Raunchy 3

by T. Styles

  “So this is how ya’ll really want it?” Silence. “Okay, do what you want, but you can’t bring her to the Catacombs.” He points at me.

  “We got our own spots down there.” Spirit says. “You don’t own the Catacombs, you know that. They belong to no one. She’s welcome with us if she wants to come.” Spirit says. “That’s on her.”

  Daze places his hand on his shoulder. To be honest Wicked seems more like the leader than Daze. “Let’s go, man.” Daze says, “Ain’t nothing for us under here.” He shakes his head and the four of them walk away. I don’t move until I see them enter the rain and disappear into it.

  “You okay?” Gage asks touching my hand.

  I shake it off. “Yeah I’m good.” I walk back to where we were sitting and they follow. “Tell me about what you wanted me to know about who may have killed the girl.”

  She exhales and WB begins. “One day Wicked brought a dude he met at church to the Catacombs. Normally we don’t do that without everyone getting to know them first. That’s why we were hesitant about bringing you in, and hesitant about talking to you. But you gave to the group instead of taking from it.” She pauses. “Anyway, we usually hang out here or in the building if the cops aren’t fucking with us on the days it rain. It gets nasty in the Catacombs when it rains. But since he met him at church, during one of the soup kitchen feedings, he thought he could trust him.” She shakes her head. “Doesn’t he know how many pervs hang out in the pews on Sunday?”

  “We all told him that although dude talked real soft, that something behind his eyes expressed something different.” Spirit continues. “But he didn’t want to listen. He never listens to us. He ain’t nothing but a fucking bully. We all under twenty but he swears he’s in charge, even over Daze who’s twenty-six.” He leans against the wall under the bridge. “The night he brought him to the Catacombs, all he kept saying was that he was good people and that we should trust him because he did.”

  “What is the Catacombs ya’ll keep talking about?”

  “In Roman Times they use to bury the dead in tombs under the city, we liked the name so we used it.” Spirit continues. “We’re the dead. The children everybody forgot.”

  “And don’t give a fuck about.” Gage adds.

  “So how old was he? The man who Wicked brought to the Catacombs?”

  “About thirty something.” Gage responds, crying again. “I think. His name is Mystery.”

  I put my arm around her and she stops immediately. “Well what happened?” I ask Spirit. “Once he got there?”

  “The next morning one of our members, Sunny Day, was raped and killed. Someone from another family lost a member too. His head was decapitated.”

  “There are other families in the Catacombs?”

  “Plenty.” Spirit replies. “It’s like a secret society.”

  “The dude who adopted the name Mystery, that Wicked brought in, was nowhere to be found.” WB goes on. “First we thought whoever killed our member Sunny Day, killed him too. But a few days later he was spotted wearing Sunny Day’s jean jacket. She loved that jacket, it had a sun stitched on the back and everything. She would’ve given her life for it.” He shakes his head and it’s obvious he can’t continue. “She would not have let him have it without a fight. A good one at that.”

  “Sunny was WB’s girl.” Spirit explains. “That day was hard on all of us. Wicked wouldn’t accept the responsibility even though he brought him into our fold. To this day we’ve never fully forgiven him for it.”

  “The real kicker is Mystery tried to act like he was hurt about what happened to Sunny Day too.” WB says. “But when we asked for her jacket back, he wouldn’t give it to us. The dude is crazy for real!” He rubs his head. “We told him he was cut and to stay the fuck from around us, now he just stalks us. He’ll show up some place he knows we’ll be, fight us or even try to hurt us. He knows about The Hole, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up there and killed Rose when we all went to sleep.”

  “Can’t we call the police?” I ask.

  They look at me like I’m delusional. And I realize I am. “We never, ever get the police involved in our business. You have to remember, we are wanted for different reasons. So we deal with everything in the underworld on our own.” Spirit says.

  “Always.” WB adds.

  I’m thrown off. “I got it, so what are your stories? Before you got here?” I ask.

