The Circle: Autumn

by Keisha Ervin

  “Oh my God! I can’t do this! Rain! Dayvid! Fallon! I can’t do this shit without ya’ll!!!” Autumn screamed, slamming her fists over and over again on the steering wheel. Her shoulders quaked with sobs as she contemplated the very real possibility that she may never see her siblings again. “I don’t even know what to do next without ya’ll! Why? Why did this happen to us! Who turned on us like this! Who would snitch on us and cause all of this?! I just can’t do it no more! I need ya’ll!! Nanny!! I thought you said you would always look out for us…even when you’re dead!” Autumn yelled at the top of her lungs, tear painting her face. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to make it before she just gave up on making it to the Mexican border. Her determination was dangerously low and her luck was close to running out.

  ***

  Once Autumn had a good cry and gave up on having a pity party for herself, she gathered enough strength to hit the road in her rental car. She drove as careful as she could to make sure she didn’t get stopped by the police. She kept the news radio on to make sure she knew where the police were looking for her and her sisters the most. Autumn still couldn’t tell from the news reports whether or not her brother had made it out of jail.

  While she was driving, she also thought about how far she had to go and how little money she had left. Then suddenly an idea had hit her like a bolt of lightning—always go back to the things you know will work for sure to make money. You’re a Porter so you know how to make a dollar out of fifteen cent. She had told herself. With that thought in mind, Autumn now had a destination to go to. With a newfound motivation and vigor she drove straight to Oklahoma City without stopping. OKC was a real familiar place to Autumn and just driving through it gave her chills. The city was a stomping ground that she and Fallon could always count on for a quick lick and they never hesitated to use it when they needed to. Autumn and her sister had used their OKC lick as a fail-safe many times in the past, so she was praying that it was still like an open ATM and easy as usual. She usually had Fallon to help her, but she was going to have to stand on her own two feet now.

  With her money reserves too low to continue to the border, Autumn decided she would check to see if an old OKC lick named Jimmie was still in town. Jimmie was a dumb, corny, pussy boy hustler that Autumn and Fallon had robbed more than once. Jimmie was the perfect sweet spot to hit because he always had a pretty fat stash and he was a severe creature of habit. Autumn and her siblings had no respect for Jimmie because he had proved himself to be a pussy—letting two girls rob him more than once. Autumn thought that maybe something was wrong with the dude…like he was slightly retarded or something because no other nigga with sense would stay in the same spot, doing the same things, after being robbed so many times. Jimmie’s insolence was something Autumn was praying for today, she needed his ass to still be living in the same spot and still stashing money there.

  Autumn knew Jimmie was a lame because she and Fallon alone had carried out a lick on him more than once and it seemed to get easier each time. The sisters didn’t even have to seduce him or anything after the initial set up. Jimmie was just a dumb nigga that had no chance against a cunning, street-smart robber like Autumn. Now, she was gearing up to do this lick alone…something she had never done and honestly never even considered doing.

  Autumn knew that one of her options was running up on Jimmie with her gun and sticking him for whatever he had on him, but she as tired as she was, Autumn wanted to keep the physical action and gunplay to a minimum, so she decided that instead of going balls out, she would do this lick simple. She would sit on Jimmie’s house and wait for him to leave. Once he was gone, Autumn’s plan was to slide into his spot and get her shit through burglary this time.

  When Autumn slowly pulled the rental car up on Jimmie’s block she said a quick prayer that he hadn’t finally gotten some sense and moved to a new stash spot. “Yo I need this shit like I need oxygen. Please let him still be laying here,” Autumn whispered.

  Autumn parked the car a few houses away from Jimmie’s house and turned off the ignition. She wanted to watch the house from a distance for a few to see if she spotted Jimmie coming in or going out. Research before any lick was essential…even a quick and easy lick like this. It was the Porter’s genes in her that made her careful even when she knew it was an easy hit. Rain and Dayvid had preached that careful shit to Fallon and Autumn so much that they lived by it even when they didn’t really want to. It was second nature for her now.

  It seemed like Autumn had been waiting forever and she was starting to nod in and out of sleep, but suddenly she saw the door to Jimmie’s house open. Autumn was all of a sudden wide awake. She sat up and leaned forward in the driver’s seat of the car.

