by Niecy P
The young girl came into the room with her parents. They were afraid to be near anyone after what happened to their daughter. Usually, we would give the family some time to heal after an ordeal like that. Not that time. They were going to tell us everything we wanted to know.
Papa pulled out a chair for the young girl to sit in. The girl’s father looked around at all of the Black men in the room and was about to bolt. Truth didn't have that shit. He took out his gun and pointed it at the man without taking his eyes off my sister.
“I would think twice about doing that. That extra bed in here is not for you. Yours is downstairs at the morgue,” he let the man know. The mother of the girl gasped and clutched onto her husband and grabbed her daughter’s hand. The brave little girl dropped her mother’s hand and walked to the other side of the bed. She stared down at Madison and pulled something out of her pocket. She placed it in Madison’s hand and whispered something in her ear.
“Ela salvou minha vida,” the girl said out loud.
“That is why you want to help her, right. Because she saved your life,” I asked. The girl looked at me and nodded her head. She turned and went to the chair that Papa pulled out for her. She gave us the blow by blow story of how she killed the Beans and the moment that she was shot in the back. She told us that Madison killed the men that shot her and that she didn’t see anyone else around. Mom thanked her and told us if she ever needed anything to let us know. Mom passed her our contact information before the girl got up to leave. When she got to the door, she turned back and looked at Madison.
“Quando estávamos a caminho da casa das pessoas más, comecei a rezar por um anjo para nos salvar. E ela apareceu de preto com esta lâmina na mão. O Sr. Bean pensou que ele ia cuidar dela facilmente. Sua Madison se apresentou como Smoke e que colocou o medo nele. O medo que só Deus invocaria no homem. Ela é meu anjo. Ela é meu Deus,” the young girl said before leaving. We were all stunned at her words. That was the type of impact that Madison was talking about making. She didn’t want to be looked at like a God but as a person. A regular person that was able to control her urges to be the monster that they thought we all were.
The information that we got from the little girl was passed to DJ and my cousin Tylee. They punched in shit and was able to get video from the satellites. I didn’t know how they were able to do it, but they did. They sent us the video over, and we were able to see what happened to her. The shit made me madder than before. We saw the guy that shot at her on the phone with someone. He was holding the phone from his ear and to his mouth. That meant he was on speaker phone with someone. I was going to get DJ to drown out the sounds around the scene and focus on the caller. He hung up the phone and approached that car. That was when she killed them and blacked out.
“Shi let him guh,” I whispered angrily.
“Him did a bystanda,” Mom tried to take up for her.
“Dat a bullshit Joel. Di rule no witnesses but di victims. Eff shi wudda kill dat nigga shi wouldn't be inna here,” Shadow said. Mom jumped outta her seat and squared off with him.
“Har showing mercy nuh di reason wah mek shi inna here. Dem muthafuckas had a motive. Suh much suh dat dem send four men afta mi baby. Dem di reason dat shi lies here. Nuh blame mi pickney fi dis shit,” Mom told him.
“Dem di rules, Mada. Wi follow dem suh dat shit like dis nuh happen. Har mercy nearly get har kill,” I told her.
“Suh dem wi be di reason dat mi ave any leave to gi,” her gravel voice spoke. We all looked at the bed and saw that she was sitting up. She removed the tube down her throat and was drinking water from a cup. Mom rushed her side and held her tightly. Truth took the empty cup from her to fix her another cup of water. I knew that it would happen. Ghost was staring at all of us in the room as if we were targets. I stood at the end of the bed as my parents fussed over her. Papa called Scar to check in on her.
Scar checked to see if there were significant damages that we had to worry about and he saw none. He told her that she still needed rest and that they were going to keep her for another two days. They were talking about what she needed to do when she left the hospital. When I found out that she was going to be okay, I had questions that needed to be answered.
“Wah mek di fuck weren't yuh careful? Wi all tell yuh dis an yuh get fucking soft inna anotha fucking country towards a fucking stranga. Yuh nearly bruk mi!” I yelled at her. The nurses in the room jumped at the sound of my voice. Scar stepped back from an angry Smoke.