  WB starts. “My birth name is Nathan. I was brought here from Africa when I was one year old. A cool white family raised me for ten years and when they died from carbon monoxide poison, I was placed into a foster home. They beat and ridiculed me for being this dark, so I ran away when I could. All they wanted was the money to take care of me.” He exhales. “It took some time for me to escape, but that’s how I ended up here. With you lovely people.” His personality comes back and I’m grateful.

  That’s deep. “What about you?” I ask Spirit.

  “I was born to a Chinese father and a black mother. I don’t say my name anymore because in the culture your name brings with it spirits, whether good or bad from the past. I will say that I killed somebody in defense of my baby sister. For now I’ll leave it at that.”

  Since I killed a girl in a motel with my bare hands, I understood him. “What about you, Gage?”

  “My real name is Lazo. I come from a rich black family who disowned me when I got pregnant by Wicked. One of the reasons is that he’s white and the other reason is that he’s poor. My parents are the kind of people with enough money to destroy lives. So like my mother demanded, I had the abortion. That wasn’t enough; they threatened Wicked’s family and said if they caught him around me again, that they would see to it that he came up missing. We had no choice at the time, we were in love so we ran away together. We haven’t seen our families since.”

  Wow. That’s deep. “What about you?” Gage asks me.

  I exhale. I hate my story. “I was born to an alcoholic whore. For most of my life she had me thinking I was a boy.” They look confused. “I did a lot of things I’m not proud of and I hurt a lot of people. So now I’m here.”

  “Are you serious? About thinking you were a boy?” Spirit asks, leaning in.

  “Yeah, I was dumb in school and I’m not the brightest now.” I realize. “But I’m smart on the streets and I’m starting to get to know people better.” I decide against telling them about Jayden. “And I’m here because I don’t have any place else to be and to be honest,” I look at all of them, “for the first time I feel like I’m around people like me.”

  “That’s real.” Gage responds.

  We were just about to talk some more when I see Fierce jogging back toward us. He trots up the hill and seems out of breath. “You know you not supposed to be running, Fierce.” WB says anxiously. “You cool, man?” He looks concerned.

  “I’m fine.” He’s wet from the rain but sits next to me “I decided to hang out with you guys instead. I feel safer.” They grip him into a manly hug. It’s all love here now. He looks at me. “I’m sure at this point everybody gave the rights of passage by giving up the past, so let me. Mad, my real name is George. I was the youngest kid in my family and was raped by all of the men in my house. My father, my three brothers and even my uncle. I was thirteen when I passed out in front of a record store because I lost so much blood through my anus.” He shakes his head. “I woke up in a hospital, all stitched up. They told me I would be released to my family but I couldn’t take it anymore. So I ran away, met this family and the rest is history.”

  “What about your moms?” I ask.

  “She wasn’t no good. Since my mother drank alcohol while pregnant with me, I suffer from asthma.”

  I think of my mother who drank when she was pregnant with me too. I wonder what illness I have because of it. That I don’t know about.

  “This family was the first family who ever cared about me and they’ve been helping me stay alive ever since.”

  I look at all of
them. “I had friends like this before,” I remember how happy Sugar, Krazy and Kid look with out me recently, “but we weren’t as strong. We called ourselves Mad Max.”

  “For real?” I respond.

  “Well if the name isn’t being used, I like it.” Spirit says.

  “Me too.” Gage adds. “How about we call ourselves that, and adopt a new name. Since we starting over because of you.”

  WB and Fierce seem to agree to. “Mad’s Max it is!”

  “You know what, we’re thrown away kids.” Gage says looking at us. “The abused, the troubled but we’re not worthless. As long as we have each other, we’ll never be down again.”

  I don’t know where life is going to lead me now. I’m on the run for a crime I didn’t commit. I still miss my sister and I think about my son every time I breathe. But I need to work on me. And if this family can help me, I’m willing to ride with them.

