Seven takes out his cell phone and pretends to be talking to someone. As he approaches closer, he can hear the voice of a woman scream from inside the bus. When walking passed the man guarding the door, he makes eye contact with Seven, “keep it moving, there just having a little fun back there. They couldn’t wait until they got home.” Seven nods his head up as if he understood quite clear while continuing to walk. A woman’s voice screams from inside the bus once again. He could hear that a hand covered her mouth half way through shouting the words, “somebody help me!” His heart beat like a drum in his chest. His imagination came into play as he began hearing a voice on the left shoulder telling him to keep walking, while the voice on the right shoulder tells him to help her. The voices in his head convicted him more and more as he approaches closer to exiting the parking lot.
Everything is happening so fast. He asks himself the question, “how did I get myself in this situation?” The words on the wall then flashed before his eyes, “WHO ARE YOU?” He stopped walking and thought about that question. Who am I? Why am I here? He turns his head back and looks at the man who stands in front of the party bus. The big guy happened to be staring right back at him. He turns back and looks at the narrow passage way to his exit. He thinks for a moment, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He dials 911, as soon the operator answers is when he speaks, “there is a problem in the parking lot of the Melting Pot Lounge,” and hangs up the phone. He puts his cell phone back in his pocket and turns back around towards the bus. As he approaches closer to a man guarding the bus is when he began to act lost. The big man who seemed to be a regular at the gym speaks, “just keep on moving, don’t come back here.” Seven ignores his request and continues to walk forward, “I’m sorry sir, I am just lost and want to know if you could help me out?”
Seven walks right up to the man and asks if he could help him before he was interrupted, “what part of don’t come back here don’t you understand?” Before he could finish his sentence, Seven sent a quick blow to man’s Adam’s apple. He immediately clutches his throat and stumbles to one knee while grasping for air. Seven then walks up a couple steps to the party bus door. He walks in chanting, “heyyy, party over here,” while waving his hands in the air. The whole inside was lit up neon blue. While putting on an act, he sees a man forcing himself to sexually penetrate the very woman from inside the lounge. Her strength was just about all drained from putting up a fight. Her nose was bleeding and parts of her clothes had been ripped off. The abuser quickly pulled up his pants and turned back at Seven, “who the hell are you?” Seven was moving in closer while still waving his hands in the air, “party over here!” Once Seven stepped closer at a good distance, he hit the man in the jaw with a swift right hook that came down from being waved in the air. His right hook drops the man on to the seat next to a battered Destiny. She gave a look of relief once realizing someone came to her rescue. She stretches her hand out towards Seven.
DESTINY: Please help me.
SEVEN: (Taking her hand and picking her up) I got you.
DESTINY: (With her head on the shoulder of Seven and her mouth near his ear) You saved me.
SEVEN: You are going to be okay.
Seven lifts Destiny up in his arms and carries her to the front of the bus. Right when he opened the door, the barrow of a gun was pointed right between his eyes. The big man guided Seven where to go with his pistol with one hand and clutched his neck with the other. Seven steps down from the bus while the tip of the gun was aimed steady at his head. He orders Seven to put the woman down. He did not want to lay her on the concrete ground so he laid her on the hood of the nearest parked car. It just so happened to be a shiny red old school Ford mustang. Soon as he laid her in the most comfortable position, he received a blow from the back of head that dropped him to the ground.
While lying on the ground, Seven could see the man he punched inside the party bus run out towards the action. Kicks to the ribs and punches to the head is what Seven could feel. Both men beat the living daylight out of Seven. From an aerial view looking down from the sky, you would see a beautiful Destiny laying faced up on the hood of a red Ford car and Seven being kicked and punched by two men. Her eyes stare at the dark sky while Seven becomes a sacrificial lamb. “Get the girl, bring her with us,” the man shouts after kicking the unconscious Seven. He grabs her arm and pulls her off the car. He drags her towards the bus just as there were more people in the parking lot running up to see the chaos. Police sirens were approaching fast.
The combination of hearing the police sirens and more witnesses, the man releases Destiny’s hand and the two ran into the party bus and took off. Destiny picks herself off the ground and slowly walks over to the unconscious Seven. Police sirens from afar were approaching closer. Destiny stands over Seven while wiping blood from her nose and fixing her clothes. A stranger from a parking lot asks if she was okay. She gets on her knees and leans down to see if Seven was still breathing. She then embraced Seven and kissed him on his cheek.
There was a loud honk from a car at the end of the parking lot. Destiny looks to identify the car in the narrow space in between the two buildings. Once she could see that it was a black Cadillac she spoke the word, “King.” Police sirens were becoming louder. The red and blue police lights were coming from the front parking lot of the building. Destiny starts walking towards the black Cadillac. Once the driver of the Cadillac sees the red and blue police lights, he turns into the parking lot and drives towards Destiny. He swings the car with the passenger door open to where she could hop right in and no one would be able to read the license plate. He drives off in a cloudy smoke right as the police drove up to the scene. By the time the white smoke cleared, the Cadillac was out of sight. The driver was the older brother of Destiny named, King.