  “Fuck yes!” Autumn whispered excitedly as she watched fat ass Jimmie wobble out of the door with some young girl in tow. Autumn smiled and shook her head in disgust. “This nigga still got a weakness for young girls, huh? That’s how me and Fallon got your ass dummy. You ain’t never gonna get no young pussy…you just gonna keep getting set up, dirty ass,” Autumn spoke out loud as if Jimmie could somehow hear her. She was jumping for joy inside that she had made the smart decision to carry out this quick lick and that dumb ass Jimmie had made the stupid decision to be in the same spot. She was growing antsy inside but she knew it was essential to stay calm, be patient and move only when she knew the time was right. Conducting a lick when you were too hyped up was a sure way to fuck it up. Dayvid had passed that message to his sisters from Smitty who was an old pro. Autumn took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She was about to put everything she had learned from her siblings to work because none of them were there to remind her or to pick up their role.

  Autumn watched Jimmie get into his Tahoe with the little young girl and pull off. Autumn counted down in her head, the same way she would count while waiting to drive the getaway cars after her siblings committed their heists. She waited a few minutes and with anticipation of what was to come killing her inside, she finally prepared herself mentally to get out of the car. Autumn remembered that Jimmie kept a good bit of cash in his house. The thought had her insides churning with excitement. She wasn’t even thinking about being careful at this time, she just wanted to get in the house and back out as fast as she could.

  Autumn grabbed her gun, surveyed the block to see if anyone was coming and exited the car. Just like before, she rushed to the back of Jimmie’s house for an easy entry. Nothing much had changed about Jimmie’s house either, from what Autumn could tell. She had to shake her head at that. Jimmie hadn’t even put on an additional locks or bars on the doors and windows…nothing new. “Damn nigga you gotta be the dumbest m’fucka alive,” Autumn mumbled as she prepared to break into the house.

  Autumn used the handle of her gun to break one of the small panes of glass on the side of the door. She looked around to make sure no one had heard the glass shattering, then she stuck her hand through the broken pane and felt around for the lock. It took skills to unlock a door being on the outside of it, but Autumn had the skills. Like the pro that she was, she twisted her hand enough to grab hold of the lock and turn it so that the door would open. “Ouch,” Autumn hissed. A small jagged shard of glass cut her when she pulled her hand back out after unlocking the door. “Damn…now my fucking blood is going to be on this fucking glass,” she grumbled under her breath.

  Autumn used the end of her shirt to turn the outside doorknob to enter. This dumb nigga ain’t change his lock either? He must be a retard! Autumn thought. Within a few seconds, with her adept skills, Autumn was inside the house. Once inside, she wiped the lock and doorknob clean of her fingerprints and tried her best to clean her blood off the broken glass. Leaving hair, skin, and any other bodily fluid behind was leaving DNA and therefore leaving yourself at a crime scene. Rain had told Autumn that one time when Rain had caught Autumn spitting outside of a bank they were robbing.

  The inside of Jimmie’s house gave Autumn chills. Everything inside, in
cluding the old ass furniture, was exactly the same as it had been years ago. Being inside started to overwhelm Autumn and made her immediately think of Fallon. Autumn pictured her sister’s beautiful face now and how they laughed the last time they were in the house robbing Jimmie.

  “Yo! He is so fucking stupid,” Fallon quipped as she loaded her purse with Jimmie’s cash. Autumn laughed.

  “This couldn’t be any easier. How the fuck he gonna be in the game and be so fucking weak? He’s lucky Dayvid ain’t come and see him acting like such a bitch…you know how Dayvid feels about bitchy ass men,” Autumn commented as she rummaged through Jimmie’s nightstand drawers looking for money or anything else of value they wanted to take.

  “Eeeeel look what this nigga got in his drawer,” Autumn squealed, contorting her face and stepping back in disgust. Fallon rushed over, already giggling. She looked down in the drawer and her eyes widened.

  “What the fuck? Are you serious right now? He uses a dildo on himself? Wait…and gay porn magazines too? Yoooo! This fat nigga gay, dumb and nasty as shit!” Fallon said, covering her mouth faking like she was shocked.

