Southern Comfort

by La Jill Hunt

  “Man, I don’t know what her beef is wit me. I told her where Magic is. And I don’t know who the fuck her brother is!” He stepped back from Darrius, knowing Darrius could easily whip his ass.

  “Her brother was my best friend. The nigga you shot when you took an aim at Dax,” he told him.

  “Oh, shit.” Malik frowned at Sydni, remembering that night vividly. Not wanting to incriminate himself, he quickly recovered, adding, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Whatever, nigga! You know you did it. And I’ma figure out a way to prove it!” Sydni yelled. The manager announced that he had called the authorities and they were on their way.

  “Let’s go, Syd,” Darrius told her, grabbing her and leading her out the door.

  “You’ll pay for what you did!” She continued to scream at him.

  “Check your girl! You’d better watch your back!” Malik yelled back at her.

  Sydni was silent during the entire ride home. As they pulled in front of her house, Darrius asked her if she was okay. She nodded. He got out and walked around to her side of the car, opening the door for her. He walked her to the door and put his arms around her, pulling her close. He kissed her gently. She was amazed at his tenderness and the way it made her feel. He put his chin on her forehead and held her for a while.

  “Are you gonna invite me in?” he whispered in her ear seductively.

  “I don’t think I’d be very good company tonight,” she answered.

  “That’s okay. I know you got a lot on your mind. Can I call you later?” He pulled back to look at her beautiful face again.

  “Yeah, do that,” she told him. He kissed her again and hugged her close.

  “I love you, Sydni,” he said. Sydni’s heart began to beat so fast and hard that she thought he could hear it. She looked at him, knowing that she felt the same way, but the words wouldn’t come to her mouth. Darrius turned and walked away. He had just pulled away when Byron walked up, startling Sydni.

  “Hey, there. What’s going on?” he asked. Sydni nearly jumped out of her skin. It was as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

  “Geez, Byron. You scared the hell out of me!” She sighed when she was able to catch her breath.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Where’s Magic? Didn’t you guys go to dinner?” He walked up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She subtly pulled away, not wanting to be bothered.

  “Oh, uh, we met at the restaurant. She went to hang out, as usual. She’ll probably be home later.”

  “Did you tell her you were leaving?”

  “Huh, wha?” She was still distracted by everything that had gone on earlier and what Darrius had said before he left.

  “Did you tell her you were moving back to Atlanta and going to school in a few weeks?”

  “Oh, no, I didn’t.” With everything that had happened over the past two days, Sydni hadn’t given moving a second thought. She knew Byron would want to know why, so she added, “I’m gonna tell my mother and her together.”

  “I understand.” He nodded. “So, when did you and Darrius become so friendly?”

  “Uh, what do you mean?” She frowned, hoping he didn’t catch her blushing. She began fumbling in her purse until she found her keys.

  “He was leaving when I walked up, was he not?” Byron tilted his head and watched her reaction.

  “He was here when I got here. He came by to see my mother.” Sydni shrugged at him. “I told him she doesn’t get off until later.”

  Sydni heard the phone ringing from inside the house. She unlocked the door and rushed inside to answer it, Byron right on her heels.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “What the hell is the matter with you?” Magic screamed through the receiver.

  “What?”

  “What the hell is your problem going off on my nigga in public like you ain’t got no sense? Malik told me you slapped him in Maroon’s. Is this true?”

  Sydni could not believe that Magic was carrying on like this. She threw her keys and purse down and tried to explain to her the situation that she was caught up in.

  “Magic, did Malik tell you why I went off on him?”

  “No, he just said you started tripping like you always do and when he tried to check you, you went the fuck off.”

  “And you believed that shit, Magic? Come on, now. Listen, I need to talk to you about Malik. Come home now.”

  “You don’t need to tell me shit about my man. And I ain’t coming home. Whatever you gotta say, you say it now!”

  Sydni looked over at Byron, who had taken a seat on the sofa and didn’t look like he was going anywhere. She wanted to talk to Magic in private. She took the phone upstairs into her bedroom.

