The Double Cross

by Anna J.

  Skye took my clothing to her house until later, and I went to the bank to check into this account situation using my sister’s ID, of course, since the bank info was in both of their names.

  Listen, I was not prepared for what the bank teller was about to reveal. This man had damn near twenty million dollars in his account! Drug money! Like, where they do that at? I sat with the banker to close the account, having them put the money in my real name so that I could cash the check. I gave them some story about the money being a gift that I had been planning to give to my loving sister after she graduated. They ate that shit up at the bank. Because I banked there as well, they were able to deposit the check in my account for free. Sadjah had major bank in her account as well, but I left that there for my parents to handle upon them learning of her demise.

  I got to work a little bit later than expected, and when I arrived, everyone looked so sad. I had no idea what was going on until Cici pulled me to the side to talk to me.

  “Have you seen the news?” Cici asked in a hushed tone as we walked toward the break room.

  “No. I woke up late this morning, so I was rushing. What happened?”

  Just as we tuned in, I saw on the news a million cops surrounding the car that we had Sajdah’s body hidden in. I was instantly sick to my stomach. The trunk was open, and you could clearly see what looked like a body wrapped in a trash bag on the inside. I played it cool as I listened to the story to hear any names.

  “Your mom has been calling here all morning, and they say it’s your sister. The security guard was doing his rounds and found a child asleep in the car. When he went to get the child out, he popped the trunk to see what else was in the car and discovered the body. This shit is—”

  I totally started to freak out as I ran out of the room to grab my phone out of my purse. I had so many missed calls from my mom, Vice, and Skye. I was sick and having a hard time keeping my breakfast down.

  “Mom, what happened?” I asked as I gathered my stuff up to leave. I could hear my boss telling me to leave, but I just waved her off as I ran out of the building. I was shaking like crazy. What if they found out we did it?

  I stayed on the phone with my mom the entire time, texting the girls to tell them to meet me at my parents’ house. This was definitely not the fucking plan. What if we got caught this time?

  When I pulled up to the house finally, I jumped out of the car and ran right into my parents’ arms. My mom was a mess, and my dad wasn’t much better. They were so hurt and confused. Who would want to hurt their daughter?

  I avoided eye contact because the guilt was eating me alive. We were able to get my mom laid down after a while, and Vice and Skye stayed home with her as my dad and I went down to identify the body.

  I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my damn chest. I didn’t know what we were going to see when we got there. I had seen plenty of dead bodies, but it was different when it was your flesh and blood lying on the table.

  When we got to the morgue and they led us to the room, all I could smell was a strong amount of bleach with underlying feces. As we got closer, I had to lean into my dad to keep from fainting. Her body was so bloated. She didn’t even look like herself. The things that made us the same were absent from her features. This would definitely be a closed casket. The bleach had already started eating at her skin and forming holes. Her eyes were bulging out from her face.

  I felt myself about to vomit, so I ran out of the room, all dramatic. Of course my dad thought it was because of my sister’s fate, but he didn’t know I was the reason why she was there. All of this was a damn mess.

  When we got back home, my mom was asleep, and my friends were waiting for me. My dad thanked them for staying with my mom, and he made his way upstairs to go be with her. There was a heaviness in the house that was so suffocating. I knew I had to lay down and get comfortable in it, though, since it was my fault.

  “There’s nothing to worry about.” Vice spoke to me barely above a whisper. “The car that she was found in was just a junk car from my friend’s lot. No names are attached to it. I made sure everything was bleached. We’re good.”

  That was good news to hear. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about the law coming for us, causing my parents more pain.

  They got up to get ready to leave, hugging me so tight. Thank God I had them. I locked the door and went up to peek in on my parents. They were both asleep, so I went into my old room to try to get myself together.

  While I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I questioned what kind of person I really was. There was no doubt the karma that would come from this would set me back into the ice ages.

  It would be weird without my sister there. I got up and went into her room, just taking in her space. I fingered the perfume bottles she had on her dresser and thumbed through the textbooks she had left on her bed. My womb-mate was gone. That shit was unbelievable.

  I went back to my bed and checked my phone again, seeing a text from an unknown number.

  I know what you did. I’ll get you when the time is right.

  That shit sent a chill through my spine. I didn’t even bother to respond. That was clearly one of Chase’s men. When drug dealers of that caliber die, you don’t report that shit; you pick up the pieces and keep it moving. They probably were wondering why they hadn’t heard from him in a few days, and when they went to his house to check and saw all my shit gone, it was obvious what had transpired.

  A part of me wanted to die. What did I have left to live for? The other part of me knew I wasn’t going out without a fight. So, here’s to life looking over my damn back.

  Epilogue

  Sajdah’s memorial was beautiful. We used the photo from her graduation as the centerpiece. She was cremated due to the condition of her body. The wails of sorrow that poured out of my mother were like the sharpest knives in the world stabbing me all over my body. I accepted this as my punishment and didn’t complain. I deserved all of this.

  After the service, I took her urn and held my mom’s hand as we walked out. We were having a little something at the house for family and friends, and then we would begin to try to start living again.

