by T. Styles
I could tell now that she wasn’t going to let it go so I had to cut deep. “I’m not interested in you, Gage.” I looked into her eyes so that she would know I was serious. “I wanna put that out there so there won’t be no confusion. I been in and out of relationships all my life, and it ain’t for me no more. I hope you understand.”
At first she seemed angry but then she looked at me as if she wanted to lick me clean. “We can fuck in secret,” she said biting her bottom lip. “I know you think about sex all the time. If you don’t that’s crazy because everybody in The Catacombs sure does. Why you think The Dump always be occupied? It’s the only thing we can do around here to take our mind off of our troubles.”
“Even if I wanted to go there with you I would never do it in The Dump. I ain’t never been that pressed to fuck.”
“Yes you would.”
“Never.” I repeated.
“Never say never,” she said winking. “You’d do it especially if I was Everest.”
I never met Everest but she already got on my nerves. They acted like she was God. She’d been gone for two years and everybody claimed she was out seeing the world.
Gage rubbed my arm again. “Come on, Mad. Fuck me like you want to.” She rubbed her hand over her pussy. “I can see in your eyes you want some of this.”
I’ma be honest, I got a lot of things running through my mind right now. Yes I wouldn’t mind getting my shit off. Like I said, Gage is a pretty girl. But, the truth is I’m the only one in here who washes at the carry out up the street. The rest of them use water in buckets at The Crossroads. That ain’t good enough for me. I never smelled Gage’s pussy, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not feeling sex with her either.
“Mad, please fuck me. I want you so badly.”
I looked at her pretty eyes and wet pink lips. I tried not to focus on her breasts, but they look good too. I can’t remember the last time I been with a woman, and I can’t predict when it will happen again. When I remembered that she was drunk and this was wrong because Spirit was next in line to be with her I pulled myself together.
“You want me to leave The Catacombs? And find a place up top to go?”
She immediately looked confused. “No…what are you talking about?”
“Because you pushing me, and I don’t like to be pushed, Gage. If you want me to hang around here, you can’t keep backing me in no corners. I don’t like that shit.”
Her head lowered. “I understand.”
“I’m serious.”
“I get it…I just,” her voice dropped lower, “never mind.”
We continued to look into the fire in silence, until Wicked came into The Pit with his arm around Speedstar’s neck. Speedstar rolled with a group called The Little Liars from the West Wing, and I wondered when they got together. As far as I knew Speedstar used to be cool with Gage. Speedstar was a cute black girl with tattoos all over her body and face, and to be honest if she didn’t live in The West I could see myself fucking her too.
“Why it’s so dead out here?” Wicked asked nobody in particular. He slobbed Speedstar down before looking at Gage and then at me. He was obviously trying to make Gage jealous. “Lately ya’ll been acting dead and shit. Do something, Mad. Entertain me.”
I didn’t respond. The nigga’s a clown who’s doing a good job of entertaining himself.
“Why you looking like you wanna fight?” Wicked asked looking my way. ”You wanna fight me or something, Mad? You wanna prove to everybody in The Catacombs that you a real man?”
“Leave her alone,” Gage yelled. Her fists were balled up so I could tell she wanted to hit him or Speedstar.
“Oh…now she’s a girl. I thought she was a dude. Which one is it going to be, Mad? Are you a bitch or a nigga? I mean make up your fucking mind.”
I still don’t respond.
“I get it. You wanna act like I’m not here all of a sudden. Well one day you gonna talk to me,” he continued. “One day real soon too.”
When Fierce started coughing loudly, I rushed over to him. I didn’t even see him come back to The Pit. “You aight, man?” I asked him.
“Yeah…I gotta go get my inhaler. It’s in my cubby. I’ll be back.”
“You want me to come with you?” I asked.
“No…go back. I’m fine.”
As I watched him walk down the hall, I saw Fish from the East Wing running up to the entrance of The Pit. He looked worried.
