by April Nicole
“Boss we need to kno—Whoa, what are you doing with that gun?” Azul, one of Johnny’s new guards, asked as he came face to face with the end of the gun barrel.
“What you come to do?” Johnny asked, staring at Azul.
“I came to see what we’re going to do about Malachi’s treachery. He could possibly take us all out if he snitches to the right person.”
“Azul, did the lights just go out a few minutes ago?”
“No Sir, I just walked up the stairs. The lights were all on.”
“Ok, why don’t you let me figure out what I want to do with my nephew. For the time being, can you pour me some Hennessey and two of those Vicodin pills? I want to numb this pain.”
“Alright, boss. You know this gon’ knock you out for the rest of the night.”
“What time is it now?”
“Six pm.”
“Oh, I will be alright, just hurry up. I am starting to feel the burn from my stitches.”
Azul poured Johnny a glass of Hennessey and passed him the pills, and afterwards he left the room. Johnny popped the Vicodin for the pain and knocked the Hennessey straight back to wash it down. Thirty minutes had gone by, and he was starting to feel drowsy from the drink and pills, so he fell into a deep slumber. While Johnny laid asleep, the Voodoo queen visited him again, but this time she was in his dreams. He dreamt he saw a bright light. A light so bright that he had to shield his eyes from the agonizing pain of staring out to openness. Then he saw a shadow that was tall and slim. As he moved closer, he realized it was the shadow of the same woman who appeared in mirror earlier.
“Who, who are you? I recognize you from the funeral. How did you find me?” Johnny asked, stammering over his words. He was afraid that this was serious. This was far more serious because it felt so real, but he was so high he could not tell if it was real or a hallucination.
“I was able to find you because you have blood down here on my soil, and I have a deal for you,” she said with a calm voice.
“What kind of deal? Long as money is involved, I do not care.”
“I have one even better. How about you keep Kairo alive, and you can have the southern cartel’s distributor?”
“The Colombians?”
“Yes,” the Voodoo queen nodded.
“Nah, they don’t deal with me,” Johnny said, declining the offer.
“They will do whatever I tell them to do. Do we have a deal or no?” she pressured.
“Yea, so all I have to do is let her li—” Johnny asked, but then another voice interrupted. Johnny was instantly afraid. Could this be God himself? he asked himself. He was not ready to turn away from his wicked ways. So, he turned away and ran the opposite direction, which was dark. He ran down this dark hallway until the light was no longer available. The further he ran, the dimmer the light became. He continued to run, and he fell into a dark hole. This instantly woke him, but it was next morning. The sunrise appeared through his window and the birds were chirping. “What the fuck?” Johnny questioned himself while looking at the time on the clock. Beads of sweat rolled down his neck as his heart grew increasingly strong in his chest. He spotted blood on the Versace silk pillows.
“Oh, no!” Johnny said, running to go check his face. He had stitches. How could it be possible that blood was able to seep through? When he got to the mirror his stitches appeared closed, so it was impossible for blood to seep through. Johnny looked back at his pillows and the blood was no longer there. “What the entire fuck is going on?”
He took a hot shower got dressed and headed to go see Dr. Smith. He was going crazy, hearing strange people calling his name, having weird dreams. He felt as if he was going insane. Could it be his guilty conscience playing on his mind? He was not sure what the hell was going on.
“Yo, Azul, keep guard. I got to make a quick run!”
“Alright, I will see you.”
Johnny climbed into his charger and sped to Dr. Smith’s office. He needed to know what the fuck was in his medication, because he was hallucinating some shit. He barged into Dr. Smith’s office without an appointment. He just walked straight in and passed the receptionist who was distracted by taking cute selfies, showing off her new pair of tits.
“Doctor, I need to see what the hell is going on with me,” Johnny said, barging into his office without knocking.
“Agh, what the hell!” Dr. Smith said, jumping out his skin. His pants were down to his ankles and it was pretty obvious what he was doing. Johnny did not give a damn; they all jacked off from time to time. “How dare you just barge in here like that?”
