Chapter 85

Ross

    At first when I saw the police cars, I didn’t think anything of it. I’d parked the car a few blocks down from Tyga’s usual stomping grounds, and I was sure I’d find him soon, probably kicking Breezy’s ass at that very moment.

    It was when I ran into an old friend of mine outside of a barber shop several minutes after I’d passed the crime scene that I realized something was very wrong.

    “Hey man, what’s going on?” I asked, walking up to him as he abruptly ended a phone call. He had just gotten a fresh hair cut and his forehead gleamed as he frowned.

    “It’s Tyga. He’s dead.”

 

Rumor

 

    The moving men came, tried knocking on the door for several minutes, and left when they got no reply. It nearly drove me insane; knowing that help was mere footsteps away from us, and we couldn’t even make a sound.

    Sissy had gotten bored of the gun and decided to grab one of the kitchen knives to press to my mother’s throat, daring any of us to speak.

    “Shame,” She sighed when the moving men finally left. “Thirty minutes earlier and they could have joined the fun.”

    “You’re psychotic,” Siah spat.

    Sissy grinned at him, not at all angry. “So I’ve been told.”

    “Look, I’ve had about enough of this.” My mother’s wavering voice broke through the tension and caught the attention of all of us. I watched in horror as she continued, the thin blade of the kitchen knife still pressing against her neck. “If you need to take out your anger on this family so damn badly, take me. Take me away from my children, my husband, and my grandbaby. You want to ruin a life? Fine. But let the rest of them go.”

    Sissy’s mouth fell open just the slightest, but the shock on her face was quickly replaced with determination. Her grip tightened on the knife, and we watched as blood began to roll down my mother’s neck.

    “Stop!”

    While the rest of us were still frozen, dread sealing off our veins, blocking all thought, Charles had stood up, was facing Sissy with a look on his face I couldn’t quite read.

    “Sadie, let her go.” He said, his voice oddly calm as he reached out his hand to her in a steadying motion.

    Sissy paused. Loosened her grip and let my mother gasp in breaths, touching her wounded skin. “How do you know that name?” She walked over to him, the knife aimed at him, still dripping with blood.

    Charles chuckled a little. “You actually don’t remember me?”

    Sissy’s eyes darkened and focused in furious bewilderment on the elderly man in front of her. “Dad?”

 

Chris

    “Shit, he’s following us.” Mijo cursed, glancing into the rearview mirror. He tossed his phone into the console and secured both his hands on the wheel.

    “What?” Gui cocked his head over his shoulder, an alarmed expression on his face. I followed his gaze, and felt a sharp surge of dread shoot through my stomach as I noticed the black SUV following two cars behind us, Pharaoh’s face barely visible through the windshield. 

    “Let’s see how fast this piece of shit can go,” Mijo grumbled, the car’s engine protesting as he slowly began to accelerate.

    “Dad?” Damon asked, looking up at me, eyes wide and damp. He understood that something else was wrong. That we still might not make it.

    “He’s catching up!” Meagan shouted, peering through the back windshield. “We need to do something!”

    “There’s a .35 under the seat.” Mijo’s voice was calm as he said it; final.

    Meagan didn’t waste any time. She dropped to the floor of the car and hastily felt around until she found the gun. It was heavy and silver; looked completely wrong in her hands.

    “Give it to me,” I reached out and took it from her. Sat Damon in the seat next to me and buckled him in. She looked up at me, an apology still bright in her eyes, but I ignored it.

    “Okay, he’s coming up on our right side,” Gui announced.

    It had been a long time since I’d shot a gun at anything or anybody. It felt unfamiliar in my grasp, and my hands shook just the slightest as the window rolled down and I aimed at our target. Problem was, the target was already aiming back at us.

    “Son of a bitch!” Mijo hollered, ducking at the wheel, swerving the car nearly into the next lane as bullets flew through the interior of the vehicle. Damon screamed, and I grabbed for him, wrapped myself around him like a shield. In that moment, I was more furious than I had ever been in my entire life. The force inside of me felt tremendous. I was an earthquake. An explosion. I couldn’t see a damn thing, but I started shooting, aiming in the direction that the bullets were coming from. Even when I got nicked in the shoulder, I kept shooting until my rounds were up. And by that time, I realized that the shots had ceased from Pharaoh. The car was quiet.

    “Did we get him?” Meagan asked frantically.

    “I think so,” Gui sighed. “There’s our exit, get off, get off!”

    Mijo quickly jerked the wheel and sped across two lanes of traffic to the exit. By then, Pharaoh was nowhere in sight.

   

Rumor

 

    Clutching her neck, my mother’s jaw dropped just like everyone else’s. “Charles?” She breathed.

    “What the hell are you doing here?” Sissy growled.

    “Wait,” Mercedes stood—and my heart squeezed itself, panicking, cutting off my breath. “It’s you? The whole time, it was you?” She didn’t look relieved. As she continued pressing the button on the remote that may or may not have been a bomb, she looked furious. Wildly confused.

    “Yeah, it’s me.” Charles sighed, his hands falling to his thighs with a slap. My brain felt like it was ten steps behind. If Charles was Sissy’s father, and Sissy and Mercedes were sisters….then…

    “Oh, my God.” I breathed, grasping the arm of my chair.

    “And you never said a damn thing,” Mercedes stepped closer to him, seething, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this? Do you understand what you put me through?”

    “Charles, you better start explaining this right the hell now. What is going on?” My mother pointed her finger at him, her lips trembling under glassy eyes. Even in the partial gloominess of the living room, her new wedding ring glittered with a rainbow of colors.

    “You all deserve an explanation—” Charles looked into the eyes of all three women, suddenly looking much wiser, much more troubled of a man. “Sadie, put the knife down, and let’s talk.”

    “Continue,” Was all she said, the bloody blade still suspended in her skinny grip. Aimed at the man who claimed to be their father.

    “I never said anything because I was a coward.” Charles began, casting one more cautious glance at the knife before settling his gaze on his new wife (my mother), who apparently had no clue the man had children. “I’ve lived several lives… and when I was younger, every time one of those lives started to get hard, I’d run off and start a new one. Even if that meant tearing up a family. Deserting my children. I’m not proud of it. And when I met this lovely woman right here—” He motioned to my mother, who didn’t flinch at the compliment. “I knew she was the love of my life and that I never wanted to be with anyone else. I didn’t tell her about the two of you because, once again, I was being a coward. I thought that if I told her, she’d never talk to me again.”

    “That’s no excuse.” Mercedes replied simply. The tears were falling freely down her cheeks, and her voice was so small we could barely hear it.

    “You know what, Dad?” Sissy walked closer to him, a gleam in her eyes as she waved the knife hazardously in her hand. “I think I’ll kill you first.” She lurched forward suddenly, and the blade disappeared into Charles’ gut.

    The rest of us barely even had time to scream before the front door burst open and Chris walked over the threshold holding my son.

 

Chris

 

    “What the fuck is going on in here?” I stepped into complete chaos. Boxes everywhere. People crowded into the living room with scared expressions on their faces.

    Blood.

    There was blood everywhere. Trails of it all through the foyer and on the carpet, creating a dividing line through the living room where just about everyone we knew was huddled around a disturbing scene. The moment the five of us walked into the house, Charles fell to the ground. I didn’t know if the nigga was dead or not, but I knew one thing; the thin, crazy-looking woman behind him couldn’t be who I thought it was. It was impossible.

    But when she saw me, her lips twisted into a deranged kind of smile and I knew.

        “Looks like the guest of honor has arrived.” She announced, waving around a blood-stained kitchen knife. The rest of the room meanwhile huddled around Charles on the ground as he grimaced in pain. Mercedes was the only one who seemed to be indifferent to what had just happened. She only stared at me.

   “Damon, baby!” Rumor opened her arms frantically and let Damon rush into her. It wasn’t until I saw her face at that moment that I realized I’d been holding my breath, praying that she was okay.

    “Oh, Chris, he’s precious,” Sissy breathed, walking over to where the two of them were huddled. “He looks just like his father.”

    “Drop the knife,” I drew the .35 from the waist of my jeans and aimed it at her. Damon screeched and covered his ears in anticipation of a shot.

    Sissy hesitated, the grin never leaving her face even as she let the knife clamber to the hardwood floor.  

    “We need to get him to a hospital!” Drey hollered, checking the old guy’s pulse.

    “Mijo,” I nodded to him over my shoulder, never letting my aim waver. A few moments later, he was on the phone, calling for help. I walked closer to Sissy.

    “So you’re just going to shoot me now? Huh, Breezy?” She grinned wider at me, lifting her arms over her head in mock surrender. “I’d think back-stabbing would be more your style.”

