a child. His mother was a whore, his sister a thieving whore, and his father was in a gang until he was shot dead in an alley one night after trying to smuggle drugs from a shipment he was supposed to deliver. There wasn't much Ray really had to hope for as far as a better life went but, ironically, he never did. He hated his life and he hated his parents for making it such a shitty experience, but he didn't hate who he was or what he did. There wasn't a single good thing in his life and he had no reason to go in search for one either.

"Ray! Hey yo Ray!"

With a loud groan, Ray knotted his fingers into the dingy fabric of his pillow case and rolled over as if he could somehow hide from the noise. He could hear the sound of thumping footsteps and knew he'd be found hiding under his sheets in his room at the end of the hall soon enough. He wanted to sleep in but it was Friday and he never really got to sleep in on Fridays.

Too much work to do as Sammy said.

"Wakey wakey Charlie Brown!" Gage swung the door open and rushed forward, snatching the covers from Ray's head and stepping back, just out of reach of the punch Ray then sent flying his way.

"Fück off Gage!"

"I already did, twice," said Gage with a proud snicker.

Ray didn't make many friends in his lifestyle but those he did make he treasured. Even if he did want to kill them 75% of the time. They were all bastards and they'd each been in more fights with each other than they could count but it worked for them. Besides, it was easier to at least have somewhat friendly relations with the guys who were supposed to be watching your back while you were busy defending your front.

When Ray didn't move Gage sighed and rolled his eyes before crossing the dirty room and pulling a clean shirt from one of his drawers. He tossed the t-shirt to Ray as well as a pair of jeans then snatched the blinds on the windows open. "You gotta get up man. Felix is downstairs and you know he doesn't like to wait."

"It's my house. I don't give a fück what he likes or not."

"Sure Ray, I'll be sure to tell him that right before he slits my throat. Come on man, get dressed and get downstairs. We got work to do."

Gage walked out, slamming the door behind him, and Ray sighed before finally forcing himself out of the twin bed that used to be his father's when he was a child. His body was sore from last night's work and he smelled of beer and cigarettes but he didn't bother with a shower. In fact he didn't even bother with brushing his teeth and instead just took a sip of the half empty beer bottle on his nightstand and then popped a piece of gum into his mouth.

After rubbing some icy-hot on the sore parts of his body, scratching the sleep from his eyes, and spritzing on some cologne, Ray finished getting dressed and grabbed his keys and a pack of cigarettes. Downstairs he found Felix, Gage, and a guy he didn't know sitting on the molded furniture in the living room and smiling greedily at his older sister Rowan as she paraded around the room in shorts and a lacy corset type of top. Rowan was pretty when she wanted to be but after three kids -giving birth to her first child at the age of seventeen- and permanent bruising from her pimp, her beauty was hard to appreciate any more.

"Are you going to eat breakfast?"

"Did you cook?"

"I made the kids something. You and mom will have to eat oatmeal."

Jimi, Rowan's youngest, came waddling from the kitchen with sticky hands and cheeks and a half eaten syrupy waffle in his hand. Rowan sighed and quickly lifted him into the air before sparing her brother one last glance and disappearing around the threshold of the kitchen. She was shit as a person and lacked morals as a young woman but she at least took better care of her own kids than her mother ever had her.

"Dude your sister is seriously hot," Felix purred, palming the front of his pants where his erection was beginning to become noticeable. "Is she still working? How much for a night?"

"Ask me about my sister's prices again and I'll bash your fücking face in. Get up and let's go."

They were something the small group of boys. Ray with his pretty face and gentle features yet cold eyes, Gage with his long hair curly hair and tattoos, Felix with his dark skin, buzz cut, and extremely large build, and the guy Ray didn't know with his permanent glare and heavy smell of smoke. With no words even spoken anyone who crossed their path was able to tell they were up to no good and crowds parted as they walked. They were real life examples of street vermin and they wore their title proudly on their sleeves.

"Does Sammy wanna see me?" Ray asked as they headed towards the station.

"No need. We just gonna scare 'em a little today. If he don't have the cash by later tonight then we'll go back for the real fun," Felix said, bumming a smoke from his quiet friend who Ray still didn't know or recognize. Ray wasn't a fan of new guys but if he was cool with Felix he figured it'd be okay to let him tag along.

Ray's father had been a slave to drugs and Ray vowed never to become like him but that didn't mean he could escape the streets completely. His grandfather had been one of the leaders of "The Outfit," a branch of the Mafia that was once led by Al Capone and rooted out from the inner city workings of Chicago. Like the "Five Families" of the Mafia, the gang was more of a large organization than just city kids messing around with guns and lower class drugs. Most of the money earned was from casino's and profit from loans but there was dirty work done as well.