  A news reporter had come to talk to us about the gruesome murder, and I could barely hold it together as I wore a T-shirt with my sister’s graduation pic on it and a baseball cap that read #ForeverSajdah across the front. I performed as the news camera followed me around the neighborhood, videotaping me stapling reward posters on telephone poles for the person that found my sister’s killer. We were offering $20K for the tips that led to the person. The money came from my account.

  My mother handled the closing of Sajdah’s accounts, depositing damn near a million dollars into a family account. My mom had us both insured, so her policy was more than enough to cover her wake and to pay off any expenses that Sajdah had, leaving a nice chunk of money left over.

  So many people came out to show my sister love. I was shocked at the number of people that came through. She was well loved at her job and had even more friends than I even knew about. My sister was definitely loved.

  By this time, I had gotten all of my belongings and my puppy from Skye and Vice’s house and had officially moved back in with my mom and dad. I doubled back to Chase’s to remove all data from the security system, just in case the law got the bright idea to check there. I was never leaving again. It would take a special kind of man to get me to open back up again.

  I didn’t tell Skye and Vice about the mysterious text that I received. I just deleted it. It was easier that way.

  Pretty soon, I started to fall back into a routine. I went to work, went back to school, came home, repeat. I didn’t give anyone more than what was required, and even hanging out with my girls was few and far between. They came to check on me and my parents but understood my plight. I cut them both checks for a hundred thousand each. With the amount of money I had at hand, I didn’t have to work, but I needed to keep myself occupied.

  A few mo
nths had gone by, and the nightmares were slowly backing off. I got up to take a shower so that I could be ready for the morning. I had been speaking with some bankers about opening a boutique, and we were set to meet in the morning.

  After moisturizing my body, I threw on some night clothes and lay in the bed. I turned the light out and lay in the dark, willing sleep to come sooner than later. Just as I was dozing off, my phone vibrated against my pillow.

  When I looked at the screen, the message was from Chase’s number, and it simply read: tick tock. I was shook. Didn’t we bury Chase’s phone with him? Someone was playing a cruel trick. What could I do?

  I texted Vice and Skye to let them know we had to meet up tomorrow. Apparently, someone was coming for us, and we needed to be prepared.

  Vice

  When Play Time is Over

  I must say, I didn’t think she was going to kill his ass. Better him than me. While digging that damn hole, so many things ran through my mind. Truth be told, I was a fucking slime ball. I should have just stayed in my damn lane. I was even more of a slime ball once I found out how much money this bitch came up on. Twenty million fucking dollars? Oh, she hit that good lick, and although she broke us all off properly, I felt like we should have gotten more. I mean, the $100K was a nice gesture, but the bitch could have given me a smooth million. She wasn’t the only one that didn’t want to work anymore.

  There was a small sense of relief once we put him in the hole. That solidified that he wasn’t coming back, but I made sure to grab that phone out of the plastic while Skye was busy pulling Selah out of the grave. I wasn’t sure at the moment what I was going to use the phone for, and imagine my surprise when I found out it was still on after all those months.

  I sent the text really quick, then turned it back off. That Find My iPhone tracer was real, and it was no doubt in my mind that people were still looking for him. His parents came to Philly once to talk to Selah, and we never saw them again. I had no clue what even came from that conversation, and I didn’t ask. It wasn’t my business.

  Needless to say, I blew through that money like it was $5 in food stamps. Ya girl was living high on the hog, even though both Skye and Selah kept telling me to invest the money somehow. A part of me felt like she may have even given Skye more than she gave me. All I knew was they both slowly started to fall off, and we didn’t hang as much as we used to. Selah was busy with depression, and Skye had managed to get herself engaged and pregnant by her boyfriend. That basically left me out there on the ho stroll alone, and I was not happy about it.

  When I approached Selah about my funding situation, she basically brushed me off. This bitch was sitting on millions. Surely she could afford to bless me one more time. After all I did for her, she owed me. She, on the other hand, felt differently about it. All she wanted to talk about was investments and business. I was just trying to grab a new bag and ball out at King of Prussia Mall. This entire thing was getting to be too much.

  So, I sent the text, just to see if I would get a reaction. I turned Chase’s phone off right away, so I wasn’t sure if she texted the number back, but I knew for sure she was spooked out when she sent the group text to me and Skye, saying we needed to talk.

  I hated to extort my dear friend. At one point, I loved her like a sister. Unfortunately, recent circumstances changed that for us, and I had to do what I had to do.

  Let the games begin....

  The End . . . kind of . . .

  For Discussion

  1. Who was your least favorite character and why?

  2. Which character did you like the most?

  3. Is Vice and Skye’s friendship a true example of how real friendships are in our current climate?

  4. Do you feel that Chase’s feelings toward Selah were genuine?

  5. What were your thoughts upon reading the opening chapter?

  6. Do you think Selah killed Chase on purpose? Or was she just caught up in the moment?

  7. How do you feel about Vice now that you know her part in the double cross, versus how you felt about her in the beginning?

