by N. Phillips
“Hon, who’s at the door?” A melodic voice was heard further in the house. The man continued to stare us down and replied, “I believe they’re kids from the volunteer shelter who’re selling cookies.”
Tory mumbled a mouthful of profanities behind me as a woman came to the door and greeted us with a smile. She had olive-toned skin and a thin nose that didn’t sit right on her face. Her bleached blonde hair was in curly ringlets that fell over her shoulder, and she wore a yellow off-shoulder blouse with dark blue jeans that hugged her butt to make it look bigger.
“Ooh, you three are just the cutest,” she gushed. “Selling cookies, are you? Does that place need more money for books? Terrance, give them something. It motivates them to stay off the streets and not do drugs.”
Alright, I had to say something before Tory did. We’d never get answers about Jasmine if he went off on them.
“Sorry, ma’am. We aren’t selling anything.”
“Nor are we from any volunteer shelter,” Ashanti added.
The two adults looked on with confused expressions as I explained, “We’re here to check on Jasmine. We’re friends of hers. Her boyfriend, CJ, was in an accident recently, so we wanted to see if she was doing okay.”
At the mention of CJ, both adults glanced at each other oddly. The man then huffed, “Right, the football player. I’m sorry, but she’s too busy to see you if you’re associated with him.”
“Are you serious?” Tory argued.
“Please, sir. It will only be for a minute,” Ashanti pleaded. “We’re only here because we care. Honest.”
The two looked at one another again before nodding. “Fine, go and get the girl, Sasha,” the man said. “You kids stay here. I don’t want you scuffing the floor with your kicks.” He then closed the screen door and walked further into the house until he was out of sight.
Tory groaned and shook his head. “So much bullshit we had to go through just to speak to someone.”
It didn’t take long for Jasmine to come down the stairs and open the screen door. Not only was she wearing different attire from earlier, but her entire vibe had changed—almost like a separate person entirely.
Not to mention her eyes were red and puffy.
“Uh, hey? What’s up?”
“What’s up is you on that demon time,” Tory blurted. “And I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout being on cam. Somethin’ wrong with you.”
“Could you be any ruder?” Ashanti berated him. She approached Jasmine closer. “Never mind him. How are you?”
Jasmine closed the door behind her and answered, “Not good, as I’m sure you can tell by looking at my face. There’s no reason to hide it; I feel like what happened to CJ is my fault. I still have feelings for him and try so hard to make him happy, but it’s difficult at times. I’m trying not to blame myself for getting him involved with Miguel, but…”
“Nah, you good,” I told her. “Him and Miguel been beefing for a minute. Somethin’ was bound to go down eventually.”
“No, you don’t get it,” she shot back with a sniffle. “It is my fault. Or, rather, its fault.”
Ashanti placed her hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. “What exactly do you mean? You can tell us.”
She sounded so comforting and reassuring. Jasmine must’ve felt the same way because she led us over to the sidewalk to open up in private.
“Believe me or not, but there’s a thing—or other me that’s been running around ruining my life—that had sex with Miguel. Not me. It’s also what attacked you at the community college. It’s almost like another version of me that acts like the girl CJ desires me to be or something. You know, ratchet and lit all the time. I don’t know, I can’t explain it; but I want it all to stop.”
Damn, this some drama right here.
It appeared Jasmine’s Shadow-self was formed from CJ’s want for her to be different and Jasmine’s confliction to change for him. This formula backfired, though, creating a monster that is out of control and doing shit not even the real Jasmine would do.
I filled her in on everything I knew about the Shadows, resulting in her fiddling with a silver chain around her neck and saying, “It all makes sense then. That demon is me.”
Ashanti pulled her to the side and asked, “CJ is a shitty boyfriend, isn’t he?
Jasmine backed away a bit, shuffling her feet from side to side with a shrug. She had always seemed so confident at school, so to see her acting this hesitant and fragile was new to me.
Or maybe, this is the real her?