“Mason,” Dad tried to chastise.
“Dis a nuh di propa time to chat bout dis,” Mom said. I didn’t want to hear any of that shit. She should have been careful.
“Yuh luk fine to mi bredda,” Smoke said.
“Nuh fucking ramp wid mi,” my hands were wrapped around the bed railing at the foot of the bed. I shook that shit with that statement. Truth stood up and Smoke grabbed his hand. Smoke sat back on her pillows and peered at me with dead eyes. It wasn’t the same as the usual Smoke. She was different.
“Dweet luk like mi wid di games? Yuh up inna here chatting bout mi tell har suh an all a dat bullshit but ave no idea waah brewing inside of mi now. Luk round Duppy. Whulla dem yah fucking sharp objects round mi an yuh tink dat mi confined to dis bed. Eff yuh nuh wa fi wi mada inna black dress mi suggest yuh lef,” Smoke should have followed behind the words that she spoke. I straightened up and looked at her sideways.
“Yuh chat to mi like dat,” I asked, ready to drag her ass out the bed.
“Yuh still here,” she responded. When I didn’t move, she began to take the needles out of her arm. Scar placed his hand on her arm and looked back at me.
“Ghost,” he said. I nodded my head and smirked at her.
“Si yuh soon,” I told her as I grabbed my jacket to leave the room. Smoke smiled at me with promises in her eyes.
“Real soon,” she told me and leaned back in the bed. I left the room still thinking of the muthafuckers that did that to her. She was a pain in the ass, but she was my pain. I heard someone coming up behind me. I didn’t bother to turn around. I knew that it was either Marley or JoJo. Marley and I got really close over the weeks. I saw him ready to jump in for me when I called my father out on his shit. JoJo was ready for everything, but also my uncles. Uncle Jo knew that JoJo had my back like he had my Dad’s. It was going to be a big rumble in the jungle. I got to the elevator and pushed the one button. JoJo and Marley got on the elevator with me. We were going down when Marley spoke.
“Hey, man. That shit couldn’t wait until she got out of the hospital, bruh. Nobody didn’t want to hear that shit off the back,” he said.
“I was feeling that shit. I had to know what she was thinking,” I answered.
“We all wanted to know that shit, bruh. But, let my sister breathe and say hi to everybody. Show some muthafucking compassion nigga. We are lucky that she is alive,” JoJo added. I looked at the both of them and knew that they were right. I got off the elevator emotional and mentally tired. I was thinking of going back up there to talk to her again, but I knew what mood she was in. I was going to have to stay clear of her for a couple of days.
“Look, I’ll talk to her later. Right now, I gotta go and get some rest,” I told them.
“That’s cool. I gotta go see Melissa and let her know her shopping buddy is okay. But another fucking thing happened, though. I asked Gavin to bring my car from the meeting. Tell me why that bitch blew up,” JoJo said. Marley and I looked at the fool crazy.
“Are you serious, nigga?” I asked. He nodded his head.
“Yes. When I asked them for the security feed, that shit was out. I got Tylee on it though. She said that she was going to have something for me by tonight. So, check yo shit before hopping in it,” he said.
“Aight, cool. Where are you going?” I asked Marley.
“I’m going back up. I came down to tell you how wrong you were,” Marley said and went back up on the closing elevator. I shook my head and walked to my car. I looked around it and un
der for anything suspicious before I texted DJ to send me the feed from the video. There had to be something on there that we can use. I checked my other messages and got a few from Beauty. She was wondering where I was at and if my family was okay. I was going to call her the next day too. I didn’t feel like being bothered with anybody at the time. I shut my phone off and went to my apartment. It was closest to the hospital.
I got home and was shocked that I didn’t get into any accidents. I didn’t fall asleep, but I was in a daze. I pulled into my parking spot and went through the back way. I saw the kids in the lobby and knew that they would have wanted me to play the game with them. It was only six, so it was early. I took the elevator up to my room and got aggravated at the guest that was sitting by my door.