    “What are you talking about? What is any of this about?” I demanded furiously. We might have injured Pharaoh but I knew he’d be there in a matter of minutes. I needed to save my family; I didn’t have time for bullshit. Especially bullshit that had to do with that crazy bitch.

    “Oh Chris,” Sissy sighed, dropping her arms to her sides. “You know damn well why I’m here.”

    Frustrated, I shook the gun at her, pushing her to explain. “Fuck are you talking about? I haven’t seen you since…since…”

    “You haven’t seen me since you left me for that bitch right over there,” She pointed directly to Rumor. Rumor looked back at her, exhaustion and fear in her eyes.

    I couldn’t believe it. It was like someone sent me reeling back through the past. Six years knocked me upside the head as I rewound through my life to get to the place Sissy had never left.

    “Oh my God, this bitch is really crazy,” I pressed my hand to my forehead, massaged my temples. “Why you still on that?”

The grin slowly disappeared from Sissy’s face. “I loved you, Chris. It’s not something you just forget.”

    I laughed. “It is when the other person never loved you back.”

    I was still laughing when she reached towards the waistline of her jeans and pulled out a gun of her own. I barely had time to blink before shots were fired and I hit the ground.

Rumor

    I’d seen Chris get shot before. The second and third times weren’t any easier.

    “Chris!” I screamed, clutching Damon against me so tightly I could feel his spine.

    “Daddy!” He tore from my grasp and ran to his father who had curled into the fetal position on the floor. Tears streamed down his face, and he shoved Chris’ body violently, screaming for him to get up.

    Police sirens could be heard approaching from down the street. They were a saving grace, but as I knelt in the growing puddle of Chris’ blood—numb, too stunned to do anything but gasp in breaths—I wondered if they were already too late.

    Yet another shot was fired, this time flying right through the skin of Sissy’s neck. She fell like dead weight to the floor beside us and began choking for air as she bled out onto the hardwood.

     After that, several more shots rang through all at once. Doors were kicked down, screams could be heard all over the house, and unfamiliar faces surrounded me, leaking into my home like a dam had broken.

    I’d never seen so much blood in my life.  

One Year Later

    “Just a water, please.” I said to the bartender, a handsome young guy who’d been eyeing me from the moment I walked into the restaurant.

    He grinned as he reached for a glass behind the counter. “That all? It’s only seven; the night is young.”

    “Oh no, I don’t really drink anymore,” I clarified, taking my water from him. I took a sip and set it down, gazing out into the crowd.

    “Well you know a glass of wine a day is supposed to be really healthy for you, right?” He continued, leaning his elbows on the bar and lowering his voice like he was cluing me in on a big secret.

    I nodded, and my lips betrayed me with a smile. “I’ve heard rumors.”

    “I get off in an hour,” He offered, checking his watch. “How about I take you back to my place and let you taste some really amazing…wines.” He smirked, hardly keeping the suggestiveness out of his voice.

    “The only place you’ll be taking my wife is—you know what, you won’t be taking her any fucking where because I’ll break your neck if you even so much as breathe in her direction again, motherfucker.”

    I grinned, looping my arm through Chris’ as he walked up beside me. “And that would be my husband.”

    The bartender nearly wet his pants trying to scramble away from us before Chris took him up on that threat.

    “Hey baby,” I smiled up at him and let him kiss my forehead.

    “Mhm,” He smirked. “You just like making me jealous.”

    “I do,” I admitted, laughing. He looked amazing, as he had since the first day I met him. But even better, he looked relaxed. It had been just over a year since the shooting (one shot in his chest, another in his abdomen), and with all that behind us, I saw a huge difference in him. It was difficult for me to think that I almost lost him, almost lost us and the life we’d created for each other.

    “Well come back to the table, everyone’s just arriving.” He nudged me to follow him back to the large table we’d reserved in the back of the restaurant.

    “You mean they’re all actually on time for once?” I asked in disbelief. But sure enough, mom and Charles were already hovering over Déjà’s car seat, cooing and smiling at our newborn daughter. Damon stood beside them, a tall and skinny six year old that looked like he was at least ten. He was extremely protective as an older brother, not at all jealous like we’d expected him to be. I watched as Déjà spit up her pacifier and Damon dutifully put it back in her mouth.

    “Hey Mom and Dad,” I greeted them warmly. Chris and I took turns hugging them before I reached into the car seat and picked up my baby, two weeks old that day.

    “Hey sweetheart, don’t you look pretty today,” My mother complimented, gesturing to the purple sundress I was wearing.

    “Pfft,” Chris nudged me out of the way playfully. “I look better.”

    I hit his arm, and he laughed; a sound I loved hearing more every day.

    “So what’s this performance we’re supposed to be treated to today, son?” Charles asked Chris.

    “Ah, nothing, just singing a couple songs,” Chris muttered. He started blushing against his will and ducking his head.

     “He’s amazing,” I added in, grinning.

    “Finally, we get to find out firsthand,” Mercedes walked up and hugged us all, Mijo right behind her. Mijo’s right hand had to be completely reconstructed after the shooting when a bullet nearly blew off his thumb, but otherwise he was fine.

    “Where’s my niece?” Mercedes demanded playfully, gently taking Déjà from me and melting at the sight of her. Months ago, Mercedes had accepted Charles once again as her father, forgiving him for his mistakes when she was a child. The best part about it, she told me, was that it made me and her stepsisters.

    “Nephew!” Chris called enthusiastically, kneeling down to high-five with three year old Evan, the child Mijo and Mercedes decided to adopt together. The adoption was finalized just a couple months after their wedding. They were going to be great parents. Deserving parents.

    Next came Gui and Joy. They were pretty much the same, but happier. It seems it was a pairing that was always meant to happen eventually. Still, we all kept Bow in our memories and prayed for his daughter Josalie every day. With Bow gone, her mother gained full custody of her, and we hadn’t seen her since.

    Keke and Bry weren’t able to make it—Atlanta was a long drive on short notice, after all—but we knew they were doing well, too. They’d become best friends, actually, after the pictures of Cameron and Bry’s relationship went viral amongst Cameron’s close friends (with Bry’s approval, of course). Cam quit his job and moved out of the house he shared with Keke back into his parent’s home. His investigation of Chris’ past ended abruptly, and a few days later, he was served with the divorce papers. Keke had a reason to celebrate again.

    As for Meagan and Siah, the two of them hadn’t found their happy endings yet. Apparently in the shooting, Meagan’s boyfriend and the love of her life was killed by men in her brother’s crew, a casualty of a decade-long beef between Pharaoh and Tyga’s late brother. Anyway, last I’d heard, she was still working on getting over that. I didn’t feel all that bad; I wasn’t stupid, and I knew what she and Chris had been doing behind my back. When we moved to Atlanta, I figured the further she stayed away from my husband, the better. Same with Siah; he still loved me, he told me. But he accepted that I needed to move on with my life that was with Chris, Damon, and the new baby. I was happy—euphoric, really—and I just had to hope that one day he would have that same feeling.

    “I’m getting ready to go on, baby.” Chris leaned down to kiss me quickly before hurrying off to the stage where they’d just introduced him.

    “Kill it, baby!” I called after him, so proud I could explode. And all of us watched in our seats as he proceeded to do just that.

Chris

    I don’t really know where the nerves went, but I’m glad they weren’t there when I stepped up to the mic and began singing my first song. I guess once you’ve performed so many times, it becomes something natural, something you did without thinking or hesitating about. I just let the music course through me, let my voice run freely, rising and falling as it felt the need to. I did this until the applause became so loud that it hurt my ears, and the camera flashes blinded my eyes.

    One lift of my hand in goodbye, and the crowd went even crazier.

    “Encore!” Some of them shouted, but I had more important things to tend to. I walked down off the stage and met the family by the door. They wrapped me up in hugs immediately, Rumor kissing my lips so hard it turned me on.

    “You did incredible,” They told me over and over again. “I never knew you could sing like that!”

    Eventually, we all decided to meet back at our house to continue the evening, maybe with a drink or two. Rumor and I started walking out toward our car, which was parked awhile away, thanks to the restaurant’s too-small parking lot. She held the baby’s car seat and Damon walked behind me, kicking rocks as he walked. The air was warm, even in November, and the accompanying breeze was starting to make me sleepy.

    I almost couldn’t believe I was living the same life as a year earlier. The media called the incident a shooting, but I called it a massacre. Seven people died in the place I used to call home—thank God it was none of my family. I knew all of their names by heart after hearing them so long, but the two that stood out to me the most were Sadie Elba and Pharaoh Good. One shot to the neck and Sissy went down, bleeding out from her neck before the paramedics could reach her. Pharaoh was killed with one clean shot to the head, delivered by me, I was proud to say. Neither of them would ever bother us again. We were free to finally, finally live our lives in peace.