“Mad, whatever you do stay out here. Some people asking for you at the entrance to The Catacombs dressed in navy blue suits. I think they may be cops.”
CHAPTER 5
MAD
I’m still at The Pit not understanding how the police found me at The Catacombs. And if they knew I was here, why didn’t they come in with guns blazing to take me out? After all, according to the world, I killed Rose Midland.
“What exactly did they look like?” Gage asked Fish. She looked more worried than me. “Did they say they were coming back?”
Fish was an East Winger who had come to The Catacombs about two years before me. Sometimes they called him the Gatekeeper, because he loved being by himself and would hang out front near the entrance. He did anything he could to pass time. From spraying graffiti on the walls, to bashing rocks until they turned to sand. He got a long black face with huge big lips and I think that’s why he picked the name Fish.
“They look like two white men,” he said apparently still nervous. “They gave me the spooks though. I don’t got a good feeling, Mad.”
He kept looking behind him and that made me even more noid. We don’t do well with people who don’t belong here coming into our space. There are people who live here who are in more trouble than what I want to know about. You come here if it’s your last choice, not your first.
“You better be easy, Mad,” Wicked said, with his arm still wrapped around Speedstar’s neck. He had a sly look on his face. He loved this shit. “You don’t wanna be out on them streets and get yourself locked up now do you? The last thing we want is for something to happen to you. I know your little crew over there would be devastated.”
“Why don’t you just shut the fuck up, Wicked,” Gage said as she tossed a rock into the fire. “Always starting shit. Besides, it’s your fault she’s in this to begin with.”
****
What Happened The Night Rose Was Murdered
****
We were in an abandoned building that they nicknamed ‘The Hole’ in Washington, D.C. They hung out there before they met me. Me, Gage and Spirit just cracked opened a bottle of Hennessy when Wicked, White Boy, Fierce, Daze and Killer walked in with a white girl who seemed out of place. She had red hair and was wearing a white dress that looked like she just left the prom. Her name was Rose Midland.
A little dizzy, I used the wall to stand up and readied myself to greet the squad. Wicked and his crew embraced Gage and Spirit without acknowledging me at first.
When they were done Spirit said, “Wicked, I want you to meet one of the realest niggas I know.” He walked him over to me and I reached out to shake his hand. He didn’t accept and I knew right away I didn’t like him.
Wicked with his dark gray eyes looked at me and said, “Cool tat.” He pointed at my arm. “Who’s Cassius?”
“My son.” I looked down at the tattoo, which read ‘Cassius Phillips Lost But Soon Found’.
“That’s hot.” He didn’t ask more questions about my son. “I heard it’s because of you we had money to help our friend.” Wicked pulled over another kid who was very scrawny and sickly looking. “This man right here.” He tapped him on the back. “Fierce, say hi to the person responsible for saving your life.”
Fierce seemed shy but he managed a, “Hi,” along with a weak wave. He looked timid and I liked him.
“What it is,” I said waiting for the rest of the introductions. I pulled my cap down over my eyes.
Spirit took over the introductions. “This is White Boy,” when a black kid as dark as
an Opal Stone stepped up I was thrown off by his nickname. “But we call him WB.”
“Don’t worry about it, buddy.” WB laughed I guess picking up on my facial expression. “I get that most times when people meet me. Since I’m extra dark and I tell people my name is White Boy, I always throw them off.” His energy was smooth and I liked him too.
“Now this is our father, Daze.” Spirit continued. A black teenager stepped up and he looked a little older than everybody else. I wondered why he referred to him as his father.
“Welcome,” he said to me although I didn’t believe he meant it. He didn’t want me here. “This is the mother of our family, her name is Killer.” Killer was a beautiful light skin girl with heroin tracks up and down her body…not just her arms. “She’s the love of my life,” and he pointed a stiff finger into my chest, “and she’s off limits.”