“I mean…he’s really sweet and funny at times,” she answered Ashanti. “Like, I know what you’re going to say, and yes, we fight and break-up, but we make-up and—”
“He talks to random girls—apologizes and says it will never happen again with some romantic lines—and two weeks later, same shit, different scene? Yeah, that’s toxic as hell, sis.” Ashanti had her arms crossed with a serious look in her eyes. She continued, “He probably says dumb shit like why can’t you be normal like whatever bitch he’s talking to, right? And having conversations with him is more like a chore than actual fun?”
Jasmine’s lips pursed together. Reality was setting in hard.
“Jasmine, I know we don’t know each other like that,” Ashanti resumed, “but if there’s one thing I can’t tolerate, it’s when a guy’s being an abusive dick. He shouldn’t be talkin’ to you the way he does, and you shouldn’t have to put up with the way he treats you. It’s hard enough as it is for us Black girls. We go through so much shit on the regular, but we’re Queens, you hear me? Not the Shadows of a man’s desire.”
Tears fell from Jasmine’s eyes before she buried her face in Ashanti’s chest after the two hugged. Whispers of Ashanti’s voice could still be heard, with Jasmine nodding her head repeatedly.
“Everything good?” I asked after giving them a minute or two.
“Yeah, she’s comin’ with us,” Ashanti replied. “The only way for her to be happy is to conquer her Shadow-self. She can’t be the object of CJ’s affection anymore. She’s gotta break this curse and start livin’ for herself. Either CJ respects that, or he’s out of her life. Period.”
Tory rubbed his hands together. “Cool, cool. So, where we headed? I’m itching to get my revenge on that clone.”
“This isn’t your fight, Tory,” Ashanti told him. “Jasmine has to do this. Trust me, I’ve seen my mom go through so much abuse in her life from sorry ass men who thought they could rule over her. I know the signs, and I also know what needs to be done for Jasmine to put back on her crown and reclaim what’s hers.”
“My self-worth,” Jasmine mumbled. “I know where the other me is, and who it is with. We can go, but it might be dangerous.”
“We’re going no matter what,” Ashanti uttered with force. “Let’s go.”
A cab dropped us off near an abandoned building in The Heights, where we saw Miguel of all people standing across the street outside of a corner store. He was with four other dudes who I assumed were members of the Silicon Cogs. Amid them all was the Shadow Jasmine, who participated in their smoking session and loud bantering.
“We settle this now,” Ashanti said, crossing the street with Jasmine’s hand in hers. While in the cab, she had let me borrow her cell phone since mine had died. Lord knows we’ll need my power.
“Oh shit, what we got here?” Miguel laughed out after passing a blunt to the dude on his left and taking a sip from the bottle hidden in a brown paper bag. “Jas, I ain’t know you had a twin.”
“I don’t,” Both Jasmines’ declared at the same time. The guys around the Shadow Jasmine ‘oohed’ before cackling like hyenas.
“She’s a basic copycat,” The shadow Jasmine said, flipping her hand through her hair. “I’m who she wanna be.” She then snatched the paper bag out of Miguel’s hand and drank from it before making out with him.
“No way that’s sanitary,” Tory scoffed with a disgusted face.
“Look, we don’t want no trouble, aight?” I
told the group of guys. “We just wanna talk to that Jasmine.”
The dudes continued to laugh at us while Miguel spoke. “You hear this, boys? Headphones here ‘don’t want no trouble’. Nah, I remember you fuckin’ up some of my boys. You ‘bout that action. Same for your homie next to you.” He approached us closer. “Thing is, it ain’t gonna be like them times before.” My eyes drifted down to where he patted his white T-shirt, revealing the strap tucked in his pants.
I backed away with my throat tightening. Ashanti placed her hand on my shoulder and said to Miguel, “We can all be civil. There’s no reason to fight.”
“Nah, we like fightin’. Get’em.”