    “Excuse me!”

    Rumor, Damon, and I all turned our heads toward the voice at the same time. A light-skinned, well-built man was jogging up to us. Behind him, I saw an even larger man posted up at the door of the restaurant watching us closely. The hairs on the back of my neck perked up, and I slid in front of Rumor and the kids without hesitation.

    “Can I help you?” I called, stopping the man in his tracks a few feet away. He had a snapback pulled down low over his eyes and a thick black mustache covering his top lip.

    “I just saw your performance—that was incredible, man. You got real talent.”

    I narrowed my eyes at him. Nodded once. “Thanks.” And when he didn’t leave, “Rumor, take the kids to the car, I’ll be there in a minute.”

    She looked at me with an expression I knew all too well. Fear, anxiety, could this really be happening to us again? But she listened to me without protesting, and when she and my kids were well out of sight, I turned back to the man who seemed not to be taking any hints to fuck off.

    “I really want to do a song with you. In the near future, if that’s alright with you.” He continued, completely serious.

    “Do a song with me?” I laughed. “Alright, who exactly is offering?”

    The guy frowned, as if he didn’t understand what I meant. But then he cursed, like he’d forgotten something, and next thing I knew, he was ripping off his moustache and removing the hat.

    “Damn disguise. Sometimes I just wanna fucking go out to eat without getting mobbed, you know?”

    Holy fuck.

    “Recognize me now?” Drake smiled and held out his hand for me to shake, which I did.

    “Hell yeah,” I said, still in complete disbelief. “You want to do a song? With me?”

    “You know what, Chris? Why don’t you just come by the studio tomorrow morning, and we’ll see what we come up with. I’ll have my manager look you up and give you a call tonight, if that’s alright with you.”

    I felt like I’d just won the lottery. Rumor would never believe this. At least not until I got that call.

    “Yeah, yeah, sounds great, man. Thank you.”

    “Alright.” Dap. Shake. Half hug. “Tomorrow then.”

    “Tomorrow,” I repeated, already starting to walk off in the direction of the car. I looked back one more time, just to confirm that that actually happened, then I rounded the corner, unable to keep the smile off my face.

My new personal url is http://days-and-dust.tumblr.com/ …Just wanted a change lol.

Rumor

    All of us waited, hearts in our throats as the door slid close again, punctuated by the two, quick chirps of the alarm.

    There was no sound at first, but then there were footsteps; low, steady thumps as gentle as a small child walking across the floor.

    “Rumor!” Suddenly the crowd of people that had assembled in the foyer parted down the middle like the Red sea, and standing directly on the other side, grinning like a witch, was Sissy.

    Before I had time to scream—to vomit, to choke, to throw myself into a four-way intersection—she came towards me with the enthusiasm of a long-lost sister and threw her arms around my neck.

    Amidst the confusion of everyone else, she leaned down so close to my ear that only I could hear what she was saying. “You thought I wouldn’t find you? Silly girl.”

    My breathing staggered off into nothing—Damon. What if she knew about Damon?

    Sissy’s grip around my neck suddenly turned into a one-armed vise, and she whipped me around to face everybody as she placed the barrel of a small, .25 caliber gun decisively on my left temple. There was a collective gasp among my friends, ex-friends, and family as they realized the circumstances.

    “Rumor!” My mother cried, darting out to me. Charles quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her back. His terrified eyes met mine.

    “As you can see, the rules are pretty straight-forward,” Sissy began, her voice firm but maddeningly calm. “If anyone moves, I kill her. If anyone tries to kill me, I kill everybody. You can reach for the gun and get your fingers blown off, but I highly suggest you do not touch; you don’t wanna know what I had to do to come by one of these fuckers.” At this, she turned and grinned at me, as if it were our own inside joke.

    “What is it that you want?” Siah stepped forward, furious, close to his breaking point. He kept staring at the gun as if it would blow my brains out at any given moment. “Is it money? Is that what this is for?”

    For the first time, Sissy loosened her grip on me. She turned to look at Siah with extreme amusement. “Baby, it’s never been about the money.” She laughed, then turned, almost with a thoughtful expression, to me. “Rumor, why don’t you let everybody know what it’s really about, huh?

    I glared at her—I’d never hated anybody so much in my entire life. “Let me go,” I snapped.

    Sissy just grinned. “Everybody to the living room. Move it.” She waved her gun around hazardously and they all obeyed, ducking and dodging out of the possible line of fire.

    As everyone settled uncomfortably onto the couches, surrounded by a mess of boxes, Sissy forced me down into a chair. Then she drug it with an unnerving amount strength so that I sat facing the rest of them. She leaned on the back of the chair and dug the barrel of the gun into the back of my skull.

    “You know, I’d love more than anything to blow your pretty little brains out,” She said, almost sweetly. “But that would be so anti-climatic.”

    My hands gripped the edge of the chair’s arms until my knuckles went white. “Where is Damon?” I demanded. She had him. I knew she did. My mind began drifting off towards the worse possibilities of his condition, and I made myself stop, made myself breathe. “Listen—do whatever you want with me. But if you even touch him—”

    I felt the pressure of the gun disappear on the back of my head, and Sissy slowly walked out to where I could see her, in front of the group. When her eyes fell on me, just for the slightest second, I saw a flash of uncertainty. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.

    She walked over to Mercedes decisively, her grin like that of a wolf bearing its teeth. Mercedes looked like she wanted to faint and scream at the same time. Her wild eyes found Sissy’s and glassed over with held back emotions.

    Sissy handed her something—something so tiny I couldn’t make it out. Mercedes looked down and reached for it curiously, taking it into her hand. Just when she realized what it was, everyone else realized at the same time. Mercedes was pressing down on some sort of remote control.

    “Thanks sis, I knew you’d come through.” Sissy laughed, amusement plain on her face. She turned to the rest of us with her arm extended towards Mercedes, presenting her to an audience. “This brilliant woman right here just activated a bomb.”

    Mercedes’ mouth fell open, and she suddenly stared at her hand as if she wished it weren’t hers.

    “A bomb?” Joy breathed, eyes wide. She glanced at me and our eyes locked for half a second.

    “Exactly,” Sissy replied, highly pleased with herself. “And the fun part is—you don’t know where it is. You could be sitting on it, for all you know. And if sis over her lets go of that button, you’ll be blown to dust.”

    Siah’s top lip reared up and he nearly growled, “You’re bluffing.”

    Sissy seemed even more amused. She lifted one delicate shoulder, feigning innocence. “Are you really willing to take that chance?”

Chris

    “Holy shit!” Mijo shouted as he swerved around a sharp corner, throwing all of us to the left and on top of each other in the car. All of our hearts were still racing—Bow was dead, but Pharaoh wasn’t. Every couple seconds, one of us looked over our shoulders, as if Pharaoh would be keeping up with us on foot.

    I held Damon’s head to my chest, choking in breaths as I thought about what could have happened. How much I could have lost. I was so confused, so furious with the world.

    I glanced over at Meagan who was staring out the window, her entire body shaking. Tears ran freely down her face. For the first time it occurred to me that she had something to do with it. I felt like gravity had reversed. I was falling up, loosing oxygen, grasping desperately for the ground below.

    “So are you planning on explaining to me what the fuck is going on?” I demanded, feeling Damon burrow deeper against my shirt. He hadn’t stopped quivering.

    Meagan looked over at me, her eyelashes wet and sticking together. Mijo and Gui watched her as carefully as I did, waiting for her to lick her lips and find her words.

    “Chris…I wanted to tell you…” She whispered.

    I looked at her, and I didn’t know who she was. Realized I’d never really known. I felt anger, but it was stifled by the fact that after everything, she didn’t really give a damn about me.

    “Wait,” Gui interrupted, glancing back and forth between me and her. “You knew? You set this up?” He began shouting at her furiously, letting out the emotion I was keeping dormant.

    “I didn’t want to be a part of it!” Meagan defended herself, still not sounding convincing. Her lips were trembling as she spoke. “It was my brother’s idea. He gave me no choice.”

    “You always have a choice,” Gui spat back at her. Meagan’s jaw dropped, and she was at a loss for words.

    “Look—it doesn’t even fucking matter right now,” Mijo shouted as he drove. “Where is the first place Pharaoh would go? We need to find him and stop this.”

    Meagan remained quiet for a beat longer than I could stand, and I practically exploded, “Goddamn it, Meagan! Where is he?”