  “This just gets more and more crazy,” Autumn said as she slammed the drawer shut. Both sisters busted out laughing while Jimmie writhed on the floor, bound and gagged, crying like a little girl. The more he moaned and groaned, the more the Porter sisters abused him. Fallon seemed to be taking great pleasure in making him squirm. Autumn could’ve done without all the abuse, but she wasn’t going to go against her sister either…not in front of a victim at least.

  “Fuck all that though, I hit the jackpot in the closet. This nigga so dumb he hid his stacks in the most obvious place a thief like me would look,” Fallon announced, looking down at Jimmie’s weak ass with contempt in her eyes. “Floor board? Really fat ass…don’t you know we always look for the loose carpet and that trusty loosened floorboard. Ya’ll niggas never learn,” Fallon taunted.

  “Owww! I guess two sisters gonna be shopping today!” Autumn called out as she dug in Jimmie’s stash and stuffed all of his hidden stacks into her loot bag.

  Autumn caught herself smiling at the memory of one of her and Fallon’s caper, but quickly shook it off. Thinking about Fallon and her other siblings and the possibility of never seeing them again always made her feel weak inside, something that would cost her big time right now. “Shake it off Autumn. Get in and get out,” she pep talked herself.

  She rushed through the simple, flat, railroad style house and remembered that Jimmie’s bedroom was the last one down the long hallway. Autumn bolted into Jimmie’s room and went straight for the spot in his closet.

  “Please. Please. Please,” Autumn chanted as she pulled back the same edge of the carpet in the closet. “Yes! This dumb nigga ain’t even change his spot. Somebody up above is looking out for me right now. This is exactly what I need right now,” Autumn whispered overjoyed as she found the same board in the floor under the carpet that Fallon had identified years ago. Autumn lifted the board and just like suspected, stuffed down in the hole was a couple stacks of cash. She was real good at spot counting money. After being around stacks of cash so much Autumn was able to eyeball a stack and guestimate how much was in it. Now, she figured judging from what Jimmie had stuffed in the hole in the floor, there had to be at least two thousand dollars banded together in neat stacks in the small space. It was just enough for the amount of effort she had put in for this quick lick.

  “This is all I need to get me where I’m going. I ain’t even tryna be greedy right now. Good looking out dumb ass,” Autumn said grabbing the stacks from the hole in the floor. Just as she went to walk out of the closet, she heard Jimmie’s voice in the distance. A cold chill shot down Autumn’s back and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She hadn’t even heard his door open or close when Jimmie came inside. Her heart throttled up in her chest and there was nowhere to hide. She was in the last room at the back of a railroad house, if she tried to run she would probably run right into Jimmie.

  “Fuck!” she cursed at herself for taking so long inside. The sound of Jimmie’s voice seemed to be getting closer and much faster.

  “Oh shit!” Autumn huffed, her heart still banging ferociously against her chest bone. Autumn was frozen in place, but her mind was moving a million miles a minute. She whipped her head around just to check to see if there was any escape, but just like she suspected, there was nowhere for her to really run as Jimmie’s voice got closer and closer. Autumn thought about hiding somewhere in Jimmie’s room, but she wanted to get the fuck out of dodge, hiding would just trap her inside for God knows how long. Autumn’s only choice was to stand there and face Jimmie like a man. She just hoped he hadn’t grown a new set of balls since the last time she had robbed him.

  “What the fuck?!” Jimmie yelled out, dropping his cell phone, shocked to find Autumn standing in his room, holding his money in one hand and pointing her gun at him with her other hand. Autumn could immediately tell that Jimmie was feeling defeated already before she even opened her mouth. That was a good sign for her…Jimmie was still a weak nigga.

  “You bitch! The fuck is you doing?” Jimmie growled, sounding like he was really trying to be hard but Autumn could tell he was already on the verge of tears. He didn’t recognize Autumn in her disguise. “You about to die bitch!” Jimmie growled, ready to go in his waistband for his gun. That was new for him, he was usually so laid back that he usually had his gun lying around.