  “Oh, before I forget, we have to watch Wicked.” Fierce says seriously. “He’s talking about getting revenge and it sounds to me like he wants it in blood.”

  KALI

  MAD MAN HUNT

  Kali becomes one with the leather seats of Ann’s car as she cruises slowly down the street, giving him the mental space to think. Since they’d been back from Atlanta, she visited her family and friends and told everybody she wasn’t kidnapped. Most of them thought she was selfish for not letting them know sooner but she didn’t care. The only thing on her mind was Kalive.

  As Kali focuses on the road, his mind is on Madjesty. He almost lost his head a few days ago when he saw the news. They flashed a picture of his daughter and some other kids leaving an abandoned building, where a girl name Rose Midland was found murdered. A witness snapped the picture and handed it over to the authorities and all of them were wanted for questioning regarding the crime. The others were mysteries, but since Mad’s fingerprints were found on a wall, they wanted her by name.

  “You know how to get there right?” He looks over at her as she maneuvers her black BMW, a birthday gift from Jace when he was alive. “I’m not trying to get lost fucking with you.”

  “I got it, Kali. I know where I’m going.” She says softly.

  When they finally reach Concord Manor he knocks on the door and Jayden opens it. Although only a year had passed since he last seen her, her body filled out and her eyes told him she was different. She looked like the poison he tasted when he was a kid. She looked like Harmony before the liquor took the life out of her.

  “What do you want, Kalive?” Jayden asks crossing her arms. Her game face is in position and she doesn’t seem scared of him anymore.

  Kali pushes her out of his way and rips through the house on a mission. He went into every room, and searched every nook and cranny. All of the doors gave him access but one and it was locked. He walks back down the stairs and into the foyer, surprised she didn’t follow. “Where is Madjesty? And why is that room upstairs locked?”

  “I don’t know where she is and that room is locked because this is my house.”

  As he breathes her in, he can see why Kreshon is trying to cuff her young ass. She is bad to the bone. “This shit is serious. I’m trying to reach her and I been by my mother’s place and she’s not even there. So if you know where she is, you better tell me now.”

  Jayden seems uneasy when he mentions Bernie. Why? It’s the only time the game face she wears comes off. “You came to the wrong place.”

  “If I know nothing about Madjesty, I know she’ll always stay in contact with you.” He looks around. “And where is that mother of yours?”

  “My mother is at a sobriety meeting and as you can see I’m all alone. You should also know that if Madjesty was anywhere near here, she wouldn’t be welcome. Besides, the police have been here to question us and everything about her. I know about the girl she killed in some abandoned building. She left her bloody fingerprints on the wall there. She’d be majorly dumb if she came back to Concord Manor.” She throws her game face back on. “I’m busy now, anything else?”

  “I’ll be back and if…”

  When he hears a baby cry the smug look on Jayden’s face is wiped off. Kali grins. He knows without her telling him that his grandson is in that house. But what was he going to do about it? Take him and roam the streets with him? No that wouldn’t be smart. First he had to find his daughter and see what was up with her. So in his book the safest place for the kid to be at the moment was there.

  “I’ll be back, Jayden. You can bet that phat ass of yours on it.”

  JAYDEN

  PARTY LIGHTS

  I’m in the middle of my living room. Looking at the women of my stable. A lot of things were going on today. I received my Learners Permit since I just turned sixteen. We’re having a major party tonight and I invited the richest men who ever used my services. I’m having surgery tomorrow and I raised every dime of the two hundred fifty thousand dollars I needed. It was all upstairs. I would present it to the banks when I got back and not a moment sooner, first I have to have a meeting with my mother and Olive.

  A lot had changed. For starters, I took money out of my bitch’s hands. Anything they needed I provided but they would never, ever, get a dime from me again. Its funny, when you treat a bitch with respect she’s ungrateful but when you treat her like a dog she loves you for life.