    For a moment, she looked up, meeting my eyes, and before she even spoke a word I knew what her answer would be.

    “He’s going to find Rumor.”

Ross

    After walking back from the neighbor’s house, I began anxiously eyeing Bry’s car sitting in the driveway. He’d walked across the street that morning and left it. Apparently he was friends with the woman there who Breezy had visited.

    After a bit of wild shuffling throughout the house, I managed to find his car keys between the couch cushions where they’d fallen. I tossed them up into my hand and grinned. I had some business to take care of.

Siah

    For three agonizing minutes, I’d been staring at the girl of my dreams as she had a gun pressed harder and harder in the back of her skull. Her head was practically leaning forward with the pressure of the barrel, but her eyes never left mine. They were shouting at me, practically begging me, to do something.

    But the doctor got to it first.

Sissy

    “May I ask what your name is?” The small woman sitting in the middle of the couch asked suddenly. She was wearing worn clothes and hardly looked like a threat, but there was something about her that made me uneasy.

    “Depends on who’s asking,” I said back matter-of-factly. I was curious.

    “Just a friend of the family,” She replied simply. “Call me Ms. Cray.”

    I walked around Rumor’s side, intrigued and partially amused. “Sissy.”

    The old man breathed in unsteadily, and I shot him a slicing glance out of the corner of my eye.

    “Since we’re in this predicament with time to kill—it seems there’s something you’re waiting for—” She clarified. “I thought you might tell the rest of us exactly what this is all about?”

    I snorted. “What are you? A doctor?” She had the calm, almost hypnotic voice of a psychiatrist. I realized her eyes had hardly shifted from me once throughout the entire exchange. Could anyone but a medical doctor be so patient?

    At that, Cray chuckled. “Do I look like a doctor?” She motioned to her ripped jeans and unruly hair.

    She had a point, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. My mind drifted to Chris. Something was wrong—I could feel it. He and the boy were gone, and something in me told me that it wasn’t by choice.

    Cray must have seen my eyes slide off to settle on a picture of the three of them together on the mantle of the fireplace. I felt Rumor’s eyes go there too.

    “Do you know Chris and Damon as well?” Cray asked, a curious lilt to her voice.

    A bitter taste quilted my tongue, and I felt bile threaten to rise up my throat. “Hardly,” I snapped.

    A phone rang in the front room. It was lying on the floor where someone had dropped it, and all of us could see the bright red and green as the “answer” and “ignore” buttons lit up. Even Cray became distracted for a moment.

    “Sissy, answer the phone.” Rumor breathed.

    I whipped around and pressed the barrel of the gun into her temple. “The last thing you need to be doing is telling someone what to do.”

    Rumor swallowed, almost imperceptibly, and looked up at me. “She knows Chris.” She said. And although she stared unwaveringly at me, she was speaking to Cray. “She fell in love with him, but he never loved her back.”

    The rage was blinding. White. Searing through my blood. There was so much rage my body could not hold it. I bled it, breathed it. It leaked down my face and my back, setting the house on fire. The devil’s eyes stared up at me, brown and calm and wicked. Possessed me as an animal scream ripped up and out of my throat.

    I will kill her.

    I will kill her.

   I will kill her.

   I lunged, very seriously about to claw the witch’s eyes out of their sockets, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the young, unrecognizable man lurch forward, intent on intercepting me. In a flash of instinct, I whirled around and shot him. Watched him crumble to the ground.

Joy

    Siah fell to the floor, clutching his arm as a growl ripped through his throat. When he pulled his hand away, shaking, there was blood all over his palm.

    All of us fell silent, until nothing but the constant screeching of the phone, ringing yet another time, was the only sound to be heard.

    Breathing hard, her cool demeanor destroyed, Sissy walked slowly towards the phone, a wild look in her eyes as she bent down and picked it up. She pressed “answer”.

    “Look, some crazy shit is going on,” Mijo’s voice came through on speaker phone. “Whatever you do, do not let anyone else in the house. We have Damon, but Bow’s dead.”

Rumor

Relief and disaster did not mix. My baby was alive and safe—but Bow was gone. Nevermind the fact that we’d grown apart over the years, that he hadn’t spoken up when Joy blamed Chris for Luke’s death—he was our friend, and somebody had killed him.

    Joy cried out in the silence like someone had ripped her in two. It sent haunting shivers through my whole body.

    “Chris is here, too.” Mijo continued. Then, as if he finally realized that no one had been answering him, “Hello? Hello—” Sissy pressed the “end” button, cutting him off. She stared down at the phone thoughtfully, a psychotic grin playing across her lips. Slowly, she put down her arm that had been aiming the .25 at us the entire time, daring us to say a word.

    She turned to look at us, showing off her wolf teeth in triumph. “I suppose all there is to do now is wait.”

I know you guys have been waiting for a while, and the chapter’s turning out way longer than I thought it would, so I’m going to split it in half and give you guys the first part now while I finish the rest. The whole thing is going to end up being like a 14 page word document probably which was unexpected lol. Anyway, I’m gonna edit the first part and put it up in a few minutes. 

Pharaoh

   The sun blinded me when I finally stepped into freedom. The wind was bitter cold and cut through the t-shirt I was wearing, but I didn’t care. Anything was better than that ugly ass prison jump. 
   As my eyes adjusted, and I walked past the high silver fences onto the road, I saw the nondescript black SUV waiting for me. My sister would be in the car, as well as a few of my guys. For her sake, I hoped she had some damned good news for me.

Meagan

   My brother opened the back door opposite of me and climbed in, almost gracefully. I immediately felt it in the air; control, authority, anger. There’d be no hiding anymore. We were going through with it even though I should have stopped it. I could have stopped it. 
   ”Drive,” Pharaoh said simply to the burly man behind the wheel. 
   ”Yes sir,” The man said simply. And the car began rolling forward, away from the jail where my brother had been residing for the past few months. 
   ”So Meagan,” Pharaoh began. He leaned to his right, supporting his head on his elbow and stroking his chin. His eyes were watching me, sizing me up. “I hope you have good news.”
    You’ve gone too far to turn back, a voice in my head reminded me. I turned away from my brother and stared down at my lap.
   ”Look in the back seat,” I whispered.
    And I knew that he would see the little boy with the blue-green eyes that were wet with tears. Notice immediately the resemblance to the boy’s father; Chris, the man he planned to kill. He’d smile at the boy, slow and deathly like a snake revealing his fangs, and he’d ask what his name was. 
    “Damon,” The boy whispered, scared but curious.
    “Damon…” Pharaoh repeated, a grin in his voice. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m an old friend of your father’s.”

Rumor

“Look at me,” Siah insisted, but my eyes were on everyone else. They’d searched the backyard, the basement, the cabinets, the boxes. They tore through every room, desperate to find my baby. He’s just hiding, they told me. He’ll show up soon.

“Could Chris have him? Is that a possibility?” Siah pulled out his cell phone, waited for me to give him the number.

    “He’s not there,” I lashed out, furious with desperation. “Someone took him! Call the police!”

    “I have Chris’ number,” My brother offered, already holding his phone to his ear.

    “You’re not listening to me,” I growled. “The calendar—today was marked on the calendar—”

    The doorbell rang, and everybody in the room flinched at once with the intention of getting the door. Finally, Siah was the one who stepped forward and answered it.

    Dr. Cray stepped over the threshold, almost unrecognizable in a pair of old ripped jeans and a faded black t-shirt. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and her eyes widened in alarm as she noticed she was suddenly the center of attention.

    Dr. Cray slowly looked from face to face for a moment before pursing her lips and fixing her gaze on me. “I sense there’s something wrong. I don’t want to intrude.”

    “Damon’s gone,” I blurted, my voice barely a breath. There was so much adrenaline—so much fear rushing through my blood that every passing moment felt like anticipating a bomb going off.

    “I called Chris twice, no luck,” Drey spoke up, a worried look on his face. “His phone’s not off. He’s just not answering.”

    “I think we should go look for him.” Mercedes stepped forward, her desperation mirroring my own. “There’s a good chance he has Damon. He could have found out you were leaving today—he might be trying to take him back.”

    I swallowed, considering that alternative. Considering if Chris could have been responsible for the hair, for Storm’s death. But it didn’t make any sense.

    “I’ll go. If he’s not at my house, I know how to find him.” Mijo said, avoiding everyone’s gazes.

    “I’ll go with you.” Gui agreed.

    The two of them began walking towards the door, preparing to leave when someone loudly cleared their throat.

    “I’m coming, too.”

    Bow stepped forward from where he’d been standing in the back of the foyer. I was still surprised he’d come to help—still angry at how he’d betrayed us.