I sighed and was ready to turn back around. “Beauty, what are you doing here?”
Beauty got up from the floor and walked over to me with urgency. She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly.
“Oh my God. I thought something happened to you,” she said and pulled back. She started kissing me, but something she said to me didn’t sit right. I grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from touching me.
“Why wouldn’t I be okay, Beauty?” I asked her. She stared at me like she was about to go to the electric chair. I got serious then. I grabbed her by the neck and pushed her back to my apartment. Beauty grabbed my arm but didn’t fight me. I opened the door to my apartment and pushed her in. Without cutting the lights on, I pulled out my nine and placed it on her forehead. I wasn’t going to ask her again. She knew what I wanted to know. Beauty stared me in my eyes and made the decision that was going to cause her family grief.
“I heard my brother talking about taking you and your family out with some people he was on the phone with,” she said.
“What do you mean by take out,” I replied. Beauty broke down and told me the whole conversation that bitch had. Everything that we were going through started with a meeting that JoJo was supposed to attend by himself so that he and Jeremiah could be killed. That nigga plotted against us like that, but there was no need to worry. I looked at a Beauty and had to respect her more for choosing me over her hoe ass brother. I removed the gun from her head and removed the clip. I placed it on the couch and reached out for her.
I thought that she was going to reject me. Surprisingly, she didn’t. Beauty walked in my arms crying the tears that I knew was for her brother and the rest of her family. I hope she knew how we did things when one person fucked with us. They all had to go.
“Do your brother know that you are here?” I asked her. She shook her head and pulled back from my chest.
“When he told me this, I left and tried to find you. I needed you to know so that you could protect yourself and your family,” she whispered like the shit was a secret. I stroked her face to calm her nerves.
“You must really care for a nigga, to go against your blood,” I said. She gave me a soft smile through her tears.
“Yes, I do,” she said with meaning behind that shit. I didn’t want to tell her what was going to happen next, but I needed her to follow my instructions if she wanted to live.
“We gotta go,” I said and grabbed her hand. After I told my family what was said they were going to set everything in motion. We left, and I took her to a place where no one would find her.
Smoke
Hearing them muthafuckers say that it was all my fault, had me boiling mad. I thought I was careful. Real careful. But according to my twin brother and uncles, I fucked up again and almost broke everyone. Well, they won’t ever have to worry about me showing mercy to anyone. I was going to do what I was born and trained to do. Kill. Kill everything that didn’t make sense to me.
I stayed in the hospital for three days after that and was recovering at the house on my parents’ property. Mom and Grandma was over there all the time cooking and trying to bring me back from the edge. But the edge was where I wanted to be. I heard Truth talking to me about how much he loved me and was ready to get our lives started when I woke up. I wasn’t sure about that. I wasn’t thinking about a happily ever after no more. No. I was thinking of who skulls and blood that I was going to bathe in. I wanted the hearts of the muthafuckers I killed. I needed to hear bitches scream as my knife pierced their skin. I needed that more than I needed my next breath and being cooped up in that fucking house was not going to get it.
My uncles walked in the house dressed in workout clothes. I was sitting on the couch between Dad and Mom. He nodded towards the back door.
“Come on 2pac,” Uncle Kymani called me. I didn’t understand the comparison until my dad explained it to me.
“Pac got shot five times and didn’t die,” he said while getting up. He held his hand out for me and I shook my head. I got up on my own and walked to the backyard. Mom came and sat on the chairs that were by the grass line.
“Joel, stay yo ass over there. Nobody doesn’t have time to be going back to the hospital,” Uncle Kymel said.
“I don’t have any weapons on me, boy,” she said that like she needed one. I stretched my limbs and ran a couple of laps before engaging in any physical fighting with my uncles. Uncle Kymani attacked first with some warm-up punches. I didn’t want to warm up. I wanted to show them that I was fine and that I didn’t need a babysitter. Uncle Kymani threw a lazy punch, which got his jaw rocked and his wind cut. He jumped back and frowned at me.