  “Look, Magic. I don’t know how to tell you this, but you gotta get the hell away from Malik.” She told her everything that Darrius had told her about Dax and that night outside the club.

  “You really have lost your damn mind, Sydni. First, it was all D’s fault that Aaron was killed. Now that you’re fucking him, you need someone else to blame. If this is true, then why haven’t the police picked Malik up?”

  “Because Mag, there is no concrete evidence. No weapon, no motive—just D’s word against Malik’s. How can it be proven?”

  “Exactly, Sydni. How can you prove it to me that Malik shot Aaron? You can’t,” Magic told her.

  “You know what, Magic? It’s sad. If anyone would have told me the nigga I was wit even lived next door to the person they thought had anything to do wit my brother’s murder, I would leave him alone. That’s how deep my love for Aaron is. But for you, I guess money and dick are the priorities in your life,” Sydni said before she hung up the phone. She was so disappointed in her sister that she could hardly think straight. She lay across her bed and closed her eyes. She heard her bedroom door creak and sat up.

  “Everything okay?” Byron asked.

  “Yeah, it’s cool. Just some family drama going on right now, I guess.”

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll be outta here soon enough.” He smiled at her smugly. The phone rang again and it was Darrius.

  “Hey, D, hold on a minute. Byron, look, I really need to chill by myself tonight and think.”

  “Okay. You want me to pick you up in the morning?” He looked at her strangely, surprised that she was asking him to leave.

  “No. I’ll call you from work,” she said.

  “Okay. Are you sure you’re gonna be all right?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “I’ll see myself out then.” He hugged her and closed her bedroom door behind him as he left.

  “Hey, baby,” he heard her say as he stood outside her room. He slowly felt his heart begin to break.

  10

  The next day seemed to creep by while Sydni was at work. She was so worried about her sister that she barely said two words to Byron when he brought her and Miss Donna their coffee, and Miss Donna kept having to repeat herself all day. The phone was ringing, but Sydni was so deep in thought that she didn’t hear it.

  “Git de phone, chile. It’s bin ringin’ for de past five minutes,” she called from the back of the store.

  “Oh, I thought Mister Joe was here.” She walked over to the wall and picked it up. “Davis Cleaners.”

  “Sydni, it’s me.”

  “Magic, I’m glad you called.” Sydni sighed. She hated arguing with her sister.

  “Before you start, Syd, there’s something I gotta tell you. I wanted to tell you face to face, but I might as well just come out and say it.”

  “What is it, Magic?” Sydni tried to prepare herself, afraid of what her sister had to tell her. Is she pregnant? I hope it’s not by Malik. That’s all we’d need right about now.

  “I . . . I’m moving out. Today. I’m getting my stuff in a little while.”

  “What? Why? What the hell is going on?”

  “I just can’t stay there anymore.”

  “I know you’re not living with that mothafucka Malik.
” Sydni looked around to make sure there were no customers and Miss Donna wasn’t anywhere near her.

  “Don’t go there, Sydni, okay? I just wanted to let you know. Is that all you care about? Whether or not I’m staying with Malik? You don’t even wonder why the hell I’m leaving?”

  “Yeah, I’m wondering. That’s why I’m asking what the hell is going on. Magic, talk to me.”

  “I don’t know, Sydni.” She could hear the distress in her sister’s voice. “Look, you know I’m a hard sleeper.”

  “Hell, yeah. Everyone knows that,” Sydni replied.

  “Okay. I mean, at first I thought I was dreaming, you know. I could feel someone touching me, feeling on me. Rubbing on my breasts and stuff.”

  Sydni could feel her heart pounding as her sister kept talking.

  “I would just roll over and pull the covers over me. But Syd, the other night, I could really feel the touches. My eyes opened and I swear, Mister Joe was standing next to my bed.”

  “Oh my God. What did he do, Magic? Did that bastard rape you?”