DESTINY: Brother.
KING: Are you okay! Are you hurt?
DESTINY: No, I’ll be fine, just a little sore.
KING: What’s the deal Destiny! You wasn’t going to tell me until you were in trouble?
DESTINY: I’m sorry, I didn’t know I would run into to any trouble.
KING: That was a close call. Are you trying to blow everything! Huh?
DESTINY: I know big bro, it won’t happen again.
KING: We almost there Destiny! We gotta stay focused!
DESTINY: I am focused King, I was out seeing if I could reel one in.
KING: You know the rules! What would have happen if I would have lost you tonight! Then what? You know its people out here looking for us.
DESTINY: It won’t happen again.
KING: We gotta make sure that there will be a next time.
DESTINY: I know, I get it!
KING: (Calming down while pulling up to a stop light) Look I’m sorry for yelling, that was just too close. I can’t lose you, you’re all I got out here in this world. And I damn sure ain’t going back to prison. Look at me sister, who did this to you? What happen?
Destiny looks up at her handsome dark skin brother with his bottom teeth were shinning gold inside the dark shaded Cadillac. His bone structure tightened from trying to hold in his anger while waiting for her response.
DESTINY: It was one of the Northside boys who we hit over a year ago. The one bad move that caused us to never shit to close to home again. I admit.. I wasn’t out trying to reel anybody in. I was just at home bored and wanted to go out on my own. No disguise, no intentions or motives. I need that sometimes King. As a woman I have certain needs and you have to understand that.
KING: (While driving he looks Destiny in the eyes without saying a word)
DESTINY: I was at this place tonight because I wanted to be regular for once. And maybe just have a genuine conversation with a man. And before that was going to happen, I was spotted by one of the Northside boys. I tried to leave but they had me trapped in. One stood by the exit door to meet me. They brought me to this party bus. He was saying how we were going to pay back everything we took, or he was going to kill me. He repeatedly aske
d me where you were. And since I didn’t tell him he began to slap me around. That’s when he started ripping my clothes off. I tried to fight him but he was to strong.
KING: Did he rape you?
DESTINY: (Pause with no answer while wiping away tears)
King: Did he rape you!
DESTINY: No. He almost did.. but right before he was about to force himself in me, a man came in the bus and prevented the man from raping me. Once he tried to take me away, they jumped him. They beat him bad. Oh Lord please don’t let him die.
KING: The man, who was this man that helped you?
Destiny then pulled out the wallet and keys of Seven. She opens his wallet and says his name, “Seven.”
KING: (Taking the drivers license from her hand and holding it up to where he could see for himself) Seven. The number of completion.. How did you get his wallet and keys?
DESTINY: When he was laid out on the ground unconscious. There were people in the parking lot watching, so when I gave him a hug is when I picked pocket him.
Chapter
3
APARTMENT# 2111
THE NEXT MORNING
King sat inside a four door Honda while smoking his black & mild cigar. He blew the smoke towards the driver’s license held out in his hand. He ponders the thought, “what causes a man to do such a courageous act for a stranger?” He wastes no more time and begins typing the address into the GPS system. Once the address pops up, he realizes that Seven lives in the inner city projects. He checks to make sure his insurance card, tags, blinkers and brake lights were all in good standards to avoid any reason to be stopped by the police. He sits up straight and puts his seatbelt on before driving off. The directions led King to the actual complex building where Seven lives. He googles the closest hospital to the Melting Pot night club. Once he finds the phone number he makes the call.
REPRESENTATIVE: This is the Legacy Health Center, my name is Shirl Williams, how may I help you?
KING: Good morning, I am trying to see if my brother was rushed to this hospital last night.
REPRESENTATIVE: What’s the name?
KING: His name is Seven Fitzgerald.
REPRESENTATIVE: Hold please.
KING: Yes ma’am (he holds for a brief moment while watching a drug addict walk by the car)
REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, Seven Fitzgerald is here. He is located in ICU on the 3rd floor in room #333.
KING: I thank you for your help Miss Williams.
The information was stored in the memory bank. He gets out of the car he uses as his disguise. His demanding presence caused enough attention as it is. King stood six foot three inches tall. Slim but firm. He was shaped like an in shape boxer. He had dark skin, wore a gold grill on his 6 bottom teeth, had a bald fade haircut with a three inch part right in the middle of his hair line. He had a presence of a lion and the poise of a eagle.
King walks closer to the vicinity of Seven’s apartment. He removes his keys out of his pocket when moving up to the second floor. He walks without the look of suspicion, although his awareness covers all parameters. He steps in front of apartment #2111 and begins to knock on the door. No answer. He waits for a moment and knocks again. He looks around to see if anybody was watching him before opening the door from the outside. He enters and shuts the door behind him. “Maintenance, here to fix the toilet.” No answer from anybody inside so the coast was clear. He takes a stroll around the small efficiency apartment. The first thing he notices is the big window in the small apartment.