    As he joined Mijo and Gui at the door, no one tried to stop him. Joy stared at him with a dismissive regard, but I could see something stronger bubbling under the surface.

    The three of them left, and when the door closed behind them, the rest of us—Joy, Mercedes, Drey, my mother, Charles, Dr. Cray, Keke, Bry, Siah, and myself—fell quiet.

    “Drey,” I said after a few moments. “Call the police.”

    And his fingers had just begun to press the numbers into the keypad of his phone when all of us heard the unmistakable sound of the backdoor sliding open.

Chris

    I woke up to empty sheets and a neatly folded note lying where Meagan had once been.

    If you ever want to see your phone again, meet me at my place, twelve o’clock. Let’s finish what we started.

Despite myself, I smiled. Meagan could make me feel like not everything had gone to shit, even when it had. I guess that’s why I couldn’t stay away from her—she was like a drug to me, whereas Rumor had always sobered me up.

    I got dressed, and when I left out the house, instead of taking my car, I decided to walk. Meagan only lived a few blocks away and I needed to clear my head.

    For the first few minutes, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were the regular crazies and addicts wandering the streets, looking at me suspiciously as I passed by. There were young girls linked arm in arm walking down the sidewalk, laughing out loud and huddling together for warmth against the biting cold. They glanced at me when I approached, and I avoided their gazes.

    It was only when I noticed a sleek black car crawling down the road in my peripheral vision that I tensed with the feeling that someone was watching me.

Ross

    For over 24 hours, there’d been no word or appearance from Meagan. Worry turned from anger to curiosity as the hours passed and I discovered that she’d conveniently taken my cell phone and my car keys with her. Bry—her friend, and the owner of the house we were staying in—didn’t have a home phone.

    Part of me wondered whether Meagan could have had some personal connection to Breezy, but I knew her brother would never allow it, just like he wouldn’t allow me if he ever found out she and I were together. Not that I gave a fuck, but the point was that if Meagan wasn’t trying to protect Breezy, then what the hell was she trying to prevent?

    I watched the house across the street on and off throughout that morning—the house I’d seen him drive away from the day before. Disappointingly, he never returned, and when I saw all the cars pull into the driveway early that morning for some sort of gathering, and his wasn’t included, I assumed it wasn’t where he was staying.

    Around a quarter to twelve, I’d had enough. I walked outside and crossed the little patch of grass separating that house from the next door neighbor’s. I stepped up onto the porch and rang the doorbell.

    An older woman around her mid-sixties answered it. She looked up at me through narrowed eyes and I could imagine what she was thinking; why was this young, thuggish white boy standing on her porch? Probably wondered what I was doing in a neighborhood like that in the first place.

    “Sorry to bother you,” I said, straining through polite conversation. “I was wondering, could I use your phone?”

    “My phone?” She asked, an edge to her voice. “Don’t you have one?”

    I scratched the back of my head, pulling off an apologetic smile. “My girlfriend took it by accident. She’s staying in the house right next door. You might have seen her? Brown-skinned, short hair?”

    Her tiny blue eyes lit up at that, and I knew I had her. “Oh yes—Meagan. Lovely girl; she helped me with my groceries the other day.”

    To keep her from babbling on, I jumped in. “Right, that’s her. So what do you say? I just need to make a quick phone call, it’s a bit of an emergency.”

    The woman stepped aside quickly then, almost as if she was ashamed she hadn’t earlier. “Phone stand’s right down that hall on the half table with all the pictures.” She instructed.

    I nodded my thanks and walked inside, finding the phone right away in the place she’d described. It was on a dock, slim and black with clear, numbered keys. It had been a minute since I’d used one of those.

    I waited as the old lady went into another part of the house, humming softly to give me some privacy. I dialed a number into the phone and waited through the rings with it pressed to my ear impatiently.

    When he answered, I cupped my hand to my mouth, anxiously listening to double check that the old lady wasn’t eavesdropping.

    “Yeah,” Tyga picked up, sounding distracted. It had been years since I heard his voice and I was surprised his number hadn’t changed.

    “It’s Ross.” I said.

    It took him a few seconds, and I waited patiently as he placed the name with a face with the voice.  “Man, where you been?” He joked, laughing in disbelief. “I ain’t seen you in a good minute.”

    “Out of state, working at my dad’s garage,” I replied, wishing I could take the time to catch up. But I had a more pressing matter to talk about that I was sure would be of more interest to him. “Hey man, I saw somebody the other day. Somebody I know you’ve been looking for.”

    Tyga was quiet a while, longer than I expected. “Yeah? Who?”

    “Breezy,” I spoke the name, clenching my fist a little tighter around slender cordless. In my mind, I remembered the night all of us found Marcus lying dead with a bullet in his head. We’d had no doubt who’d done it, but the law got to him before we could.

    “Hm,” Tyga said slowly, and I could picture his hand going to his chin as he thought about the information he’d been presented. “So you know where he is right now?”

    I hesitated, gritting my teeth. “No, I don’t. I didn’t get the chance to follow him. But I can find him. Just give me a few days, I’ll scope him out.”

    “No need,” Tyga said, a smirk creeping into his voice. I had a feeling he knew something I didn’t.

    “Why?” I prompted.

    “Because the nigga just walked past my car.”

Chris

    By the time the thought of running even crossed my mind, it was too late. Two young niggas I’d never seen before jumped out of the front seats of the car and in a few quick swings to the gut, doubled me over so they could lead me back to the vehicle.

    I was shoved into the small back seat, hitting my head on something hard as the car swiftly gained momentum. My mind was racing, coming up empty. It wasn’t until I finally sat up and looked to my left that I understood.

    “You went soft on me, Breezy.” Tyga chuckled, crossing his thin, tattooed arms across his chest in mock disappointment. “A few years ago you wouldn’t have went down like that without a fight.”

    I glared at him, clenching my jaw. “A few years ago I could trust you.”

    “Come on, man. We both know you never trusted anybody back in the day.” Tyga stared at me for a long time, his expression growing hard. “I trusted you like a brother though. My brother trusted you like a brother.”

    “Your brother only cared about the money. You know that better than anyone.”

    We both glared at the other, trying to see who really had the upper hand.

    “And you only cared about that girl.” One look at me, and he smirked. “What was her name? Rumor?”  

    My vision prickled over and I saw myself ripping his jaw apart, watching the life flood from his eyes. “Don’t.” My voice was strangled, pushing out against the rage.

    “Where she livin’ now, huh?” He continued on, a sadistic grin on his face as he played with fire. “I bet you guys had a couple of kids by now. How about we pay them a visit?”

    I felt the barrel of a gun being pressed to my right temple from the nigga sitting in the passenger seat, but I was still contemplating lunging for the son of a bitch’s throat. If he came anywhere near them—no, I couldn’t think about that.

    Tyga looked away from me, towards the driver. “Pull over. We need to discuss this outside. Let my nigga Breezy catch some fresh air.”

Meagan

    “He better be there, Meagan. For your sake,” Pharaoh repeated for the tenth time as the SUV rolled through a green light. We were minutes from my apartment building, and I was all nerves and bones. Out of fear of my brother, I hoped Chris did what I asked him to in the note. But every time I looked into the backseat at the kid, I couldn’t help but pray that somehow things would work out in his favor.

    We pulled up behind a long line of traffic, waiting for the light to change.

    “Dad!”

    Pharaoh and I turned our heads immediately to see Damon with his face against the glass of the backseat window, peering out it with an expression of horror on his face. “Dad!” He screamed again, desperately banging on it.

    Pharaoh turned to stare at me for half a second with a look of outrage on his face. He reached under his seat, pulling out a handgun, and jumped out of the car before the driver and the other man sitting beside him even realized what was going on.

    “Pull over!” I demanded. “Now!”

    With a screech of the tires, the vehicle was moved onto the small shoulder of the road. Both men in the front seats got out and rushed after Pharaoh. Desperately, I turned to Damon.

    “Don’t move.” I told him. Then, uneasily closing the door, I ran to the spot where Chris was in big trouble.

Chris

    My face hit the hard concrete, and somewhere in my body, I heard something crack.

    “It didn’t have to be this way,” Tyga said, out of breath as he kicked me in the ribs. I growled out as pain shot through my torso. My head was pounding, and blood was threatening to run into my eyes. “But you listened to your woman about shit she didn’t know nothing about. You stabbed all your homies in the back for one girl.”

    I struggled back up to a sitting position, only for one of the bigger niggas to clip me in the back of my head. I fell to the ground again, seeing colors instead of images.

    “I should just crush your fucking head into the ground,” Tyga growled, and I braced myself for another kick. But nothing came except for the sound of dead weight hitting the pavement.

