Brick: An Urban Paranormal

by Natavia

  Planet? I asked myself.

  “I won’t tell anyone I swear. Please just let me go,” I said.

  “I’m breaking the law as we speak,” he said.

  “Are you going to kill me?” I asked.

  “I don’t care about your life, Nabila, but I know you do, so I expect for you to do anything to keep it,” he said.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “I want you to be my way out. We both will walk away happy after it's over,” he said.

  “What do you want me to do?” I screamed with tears falling from my eyes. I couldn’t believe how much my life changed within an hour.

  Mr. Epstein definitely needs to make me employee of the month. If he wasn’t so cheap and had lights in the back of the building. I would’ve seen the darn bird fall from the sky, I thought.

  “Marry me,” he said.

  “Muthafucka, what?” I asked.

  “That way I can prove that I fell in love. A married man is not capable of being a soldier. Our king believes that a married soldier isn't focused on war which makes him become a liability,” he replied.

  “Do I look like Big Bird to you? Do you see wings on my damn back? I’m a human, and you are…hell, I don’t know what you are, but I know damn well this marriage will not work,” I said.

  “Make it work! I’m saving your life, and you will save mine. End of discussion,” he said and walked away from me.

  “I don’t even know your name!” I yelled, and he turned around.

  “Brick. That’s all you need to know about me. I will see you when you get off from work tomorrow,” he said.

  Like hell you are! My neighbors from the hood are going to whip your big ass. Oh wait he is solid as a rock, I thought, and he laughed.

  “Very cute, but I don’t think your neighbors are capable of making me feel a thing. You get off at three in the afternoon, right? Just a little bit of advice, don’t wear the black skirt in the back of your closet. It’s going to tear when you get out of the cab tomorrow morning,” he said.

  “How do you know what I was going to wear?” I asked.

  “I’m a psychic,” he laughed. His wings appeared again when he walked out of the old and broken door of the church. I covered my eyes when he spread his wings because of the bright glow. The flapping of his wings caused the gravel from the ground to blow into my eyes.

  “ASSHOLE!” I yelled. I reached inside of my purse for my cell phone. I didn’t want to call a cab, but I didn’t have a choice. I was on the other side of town, and the cab fare home was thirty-bucks. I could've called Risha, but I didn’t want to explain how I ended up on the other side of town. The cab driver arrived at the abandoned church ten minutes later.

  *********

  The cab driver sped off as soon as both my heels touched the ground. I guess he didn’t want to get robbed. I didn’t live in a great part of the city. The crime in my neighborhood was the highest throughout the city. I heard shoot outs and police sirens almost every night. I walked into my building, and the smell made my stomach turn. It smelled like weed, armpits, blood, and urine. I lived in an apartment on the bottom floor which sometimes had flooding issues. The area itself wasn’t a major issue. My major issue was that I went to college to have a better life, but I was still living in the same apartment the system placed me in when I was eighteen. I wanted a better home, but I couldn’t afford anything else. I took a shower and climbed into bed. I stared at the ceiling while trying to digest what happened to me tonight. I couldn’t go to sleep because Brick’s gray eyes popped up inside of my head. His bronzed skin and full lips couldn’t get out of my system. Even the creature he turned into was strikingly handsome. His eight-foot body, long locs, and his wings reminded me of a Greek statue. I stayed up thinking about Brick until my alarm clock went off. It was time for me to go to work. I wondered what he was, where he came from, and if it was more of them. My mind was all over the place as I prepared myself for work.

  I stopped at the small coffee shop on the corner of my neighborhood to get an iced- latte. I walked a few blocks up and waited for a cab. Thirty-minutes later, I was in front of my job. I wondered if my smashed car was still in the back of the building. I stepped out the cab after I paid the driver, and my skirt ripped right down the middle.

  “Damn it!” I yelled. I took off my blazer and tied it around my waist. I forgot that Brick warned me about the skirt. He knew when and where it was going to happen. Reality settled in at that very moment. I met an immortal being, and I wasn’t losing my mind. I walked to the back of the building, and my car was gone. There was not one sign of my car. No glass, metal—nothing.

  “What are you doing back here, Nabila? You are ten minutes late,” Mrs. Epstein said to me. I wanted to knock the Mrs. Doubtfire wig off her head. No wonder her husband was having affairs. She looked like an old plantation slave owner’s wife.

  “My car was towed last night, so I caught a cab this morning, but technically I’m not late. I didn’t give Mr. Epstein a specific time. I only told him I would be in during morning hours,” I said, and she rolled her eyes at me.

  “Don’t you think your breasts are a little too big for that top?” she asked.

  Bitch so what! I’m fluffy! What do you want me to do about that? I thought.

