“I had to be tough; I had to be fucking mean to rise to top. You don’t have a cluehow it felt, to be poor, to suffer, to feel powerless. Shit! I’ll kill everyone in this fuckingroom before I let myself feel that way again,” he spat.
“People who come to me are clueless. They’re too stupid to realize that they createtheir own suffering. But shit! They’re trained to look for miracles. They want a quick fix,a magic potion or pill that’s going to make everything better. Hey, if they want to believein that shit. So be it. I’ll take their fucking money!” he yelled loudly. He looked at meand began to laugh, loud wicked cackles.
“Hey Cabron,” he said eyeing Fatboy. “Get your fat ass over here,” he said wavinghim forward with his hand. He wrapped his arm around him and spoke in a loud whisper.
“You like this girl?” he asked.
Fatboy just looked at me.
“She’s fresh meat, never been touched. I’ll let you have her first,” Nico said causallylike I was a puppy he was trying to sell. Fatboy’s eyes lit up.
“How about this, pick four or five of your amigos, take her in the back room andmake her little ass scream for mercy,” he said.
“Hold up Nico. That ain’t what we agreed on.” Nico looked over his shoulder androlled his eyes as Ali stepped forward.
“This little bitch has a big mouth. I got to teach her a lesson. Besides, since whenhave I been known to keep my fucking promises?” Nico said. Fatboy laughed and thenlicked his lips.
“Naw Nico. I can’t let you do that. She’s my sister,” Ali said. “Oh, so now you’re afamily man. You weren’t talking that shit when you strangled your own momma, or whenyou told me where this little puta was,” he said. Ali lowered his head in shame.
“You’re just like your daddy, a waste of fucking egg and sperm. We used to killfaggots like you in my day,” Nico said.
“You’re going to have to kill me then, cause I ain’t going let nobody do anything tomy sister,” Ali said.
“What? You must have lost your mind. Suddenly, you got a set of balls. Man. Getout of my face with that shit. You don’t have any family. You gave it all up when youdecided to work for me,” Nico said.
“Naw Nico. You’ve been playing all of us. I never wanted to live my life like this. Ididn’t want to kill anybody. I don’t want to be a fucking criminal. I am tired of beingmad, angry and violent. I just want all this shit to end,” Ali said.
“Mijo, they only time you’re a man is when you have gun in your hands. That’s yourpower,” Nico said holding up a fist.
“Naw. I ain’t powerful. Something takes over me and I just black out. And I do shitthat I don’t want to do,” he said with his voice cracking. His head was bowed and hiseyes were pasted to the ground.
“Shit! The motherfucker going to start to cry,” Nico snuffed.
“Untie that little bitch,” Nico said. Fatboy looked at him confused.
“Hey Cabron? You deaf? Let her go!” he said slapping the back of Fatboy’s head.He wobbled over to me and unclasped my hands and ripped the duck tape from mymouth. Nico paused and looked at me.
“Yeah! That’s better, now you got another hole to work with. Take her skinny ass inthe back,” Nico yelled.
“Ali, help me.” I screamed.
He just stood there, looking at his feet.
“You see Mija! Do you see the power I fucking have? Do you see what I can dowhen I turn a man against himself? He kills. He lies. He cheats. He steals. He betrays andhe fucks over his own family. Why? Because of fear,” he said.
Ali closed his eyes and looked away.
“I control people’s minds; that’s real power. Not that heaven shit that Chobo wastalking about. I have power that I can taste and feel. I can get people to give me money; Ican get women to give me their bodies. Shit! I can even get people to give me theirsouls,” Nico sneered.
“All that development shit that Chobo was talking about. Well, that’s just too muchwork. brujeria is the way for me,” he said smugly.
“I’m already enlightened. I am a God,” he said smiling. “And my heaven is righthere on earth.” He continued chuckling. He pulled a cigar out of his shirt pocket, stuffedit in his mouth and lit it.
“No Nico, you benefit while everybody else suffers,” I said. Nico smiled and justpuffed on his cigar. Fatboy inched closer to me.
“Don’t come near me you fat piece of shit,” I screamed. Fatboy backed away. Nicodropped his cigar out of his hand and just stared at me.
“No! No! This shit can’t be possible,” Nico said.
There was a long silence. No one dared to speak. Suddenly, the room felt like it wasbeing racked by violent tremors from seismic waves. People in the room began to run thisway and that. Some found cover under tables, or crouched up under chairs. But nothingwas going to stop them. They flew about like bats in a cave. They moved in droves,eating away at human flesh like termites. People’s eyes rolled in the back of their heads,shaking as if they were suffering from an epileptic fit. Salvia foamed out of their mouthlike boiled milk.
“You’re right, Nico. We’re in heaven, my heaven. “But this is your Hell.” I said.
People rolled around on the floor in pain. Their horrific cries echoed through the air.
“I’m whole now. And no one is ever going to hurt me again, because I’m in control,”I said.
“Nobody has more power than me,” he spat.
“No Nico. I