I stepped back not doing well with niggas touching me. After the intros all of them hung against the walls at first and observed me. I sipped some Hennessey until I saw Gage’s sad expression. I followed her stare. She was focused on her boyfriend Wicked who was enjoying Rose’s attention. He disrespected Gage right to her face.
“Who’s the white girl?” Spirit asked Wicked. “She hasn’t been introduced yet.” Wicked’s arm hung over Rose’s neck and he whispered in her ear.
“My bad,” he said with a smile, “we found this beauty at the train station on the way back. She was alone and crying after her fiancé’ stood her up at the alter. We took a vote and everybody agrees. We like her so we’ll keep her.”
Gage stood behind me and I heard her crying softly. Wicked acted like Gage wasn’t even his girl. Not caring about his girlfriend’s (Gage) feelings he clapped his hands together. “Since we got the formalities out the way, let’s party.”
An hour later there was weed, liquor and other drugs circling around The Hole. Everybody seemed lighter and I felt like I was in a different world. They told me that they only used the building on certain days because the police usually ran them out every chance they got. When I asked where they go during the times they can’t stay there, Spirit’s response threw me off.
“Underground. We call it The Catacombs.”
After awhile we all drifted off to sleep. When I woke up my head was banging. When I looked around I saw everybody was still asleep. Since I didn’t know where the bathroom was I grabbed my Jordans and placed them on. Once on my feet I saw the white girl with the red hair lying on the floor, with blood all over her dress and face. Her legs were wide open along with her eyes. My heart rocked in my chest. The white bitch was dead.
“Spirit,” I said in a low voice. He didn’t move. “Yo, Spirit, get the fuck up!” I yelled louder.
He finally shifted and when he did, I pointed in the direction of the girl. “What the fuck!” he said scrambling to get off the floor.
His response woke up everyone else and they all screamed after seeing Rose’s stiff body and bloody red hair. Daze walked up to her, placed his hand on her neck and said what we already knew. “She’s not breathing.” He looked at all of us and shook his head but then his eyes rested back on me.
Wicked walked slowly into my direction and said, “What’s that on your shirt?”
“What?” I looked down and I saw blood all over my hands and clothes. “Wait a minute…” I didn’t know what was happening. Why was her blood on my clothes? I didn’t even talk to her.
“What you do to her, man?” Wicked looked like he wanted to hit me.
“I…I don’t know.” I wasn’t even interested in her.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” He persisted. “She’s dead and you have blood all over your clothes.”
Because I couldn’t remember I assumed I went into the Drunk Zone again.
****
I was about to step to Wicked for thinking it was a joke that the cops were after me, when WB and Fortune came into The Pit with a bag full of groceries. Everybody’s eyes lit up because this kind of thing was golden around here, and hardly ever happened. At the most somebody in my crew may luck up on a chicken box, which would be split with the closest friends, but this was different.
The dog Fortune didn’t want, who swallowed her earring was right behind her. She re-named him Leave Me Alone. It was a yellow lab with fluffy ears and a puffy tail.
“Hear ye, hear ye, WB and Fortune have come through once again,” WB yelled making an entrance. He walked up to the pit. “I got hot dogs”— he handed the pack to Gage—“I got ground beef”— he handed the pack to Spirit— “and I got rolls.” He looked at my face and I wasn’t smiling. “Wait a minute, why everybody out here look pissed?”
I stared at Wicked and said, “No reason.”
“Yeah it ain’t ‘bout shit,” Gage added, I guess trying to take the attention off of me and Wicked’s recent beef. “Damn, WB, how you come up on all of this food?” Gage smiled and licked her lips.
“Let me tell you so you can take notes,” he grinned.
“Nigga, shut up and tell the story,” Gage added.
“So we were out at the grocery store trying to make some money by helping people take groceries to the car right?”
WB handed the bag to another member in The Catacombs, who placed the cooking grid over the fire blasting out of the trashcan. So that we could get the meat cooking.