Two of the dudes ran up on me so fast I couldn’t avoid taking a couple of their blows that knocked me to the ground hard. With a roll on the concrete, I managed to create a bit of distance between them and myself, but not enough to be out of striking range. They pummeled me over and over no matter how hard I tried to fight back. Pain and fatigue started to kick in for me, and my body was beat on some more until the incoming hits started to slow down.
“Shit, c’mon,” I groaned in frustration as I crawled away and repeatedly tapped on Ashanti’s phone. I wasn’t used to her cell’s interface, which caused me to miss the play button on her music app. Thankfully, my finger touched it as I struggled to stand on my feet. The moment one of the thugs swung, my body reacted and dodged it before delivering a punch of my own.
One down, one to go for me.
The emphatic sounds of saxophones and trumpets took over my hearing, generating a feeling of relaxation despite the danger in front of me. I didn’t feel as strong as when I listened to rap music, nor did I feel as elegant as when R&B music played, but the energy flowing through my body created a perfect harmony between the two.
And the best part: my body was healing.
No longer feeling fatigue or the pain from their blows, I went at the thug staring me down with a balance of punches and kicks that ended with his face in the ground. People passing by on foot and in their vehicles all stopped to witness the altercation, which wasn’t a good thing with Tory showcasing his video game abilities to knock out the two other goons that were with Miguel.
The Shadow Jasmine tried to exit the scene, but Ashanti and the real Jasmine stopped her in her tracks. Miguel attempted to intervene, but Tory and I stepped in front of him. He lifted his shirt with the thought to pull out his gun, but Tory immediately dropped him with a spinning kick to the jaw. It was crazy.
All that was left to deal with was the Shadow Jasmine, but that was none of my business.
I removed my headphones and looked on with Tory as both Jasmines locked eyes with one another. Ashanti stood behind the real Jasmine, supporting her in facing her demon.
“Thank you,” Jasmine voiced to the Shadow. “Thank you for showing me who I would become, so I know not to follow that path. I am my own person, and I will value who I am. You cannot make me into something I’m not, because I’m the queen. I make the decisions. Not you.”
Surprising us all, the Shadow did not rebuttal or attack. It only smiled before dissipating into nothingness. The issue at hand was finally over.
Jasmine and Ashanti walked over to us in relief, with the latter giving me a wink. I shot her a grin and said, “Nice music. It hit different. You gonna have to share that playlist with me sometime.”
She took her phone out of my hand. “That’s somethin’ I can make happen.”
Her words would’ve had me caught up in the moment if the loud astonishment of the onlookers didn’t kill the vibe. The four of us fled the scene before the police or other members of the Silicon Cogs could show up, but with this instance being another involvement with the gang, we weren’t sure how long we could run from the consequences.
CHAPTER 10
We laid low outside my crib the next day after what went down with the Silicon Cogs. Despite it hitting eighty degrees, the black hood over my head was necessary to hide from our enemies. Tory, on the other hand, had on a bright ass yellow outfit that anyone could spot miles away.
“I hate gacha games, bro,” he said while pressing his thumbs on the screen of his phone. We were both sitting on the small step outside my front door. “My luck is ass.”
“Another one-star review is comin’, ain’t it?”
He nodded with a smirk. I laughed and grabbed the headphones around my neck, tempted to put them on, but the thought of not hearing someone pull up on us scared that idea away.
“Yo, you wanna chill inside?” I asked. My paranoia was kicking in heavy after seeing a black car with tinted windows ride through the parking lot of the complex.
“And sweat like balls? Nah man, you gotta get’cha AC workin’ before I go up in there again.”
I brushed his comment off with a slick suck of my teeth before turning my head and seeing Marcus jogging through the complex. He spotted us and sprinted over, pulling out his wired earbuds.
“My boy out here lookin’ ripped,” Tory complimented him with a dap. The praise was well deserved; I could see his muscle and chiseled chest through his white tracksuit.
He dapped me up next before saying, “How y’all livin’?”
“We coolin’,” Tory replied.
“That’s what’s up. It’s just y’all two out here?”