“Because your receptionist was busy twirling her blonde hair, smacking gum and taking pictures that she neglected to help. If I were you, I would fire her ass for simple shit like this, and I don’t care about you jacking your dick off. What’s up with these fucking meds you gave me?”
“Sephora! Get in here right this instant!” Dr. Smith yelled as he adjusted his pants, closing the laptop. The woman came rushing into the room, smacking on that flavorless gum.
“Yes sir, you called me?”
“How did you let him walk past you? Again, I have spoken to you over and over about being occupied on that phone. Please remove your items from the premises, you are permanently dismissed.”
“But—” she turned her mouth up to say, but Johnny intervened.
“Unt, unh, bitch, skedaddle!”
“You fucking moron!” she yelled and stormed away.
“Don’t get mad ‘cause your ass sucks at your job. You lucky I don’t blow your fucking white brains out!”
“Johnny, what was so urgent that you couldn’t call me? I was in the middle of a session with my wife,” Dr. Smith said as he was washing his hands and drying them on a Bounty paper towel.
“Doc, I’ve been having these weird dreams lately! I don’t know what kind of meds you got me taking.”
“Well, for starters, it looks like you might be combining them with some other meds. What happened to your face?”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” Johnny cut into him.
“Ok, well why do you think it’s something wrong with the meds I gave you? If you are combining them with other medications, it is possible for some hallucinations.”
“But these hallucinations are not normal. I heard someone call my name. I had a dream I saw a light and he called me. I think it was God himself.”
“You think it was God? How so?”
“Yes.” Johnny nodded. “His voice sounded calm and he called me son.”
“Ok, maybe you should come visit my church and see.”
“Alright, I will think about it.” Johnny caught the glimpse Dr. Smith shot at him. “I mean, I will try.”
“Johnny, God has given you chance after chance to get it right. His mercy for you will eventually run out. That gash on your face could have been avoided if you just gave your life to Christ.”
“Yea, now you think my face could have been saved?” Johnny sarcastically said. “Just write down the address to your church. I don’t want to hear no extra shit.”
Dr. Smith wrote the address on a yellow sticky note and Johnny stormed out the office.
Buzz! Buzz!
Johnny’s phone vibrated and he saw the clinic texted him. He was approved to be a sperm donor. Thanks to the medication Dr. Smith prescribed, his AIDS was not detectable. He smiled, knowing that if he was going to leave this earth, he was going to leave an heir behind.
“Freeze motherfucka!” a stern voice crept up from behind. This startled Johnny and he turned around to see his old-time friend Mario, aka Smoke. Smoke was a very handsome dark-skin man. He stood at 6’4, wearing a low-cut fade with a nicely tapered and trimmed beard. He kind of resembled the character Marcus from Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married, muscles and all. “What’s up nigga, long time no see?”
“Oh, nigga what the fuck! I thought I had to bust a bullet,” Johnny said, giving Smoke dap and hugging his old-time friend. “I was about to kill
you, sneaking up on me like that.”
“Man, it’s all good! I see you got skinnier. What you been up to?” Smoke said, looking Johnny’s fragile body up and down. He looked like he was going to tumble over and die any moment now.
“Smoke, I couldn’t even tell you half. What you doing around these parts?” Johnny asked, admiring the gold chain that draped around Smoke’s chocolate, smooth skin. The lustful thoughts that ran through Johnny’s mind were making his dick hard. But Smoke saw that and grew increasingly uncomfortable, for he was not trying to revisit old memories. He had moved on, got married to a woman, and was expecting to have kids someday.
“Yea, you know I was shooting some moves here and there. What you got up? I’m about to head home,” Smoke asked, staring at his gold Rolex watch for the time. He knew it was a cop out, but he needed to get the fuck out the way.
“I ain’t got shit up. I’ll tell you what, how about I give you my number and you hit me up?”