“This old man had his eyes glued on Fortune’s ass while she was bending over,” WB continued. “So while he was looking at her, I saw his bags sitting in the cart alone. While I watched him watch her, I took his shit and split. He tried to catch me, Mad but I was gone.” He laughed harder. “You know can’t nobody fuck with my running game. I’m from Nigeria,” he said in his native accent. “And his loss was our dinner.”
The game he ran reminds me of when my mother use to make my twin sister and me steal groceries from people who parked their full grocery carts while they walked away to get their cars.
“I might have to break you off behind this, WB,” Gage said.
“Don’t make me fuck you up, girl,” Fortune responded.
“Girl, I’m just playing with him. Dang!” She shook her head. “I’ll help get these on the grill.”
Gage is horny as fuck.
When the food was sitting on the grid, WB walked over to me. “I heard the cops came here earlier, man,” he looked me over. “You okay?”
I sighed, and pulled my cap down. “Yeah, man, I guess I should probably leave The Catacombs huh? Since they already know where I am. I mean, what’s to stop them from coming up in this bitch? WB, I’m not trying to go to jail.”
“Believe it or not you safer here than you are up top. If I were you, I’d stay put. Think about it, if they weren’t scared they would’ve come up in this bitch. Look where we live, man. In hell. I think they want somebody to tell them that you not in here so that they won’t have to come. Just lay low for a few days.”
“You know I can’t do that.” I sighed. “If I don’t leave out of here at least once a day I’ll go crazy.”
“Well all I can say is don’t get caught,” he said giving me a pound. He took a deep breath and looked at Fortune who was now dancing. She was rotating her head and her long gold hair was falling over her face, arms and shoulders. You could barely see her eyes.
Trying to get my mind off of Wicked who was still grilling me I said to WB, “I remember when you first got her that wig.”
He laughed. “When I get it?”
“You don’t remember when she was dancing by The Pit like she is now?” She had the red wig at the time, but it stopped at her ears. She kept shaking her head and shit, but the hair wasn’t long enough to cover her face so it kept throwing the show off.”
“Oh shit,” he yelled, as he laughed into his hand. “That’s right. She was blowing the hell out of me that night. Old girl is many things but pretty ain’t one of them.”
I laughed harder because he was speaking gospel. “All you kept saying, more hair, more hair,” I paused, “s
o that she could put more hair in her face. You don’t remember that shit?”
By now the meaty scent of the hot dogs caused my stomach to rumble, and I was tempted to snatch one off the grill half cooked. Mothafuckas from the West started coming outside too, trying to get in good with East Wingers because they could smell the grub. I can’t stand them niggas. Always begging but never sharing when they got shit.
“You right, man.”
“You said one day I’m going to buy her a new wig.”
“And I did too,” he responded.
I remembered that day like it was yesterday. It was the first time I realized that although WB was cool, it was easy for niggas to act a little jealous at times too.
****
We were in front of the Korean store bumming for dollars that day. We only collected five dollars between me, WB, Gage and Spirit up to that point. When these three girls walked to the bus stop, WB put the cup on the ground and tried to act like he wasn’t begging. I didn’t know what he was doing so I stepped to him about it.
“What you doing, man?” I asked him when I saw him sit the cup down. I didn’t even see the chicks at that time.
“What you talking about?” he leaned against the wall and looked over at the girls. “I’m chilling.”
“But we need enough money for food tonight,” I reminded him. “
“Give me a second, Mad.”
When I focused in the direction he was looking, I understood what held his attention. We lived on the streets, but it didn’t curve our appetite for pretty faces and pussy. So I let him live, and let him smile at the pretty girl who was looking in our direction. Except instead of the girl smiling at him, she was staring at me. At first I didn’t think WB noticed because of the confident way he was acting.
“Hey, cutie, what’s your name?” he asked her.
She rolled her eyes and said, “Boy, ain’t nobody thinking about your dusty black ass.” She looked over at me. “But his fine ass can get the business anytime he want it.”