  “My shirt is within the dress code,” I said and walked out her face. I walked into the building and headed for my small office. My office was the size of a janitor’s closet. I closed the door, and I slammed my purse down on the desk. I wanted to wrap my fingers around Mrs. Epstein’s throat until it snapped. I didn’t have much work to do. I scheduled a few appointments and typed up a few appointment letters. It was ten minutes before three o’clock when I finished. I rushed to the bathroom to check my makeup and hair because Brick said he was going to see me after work.

  “I’m interested in a raven or whatever he is,” I said to myself.

  I went to my office and grabbed my purse before I headed out. I didn’t eat anything for breakfast or lunch because I was anxious about my day. Brick was nowhere in sight when I rushed out the building. I called a cab to head back home. I had Sunday’s off, and all I had planned was lying around my apartment and watching movies. Risha worked overnight every other Saturday, so my plans of partying were out of the question. My stomach rumbled, and I had a taste for a juicy burger with extra bacon and cheese fries. I was supposed to be on weight watchers, but I was sick of them. I hated keeping track of my points. I played Candy Crush on my phone while I waited for a cab. Seconds later, a white spankin’ new Lexus pulled up in front of me.

  Probably one of Mr. Epstein’s side-pieces. They always come after his wife leaves. I thought. I almost fell out on the concrete when the door of the white Lexus opened. Brick stepped out of his car wearing a black V-neck shirt, cargo shorts with a pair of new Jordan’s.

  A creature with style? No way this shit is real, I thought.

  “I had a few things to take care of this morning. Sorry for being late and I’m surprised you waited for me,” he said.

  His cologne tickled my nostrils. He smelled so good that I knew whatever it was, came from another planet—literally. I had never smelled anything like it.

  “So, you decided to burn gas when you can just fly right through the city?” I asked.

  “I see we might have to do something about that mouth of yours. I also see that you didn’t believe me when I said your skirt was going to tear,” Brick replied.

  “Why are you here?” I asked.

  “So we can talk like normal folk, but why are you acting like you are not happy to see me? You even refreshed your makeup for me. I have a bigger impact on you than what I had on your car last night, and that was a big one,” he said and laughed.

  His teeth are even pretty. He’s so perfect, I thought.

  “What did you do with my car?” I asked him.

  “I balled it up and trashed it in the dumpster. Get in the car, so we can talk about this arrangement,” he
said.

  “Like hell I will. I don’t know you,” I said.

  “But you have been looking forward to seeing me all morning. Get in the car, Nabila,” Brick said in a serious tone. I got inside his car before he decided to take me up in the air again.

  “You look like a human,” I said after he got inside the car.

  “I am a soldier of a planet called, Vada. I go home to fight battles against our enemies. I come to Earth when we aren't at war. I have been doing that for a few years now. The king will punish one of the soldiers if I don’t show up for war because he can’t punish me. I can’t risk any of their lives behind my foolishness. You are my only option. I can get away without someone getting hurt,” he said.

  “Your kingdom is like a military?” I asked him.

  “Yes, it is. We have to fight to save our water. Our water is the source that keeps our planet alive. Other enemies want to take it from us. It has been going on for centuries, and I want out,” he said.

  “Well, at least we both have something in common. I hate my job, and you hate yours. Your planet doesn’t have any tweety birds that can help you out. Why me?” I asked.

  “There is plenty, but they will not lie to give me freedom. I want to start my life over instead of being with someone who is from the same place I want to get away from. A female from my planet will not adapt to Earth so easily,” he said.

  “What are you?” I asked.

  “A gargoyle,” he replied.

  “Those ugly stone things that sit on top of old and haunted buildings. Oh my God! I loved that cartoon Gargoyles. Goliath and Demona were my favorite,” I said.

  “Ugly things? After you have been lusting over me all night and couldn’t get any sleep?” he asked.

  “Gargoyles are not good looking bats,” I spat.

  “That’s what humans think when they hear the word gargoyle, but gargoyles are protectors. The ones you have learned about are statues that sit on top of old churches. They were used back in time to keep water from dripping into the windows of buildings when it rained. I’m not that, but I am a protector of my planet, and I keep the enemies away. I turn into stone to camouflage with my kingdom as I watch over it,” he said.

  “Interesting,” I said, and he touched my hair.

  “I don’t like this. It doesn’t suit you,” Brick said.

  “Wait a minute! You don’t touch a woman’s weave,” I yelled at him.

  “You will be my wife remember? Get use to our bodies coming in contact. We will have to prove to the king that it’s real,” he said.

  “Your king doesn’t mind your wife being a human?” I asked.

  “I will deal with that on my end,” he replied. Minutes later, he pulled up to a burger restaurant.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said.

  “You want a burger with extra bacon and cheese fries, right?” he asked.