  “Don’t fucking try it! Look, I just need this cash and I’m out of here. I don’t wanna fuck you up, I ain’t come here to hurt nobody, but I really need this money. You can make much more…I already know,” Autumn said through her teeth, training her gun on Jimmie. Then as if he was hit with a bolt of lightning, Jimmie’s eyes popped open and he tilted his head to the side.

  “Is…is…that you? One of the sisters??” Jimmie asked her. Fuck! Autumn shouted in her head. He had recognized her voice. She had made one of the dumbest mistakes in the heist business…talking too much. Rain and Dayvid had always warned Autumn and Fallon about saying too much and talking too much. Usually they warned against it because surveillance cameras picked up on voices, which police could try to match using voice recognition technology, but the same principles should’ve applied to saying too much and letting a victim pick up on her voice. Dumb move! Autumn scolded herself.

  “Why…why…you keep coming here? I done seen your ass all over the news. I thought I was through with you and your trifling ass family for good,” Jimmie complained in a whining voice, shaking his head in disgust. He wasn’t about to let her get him again. Jimmie started moving forward towards Autumn like he didn’t respect her robbery game anymore.

  “You ain’t making it out that easily this time. Naw, not today bitch. This time I got somebody to call though. Every cop in ten cities looking for you, you bitch. You just fucked all the way up coming back here,” Jimmie hissed, his words hitting Autumn like an open handed slap to the face or punch to the gut. She could feel her temper about to bust wide open. The pounding in her head and the red veil that seemed to shade her eyes now told her she was about to go ham on that nigga Jimmie.

  “Oh you just said the wrong thing nigga,” Autumn growled, biting down into her jaw. Then without hesitation she let off three shots into Jimmie’s chest.

  “Agggh! Oh shit! I can’t believe you shot me! Agggh!” Jimmie screamed like a weak bitch as he fell backwards, hitting his bedroom door. He was so fat the bullets hadn’t immediately killed him. He was bleeding profusely, but he was still fighting to live. “You…you…b…b…bitch,” Jimmie croaked out weakly. He clutched his chest and his eyes went round, but he still wasn’t dead. Blood spurted from his mouth as he kept fighting for air. Autumn looked down at him and for the first time she saw a man dying in front of her. Usually she was good enough that she would take her victim out with one or two shots. She wasn’t used to seeing them suffer…fighting, choking and gurgling to stay alive. Autumn was spooked now.
She rushed towards Jimmie and let off another shot right to his dome. She thought of it as putting him out of his misery, but really it was about silencing him forever. She couldn’t afford to have him calling the feds on her. Autumn stood over Jimmie for a few seconds shaking her head.

  “I wasn’t even going to kill you until you started talking that calling the cops bullshit. Damn, dumb fuck…all you had to do was let me get out of here with this money and keep living your lame ass life,” Autumn snarled as she looked down into Jimmie’s dead, vacant wide open eyes. Then she bent down and snatched Jimmie’s 9 mm Glock from his waistband and stuck it in her bag. She figured she can never have too many weapons as she navigated her way across America to the border. She had left another dead body in her path to the Mexican border, but this time she didn’t realize that she had been caught on the hidden security cameras that Jimmie had installed after Autumn and Fallon robbed him the second time. The more exhausted she got, the more mistakes she made. Autumn’s time was running out, but she just didn’t know how fast.

  Autumn would’ve done whatever it took to be reunited with her family, even leaving a trail of dead bodies. She knew that her siblings would do the same for her so she had a renewed sense of motivation to get where she was going. Fuck it, she was a Porter forever and she wasn’t ready to give up anymore. Autumn still had some fight in her and she planned to plow over anybody…including cops…who got in her way.

  “Fallon, Rain, and Dayvid, ya’ll better be there when I get there. Because I will fucking get there no matter what I have to do,” Autumn said under her breath.

  With her head swirling with thoughts of murder, being a fugitive, and the big celebration she was going to have with her Dayvid, Rain and Fallon; Autumn made it back to the rental car within a few seconds. She hadn’t even bothered to count the cash she had taken from Jimmie’s crib, but she knew it was much more than she’d had before the robbery. Autumn was about to make the money do what it do to stretch. If she had to do another lick, she would do that.