“It’s like that,” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders and waited for him to come at me the right way. “Aight, let’s roll,” he said and attacked me with the moves Mason and I learned over the years. I ducked, dodged, and escaped all his attacks and countered them all with my own. He was more than outta breath and in pain.
“Madison be careful. You don’t want to overdo it,” Mom warned me. Uncle Kymel looked at me and knew that I wasn’t Madison. I wasn’t Madison since I woke up. I knew that my Uncle Kymani didn’t want to hit me because he was afraid that he was going to hurt me. I didn’t need them to be careful. I shook my head and walked off.
“Wheneva yuh ready to fight like men let mi kno,” I told them. Dad was standing by the door watching everything that happened.
“You don’t need to be that way baby girl. We are only here to help,” he pissed me off. I tilted my head and looked up at him.
“Waah it dat mi need help wid exactly, Dad,” I asked him.
“We know that it is hard to bounce back from all this, Madison. We are trying to make it an easy transition for you. That’s all,” he answered. I grunted and walked off to my room. I tried leaving the house twice and was threatened by them all. I chilled out until I overheard them talking about what they found out a couple of days ago from Mason and JoJo. They thought I was sleeping upstairs, and I was. I woke up to get some water.
Juice was in cahoots with the muthafuckers that shot me. I didn’t know how that shit was possible because Juice didn’t have pull like that. I mean, I thought he didn’t. That goes to show how much you knew a nigga. I knew that it was something off about him, but I didn’t know what. Truth left that morning to straighten some shit out with his unit and CO. He told me that he was going to be back within a week. That gave me the time to plot and I was ready to leave the house, not giving a fuck who I had to run through to get out.
“Why is Juice still breathing?” Papa asked. I was already on my way back up the stairs when I heard the answer.
“Mason is in love with Juice sister. He found out that the father and Juice set his sister up to get captured so that we can step in. He got in good with Mason and got in the crew. What Mason is trying to find out is who was on the other end of Juice’s phone call. Beauty said that he was talking to someone that knew about the meeting that Jeremiah had,” Dad said.
“Yeah, but I heard that Jeremiah was hanging out with Juice at the club and shit. He probably got Jeremiah drunk and got him to tell him about the meeting,” Uncle JJ said.
“He didn’t have to get Jeremiah drunk for that. He wa
nted people to know that he was making moves and being the boss that we wanted him to be,” Uncle Jo said. They continued talking, but I was through. My twin didn’t go after Juice because he was pussy whipped by the nigga’s sister. I shook my head and went upstairs. Yep, it was time that I met my sister-in-law.
JoJo
There was so much shit we found out during the past week. The night I left the hospital, I thought for sure that I was about to fuck my girl and get some rest. When Mason called me with that shit he found out, I spun around and went to a location that was two hours out of Philly. It was in the woods in a secluded area.
I pulled up and Mason was waiting for me outside, more energized than he was when I last saw him at the hospital. I jumped out the car and approached him. He placed his finger on his lip and opened the door.
“Beauty, I will be right back,” he told her and closed the door. Mason stepped off the porch and walked to my car.
“Yo. What’s the deal?” I asked him. Mason told me everything that his girl told him. I was about to go off until he shook his head.
“Wait, nigga. That isn’t it. I called some of our clients to see if Juice or anyone else reached out to them about changing services, and four of them said that the Costa contacted them about coming on board with their family,” he told me.
“The muthafuckers tried to set my fucking brother up to get killed, bruh. I wasn’t going to go to that fucking meeting. They would have got my fucking brother,” I yelled. I couldn’t believe that shit.
“Yeah, nigga. You know what that means right? We have to clean house. Everyone gotta go,” Mason told me.
“I fucking know, bruh. Some of them niggas were with us from day one, man. I don’t want to take all of them out,” I disagreed.