  Before the party, I examine each of the ladies and Blaq. They look good, but Tabitha, Jay-O and Tywanda seem a little too drunk for my taste. Ever since Catherine, Foxie, Queen and Na-Na mysteriously disappeared and Passion went on the run, they indulged a little too much. I know they wondered if they’d be next and the only thing I could say is this. Don’t fuck with my money, follow the rules and I won’t fuck with you. My star bitch was also letting me down. Tywanda had gained a significant amount of weight and it was starting to look bad on her. In fact as I’m looking at her now, she was on her third donut. I’m tired of her misusing her body, so I slap the food out of her mouth.

  “You better watch what the fuck you eat, Tywanda.” I point in her face. “You getting a little chunkier than my taste.”

  I’m about to approach the others about their alcohol, when I receive an email from one of my guests on my phone.

  ‘J,

  Although I am in receipt of your invite, I respectfully decline. This due in part to one of your employees sanitary issues, who I enjoyed working with in the past. I will not be able to indulge her or your services anymore.

  Best Wishes,

  Mr. Rich.’

  I feel the blood rush to the surface of my face. What did he mean sanitary issues? I need a response so I write, ‘Can you please elaborate’?

  I wait nervously for his response. He’s one of the reasons I decided to throw the party in the first place and now he isn’t coming.

  While I’m waiting, Hadiya walks up to me and I focus on her mouth. “Cassius is in bed fast asleep, can I get you anything?” She looks at me and licks her lips. “Anything at all?”

  I don’t respond. A second later, he sends another email. “The Bald Headed Wonder.”

  I know who he’s talking about now. I’m hot. Pissed off, I yell, “I need everybody in the foyer now!” When they are in front of me I say, “I need everyone to drop their underwear.” Blaq looks relieved until I say, “You too.”

  One by one, they all submit. When everyone including Blaq is naked below I say, “Olive, go into the kitchen and get me a cup of ground coffee and a hot rag. I wait for her to return. Walking up to Jay-O, I ease a finger inside of her pussy and sniff she’s fine. I wipe my fingers, stick it into the coffee and go to Tabitha followed by Johnna. All of them are official. I even sniff Blaq’s nut sack and he’s cool. It isn’t until I get to Tywanda, that there’s a problem. Her body smells of shit and piss and if she tells me she washed up I’ll probably kill her right where she stands. Lately all she cares about is clubbing and getting high. So what her nigga is dead, get over it already!

  “Follow me, Tywanda.” I walk
upstairs and into the public bathroom. When we are inside, I close and lock the door. “Get undressed and get into the tub.”

  “Jayden, what’s this all about?” She asks.

  When she’s undressed, I open the cabinet below the sink, grab the bleach and throw it on her body, the way my mother use to do us when we were kids. She screams but she takes every bit of it while covering her eyes. When I’m done I say, “I got a call today from a customer, who said you weren’t taking care of your personal hygiene. I run a respectable establishment, bitch. And if you can’t see fit to push back from the bar long enough to wash your clit, I will cut it off.” She trembles. “Am I understood?” She nods. “Now get it in order, before I decide you’re better off to me dead.”

  ****

  Me, Olive and Harmony are sitting at the dining room table before the party. “Harmony, I can’t speak with you long because of my event tonight. But I need you to give Olive guardianship over me.”

  Her eyebrows rise. “I’m not doing that shit.” She says, wearing the lavender robe she always wears. “What about my welfare checks?”

  “You are and you will. Fuck welfare!” I say. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you anymore. You’ve officially stolen my love and what’s left in its place is rage, and hate for you. But even still I don’t want to see you out on the streets. Unless you won’t do what I say.”

  “You couldn’t put me out on the streets anyway, this is my house.”

  “Harmony, this is your house for now. I have the money upstairs to pay Laura and Ramona off. It’s done. Now either sign these documents and give Olive custody of me until I turn eighteen or I’ll leave, take my money with me and tell Mrs. Sheers I don’t live here. If that happens since Madjesty isn't here anymore, your checks will stop all together.”

  She reluctantly signs.

  ****