  “Damn you,” I said, and got out of the car.

  What did I really have to lose by helping him out? All he wanted was his freedom, and I wanted my life. I was being stubborn when I really didn’t have a choice, but to go with his plan.

  The waiter came over to our table after we were seated. I ordered my food, and Brick ordered three meals. I was ready to ask him about it, but I decided not to. I was certain that an immortal’s diet was very different from a humans.

  “Why did you fall out of the sky last night?” I asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I was fighting with another gargoyle, and suddenly I fell out of the sky. It was my first time falling,” he replied.

  Is it because of that… naw it can’t be, I thought.

  Brick

  I sat across from the human and admired her full lips and big breasts. I was going to kill her, but something inside of me stopped me. I was a killing machine, so I didn’t understand what was different about her from the others whose lives I didn’t spare. I didn’t know how to tell her, but I had to become intimate with her for my planet to accept her. I wondered how she was going to feel about that.

  “When is our wedding? We need to get this over with,” Nabila said while she dipped her fry inside of her cheese sauce.

  “We have to become intimate first,” I said. She pounded on her chest because she swallowed a whole French fry.

  “What does intimacy have to do with anything? Do you think I want to screw a big, giant stone statue? I’m a big girl, but I’m not that big of a girl. You didn’t say shit about that, so that is not part of the deal,” she said.

  “To be a part of me is to be a part of my planet. It’s the only way we can get married. It’s not like Earth where the intimacy comes after the wedding,” I said.

  “I don’t trust you,” she said.

  “The feeling is mutual, but my freedom is on the line, so my pride is pushed to the side,” I replied.

  “I’m not fucking a creature that’s bigger than my apartment building. Either way, I’m dead, so you might as well kill me now,” she said.

  She was stubborn—very stubborn. The Earth women I came across were obedient towards my charming ways, and they couldn’t resist me. Nabila was a difficult human. I thought about snapping her neck, but the thought left my mind as soon as I thought about it.

  Why is her life so special? This has never happened to me before. I’ve never cared about a life other than the soldiers I fight with on Vada, I thought.

  “You will change your mind,” I said as I chewed a piece of burger. Nabila stared at me as she tried to figure me out.

  “Take me home,” she finally said.

  “Finish your food. I can still hear your stomach growling,” I replied.

  “I don’t have an appetite,” she said.

  Maybe I should kill her and get this over with, I thought. Minutes later, I paid for our tab. She followed me out the restaurant, and I wanted to get away from her. She was a pest and asked too many questions.

  “WAIT! I need a ride home,” she called out to me.

  “Call an Uber,” I replied. She stood on the sidewalk and crossed her arms.

  “How about you give me the money for the car your big, brick-ass landed on,” she said, and I smirked.

  “I did your car a favor. It was nice chatting with you, but I gotta go. I’ll give you one month, so you can decide what you want to do. I will come back to see if you got rid of that attitude. Just remember your life is still on the line,” I said. I got inside my car and pulled off. I left her standing on the sidewalk.

  I gotta find another way out, I thought.

  Back in Vada…

  “You let a human see you?” Eagle asked me.

  “Will you shut the fuck up before someone hears you?” I asked.

  “This is not good,” Eagle said.

  “This is my way out! You should be looking for a way out too. I can’t believe you are against this when all you talk about is freedom,” I replied.

  “Bro, you have to think about this. We are all screwed if the king figures out your plan. You are a healer, but we aren't. He’ll come for one of us behind this shit,” Eagle fussed.

  “I got this,” I replied.

  “You should’ve just killed her,” Eagle said about Nabila. We were on a base located at the bottom of our kingdom. It was set up like a human military minus the weapons—we were the weapons. We practiced fighting, and we exercised although our bodies were automatically in shape. During training, we stayed awake for one week without any sleep. I could go months without sleeping. It was hard in the beginning, but my body was used to not resting.

  “I want out of this my brother. Look around and tell me what you see. We are nothing but property! We are slaves, and our only reason for living is to fight for this bullshit kingdom,” I spat.

  “This Earth shit is getting out of hand. You want your freedom for the wrong reason. You want to live on a planet where we don’t belong. I want to live on a planet where I belong, but not as someone’s pet,” Eagle spat.

  I sat up on the stone bench after I
finished bench-lifting a crate that held a thousand pounds of bricks. I balled up my fist because I wanted to knock some sense into Eagle.

  “You can fight until your wings fall off, but I’d rather live on a planet I don’t have to fight for,” I said.

  I walked away from Eagle and headed back to my domain. My room was like a dungeon, but my home on Earth was much better. I sat in the window which overlooked our crystal lake. My body turned into a statue as I guarded the kingdom. The door to my domain slid opened. The king’s sister, Casha walked into the room.