“Aight,” Smoke replied, pulling out his phone. Johnny snatched it out of Smoke’s hands and entered his own number, calling it afterwards.
“No funny shit, we should link up for business one day,” Johnny suggested.
“Yea, I would actually like that.” Smoke smiled, flashing his pretty teeth.
“Aight, see you around.” Johnny waved goodbye and walked away. He was still after Malachi, so he needed to go finish what he started. First, he needed to figure out a way to get him back north. “I fucking got it!” he said and flashed a devilish smile once he realized exactly what he was going to do. To set his plan in motion, he was going to go after his unborn child.
Johnny started his car and headed over to Malachi’s apartment. He cruised up Mack Ave until he reached the Fairview Manors. Once he arrived, he parked his car out front and loaded his gun, making sure each bullet was correctly in its chamber before getting out the car and walking to the apartment building. He knew exactly what apartment they resided in, for he had visited this area before. He quickly approached the stairs and kicked the door wide open, to only discover the place was entirely empty. “What the fuck?” Johnny said, looking around the desolate place.
“Looking for Malachi?” Keno said with such attitude you could tell he wasn’t for no games. He came from out the back with one of his arms in a white cloth-like sling, his neck was patched up and he had a gun in the other hand. “He ain’t here!” He aimed the gun directly at Johnny’s chest because he was ready to kill him.
“Keno? I thought you was dead?” Johnny said, shocked, eyeing the gun that was now aimed at his heart.
“Yea, you never came to see if I was alive either. You just said fuck me.” Keno spit towards Johnny’s direction, and it landed a few inches away from his feet.
“True that, but why you got the gun pointed at me? It ain’t my fault. I gave you specific instructions.”
“I thought you loved me. At least that’s what you used to say whenever we fucked!” Keno admitted. He was very emotional because he was incredibly young when Johnny took his virginity and promised him a good life ever since. “I heard what you did to Malachi, and that’s why I’m here. To kill you.”
“Aight, hold on. I do love you, let’s just sort things out real quick,” said Johnny, approaching Keno slowly with one hand in front of him and the other reaching for his Glock behind him. Keno’s eyes were filled with tears, but he was no dummy. He knew Johnny was reaching for his gun.
“You don’t love me. You the jack of all trades!” Keno screamed before releasing the trigger.
POW! POW!
Choking
One day prior
Cough! Cough!
Malachi arose out the muddy water, coughing from consuming the dirty water in his mouth. He looked around and saw people running all over the bayou frantically. The ambulance rushed a very distraught Kairo that was bleeding from her chest and in between her legs to the hospital. Malachi peered through the crowd to find Johnny, but there were no signs of him whatsoever. So, he climbed out the mud and ran to find a pay phone nearby to call Olivia.
“Hello?” Liv answered on the third ring. She was half sleep when he called.
“Olivia, I need you and Alexis to get the fuck on immediately. Johnny just tried to kill me, and I know once he gets back north he will kill you both.
“Exactly where are we going to go? We already relocated, you want us to relocate again?”
“Alexis will know, put her on the phone.”
“Alright,” Olivia said and yelled Alexis’s name.
“Yo,” Alexis answered.
“You remember that one spot on the west off Fenkell?”
“Yea, the one near the Lodge?”
“Yea, you and Olivia go there immediately. I will be home soon.”
“Wha—”
Malachi hung up the call before Alexis could ask any other questions. He wanted to remain low as possible now that there was a bounty set for his life. He walked back to the bayou that was now a bloody massacre from all the innocent bodies that were caught up in the crossfire. He looked over and saw Jackie’s lifeless body lying there. He did not shed a tear because he had no love for her. She was just something to do while time passed by.
“Young man, I have come to the realization that you caused all of this,” the Voodoo queen said, coming up from behind. Malachi turned around and was now face to face with her.
“You blame me?” he asked, pointing at himself. There was no way he could be responsible for this bloody shit.
