by Sa'id Salaam
“Me! Why?” he asked. At least he knew he wasn’t that handsome, didn’t make any money or have anything else of benefit.
“Cuz Shay said you got a big dick,” Shyne said truthfully. She could hear him smiling through the phone. It wasn’t true but he sure enjoyed hearing it.
“Get you some then!” Markel said, sticking his chest out proudly.
“Come get me!” Shyne replied. She gave him directions to her house even though she wasn’t home. She was parked down the block so she couldn’t miss the show.
“I’m taking your car, Ma!” Markel announced and took her keys from her purse.
She shook her head at her sorry ass son as he departed. The wannabe rapper didn’t put gas in her car or contribute anything towards the household. All he did was promise that one day he was going to blow up. Little did he know, today was that day.
“Raggedy ass car!” Markel griped when he saw a puddle of fluid under the aged vehicle. He noticed the smell of gas, too, and hoped that there was enough in the tank to make it to his destination. He didn’t, however, notice the thin wire attached to the door as he snatched it open. It pulled the pin form the grenade Shyne had stuffed into the headrest.
“Wait for it,” Shyne giggled and counted down along with the timer on the grenade. “Four, three, two…Dayum!”
The blast lifted the vehicle off the ground when the device exploded. Markel’s brain matter flew like confetti from the window. The gas caught and saved his mother from the expenses of having to have him cremated. Shyne watched the fire until she heard sirens approaching and went home.
****
“Man! That’s fucked up! I told you I had them!” Sun whined when Shyne came home.
“I don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout, Willis,” Shyne said, holding her chin up defiantly. She managed to contain a goofy smile to the corner of her mouth.
“Yeah, you do! You smell like gas! I know you did it,” he whined.
“Did what?” their nosey father asked as he came into the room.
“Nothing, Pops. Some street stuff, you wouldn’t understand,” Sun said, frustrated.
“Say word,” Killa laughed and walked back out. He went just far enough to hear yet not be seen. He gleaned all he needed to know about the remaining victim and headed out. “I’ma show y’all how it’s really done.”
****
Sun and Shyne were still arguing days later about who would get to kill Cap. Dumb ass hadn’t put it together that all his friends had been brutally murdered, so he continued about his daily routine, making himself an easy target. He was the last to strike Sun and in turn would be the last to die.
“Just gonna stand on the corner and sling rocks while my children plot your death,” Killa said as he watched the dealer deal. He’d borrowed one of the officer’s personal cars from the police substation for the night. It would have a little something extra in it when he returned it.
“Got dubs, dimes, nicks and three-dollar hits!” Cap announced to all the cars that pulled into the parking lot. A car stopped and he stuck the top half of his body into the window to make a sale. The car pulled off and the next one pulled up.
“Got dubs, dimes…”
“Nicks and tres. Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Killa cut in, cutting off his sales pitch. “Give me five dubs.”
“That’s, uh…um…five, carry the one…seventy-five dollars,” Cap said and stuck his head in. He was so focused on the hundred-dollar bill that he didn’t notice Killa slip the metal ring over his head until it was already on. “What’s this?”
“The DC 2000,” Killa said and hit the switch. His head did a little flip before landing upright in the passenger seat. It stared up at Killa so he continued explaining as he drove away. “My baby mama actually came up with it but when I saw it, I had to have it.”
The headless body sank down and sat on the curb. A few junkies actually tried to buy crack from it and got mad when it wouldn’t reply. Killa returned the borrowed car to the substation parking lot and walked back to his own car. To his surprise, his kids were still arguing about who would get to kill the last man.
“Tails!” Shyne yelled as Sun flipped the coin. They watched anxiously as it tumbled in the air.
“Heads,” Killa laughed at his inside joke as he went upstairs to bed.
Chapter 23
Summer went out with a bang because Sun set out to bang all the Wyandanch girls he’d probably never see again in life. Both he and Shyne knew that they wouldn’t be coming back there to live. They had no idea where their final destination would be, but they knew that it wouldn’t be Wyandanch.