King walks over and takes a peep out the window that allows you to see a large amount of the apartment complex. Kids were playing amongst themselves, while people hung outside of their front door. One group of adults played dominoes while a few youngster’s played basketball. On the desk next to the window, there were several writings on white sheets of paper. A few books were stacked near a laptop computer. He opened a few drawers to find a buried bachelor’s degree at the bottom. A man with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology living in a small efficiency apartment seemed a little odd to King.
Vinyl’s were stacked along the wall on one side of the apartment. There was DJ equipment, turn tables and a microphone. A record player rested on a stand near a guitar. King stood there a while mentally picking the brain of the absent Seven. “A music lover indeed,” he speaks to himself while walking towards the kitchen. He looks in the refrigerator to only see bottled waters, fruits, and vegetables. He looks inside the pantry to only see there being enough food to last a few days. There was peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal, bags of beans and several bottles of natural herbs. He picks a couple of bottles up and glances at the nutrition facts. He walks over to the closet and looks inside. Not very many clothes and shoes for Seven, although the clothes he did have were fairly nice. There was at least two sets for every occasion. King checks the labels of the clothes and notices that none of them were named brand.
Suspicion and curiosity were in the eyes of the intrigued King. He found the man who saved his sister to be an interesting one. A simple man who happens to be a lover of the artistry field of writing and music. There were many books but no television inside the small efficiency apartment. The healthy choice of food and natural herbs led him to believe that Seven used his body as a temple. His clothes were not named brand which led him to believe that Seven was not caught up in labels or status. Or, he did not live above his means.
King walks over to the record player and drops the needle on the vinyl. The vintage scratching noise that a record makes begins as he walks over and looks out the window. As soon as the song began to play, all of King’s movements stopped. He looks back at the record player and squints his eyes. The Marvin Gaye album, “What’s Going On,” plays throughout the room. The song hit King so hard to where he sat down on the chair in front of Seven’s desk. Tears ran down the straight face of King. It took him back to a place in his life where everything changed. “Who was this man Seven,” he thought to himself.
King walked over to the vinyl’s that were faced up. To his amazement, every artist he witnessed just happened to be one of his favorites. Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Erykah Badu to name a few. His curiosity for Seven grew on him by the moment. King switched the vinyl record once he ran across one of his all time favorite albums by Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue.” He sits at the desk while staring into space. The laid back jazz of Miles Davis played throughout the room while King picks up a piece of paper and begins to read the writing…
“At home performing the art of being alone.. Silent is the mode on my phone as my mind roams though like a flying drone of the things God has shown. I’m focused, often feed the homeless.. faith filled, no hocus pocus, nor bogus lies to get self noticed. It’s just when love isn’t enough, and your not moved by stuff.. getting to know self was a must. That’s when I quenched my thirst, in understanding my worth here on earth. I can remember there being love and music ever since birth.. Cool vibes when I arrive from being alive.. 360 waves on bee hive, take a dive into my mental hard drive, flip through the archive.. I’m prepared to help revive the deprived. I crawled out of pits from hitting rock bottom.. A solver of problems who can teach to defeat the goblins.. To stay strong in this game although hurt and hobbling. I can feel an attack of the spiritual beast come before it’s released from its leash. From a mess into a message, blessed to be a blessing.”
King stops reading from being impressed. The poetry went right along with the jazz in the background. He could feel the poetry, the word play and arrangement of words that pieced together so well. King connected with the writing so much that he thought it was something he would have wrote himself. He felt anything that was real and honest. He then put the piece of paper down and picked up another one with writings on it. He began to read while the jazz of Miles Davis continued to play.
“You see, the enemy doesn’t want us to believe, so therefore the spirit of the unseen beast sends it’s G’s in the form of joy snatching thieves, the cause of
disease, corrupt decision makers who deceive due to greed.. False prophets speak of hidden agenda’s to gain profit, but I’m plugged into the source so I don’t entertain their socket. I mentally block it, do my research, ask to be led, then take off like a rocket.. Cool, calm and collective like Tom Brady in the pocket..”
King puts the paper down while in deep thought. He looks around the small apartment while puzzling all the pieces to the puzzle together. He stands and stares out the window while sporadically looking back down at the writings on the piece of paper. “Who is this man and why am I here,” he thought to himself. He then reached in his pocket and took out his cell phone. He called his sister Destiny.
DESTINY: What’s the word?
KING: I’m over at his apartment.
DESTINY: So what are you thinking?
KING: What do you remember about this man?
DESTINY: It was brief, but in that small amount of time, I felt something genuine. I felt something real.
KING: Is that so…… after scoping his place out, I feel the same way.
DESTINY: Is that Miles Davis I hear in the background?
KING: It is indeed.
DESTINY: Speaks volumes.
KING: When you looked into his eyes, what did you see?
DESTINY: I saw a strong, wise, broken man who was set apart from this world.
KING: What makes you think he is set apart?
DESTINY: He was alone on his birthday. He mentioned how he doesn’t drink but he decided to drink that night. I was thinking to myself, what’s a courteous, handsome and humble man doing out by himself.
I Am Your Brother Page 2