Trouble's Always Watching Volume 1: Volume 1 (The Trouble Series)

by Courtney Smith

  However, the peace was shattered by a fierce restraint upon her body. Several shadowy figures pulled at the Tenesha's arms and legs. The young woman clenched her eyes shut. She remained perfectly still in hopes the objects would leave. The patient felt herself screaming, but her voice was muffled like sound underwater. Tenesha slowly opened her eyes and looked around her after allowing her vision to adjust to the darkness.

  Her hands felt light and her body could not stop throbbing. The observer noticed she occupied the same room she fell asleep in, earlier. A feeling of weightlessness affected her before she realized there was not a part of her body touching the ground or anything upon it. She did not like being familiar with this feeling. The adolescent moved her right arm, and attempted to move her right leg. Her limbs moved, but she did not travel, anywhere.

  Tenesha thought she had witnessed everything that could possibly startle, surprise, or shock her until her vision shifted beneath her. She saw a very familiar figure lying peacefully upon the bed with casts, steel cords, pulleys, and restraints. The almond-colored skin was unmistakable. The neatly braided hair settled upon the figure’s head. The curvaceous lower body which attracted so much unwanted attention was all too familiar. She was staring at herself. How can I be in two places at once? Am I going to die if I am not already dead? Why can’t this ever happen when I’m beaten like a runaway slave?

  The blanket of silence which covered the room suddenly vanished when the figures made their presence known again by tugging at her limbs. Suffocation and tightening filled her chest until the fierce grip suddenly disappeared. White flames streaked past her face toward the dark entity, interrupting the grasp, once again.

  A loud reverberating hiss echoed throughout the room before the shadowy figures left. Tenesha looked around to see volleys of arrows flying in her direction, but they brushed past her into the dark corner where the voice echoed. She heard a reality-shattering roar, and she cringed at the sound of the great voice. Tenesha slowly turned her head around to see a tiger and a vigilant boy perched upon it, again. I just moved when I was stuck before!

  She immediately ran toward the door but stopped in nearly the same instance. The bewildered, young lady turned around to see the young man was completely still as he stared in her direction. Tenesha paused and realized the vigilant, young man could have easily allowed the wicked entity to do the job if harming her was his intent. Curiosity motivated the young woman to turn her head around, allowing her to see the patient boy. Tenesha walked toward him, very calmly and slowly. She glared at the fierce beast upon which he was perched.

  “I appreciate you helping me and seeing you waiting upon me, but why do you do it?” asked Tenesha.

  “I thought you would have been grateful enough to remember!” responded the mysterious young man.

  “I thought you were just a figment of my imagination before.”

  “You have one hell of an imagination, then!”

  “Who are you, and exactly why are you watching over me?”

  “I cannot reveal that to you right now because it would only cause a great deal of fear and confusion; furthermore; it would only make you hesitant to embrace your future.”

  “My future to do what?” inquired the skeptical, bewildered girl.

  “You are not going to believe this, but I am going to tell you this, anyway.”

  “What exactly are you supposed to be telling me, anyhow?”

  “I’ll show if you shut up and stop interrupting me!” snapped the frustrated adolescent.

  “You are not big on manners are you?” asserted Tenesha, condescendingly.

  “Says the ungrateful girl to her savior.”

  “Wow, you certainly are modest aren’t you?” replied Tenesha. The tiger roared, and she jumped backward, and cringed. The young man chuckled.

  “I will reveal that in a much later time, but I need you to come with me, right now.” Tenesha glanced at the tiger's large paws, sharp teeth, and beryl eyes without asking any further questions. She extended her open hand, and the boy pulled her aboard the ferocious yet tame beast. The young woman stared at her body resting helplessly upon the bed before the powerful animal’s movement pulled her with a tremendous force. They rushed toward the window and Tenesha shut her eyes and hunched. She slowly opened them, turned around, and glanced behind herself half of a second later to see the window was far behind her.