  8. From past movies like New Jack City, Dead Presidents, and other hood tales, oftentimes, when a dealer messed up money and had to die, they took the entire family out. This proved true in some real life situations as well. Do you think Chase overreacted in the scene where he killed OG and his family?

  9. Chase’s life was set up for him to work in the family business. He never knew what struggle felt like, unlike his roommate, who came from the environment he pretended he knew about. Why do you feel he chose the drug dealer life as opposed to stepping into a safer lifestyle that he didn’t have to work for?

  10. Why do you think Vice flipped the way she did on Selah? Was she just as guilty, or guiltier than Chase in this situation?

  11. Who do you think was more of a friend to Selah overall? Skye, Vice, or Sajdah?

  12. If you were in Selah’s shoes, would you have killed your sister? Did Sajdah deserve to die? Did Selah overreact?

  13. Put yourself in Sajdah’s shoes. As Selah’s twin, what could she have done differently to save her own life? Did she even have the option to negotiate?

  14. Do you think Sadjah fell in love with Chase at some point? Or did she just not want her sister to be happy with him?

  15. Jealousy is a sickness that can ruin just about any type of relationship, and clearly, Sadjah was jealous of her sister. Is this considered “normal” behavior for siblings?

  16. Come to find out Vice wasn’t as good of a friend as we thought she was. What should her punishment be for betraying Selah the way she did?

  17. The story ended with Selah getting a text from Chase’s phone, which she thought for sure was buried with him. Who do you think she thinks has the phone?

  18. Now that her twin sister is dead, how do you think Selah should move forward?

  A Sneak Peek . . .

  The Double Cross 2

  Selah

  And Then There Were Two

  Friends . . . how many of us have them? Such a simple question that should be easy to answer but has so many stipulations that you have to really think about that shit for a while before you’re confident you answered it correctly. I’m talking about true friendship, ten-toes-to-the-ground, standing-side-by-side, we-in-this-together friendship. The ones you never have to have doubts about because you know where their loyalty lies, and it ain’t a lie. They have your best interests at heart over their own every single time. The ones that you can have around your man and not think sly thoughts because they wouldn’t dare cross that line. The ones you have around your parents and they feel at home because your home is their home and vice versa. Your girls. You tell them all your bullshit, and they never judge you because they did shit just as fucked up, or worse. Your secret keepers. Your friends.

  Well, let me tell you about friendship. You have to be careful with that shit. You have to make sure that the same level of friendship that’s in your head is the same in the other person or people’s head too. Make sure that shit is consistent across the board. You’ll be out here talking that best friend crap, ready to pull the trigger and do time in the clink for they ass, and low key they don’t even fuck with you like that. The same bitch you riding for will sell you out like $50 for $100 on an EBT card with her food-stamp ass. What’s even crazier is everybody knows this but you. This is your best fucking friend. The one you give your last to. The one you stop all conversation about because can’t nobody tell you no bad shit about your main bitch. The one that does you the dirtiest. The one that you least suspect.

  You’ll come to find out that the same one you stand for is the same one you’ll eventually have to dig a hole for. When you stay ready, much doesn’t surprise you. However, it will still hurt like hell, and that’s when you have to think rationally. Sometimes, without a shadow of a doubt, you have to put them down first, or they will come get you for sure. Know it, own it, claim it, and act appropriately when the time comes. Now is not the time to h
esitate. Shoot that bitch dead in the head and deal with the body later. And for the record, staying ready is a learned behavior that’s in direct correlation with distrust. These hoes ain’t loyal, period.

  “Dig just a little deeper. I gotta be sure this ho doesn’t pop back up on us. We don’t need a repeat of what happened before,” I said to my girl Skye as we dug a fresh grave not too far from where we put Chase in the ground just a year before. It took everything in me not to dig his dumb ass up and shoot him again. You would think it got easier, but each time was harder than the last. You learn a lot about a person once they’re gone, but you have to decipher through the bullshit to find the truth. Everybody always want to tell you what someone said about you when they mad, but you can miss me with the bullshit. If you didn’t feel inclined to clue me in on the spot, don’t try to backtrack that shit months later. You just as shady as the bitch that started the conversation.

  Chase hit me close to the heart, but this one hit dead center like a bullseye. I never thought the day would come that I’d have to put down one of my own again, but it just goes to show that trust is earned, and even when you think you can trust them, you can’t. I hate that the people I loved the most kept proving me wrong.

  We dug in silence a little more, and then I boosted Skye out of the hole first, her reaching down afterward to pull me up. The first thing I did was make sure both phones that needed to be discarded were in the hole first. Not that I didn’t trust Skye, but I just needed to make sure for my own sanity this time that Chase’s phone was gone. This time, I had to make sure Vice’s phone was gone too. Jealousy will have you doing some crazy shit, and I had to protect myself at all costs by every means necessary.

  We popped the hood on the trunk and dragged her body out with a hard thud as it hit the ground. She definitely wasn’t handled with care like Chase was, as I carelessly scraped her body across the concrete. I almost wanted to stomp on her ass again before throwing her in the dirt, but I resisted. Her being dead was far worse than anything else I could do to her now.