    I looked up just the slightest bit and saw Tyga’s motionless body lying in front of me, the side of his face resting in a growing puddle of blood.

Meagan

    They were beating him to death.

    When I rounded the corner, expecting to see Chris already cornered by my brother, I instead saw him on the ground, bloodied and disoriented as three guys mercilessly kicked and punched him. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even breathe.

    And then my brother shot the smallest of the three in the head. Everything stopped, only to start up again full speed.

    The two guys that had been with us swung at the other men and a fight quickly broke out. His threats out of the way, my brother preyed on Chris like a lion would a wounded gazelle. Slowly, he walked towards him, gun extended as he waited for Chris to reorient himself.

    Pharaoh would kill him. I could see it in his eyes.

    My pocket vibrated with Chris’ phone. It had been going off all morning, but that time, I pulled it out and answered it.

    “Chris? Chris, nigga is that you?” A slightly familiar voice demanded on the other line. Mijo, my panicked brain recognized.

    “He’s in the alleyway at the corner of Sigmon and Chase, downtown, a block away from the clock tower. He’s in danger.” I whispered fiercely, watching as Chris struggled to his feet, backing himself up against a wall. Pharaoh had him trapped. “Hurry,” I insisted, just before closing the phone. I had to think of something to help. And fast.

Chris

    Meagan was there, and her brother. I didn’t understand. My head was pounding and things were happening so fast. Tyga was dead. One minute I was getting beat, and the next, the people responsible were engaged in a fight. I scrambled to my feet, trying to hold my balance as I vomited blood. And that’s when I saw it—Pharaoh was pointing a gun right at my heart.

Gui

    I watched Mijo hang up the phone. For a second, his face was confused, horrified.

    “Was that Chris?” I asked, but he was already slamming on the gas of the car, dodging in and out of traffic, searching for something. I got the feeling that wherever we were going, we’d find our brother.

Chris

    “Been a while,” Pharaoh said, splaying his arms at his sides in an expansive gesture. There was a smirk on his face, and a gleam in his eyes that made me uneasy. I saw the gun, tried to think my way around it, but I couldn’t.

    “What do you want?” I demanded loudly. I threw my hands up, let them fall back to my sides. “You want your money? I’ll get you your money.”

    Pharaoh shook his head, amused that I apparently misunderstood so completely. “Don’t you get it? It’s not about money. It never has been.”

    I glanced over his shoulder at Meagan. She was staring at me desperately, too fearful to step forward, too entranced to look away. Between her and us were the niggas that came with him. Tyga’s punks had run off, so the two of them came to stand on either side of me while Pharaoh had his fun.

    “Do you remember the night my family was killed?” Pharaoh stepped closer to me, the barrel of the gun still aimed at my chest. “The night your…mentor…took everything away from me that was precious?”

    I met his eyes, stared back without giving him the satisfaction of emotion on my face.

    “I was holding a gun, about to shoot that son of a bitch,” He whispered, an edge entering his voice as rage bubbled just beneath his careful composure. “And then you pushed me into the grass and let him get away.”

    “I saved your life!” I lashed back. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead!”

    “You see, that’s where you’re wrong; I could have handled that knife wound. I could have still shot him—“

    I smirked at him. “But I shot him before you got the chance.”

    Pharaoh part-grimaced, part-laughed. “Yes!” He agreed, as if I’d just answered a vital question. “You blew his fucking brains out before I even had a chance. You, Mr. Brown, singlehandedly destroyed any chance I had of avenging my families’ deaths.”

    He stepped back, a grin on his face as he steadied the gun, instead, right at the center of my forehead. “Now I’m gonna destroy you.”

    The crack of a shot sounded, and a bullet whirred through the air. But it wasn’t from Pharaoh. Pharaoh growled out in pain, immediately reaching for his arm and pulling his hand away covered in blood.

    All four of us looked up to where shot had come from.

    “Run, Chris!” Meagan screamed, holding the gun up in shaky hands.

    I wasted no time in doing what she said. Before anyone else had a chance to register what had just happened, I was already sprinting towards her.

    “Get him!” Pharaoh roared to the two niggas that were still standing dumb where I’d left them. Immediately, they sputtered to life and raced in our direction.

    “Let’s go,” I told Meagan, preparing to run.

    “No—wait!” She pulled me in the opposite direction, a few yards down a narrow sidewalk until we reached a black SUV. Before she said a word, I heard Damon’s voice as he screamed from inside it.

    My vision nearly blacked with panic. “Open the door!” I shouted at Meagan. I heard footsteps close behind, and I knew we had seconds, if that. There was no way we would make it.

Bow

    Mijo parallel parked in the one empty spot on the shoulder of the road, and got out before even turning the car engine off. Wordlessly, we followed him and broke into a sprint behind him.

    It didn’t take long to spot Chris and a woman standing in front of a black SUV, desperately throwing open its back door. We also noticed real quick that they were seconds away from being pummeled by two guys running after them.

    Mijo and Gui took them on by surprise, clocking the guys in the backs of their heads and the sides of their necks, distracting them if only for a moment. That was when I finally realized what Chris and the woman were reaching for in the SUV—Damon stumbled out of the backseat and into Chris’ arms. I ran towards them, feeling relieved and terrified at the sight of Damon.

    I was halfway there when I saw someone walk out of the alleyway clutching their arm. It was Pharaoh, I recognized, and he was holding a gun. A gun that was directed right at Damon.

Chris

    I don’t know when he showed up. I don’t know how. I felt like I was someone else, watching as a man I’d known for nearly a decade jumped in front of the barrel of a gun—was shot through the chest.

   Mijo and Gui were in a car not far down the street. I was faintly aware of them shouting at me to come on, was aware of the tug on my hand as Meagan pulled me forward, but the only thing that made me tear away was my son grasping tightly to my shirt, burying his head against my chest as the sound of police sirens strengthened in the distance and I watched Pharaoh struggle to reach the gun that had been knocked out of his hand.

    Without any choice, I got in the car and we left Bow laying in the same spot where he’d saved our lives. 

Rumor

November 30^th.

    I stared at the date circled in bright red on the calendar and pulled Damon close. It was eight o’ clock in the morning; we were already dressed in old clothes, prepared to start filling boxes. Siah had left the night before and I hadn’t seen him back, but I didn’t really care. We were leaving; I didn’t give a damn who tried to stop us.

Mercedes

    I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom and pulled my jeans a little higher on my hips. Through my lashes, I could see Mijo sitting on the bed watching me.

    “You really think it’s going to matter?” He asked quietly. “After everything you did…after everything both of us did…does it even matter?”

    I glanced up at him in the mirror, not bothering to reply. My truck had been found that morning. Somebody saw it in a hotel parking lot a few hundred miles from the institution and recognized it off the news. Sissy was still nowhere to be found, and I was beginning not to care.

    Blood wasn’t always thicker than time, and every weed of bitterness and hatred ultimately grew to choke you at your core. I had been confused; lost, miserably alone. But suddenly, everything had never been so clear.

    “We’re going.” I said, dropping my eyes in the mirror. “I’m going.”

    There was a long stretch of silence, long enough that I thought he’d made his decision. But then I felt his hand on my wrist, sliding down to grasp my palm, firm and tight, unbreakable. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

Keke

    There was a knock on my door early that morning. I was still on the couch in the same space that I’d been all night, balancing a bottle of wine between my thighs as I ripped apart every picture of Cameron and I. He hadn’t come home, and I wasn’t surprised. But I planned to wait until he did.

    “Son of a bitch,” I spat, finally slamming the bottle down on the coffee table and rising from the couch. Whoever was at the door was relentless, drilling into my poor head with their knocks until I couldn’t take it anymore.

    “Look, my husband’s a police officer—‘’ I opened the door, prepared to scare the pants off a Jehovah’s witness. Instead, my own sentence choked off into silence and I stared wordlessly into the face of Cameron’s lover.

    “What do you want?” I managed, pushing the words out through the tears that had yet to fall.

    Bry was small, wide-eyed and thin like a teenaged boy. A tiny voice in my head reminded me that my husband preferred him to me.

    “I’m not here about Cameron,” He said quickly, and I saw the way he struggled to say his name as much as I did. “I’m here for Rumor. We need to help her… We need to help all of them.”

    Rumor. I’d completely forgotten about what she’d said at the funeral. How long ago had it been? One day? Two? It seemed like a decade had passed.

    “If we don’t help her leave by tonight…” He looked at me, and I could tell there was something he was holding back. “Bad things will happen.”

    I nodded, in a daze. I felt my hands reaching across the wall, searching for my keys on their hook.