  The passenger felt as light as a napkin when they went into an unexpected dive. They nearly made contact with the ground only a split second before rising into the air to the young woman’s relief as she grasped her mysterious guide’s waist. She vigorously tried to rub sweat off her forehead without any success. They ascended into the air so fast; she did not have time to blink before she realized roads resembled strings from her current height. Everything streamed past her like a fast-forwarding an HD disk. Tenesha looked down to see thousands of lights with the appearance of buttons on a control panel.

  “Are you alright?” asked the young man.

  “I think it's too late for that, but I know I would be dead without you although I am still not certain about you,” informed Tenesha.

  “I understand. I am not certain about myself, most times. It is not every day someone introduces himself by shooting fiery arrows and riding tigers,” acknowledged the mysterious teenager.

  “You got that right!” agreed Tenesha.

  “I was just curious about something.”

  “What is that?”

  “Is he housebroken?”

  “Why? Did you want to keep him for a couple of days?”

  “No, do I look like a zookeeper?” sassed

  Tenesha. “Where are we going?”

  “We are going to visit some of the people who have been making your life miserable,” informed the mysterious adolescent.

  “Uh-unh! It’s bad enough they come to me and kick my butt. Why would I want to offer them home delivery for tormenting me?” asked Tenesha.

  “There are some things you need to learn about your enemies,” enlightened the mysterious guide.

  “What do I need to know about them besides they kick my butt and hurt me every chance they get? I thought I was beginning to trust you, but now I think you are a demon sent from the pits of Hell to torment my mind while the others torment my flesh.”

  “Why do you have doubts, now?”

  “Because you said that you were here ‘to protect me,’ but it seems more like you’re throwing me to the wolves than being the shepherd guarding the flock.”

  “I said I would ‘protect you,’ I did not say anything about being your ‘shepherd,’” clarified the mysterious person.

  “Besides, no one in the flesh can see you, anyway. If I were a wolf, I would probably spit you out with that attitude!”

  “Are you trying to tell me that we are still in our spiritual bodies?” asked Tenesha.

  “You could always fly through windows and ride tigers in your normal, waking life?” asked the mysterious individual, rhetorically.

  “You made your point,” admitted Tenesha.

  “Anyway, what is the tiger’s name?”

  “Grimaldi.”

  They descended from the evening sky to a group of apartments with faded-red-brick sides, badly worn-out shingles, peeling brown paint, and doors having small openings at their bottoms where the frames should conceal them. Tenesha glanced at the surroundings and twiddled her thumbs, toggled her eyes, and twitched her body. The mysterious guide gently grasped her arm. The young woman stared questioningly at her guide. She found herself being pulled through the wall of the dilapidated building. Tenesha cringed mildly until she saw the other side.

  The two adolescents turned around and saw a brown, faded couch with the stuffing dangling from holes throughout it. The item seemed to dominate the appearance of the living room. The walls were white, but the paint was chipped all over the whole unit.

  Tenesha started to walk before she paused. Her ears were bombarded with quick, sharp
sounds. She immediately ducked behind the wall upon recognizing the noises. Several young men with pistols fired at each other and ran around the parking lot. She saw several of them gathering around two who were alone. One could hear screams of pain as the others made sure no passing people could see anything.

  Tenesha slowly walked away from the window before her nose was completely inundated with the smells of the whole area. The scent of urine from the stairs and the walkways rose into her nostrils in a ghostly manner. Odors of roaches and their eggs burned her nasal passages with the sting of acid. Lingering smells of discarded garbage pressed against her face like a weight. Tenesha thought the smell would not affect her as a spirit. However, this form of existence magnified all of her senses, including her sense of smell.