He looked over at Ashanti’s place, no doubt thinking she was going to come out any minute or something for his satisfaction. He was obviously still feeling her, but it’s whatever, though. I wasn’t gonna get jealous or anything like that.
“Nah, Ashanti ain’t around,” Tory informed him. “She had to help her mom with somethin’. Ain’t that what you told me she texted you, Z?” I slowly turned my head to Tory with wide eyes. That was a big lie. “Marcus, you know that’s his girl, right? They a whole vibe right now.”
Bro, seriously?
Marcus laughed, probably thinking it was a joke. He surveyed me and asked, “Straight up? That’s all you?” I had to swallow the lump in my throat. The look he gave was the same stare he’d give his opponent whenever he wrestled.
“I mean, like, we close, you know? Like…we gettin’ there. Ain’t nothin’ official-official, though.” I stumbled over my words, moving my hands wildly. Tory facepalmed out the corner of my eye, disappointed by the fumble.
“Anyway,” he picked the conversation back up, “You got any matches or events comin’ up, Marcus?”
I thawed out of Marcus’s icy glare after he looked at Tory and smiled, saying, “Somethin’ like that. I got a call this mornin’ from a wrestling scout in the big leagues. He saw enough of my work to wanna take me out the independent circuit and sign me for a couple shows this summer.”
Both Tory and I stood up to dap him in celebration. “Damn, bro. That’s sick,” Tory congratulated him. “So, like, you gonna be on TV and all that? Doin’ promos and jumpin’ off cages and shit?”
“I don’t know ‘bout all that yet. I’m probably gonna be used as enhancement talent for some established wrestler to beat up on until I make a name for myself and get out of jobber status.”
Confused, Tory tilted his head to the side. “Man, I don’t know ‘bout any of that, but we gotta celebrate.”
“Cool, you got it. I’m gonna be celebrating later with my mom. This is the first thing to make her smile since my brother got locked up for robbery.”
“That’s what’s up,” I said to him. “We can join in on that celebration later if it’s indoors.”
“Nah, we active right now,” Tory jumped in, a bit more excited than I preferred.
Marcus shrugged. “Aight, let’s head down to the pizza shop by the waterfront. They slices hit different.”
The two of them were already walking out of the complex, but I didn’t move. I almost couldn’t, to be honest. Just thinking what the Silicon Cogs might do if they saw us was enough for me to stay hidden until we had a plan of defense at least.
Tory looked back and saw my hesitation. He turned around an
d approached me, asking, “Yo, you good?”
“You know we on strike three, right?” I reminded him. He didn’t seem all that worried. “The Cogs could be lurking on any block.”
“Z, we good, aight? We got superpowers, bro. We charged up, they ain’t.”
“Y’all busy?” Marcus asked a few feet away. “We could do this another time then. I ain’t gon’ die if we don’t go today.”
“Nah, we comin’,” Tory answered him before addressing my concerns. “I promise you we straight. They just some goons doin’ dumb shit that we gonna shut down eventually. For now, let’s chill and be easy. C’mon.”
This ain’t gonna end well.
While sitting on the benches outside of the pizza shop, Tory and Marcus got into one of their intense debates while we waited for our orders. This time, it was the argument that started it all: Marvel versus DC.
I laughed as the two went back and forth, appreciating moments like this. Things would be weird as hell if they ever agreed on something. No matter what happens in the future, we were all gonna be bros for the rest of our lives.
After eating and discussing our hobbies, we got up from our seats and crossed the street to walk the long grassy pathway that not only led back to the complex, but other restaurants and festivities. Suddenly, a black van rode up in front of us with five dudes hopping out immediately.
One of them, was Miguel.
He was a bull seeing red with a bloodshot eye. ‘You’re dead’ were the only words I heard from his mouth before my headphones were quickly placed on my head. There was no time for hesitation.
Tory zipped toward the gang members with lightning-fast speed, using his now electrified hands to strike and take down two of them. The others headed for Marcus, who handled himself well with grappling techniques and hard punches of his own.