Thats where Ray came in. He didn't do nor did he sell any of the heavy stuff but he did enforce the rules that came with them. Sammy Vino was Daniel Vino's son and Daniel Vino was the current leader of The Outfit. Daniel handled most of the white collar stuff and was the face of everything but the shit that wasn't exactly legal Sammy took care of and if ever anyone crossed him, didn't pay what they owed on time, or stepped a bit too far out of their lane, Sammy called Ray.

It was Ray's job to remind them just what would happen if they pissed Daniel or Sammy Vino off.

The job wasn't glamorous but the pay was good, it gained him respect from most of the rivaling gangs, and it kept him from being some stick up his ass college kid getting wasted at a damn frat party.

Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do with his life anyway.

Today's client was a mechanic named Kyle who'd borrowed fifteen thousand from Sammy a few months ago. He had a little girl he was raising on his own so Sammy had been lenient with his payments. Then he found out that little Kyle here had loaned that money out and was taking interest on it. You see that there was a no no. That there meant he was taking Sammy's money and profiting form it while Sammy was still ten thousand in the hole for the rest of the money Kyle owned him. If it weren't for Sammy having a soft spot for little girls, our friend Kyle would have been dead already.

After riding the train for an hour the boys stepped into Kyle's mechanic shop and waited patiently until all customers were gone. The other boys all conversed and passed the times passing jokes and talking about girls but Ray kept to himself like usual, dropping his head against the wall and trying to relax some before he met Kyle. He hadn't got much sleep last night. After picking up a few packages for Sammy and reminding a few idiots of their contract, he'd come home only to fight off two guys who were trying to double team his sister. He handled them alright, but one was pretty big and packed a heavy punch.

"Hey." Gage nudged his shoulder and Ray opened his eyes, glancing around the now empty waiting room. The new guy was occupying the pretty girl at the reception desk and Felix was switching the sign on the door to closed. Ray stood and stretched before walking behind the desk and into the shop, ignoring the muffled screams from the girl as Felix's friend restrained her.

He glided around cars and the mechanics working on them and made his way straight to Kyle's office.

Kyle was in his mid forties and he wasn't aging well. His hair was graying, his skin deflated and wrinkled already, his teeth were turning from drinking. He was trailer trash at it's best but all the pictures he had of his little girl all over the place at least proved that he loved his kid. When Ray walked in he'd been on the phone and Ray slowly shut and locked the door before hanging up the phone.

"What the-"

Before Kyle could finish his sentence Ray's arm flew forward and knuckles collided with the side of the old man's face. He lifted him by his collar and drug him across the desk before watching as he dropped to the floor. By now Kyle was already dazed and in pain but Ray furthered the pain as he kicked him twice in his ribcage before punching him repeatedly until his knuckles were slippery with the man's blood.

Kyle was on his back now, his eyes lazy and diluted, and he was hardly recognizable from the wounds on his face. His nose was broken, his lip cut, and already his left eye was swelling. Ray crouched down in front of him and held his face up by a clump of his hair.

"Say ah," he said, his tone bored and unimpressed. Kyle didn't move at first but when Ray tightened his grip and repeated himself the man slowly opened his mouth. Ray nodded and reached behind him, pulling a hand held revolver from the back of his waistband. He showed Kyle the gun, opened the chamber so he could see that it was empty, and then slid a single bullet inside. After spinning it and snapping it back in place, Ray placed the end of the gun in Kyle's mouth, the sound of his teeth shaking against the metal echoing through the room.

"Do you know who I am?"

Kyle swallowed before nodding slowly. "C-Charlie Brown," he said, the words shaky and almost incoherent with the barrel of a gun in his mouth.

"Right. And do you know who I work for?"

Another swallow.

Another scared nod.

"You tried fücking over Sammy and he doesn't like that. I don't like that. Now, he sent me here to kill you but I think I wanna play a game instead. You wanna play with me Kyle?"

A sob.

A shake of his head.

"Well, that's too bad." Ray pulled the trigger and the click of the empty chamber was enough to make Kyle begin to sob and beg for mercy. He was crying like a new born baby now and the smell in the room made Ray think he may have shit his pants. "Oh come on, don't cry now. I wanted to keep playing."

Another pull of the trigger.

Another empty shot.

More sobs from Kyle.

"If Sammy doesn't have all of the money you owe him, including the interest and everything you profited off him, by twelve tonight I'll be back and I won't come in the mood for games."

Ray snatched the weapon out of Kyle's mouth and pointed it to the file cabinet where a picture of his little girl was hanging. He watched the color drain from Kyle's face as he pulled the trigger.

A shot.

A bullet.

A hole in the center of his daughter head.

"Twelve tonight Kyle. There's your incentive."

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So, how did you guys like chapter one? I know it's not all that interesting so far but I just wanted to lay a background down for the character and kinda give a peek into his everyday life. I promise you it will get more exciting soon. But please comment and vote! I'd love to know what you think so far :)

p.s. I'll also explain the whole Charlie Brown thing soon too

edited 6/21/17