  She just decided to focus on her unusual companion to cope with the circumstances. The mysterious teenager, Tenesha, and Grimaldi walked through the wall into the unit. They saw a tan man with a small Afro sleeping on the dark, dilapidated sofa in a dirty white T-shirt and black slacks with holes and many stains. His salt-and-pepper hair hung from one side of the couch, and his dry feet dangled from the other. The man clutched one of several empty bottles at the base of the couch despite being partially asleep. Tenesha looked toward the mysterious young man and asked, “What exactly am I supposed to be seeing here besides a badly needed renovation and a potential candidate for rehab?” He looked toward her and ordered, “Follow me.” Tenesha walked along the same direction behind him until they went into a room. She immediately scowled and cringed upon seeing a familiar enemy. Tenesha gazed at a Six Tres with tears falling from his eyes, sitting on a bed with a torn cover on top of it.

  “I have never seen him look worried or concerned about anything at all,” commented Tenesha. “What is bothering him?”

  “Actually, you should probably ask what is not bothering him,” corrected the mysterious boy.

  “Derek! I thought I told you to have dinner ready!” screamed the slim, belligerent man who was sleeping on the couch.

  “I ha—,” started to say Six Tres. The slim man had rushed into the room and struck a vicious blow with a clenched fist to the adolescent's face before he could finish the words. He fell to the ground faster than he could blink. Tenesha looked upon her nemesis directly after the blow was dealt.

  “The food is fixed, and it is on the counter,” mumbled Six Tres as he held the side of his face from the floor.

  “Well, you should have told me sooner!” justified the insensitive man as he walked out of the room and strolled to the kitchen without any regard for what he had done.

  “Wow! I had no idea what he was going through,” addressed Tenesha.

  “Who says that was the full extent of his problems?” asked the mysterious boy, rhetorically.

  “If I said I really don’t want to know what else he has to worry about, would you take me away, anyway?”

  “Yes.”

  “So much for high hopes.” Six Tres slowly rose from the floor and resumed his previous position upon the bed.

  “Apparently, this is not new to him,” observed Tenesha.

  “Does the name Black Serpent mean anything to you?” asked her spiritual host.

  “What does Black Serpent have to do with Six —?” inquired Tenesha, interrupting herself as she remembered the answer to her own question. The mysterious teenager grabbed Tenesha and leapt into the air. Grimaldi instinctively moved underneath them and caught them. The apartment became nothing more than a speck from their instant flight as they moved through the clouds. The cool winds blowing through her spiritual body gave her an invigorating feeling. The beautiful, young woman looked at how quickly the ground became further and further away. Then, she grabbed the enigmatic young man’s waist as the tiger moved at a blinding speed. The inquisitive adolescent noticed they were traveling in a northwestern direction and asked.

  “Where are we going?”

  “No where.”

  “Why not?”

  “We are already at our destination.” Tenesha looked around to see a dark, concrete area with many levels and numerous vehicles.

  “Why are we in a parking garage?”

  “This is the home of your next enemy.”

  “He lives in a parking garage, huh? Apparently,

  crime doesn’t pay,” commented Tenesha.

  “No, he lives in a loft above the garage,” clarified the inscrutable guide, irritably.

  They rose upward and stopped inside of a large room with a brick-faced interior. The travelers saw the metallic wrapping covering the insulation surrounding pipes and conduits on the ceiling and looked at the smooth, concrete floor with a glossy, reflective surface. The group also noticed a velvet sofa that was very thick. The enigmatic adolescent leapt from Grimaldi and used his arms to remove Tenesha from the powerful feline’s back.

  They followed voices they heard to the back of the loft. Several men exchanging peeled eyes and frowns at one another sat upon an enclosed velvet couch surrounding a table full of pistols with thin trails of blue, cigarette smoke rising ominously like ghosts from the center of the meeting.

  “I just got off of the phone with Juan Cortez, and he is bringing the shipment near the usual pier at Galveston. I want the money ready, and I want you to check your guns and ammunition to make sure they are in a usable shape. We need to be ready in case something jumps off! We know that the Coast Guard is heavily patrolling the area, so we only got a small window of time to make the drop, pick up the product, and bounce,” reiterated the unpleasantly familiar voice.

