“I got someone who will finish this shit,” he said, ignoring Chobo. He walked to thefront door and called out to someone.
“Mi hijo, entre en la casa.”
Ali walked in, and I nearly fainted in Fatboy’s arms. I could not believe it. I tried tocall out to him, but I couldn’t speak. He mindlessly took the weapon out of Nico’s hand.Nico walked behind him like a proud parent. I struggled to make eye contact with Ali. Itwas almost like he didn’t even recognize me. His eyes were glazed over and his face wasmasked with anger.
“Son, I know you. I know your lineage and I know that you were born into anancestral curse. You got a lot of darkness inside of you son,” Chobo said emphatically.
Ali charged the gun and walked forward.
“Listen to me, son. You got to get all the things that are buried inside of you out.That’s the only way you can gain control,” Chobo said.
“He’s controlled, don’t you see the way he’s pointing his gun at you,” Nico snuffed.
“Control is not about obedience to others; it’s the courage to listen to your innerself,” Chobo said.
Ali’s face was void of expression he walked closer to Chobo. Neither one of themwas afraid. Chobo closed his eyes and began to pray.
“Orúnmila, second only to God, thou equilibrium that adjust world forces, thou artthe one whose exertion it is to reconstruct the creature of bad lot. Repairer of misfortune,those who know thee become immortal. My Lord, perfect in the house of wisdom—infinite in the house of knowledge—for not knowing thee in full, we are futile. Oh, if wecould but know thee in full, all would be well with us,” he said.
The gun went off. The bullets flew, shattering shards of bone. I watched it nick andpierce off pieces of his skin. One flew into his stomach and guts flew out. The last oneshot right into his forehead. There was silence, dead silence and then screams. Thechildren began to cry, the mothers moved around as they struggled to calm them. Nicowalked up to Ali and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s over.” Ali looked around the room. He looked right at me, through me. Then hedropped the gun on the ground and walked away. Fatboy rushed over and picked it up.Nico moved over to the door, with his crew leading the way. Before he left, he lookedback and spoke.
“Well, I’m back in business. Ya’ll know where to find me, seeing you might needmy services.” With that he turned on his heel and walked outside.
They were some curious bystanders that were clustered on the lawn and leaningagainst the fence. They scattered when the saw Nico. He had a death grip on my arm. Ilooked around; I could see blue, brown, green eyes squinting through the gaps of windowshades. Nobody helped. No one called the police. Instead, they all watched, as me and theother boys were led away by Nico.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Twenty-three
It could all be over today.” I sang as I wiped the bathroom window with a papertowel. I paused and realized that the song, that ugly song was still in my head. I shook myhead a few times, trying to forget, trying so hard to push the memories of the past deeperinside of me. I needed them to go away, so they could never see the light of day. Hey,that rhymes. I think that I will sing that from now own. I started to hum the words as Ikneeled down and brushed the shit stains from the rim of the toilet. Yeah, don’t think thatbecause people like me are crazy, that we’re lazy. We all had chores to do and it didn’tmatter how fucked up we were. Trust me, when it came time for chores, everybodywould heighten their levels of insanity, to try and get out of them.
Talking to yourself didn’t work, so people would spit, rip legs off of chairs, andjump off of tables. The only problem was that their punishment was worse than solitaryconfinement. Rumor has it that those who act a fool are sent off to the real loony bin toconverse with inmates who were criminally insane. Nobody wanted that, after all therewas a class system even among us crazies. We were the white color lunatics, and we wereprepared to do whatever it took to maintain our privileges. I kinda liked doing chores;there was a level of normalcy to it. I started to sway back and forth while singing mysong.
“I need the shadows to go away, bury them deep inside of me so they can never seethe light of day.”
I could really get into this song. I looked up and froze when I saw the reflection inthe mirror. I opened my eyes wide; I took a couple of steps back and dropped the toiletbowl brush on the ground. I covered my eyes and counted to ten, hoping that the imagethat I was seeing wasn’t real. I hoped that when I opened my eyes again that it would begone, and I would see the same face that I saw everyday when I looked into the mirror.Like a child playing peek o boo, I peeked through the creases of my fingers, and drewback when I saw my mom looking at me.
“It’s time she said.”
“Time? For what?” I said, confused.
Then, the reflection changed. Her face became rounder, puffier and her eyes turnedgreen, like Maria’s. “It’s time to go back,” she said.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I watched with exasperation as the images changed. Itwas almost like watching a horror movie in 3D, I was just waiting for someone orsomething to reach out and grab me. I backed away from the mirror slowly. I needed tobe careful. This was some crazy sick shit, and I didn’t want anyone to take hold