Killa sprang to have the twins and Asad’s cars shipped to Atlanta, along with all of their personal affects. Bryonna joined the family for the flight down south. Neither she nor Asad would be returning either.
“You really don’t have to come, you know, Pops. I got them from here,” Sun said for the tenth time.
“Mmhm,” Killa chuckled. It translated to ‘yeah right, picture me sending my eighteen-year-old children off to a strange city all by themselves.’ Atlanta is a very dangerous city but so were his kids. He was afraid for the city of Atlanta, not his children.
“I just hope you didn’t get us a raggedy apartment!” Shyne fussed, scrunching her face up in disgust.
“Mmhm,” Killa repeated. This time, he meant ‘picture me putting my children in some bullshit.’ It can’t be pictured because he wouldn’t do it.
Once they reached Atlanta, the extended family loaded into a rental. They reached downtown and Killa pulled into an underground parking lot that shut Shyne up. The diva had no complaints as they rode the elevator up to the tenth floor. Killa paused when they stepped out to decide which way to go.
“You forgot where it is?” Shyne said, shaking her head.
“Be easy, you know he’s getting old,” Sun whispered as if their father was hard of hearing. He shook his head and turned left.
“After you,” Killa announced as he opened the door and stepped aside so the four freshmen could enter.
“I got the master!” Shyne shouted as she took off in search of it. Bryonna shrugged an ‘oh well.’ She was too grateful to not have to live in the dorms to worry which room she got. The sofa in the living room would have been fine with her.
“Hey! There’s only three bedrooms,” Sun said, scratching his head. He had no intentions on sharing a room with anyone.
“Asad and I can take the master and you guys can get a room to yourselves,” Shyne said as if that settled it.
“Un, no,” Killa laughed. “The master is for Christi. She’s driving down tomorrow. You girls pick a room. Boys, follow me.”
Killa walked Sun and Asad back down the hallway where another three-bedroom unit awaited. The smart father had purchased the two units knowing that they would double in value by the time his kids graduated college.
“I get the master!” Sun yelled when they entered a unit identical to the ones the girls had. Killa had made sure to furnish them exactly the same to cut out the bickering.
“The master bedroom is for the master; me!” Killa laughed and went to his room.
Asad and Sun flipped a coin for the other rooms and put their bags away.
****
Basketball season hadn’t begun yet but Sun was already on pace to break the freshman record for fucking. The Benz turned out to be a real cat mobile. He did well in his classes but spent all of his free time on a panty raids.
Asad settled into his classes and quickly excelled in them. Not only was he excelling in school but a major game manufacturer had taken an interest in one of his games, so his free time was spent working the bugs out. Once he did, it would be worth millions.
Bryonna and Shyne had flip-flopped majors. Now Shyne was going into pre-law while Bryonna had decided on pre-med. They were both on their way to being honor roll students but they still twerked to music in the privacy of Shyne’s room.
Meanwhile, Killa did what killers do and scanned
his 1-800-Killa site for people in need of killing. He also scanned the names of the pedophiles listed on the laptop he’d gotten from Shyne. He had future plans for them. That is, until he found one he just couldn’t resist.
****
A sexual predator was in a group chat bragging about how he used his karate classes to lure young girls into grownup positions. The thirty-year-old handsome black man could have easily attracted women his own age but he preferred them young, eleven or twelve to be exact. And that was why Killa preferred him dead.
“Good morning, Daddy,” Shyne sang as she let her father into the condo. He made it a point to eat breakfast with the girls as often as he could.
“Morning, sweetheart, Bryonna and Christi,” he greeted as he walked in to the smell of cinnamon rolls and turkey bacon. He took a seat at the table and began to pout.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?” Shyne said, ready to kill whoever had upset her father. Killa knew it, too, and that’s why he was putting on.
“Just was reading about this karate instructor who has been molesting little girls. He beat a couple of cases in Texas then moved here to Atlanta and is at it again,” Killa sighed helplessly.