  “No, Syd, he didn’t rape me. I looked at him. As a matter of fact, I was too scared to say anything. He asked me was I all right because he heard me moaning and thought I was having a bad dream. He said that’s why he came in my room. I was so spooked that I just dipped. That’s why I can’t come home, Sydni.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you tell me this before?” Sydni hissed into the phone. She was so angry that she could barely speak.

  “Because the way it happened, Syd, I was wondering if I had been dreaming and he just walked in.”

  “That’s the way that sneaky bastard operates. The same way he found my towel outside the bathroom door and walked in on me. I’m telling Mama.”

  “No! Don’t tell her, Sydni. Maybe I was dreaming. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m moving out. Look, I’ll call you after I get settled. I love you, Sydni.”

  “Magic! Magic!” Sydni yelled into the phone but all she heard was the echo of the dial tone in her ear. She grabbed her purse from behind the counter and left without saying a word to anyone.

  “Dammit!” Mr. Joe whispered as he hung up the phone on his desk. He had picked it up at the same time that Sydni had answered it, and when he heard the two girls talking, he muted the receiver so they wouldn’t know he was listening. He knew that Magic had known what he had done the other night, but when her mother didn’t mention anything he thought he was safe. Now he had to come up with a way to stop that bitch ass Sydni from ruining what he had hoped would be a promising future with her mother.

  “Magic! Magic, are you still here?” Sydni yelled as she entered her house. She ran up the stairs and into her sister’s room. Her bed was still unmade and there were still a few items on her dresser, so Sydni thought that maybe she had changed her mind. But when she opened Magic’s closet and saw the missing clothes and suitcase, she knew her sister was gone. She picked up the phone and dialed Magic’s cell phone, but the voice mail picked up.

  Sydni was so lost that she didn’t know what to do. She tried to reach her mother at work, but she was not there. She paced the floor nervously, trying to figure out what to do next. She called Darrius and left a message for him to come to her house as soon as he could. She ran back down the steps and sat on the sofa. She was deep in thought when the ringing of the telephone caused her to jump.

  “Hello.”

  “Can I speak to Sydni?” an unfamiliar male voice asked. She had no idea who it was.

  “Speaking. Who is this?”

  “Look, I’m a friend of your sister.”

  “Where is she?” Sydni demanded.

  “She told me to call and tell you to meet her at this address.”

  “Let me speak to her! Where is she?”

  “She ain’t here. She just told me to call you. If you don’t want the address, then cool.”

  “Why didn’t she call me herself?”

  “I don’t know. Something about her phone being dead,” he told her. “You want the address or what?”

  “Yeah. What is it?” Sydni made mental note of the address and realized it wasn’t too far. She hung up the phone and was headed out the door when the phone rang again. It was Darrius. She told him about Magic and Mr. Joe, and then said she was on her way to meet Magic.

  “Wait, Sydni, and let me go with you,” he told her.

  “It’s cool, D. I’ll call you as soon as I get back. I’m just gonna go over there and check on her.”

  “I don’t want you to run into that asshole Malik,” he replied. “I wish you had a cell phone. At least then you could call me if something did go down.”

  “I promise you, D, I’ll be okay. I gotta go. Bye.” She rushed out to find her sister.

  Sydni stood outside the building at the address that the guy had given her over the phone. The building looked somewhat empty, but she went inside anyway. She walked down the dimly lit hallway until she came to the right apartment number. She could hear music coming from inside. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, louder this time.

  “Magic, it’s me!” she yelled. She turned the knob and the door opened. She hesitated, still calling out as she slowly entered. “Magic?”

  The apartment was dark with the exception of a light coming from a room down the hall. Sydni took a few more steps, praying that she wouldn’t find her sister’s dead body lying somewhere. She thought better of it and decided to leave. As she backed up, she felt someone grab her and put something over her mouth. As she took a breath to scream, the world went black around her.

  “Sydni! Sydni!” Darrius banged on the door. He tried to look through the window, but he knew the house was empty. It was after one and he hadn’t heard from her. Darrius was worried. He tried to call Magic’s cell, but the only thing he got was the voice mail. He knew he had to find her and see if Sydni was all right. He set off for Malik’s house.