“Yes, the truth is, your uncle is one awfully bad, corruptible man, but you chose to go behind your father’s back and work with him anyway. Although they had their own beef, you still interfered, making matters worse.”
“You saying I’m the reason my father was killed?”
“No, the reason your father was killed was because of his own selfish reasons, but you came down here causing havoc, bringing Johnny down south to follow you. Innocent blood was shed from your carelessness. You just had to come down south. I warned you yesterday this was all because of you.”
“Do you even know who I am lady?”
“Huh, do I? Of course, I know exactly who you are. I know both of your parents—”
“I’m confused! You’re my great aunt and you talking crazy to me. I ran to my stepmother for help because I have no one else, and was hoping you could possibly help me kill my own uncle. Then you hit me with this shit.”
“Don’t mock me young man. That I cannot do, but if you kill him, that will be on you. You will rot in hell if you do. But this is what I’m going to do, reset your memory and send you home,” the Voodoo queen said and blew white dust in his face, knocking him into a deep slumber coma that lasted for 48 hours. After the two days had passed, Malachi woke up to Olivia wiping his face down with a warm rag. He jumped up, looking around the room that was starting to look familiar to him.
“Well if the dead has finally arisen,” Alexis said, smacking on some flavorless gum, putting Loving a Soulless Thug by Jushelle Smiter down in her chair. She got up to help Olivia clean him up.
“What the hell happened? How long I’ve been out for?”
“You been knocked out for about 48 hours, but two days ago, six strange men dressed in all-black suits and ties delivered you. We been looking over you as you slept ever since,” Olivia said as she a wrung the rag out. “What happened to your eye?” she asked, because they hadn’t seen him in a while and were wondering what happened to his eye. When he left the house, he had both of his eyes, now he was back with only one.
“Johnny took it out for witnessing my own father’s death. Is this the house on Fenkell?”
“Wait, wha—” Olivia said, covering her mouth from disbelief, and Alexis spoke over her.
“Yea.”
“Why it looks so different?” Malachi said, ignoring Olivia’s reaction to his father being dead.
“Because you neglected it, that’s why you don’t remember it,” Alexis replied in a smart tone. S
he was starting to dislike Malachi and he could hear it in her voice. He scooted to the edge of the bed and put his arms around her.
“What’s wrong with you?” Malachi asked Alexis. She just rolled her eyes and continued to text whoever she was texting, before looking up to respond.
“I can’t believe we had to leave my apartment that was in way better condition, for this piece of shit. I feel so uncomfortable being here.”
“True, the apartment was better than this spot on Fenkell. But we will be alright,” said Malachi as he was kissing Alexis on the forehead. Olivia, jealous that Alexis was mainly getting the attention, chimed in.
“So now what?” she asked, coming closer to where Malachi and Alexis were sitting.
“I got to figure something out now that my father is dead. I know what I’m going to do, I’m going to kill Johnny, and I put that on everything,” Malachi spoke with aggravation in his voice. Every time he relived the moment of watching Johnny kill his father and remove his eye, it made him mad.
“Oh no, I’m sooo sorry!” Olivia said, rubbing Malachi’s shoulder. This annoyed the fuck out of Alexis. She didn’t even want her touching him.
“Bitch, get off him!” she snapped.
“Or what?” Olivia said as she continued to massage Malachi’s shoulders. Alexis looked away and didn’t mumble another word, she just folded her arms and pouted her lips.
“Come here Alexis,” Malachi called out. “Kiss me right here.” He pointed at his lips and she did as she was told. Olivia began planting short and sweet kisses on the nape of his neck. “You know what to do.” He guided Alexis’s head towards his dick that was now busting through his black shorts he was wearing.
Olivia licked and sucked on his earlobe as Alexis sucked his dick, slurping and making gag noises. Soon as they were getting into the groove of things, a loud bang was at the door.
BANG! BANG!
“Who the fuck is that?” Malachi said, damn near jumping out his skin. This was a low-key spot. He was not expecting anybody to know about this one spot.