    Bry smiled, just a little crook of his mouth that didn’t reach his eyes. “Good. They’ll need all the help they can get.”

Bow

    I woke up to a text from Joy.

    At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me; it had been doing that a lot lately. But when I opened the message, the words were clear in black and white. An offering; a lifeline thrown down to me at the lowest point.

    Joy: If you want to make things right, come to Rumor’s this morning.

Gui

    I watched from the car as Joy knocked and rang the bell to Mijo’s house over and over again, trying to reach Chris.

    After about seven minutes, she gave up and walked back to the car, her eyes far off.

    “Don’t stress about it,” I said when she got into the passenger seat. I reached out and lifted her chin with my finger, watching her brown irises look up to meet mine. After a moment, she smiled.

    “You’re right. There’s always tomorrow,” She sighed, strapping her seatbelt around her chest, newly hopeful. “I just hope he accepts my apology.”

    I started the car, feeling the engine come to life. “Let’s start off with Rumor first.” I said quietly. And I backed out of the drive, heading in the direction of her house.  

Meagan

    His chest was warm and slick with my tears. As I woke in the basement of Chris’ friend’s house, I realized I’d been crying in my sleep.

    I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes dry, smearing my mascara further and not caring. When I looked at him, Chris seemed peaceful, even though I knew he was the farthest thing from it. He was still snoring softly, his arm outstretched around the area where I’d been by his side.

    I looked at my phone lying on the floor, feeling my stomach drop into my gut. But I must have been more like my brother than I ever wanted to believe because I reached out for it and began pulling my dress over my head as if I wasn’t ruining a man’s life.

    I’d be gone by the time he woke up. It was best that way.

Siah

    I made a decision that morning. It was hard, and in places it broke me so completely I could barely breathe, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

    I would not abandon Rumor or Damon. Because whether she realized it or not, she needed me, and I refused to let her slip through my fingers again. Ultimately, having her in my life at all was better than losing her forever.

    So when I pulled up to her house early that morning and saw several cars in the driveway, taking over the side of the street, I told myself I would help her move away. I would be the friend she counted on me to be, not the lover she didn’t want.

***

    Inside the house was chaos. The door was unlocked, and somewhat familiar faces gave me curious looks as I passed by them. Everybody was helping; packing away mother and son’s things with quickness and an unexpected care. I noticed Chris’ stuff was being placed in boxes too; all of which were placed in the corner of the living room, separate from the others.

    “I was thinking you might need some help, but it looks like you’ve got plenty.” I said, coming up behind Rumor as she wrapped dishes in paper and set them away gently. When she heard my voice, she tensed, turning to look at me slowly. As she did, I managed to force a smile.

    “Siah, you don’t have to do this,” She stood and wrapped her arms around herself, avoiding my eyes. She seemed to be avoiding everyone, actually. She’d been working off in a corner by herself, deep in thought.

    I reached out and touched her hand. Just enough to let her know I was still there. I still cared. “But I want to.” I insisted.

    She stared up at me, and I saw a thousand emotions running through her thoughts. It felt like we stood there for hours before her mouth opened to say something. Except that when it did, it wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.

    “Where’s Damon?” Her eyes were no longer on me, but on the door, which was wide open and letting a breeze in off the porch. She tore away from me and ran until she was standing just behind the threshold, looking out. “Damon?” She called, searching more and more frantically.

    I followed her, looking as well. There was no Damon, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “I’m sure he’s probably inside.” I said, touching her shoulder. She flinched away.

    “No, he was just out here.” She snapped, walking further outside until the sun cast its weak morning beams onto her face. “I told him to watch for the moving van. That was five minutes ago, maybe four.”

    She ran back into the house, desperate. “Has anyone seen Damon?” She insisted breathlessly. They all stopped, looking at her with growing panic as they realized that no one had.

    “I’ll check downstairs,” Someone volunteered.

    “And I’ll look upstairs,” Another agreed.

    “The calendar,” Rumor choked out, her hand fluttering to her neck. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she’d lost all the color in her face.

    “Rumor—breathe.” I demanded, placing my hands on her shoulders. But she only shook her head, tears running down her face as her long, dry hair fell across my arms.

    “The calendar,” She repeated. “This is what it was talking about. Damon’s gone.”

Gui

   I met up with Bry after the funeral service. When I told him I needed to talk, he was confused at first, but agreed anyway. So I split ways with Joy, telling her I’d see her back at the apartment, and I met Bry at a local coffee shop that was just large enough to hold a counter, a few tables, and some chairs. We were the only people in there besides a young girl running the drive-thru window. Pop tunes played quietly over the speakers, and a heater whirred in the corner of the shop. 

   Bry ordered us a couple of hot chocolates and sat down, clasping his hands in anticipation.

   ”So…is everything alright?” He asked. Ironically, he himself looked like he might shatter into an irreparable heap at any moment. His eyes stayed glassy with unshed tears, and his nose was red around the nostrils. I knew he was having a rough time; we all were.

   ”Bry, the thing is, I’m not really sure how to approach this,” I admitted, scratching my chin. I frowned and looked off, out the window, thinking. “Please don’t take offense when I tell you this, but I’ve become aware of your relationship with Cameron.”

   Bry looked at me, blinked. 

   ”The thing is, he’s trying to look into Chris’ past to get him arrested for something he did when he was young and stupid. I’ve told him to stop, but he seems determined…” I trailed off and looked hopefully at Bry.

   Bry looked down at the table. His long, narrow fingers were drumming a nervous tune next to his untouched hot chocolate. “You want to blackmail him.” He said.

   ”I’ll only threaten to,” I assured him. “Look, and maybe it’s none of my business, but we both saw Keke today. She deserves to know what he’s up to, don’t you think?”

    Bry’s fingers drummed faster. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “I’ll do it.” He almost whispered. “For Chris. If it helps anything at all.”

   I grinned, leaning over to place my hand on his shoulder in gratitude. “It will. Trust me.”

***

   I only had to knock on Keke’s door twice before she opened it and greeted me with a hug. She was still in her dress from the funeral, and she had a wine glass in her hand that was halfway empty.

   ”Sorry,” She apologized, lifting the glass. “Rough morning. You want some?”

   ”No thanks,” I smiled.

   ”Suit yourself,” She muttered under her breath. She tilted her head back and drained the rest of the glass in one sip. I had a feeling it wasn’t her first.

   ”Look, Keke, I didn’t mean to bother you, but—”

   ”Bother me?” She asked incredulously. “I’ve been waiting on someone to ‘bother’ me for months. After Luke died everyone just drifted apart. I mean, we used to be a family. What the hell are we now?”

   I laid my hands on the kitchen table and traced the lines in the wood round and round. I thought about how, infinitely we were all connected at the very root of ourselves. How we could never really run away. 

   ”I’m here to talk to you about Cameron.” I finally said. I took out the manilla folder Bry had given me and pushed it across the table to Keke. She eyed it warily.

   ”What’s that?”

   ”You might want to take a look for yourself.” I nodded at the folder, and after a few moments she walked over to it and flipped it open. She instantly drew in a breath. Her glass fell to the floor and shattered.

    Cameron would get the message. He’d get it loud and clear. 

Rumor

   I found myself in the grocery store, eight o’ clock at night. I didn’t need anything, and I didn’t want anything. But I got my cart, and I pushed through the aisles, because for some reason, the sound the wheels made as they rolled over the scuffed floor tiles made me feel a little less crazy.

   Nothing made sense anymore. I felt like I was looking at the same picture, but from a different angle. A different distance. 

   Siah had kissed me. 

   And I mean, what did I expect? I was lying to myself if I said I hadn’t asked for it. I practically reeled him in on a line for a week. If he hadn’t kissed me first, would I have kissed him? My head was so clouded; Siah and Chris mixed together, blended into someone unfamiliar.

   You left me, Chris. You left me when I needed you the most.

   ”Excuse me,”

   I blinked back into reality. I was standing in the middle of the cereal aisle, staring at a box of Lucky Charms. I hadn’t been breathing. 

   I turned to the woman who’d spoken, and her mouth dropped into a perfect ‘O’. 

   ”Mrs. Brown, I am so sorry. I didn’t recognize you,” Dr. Cray apologized. She smiled brightly and shifted her small basket of things to her other arm. “How’s the family?”

   And it hit me how odd the universe was. While my entire world had fallen apart, chunk by massive chunk over the past days, weeks, months, Dr. Cray had remained perfectly unaware. You can stand right next to a person, see them every day of your life and wave hello, but you might as well be on different planets. 

   ”Rumor…” Dr. Cray moved her hand to her mouth as she realized something was wrong. “Rumor, whatever it is, you can talk to me about it.”