  “Yo! What the fuck is going on?” Malik said angrily as he opened the door. He was tired as fuck; he had just gotten in the bed when Darrius came banging on the door.

  “Where is Magic? I need to talk to her!” Darrius answered. He could tell that Malik recognized him from Maroon’s and would understand that Darrius wasn’t playing.

  “Her ass is ’sleep. You talk to her in the morning.” He tried to close the door but Darrius put his arm up and pushed it back open. Malik took a step back and reached for his piece.

  “Bitch, please. Don’t even think about it!” Darrius grabbed Malik’s arm and twisted it, causing him to drop the gun. Malik groaned in pain and he began to sweat as Darrius pinned his arm behind his back.

  “What the hell is going on?” Magic said, rubbing her eyes. “D! What are you doing? Let him go!”

  “Your bitch ass boyfriend pulled his gun out on me!” D told her. He released his grip on Malik. Malik fell on the floor in pain.

  “What are you doing here, D?” Magic asked him, confused by what was going on.

  “I came looking for you. Sydni said she was coming over here to talk to you and I haven’t heard from her.”

  “I haven’t seen Sydni. She hasn’t been here.” Magic began to panic.

  “She’s not at home. I know something happened to her.” Darrius walked over to Malik and kicked him. “Where the fuck is she? I know you did something to her!”

  “I don’t know what you talkin’ about. I haven’t seen her, man. I swear!” Malik groaned and grabbed his stomach. He scrambled to reach the gun that was laying across the floor, but Darrius grabbed it and aimed it at him.

  “Is this the gun you killed Aaron with, mothafucka? You gon’ kill me with the same one?”

  “What is he talking about, Malik? Did you really shoot my brother?” Magic stood in disbelief. She had called her sister a liar earlier when Sydni may have been right.

  “I didn’t know he was your brother. I thought it was that nigga Dax!”

  “Where is my sister? What the fuck did you do to her?” Magic be
gan kicking and punching Malik as she screamed.

  “I ain’t seen your sister, I swear!” he yelled and tried to push her off him.

  Darrius pulled Magic off and told her to get dressed and get her stuff. She ran into the bedroom and pulled her clothes on, running back out with her bags. Darrius stuffed Malik’s gun into his waistband, and then Magic and Darrius didn’t waste any time leaving.

  “Do you have the number for the detective who’s handling Aaron’s case?” he asked as they got into his car.

  “Yeah, it’s here in my purse somewhere.” Magic began digging in her purse, taking stuff out and laying it in her lap. Darrius noticed that her cell phone was off.

  “Why the hell is your phone off all the damn time? Sydni may be trying to call you!”

  “Because I don’t want to waste my minutes, that’s why!” she answered, turning the phone on. “And if she couldn’t get me then she would try to reach you. Is your damn phone on?”

  Darrius looked down at the phone attached to his waist and made sure it was on.

  “Here. Here’s the number,” Magic said, pulling the rumpled business card from her purse. Darrius looked at the card and began dialing the numbers. Magic frowned at him. “It’s three o’clock in the morning. You’re calling him this late?”

  “Hello, this is Darrius Whitman. May I please speak to Detective Schultz? Thank you. Yes, I’ll hold.” He cut his eyes at Magic, who just shrugged. She listened as Darrius explained the situation that had just occurred with Malik, including the possible murder weapon that he had taken out of Malik’s place. Darrius also added that Sydni was missing and that they suspected Malik had something to do with her disappearance. He agreed to meet them at Sydni’s mother’s house.

  11

  Sydni was scared. She could feel the sweat pouring down her neck as she tried to scream. She was sitting in a chair and her hands and feet were tied behind her back. The rope was cutting into her wrists. She tried to breathe normally, but it was hard with the thick cloth over her mouth. Her eyes were covered, leaving her in total darkness. She heard the door open and then shut. Her heart was racing as the echo of footsteps came closer and closer to her. She began to whine. The gag was slowly loosened, then removed. Her lips began to quiver and she sniffled and cried from the fear.