“Sho-nuff?” she asked as the wheels began to turn in her head. “Where is he?”
“He has a school on Memorial Drive,” he replied and produced a flyer. On it was his handsome face along with the address to his school. Killa just happened to leave it on the table when he left.
****
“Ki-ki-ki,” Shyne practiced giggling in her mirror. She pulled her hair into pigtails and tied ribbons to them in an attempt to look like a twelve-year-old. At eighteen, she wasn’t far off anyway and could have easily passed for a preteen.
Most twelve year olds didn’t drive so she parked a few blocks away from the strip mall where the karate studio was located. She walked over and arrived a few minutes before closing.
“Well, hello there…?” the instructor smiled when Shyne entered.
“Shyne,” Shyne said truthfully as she discreetly scanned for security cameras.
“Well, Miss Shyne, we’re about to close so have your mom bring you back tomorrow.”
“My mom is at work. I came by myself,” Shyne replied shyly.
“W-w-wh-what about y-y-your d-dad?” he asked, getting an erection in his karate pants.
“Never met him,” she shrugged. “Can you teach me karate?”
“Um…yeah…I…um,” he stammered as he locked the front door. Shyne was as happy as he was since now they wouldn’t be disturbed. “Sure, come on into the studio. The first thing we need to learn is wrestling.”
“Not blocks?” Shyne asked since she knew better. She realized she’d let the cat out of the bag and tried to fix it. “Cuz the girls at school be hitting me.”
“Um…okay. I’ll show you a few blocks, and then wrestling,” he agreed. He couldn’t wait to wrestle the girl down and rape her. However, it was not to be. “Use your arm to block.”
The teacher threw a soft jab that Shyne knocked away before firing an uppercut to his mouth that split his lips. “Like that?”
“Bi- Uh,” the man frowned as he looked at his own blood on his fingers. He threw a harder punch and got hit even harder in return. “Who…are…you?”
“I told you, Shyne,” she growled and got into a fighting stance.
“Oh, okay. I see what this is,” he nodded, bowed and then got into a stance of his own and prepared for battle.
Shyne quickly found out that dude didn’t know a lick of karate. It was all just a ruse to put him in a position to molest kids. He should’ve picked being a clown or something else because Shyne commenced to beat the man to death. Every time he tried to throw a punch, Shyne slipped it and hit him with a flurry of punches and kicks of her own. Once she’d softened him up, it was time to break him down, literally.
“Is that all you got?” Shyne snickered.
He frowned at the insult and threw a wild blow just as she’d expected. She grabbed his arm and locked it in her own. She dropped to the ground and rolled until his arm was twisted behind his back.
“Owweee! You’re going to…,” the man yelled but was interrupted by the loud snap of his arm breaking. “Yeeoooweee!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she said dryly and twisted the other one. It snapped too, giving him two broken arms. Next she put him in a leg hold and snapped his knee.
“Help! Help!” he yelled and tried to crawl to the front door. Shyne followed behind looking for something to beat him with. A pair of nun-chucks on the wall caught her eye and brought a smile to her face.
“Ha-yah!” Shyne said in her Brue Lee voice as she swung the device. The crack of his arms was nothing compared to the sound his skull made when she hit him. She hit him again and again until his head caved in. She stood over him and gave his dead body a bow. It was now time to go.
Chapter 24
By sophomore year, both Shyne and Bryonna had gotten internships in their chosen career fields. Shyne had taken a position in a law firm to get some practical experience while Bryonna worked in the school’s clinic and got in everybody’s business.
“Um…gonorrhea. No, wait, um, chlamydia,” she bet the other intern when a pretty girl came in.
“Nah, she look like she got Zika!” the girl laughed. They giggled but quickly straightened up when she arrived at the desk. “Can I help you?”
“I doubt it,” the girl frowned as if the two were beneath her. “April Hill, I’m here for my follow-up.”
“The doctor is expecting you. Second room on the right,” Bryonna said cheerfully despite the snub.