   I parted my lips, and my mouth was desert dry. “I’m moving away tomorrow. Packing everything up. Just me and Damon. Chris…isn’t coming.”

   Dr. Cray’s eyes darkened with a sorrow that reached deep down into her. She frowned, and I could tell she was upset by the news. “I thought you two would make it,” She admitted. “There was so much love there. It kept both of you strong.”

   I said nothing. Just gripped my empty cart harder. 

   ”Well.” Dr. Cray looked at me for a long time, and then, with a look of determination she put her hand on her hip. “You’ll be needing some help packing those bags, then. Won’t you?”

Sissy

   We stopped for the red light, and he leaned across the armrest to kiss my neck. “You. Are. So. Beautiful.” He said intermittenly between each one. 

   I giggled girlishly, playfully telling him to stop as my hand roamed cup holders and other compartments. 

   ”I feel like the luckiest man alive to have stumbled upon you, Teresa.” He looked up at me, eyes twinkling. The fool was actually ready to cry.

   My fingers finally came across a ball point pen that was missing its cap, and I tangled my fingers in Lover Boy’s hair. 

   ”Don’t be so sure about that,” I muttered, and I punctured his neck with the pen so fast he hardly had time to register what I meant. Poor sap began choking up blood immediately. 

   I then began the tedious task of tugging him out of the driver’s seat and into the back. Luckily, he was probably a hundred pounds soaking wet. 5’9 and not an ounce of fat or muscle on him. 

   There were no cars on the road, so after I got him out of the way, I climbed into the driver’s seat and began putting my destination into the gps. 

   Play time was over. No more games. I’d be on Chris and Rumor’s front porch the very next day, and that time when I got my revenge, I’d make damn sure I was thorough. 

It’s been exactly one year today since I started MR, and I just wanna say thank you so much to everyone who’s read and is still reading. I really learned a lot about myself as a person and a writer through these stories. I love all of you guys :’)

Meagan

   I was waiting by the car when Chris trudged across the street and pressed the unlock button on his keys. He was frowning intensely and furiously wiping away every tear that rolled down his cheek. 

   ”Chris…”

   He got in the car and slammed the door behind him. I bit my lip and slid into the passenger seat beside him, watching as he jammed his key into the ignition and nearly broke it off twisting it to the right. When the car finally turned on, he jerked the gears into reverse and whirled out into the street. 

   I screamed as a white car behind us blew its horn, but Chris hardly blinked. 

   ”Look, I know this is hard for you,” I said, choosing my words carefully as Chris screeched onto the main road. He was letting his anger drive the car, and I was sure he’d get us both killed if I didn’t do something to stop him.

   ”You don’t know anything,” He shot. The tears were running freely down his cheeks, and his eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. “What the fuck do you know, Meagan? Huh?!” 

   ”I know you love her!” I yelled over him. He got quiet for a moment, raising his thumb to his mouth and biting down hard on it. He closed his eyes, and for a moment I thought he was going to lose it. 

   ”But it’s not the end of the world, Christopher.” I said quietly, moving my hand to touch his leg. He looked up at the use of his full name and stared at me miserably for one long second before turning back to the road. He was going slower; so slow that other cars were riding our bumper, impatient. But I didn’t care. I watched Chris’ eyes, fascinated and deeply pained by the hurt I saw in them. 

   ”Chris,” I whispered. “You still have me.”

***

   I have a confession to make.

   I didn’t really go to the bathroom at the funeral. I’d been standing on the other side of the room, feeling out of place amongst the people who knew this other side to Chris that I’d never seen; Chris the husband, Chris the father. And then there was Rumor; she looked like one of those beautiful handmade dolls that I put on my shelf as a little girl; the ones my mother said were too fragile to play with.

   But Rumor had already been broken several times. I could practically see the fissures on her face where she’d cracked and fractured. Did she really deserve it? Any of it? 

   When she walked up to Chris, I wanted to let it happen. At least in my head, I saw them reuniting, going home together with their son to grieve in piece. But if Chris went home with Rumor, Ross would find him. Chris would die a bloody, awful death far worse than a thousand heartbreaks. So I interrupted to save his life. It was necessary. At least that’s what I told myself.

   That morning, before leaving out for the funeral, I’d taken Ross’ cellphone and car keys out of his pockets while he was sleeping. If I was lucky, that would keep him over Bry’s and far away from Chris. As for Rumor and Damon, I wasn’t so sure.

   But I couldn’t worry. I wouldn’t let myself. 

   ”Ssssst….” I breathed in sharply as Chris wrapped my legs around his waist, pressing into me, hard and thick. We’d escaped into his brother’s house when we saw that no one was there. The moment we were over the threshold I was taking his clothes off.

   Chris was wordless. Rough. His lips roamed my shoulders as my back slid up and down the wall. 

   It was wrong. It was so wrong, but I’d done so many things wrong that it had started not to matter anymore.

   He gripped my back, suppressed a moan as he kissed between my breasts. 

   I leaned my head back against the wall and clenched my eyes shut, feeling him in my stomach, shooting electrical sensations through my whole body. Breathe, breathe, breathe. 

   In my mind I saw colors, and the colors morphed into faces. Chris was first; I saw him as he was when I first met him: tall and lean with the sexiest smile I’d ever seen in my life. Then I saw Ross; love of my life Ross who was probably going crazy wondering where I was.

   My back was sore, and my hair was mussed. I dug my nails into Chris’ back as he drove deeper still, taking my breath away.

   I saw Rumor; she had tears rolling down her cheeks, but she was smiling. It made my heart sick.

   Gasping. Urgent whimpers that fell into his skin as I felt myself cresting, a swell of every emotion I’d ever felt building in my stomach. 

   I saw my brother. He was smiling, too.

   Chris’ breathing was quick and uneven. His chest and arms were slick with sweat as he pressed closer to me. 

   In Pharaoh’s hand was a gun, and he was aiming it carefully.

   ”Don’t stop,” I breathed through gritted teeth. He gripped my ass and dove deeper.  ”Don’t stop,”

   In my mind there was a loud crack. Lots of blood. 

   My moans hitched up as he hit my spot and the world turned passion red. My legs quivered against him and when he finished we sank down to the floor, guilty and silent.

   I turned away from him and managed to wipe the tears from my eyes before he could see that I was crying for him. 

Rumor

    We buried Storm in the backyard, on the side left side of the deck where she always loved to lay. 
   

    “You were my favorite dog ever. I’ll always remember you.” Damon sniffled, his little nose bright red as he stood over the small grave. I pressed my fist to my mouth, trying not to cry. 
   

    “That’s great, buddy.” Siah said softly. “Why don’t you go back in the house? Me and your mom will finish saying goodbye.”
   

    Damon looked up at me, uncertainty in his eyes.

   ”Go on, sweetie.” I urged. And reluctantly, he obeyed.
 

    “So you’re leaving tomorrow.” Siah asked once Damon was out of earshot. There was an unmistakeably bitter tone to his voice as he began shoveling dirt back into the grave.

     ”Yes. I am.” I sighed. “I can’t stay here any longer.”

     Siah clenched his jaw. “I won’t lose you again. Wherever you go, I’m coming after you.” 

     I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything. Siah dropped his shovel and, hesitating for just a moment, walked over to me to take my hands in his.

     ”I love you, Rumor. I always have.” And before I could respond, his lips were touching mine, pressing hard and urgent, suffocating me, bruising my lips. 

      Weakly, I shoved against his chest until he finally noticed and let me go. I stumbled backwards into the brick of the house and held my mouth as tears fell down my face.
 

    Siah stood heaving breaths, wiping my lipstick from his mouth as he avoided my eyes. 
   I felt something welling up inside of me. Anger, sadness, hurt. Disgust. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right.

    “Rumor,” Siah reached out to me, trying to apologize, but I slipped past him and ran up the deck steps to go inside. 

    I didn’t understand anything in my life anymore. Accept that I had a shit load of packing to do.
   

horribleintervalsofsanity:

I recently started an Entertainment blog (music, movies, art, fashion, books) called First Opinions. I’m majoring in Journalism and I thought this would be a good way to start getting experience.

I personally hate blogs that are overly biased and only write about negative things in the news. So in contrast, First Opinions will be as honest and unbiased as I can make it. It will be about anything new and interesting that’s happening in the entertainment world, good or bad. No one will be slandered or put on a pedastool.

It would really mean a lot if you guys followed the blog, (first-opinions.tumblr.com), to see what you think and give feedback/opinions where you feel necessary. Also, if you have topics that you’d like to be discussed, you can send your ideas to firstopinions@yahoo.com

(Source: days-and-dust)