  “Black Serpent, I heard that you were going to start getting rid of people and restructuring your organization,” stated one man as his voice trembled.

  “You already know, but you are safe for the time being,” addressed Black Serpent.

  “Thank you, I need this money,” volunteered another henchman.

  “I heard that you are even eliminating some of the school children that peddle drugs for you.”

  “You know the routine. That’s why I only use them for a season and get rid of them because they create too many connections that can be traced back to me if they get busted,” explained Black Serpent.

  “They are a living liability that needs to be thoroughly severed once they have fulfilled their usefulness.”

  “So does that mean that Six Tres is no longer going to be working for you?” asked another henchman.

  “Like I said, ‘they are a liability,’ and they ‘need to be thoroughly severed once they have fulfilled their usefulness,’” reiterated Black Serpent, indifferently.

  “Thanks for reminding me that I am going to die because of a position that I did not volunteer for! I really appreciate it!” seethed Tenesha as she stared with furrowed eyebrows at her mysterious guide.

  “I know, but this is just the tip of the iceberg,” informed her unusual guide.

  “There's more? You shouldn't have!"

  “A whole lot more.” Tenesha felt herself becoming lighter as the young man wrapped his arm around her waist and grabbed his striped partner. The tiger leapt upward with the teenagers dangling from his side, and the trio ascended into the nighttime sky.

  Tenesha noticed the ride was slightly longer despite everything passing like a blur. They came to a sudden stop. She observed how barren the region beneath them was as Grimaldi settled onto sandy plains below them. The sun casted a mild, warm, orange light upon the ground as the mandarin sky provided a piercing calm upon the land.

  “What are we doing here, and why is there daylight when we left an area at night a few minutes ago?” inquired Tenesha.

  “You will see,” declared the mysterious adolescent, solemnly. The mysterious boy leapt off of the tiger, and he slowly placed his hands around Tenesha’s waist, easily lifted her, and placed her feet upon the ground. She felt the warmth of the sand expanding between her toes. Tension left the teenager’s consciousness in a single movement. Colors seemed to jump at her from every possible angle despite ev
erything within the area being plain and flat.

  Screams and shrill cries could be heard echoing throughout the area before men, women, and children stumbling over a dune could be seen trampling one another. Some who were trampled proceeded to crawl and stagger in the general direction of the fleeing crowds. Many of the girls and women were screaming as they ran, away.

  “Devils on horseback! Devils on horseback!” Tenesha looked at her odd savior and asked a question.

  “Where exactly are we?” The boy solemnly replied, “Darfur, Africa.”

  “How come we are able to understand what they are saying?” asked Tenesha. “Wouldn’t they be speaking some type of Sudanese language?”

  “In our spiritual forms, we are able to understand any tongue as it is spoken in any foreign language, or interpret and translate the words into our native language,” informed the enigmatic guide. Sand suddenly flew up as crimson fluid splattered from open wounds in the backs and legs of people running away as their bodies fell to the ground. Various trucks carrying several, dark-skinned men wearing turbans and thawbs resembled frogs as they leapt over the dunes. Their passengers swung swords and fired into the crowd. Many people fell like dominoes with some of the women being grabbed, forcefully and aggressively. Tires spun upon the backs and limbs of bleeding men and women. Others fell upon the grainy dunes’ surfaces as steel pipes, casings, gears, and moving parts beneath cars became the last things some fleers ever saw.

  “We were just going to watch, but I can’t take it, anymore! I grew up with this type of pointless massacre!” expressed Tenesha’s unlikely ally as streaks of blood fell from clenched fists. He dashed toward the vehicles at lightning speed with his own blade drawn, and he materialized before the group of men. Tenesha’s eyes widened as she watched very closely. The men saw the adolescent and immediately charged him. Sand suddenly flew around the mysterious teenager’s feet and head in all directions.

  Clouds of sand rose from the gunfire as they shot at their target, but his movements were blurred, but he the bullets moved like drifting paper to the guide.