“I do hair, you know,” April advised, frowning at her natural hairstyle before sashaying to the back.
“Um…that’s not hair, that’s plastic,” her friend whispered and cracked up again.
“Miss Hill, have a seat,” the doctor said stoically.
“Hurry up because I have a date tonight,” she huffed. The woman was too occupied with herself in the mirror to see the grim look on the doctor’s face. It was just as grim as the news he had.
“Okay, well, the results of the test you took are in. I’m sorry to inform you, but you are HIV positive.”
“Okay, thank you,” April said as she stood and began to walk away.
He’d seen plenty of strange reactions to this diagnosis but none as strange as this.
“Mmhm,” she shrugged like it was no big deal. “I gotta get ready for my date. A big spender, he may get him some.”
“Some what? Miss Hill, it’s a crime to have unprotected sexual contact with anyone once you’ve been informed that you’re HIV positive! Also, by state law, we require the names and numbers of anyone you’ve had sexual contact with in the last six months.”
“You and me both,” April laughed. “Don’t nobody do names and numbers. We be too busy turning up! I can give you their IG names.”
“Wow!” Bryonna said when the doctor relayed the strange encounter with the strange girl. She’d seen the girl around campus, always with a different guy on her arm. It wouldn’t be long before she saw her with someone she knew personally.
****
“Excuse me, Miss!” Sun called out to the fat ass that passed by. He caught up with her and spun her around to introduce himself.
“Do I know you?” the girl asked, feigning indignation at him grabbing her arm.
“Not yet but you ‘bout to,” the smooth player shot back then flashed that killer smile that he’d inherited from his father. “I’m Sun.”
“April,” she said, smiling up at the handsome young man. She was pretty sure she hadn’t fucked him yet but she planned to the first chance she got. They exchanged social media contacts with plans to hook up. As soon as Sun turned, he came face to face with Bryonna.
“What you doing with her?” Bryonna fussed.
“Nothing yet, but as soon as I scoop her up, I’ma do all kinda stuff to her. Course, you wouldn’t know nothing but that,” Sun teased. Ironically
, he liked that Bryonna was a good girl and he had no use for a good girl. Not yet, anyway.
“Do you know who she is?” she demanded, putting a hand on her hip.
“Um…” he paused to check her username. “Wet-Wet69!”
“Sun! Leave that chick alone! She nasty! She dirty! She…”
“Just like I like ‘em,” Sun chuckled and walked off.
Bryonna was at a loss since she didn’t want to lose her job by violating their policy on patient confidentiality. She couldn’t let the girl infect him, either. She still had plans for Mr. Sun Forrest.
“Who was that?” Sun’s partner Milton asked eagerly when he returned from macking. “She’s hot!”
“Who? Bryonna?” Sun laughed. He squinted at Bryonna walking away, trying to see the heat. Both she and Shyne both still wore loose fitting clothes to conceal their body parts and modesty.
“Yeah, she got a man?”
“Huh? No…um…but… That’s my sister’s partner, so…” Sun stammered as he struggled to explain what he couldn’t understand.
“I’ma holla at her. Those the ones I like, good girls!” Milton exclaimed happily and tried to high five Sun.
“Nah, yo,” he said, leaving him hanging. “Leave her alone!”
****
“Wow!” Shyne said, wide-eyed with shock when Bryonna confided April’s HIV status. She risked her job and career but Sun and Shyne were like family.
“I know, right. I told Sun to stay away from her, but he still trying to mess with her!”
“No, I mean wow, I can’t believe that you would go through all of that! I know you like my brother but DANG!” she laughed. Bryonna shut up her chuckle with a copy of her positive status. “Wow!”
“Wow is right! And I don’t like your brother!” Bryonna shot back.
There was a brief moment of silence as the lie bounced around the room. Shyne twisted her lips like ‘yeah right,’ forcing her to come clean.
“Okay, so I do, but that ain’t got nothing to do with this. Besides, that cute guy Milton asked me out.”
“He did? You going? Where y’all going?” Shyne wanted to know.