“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” I ask Deb.
Deb picks up the bottle that she dropped and answers me, “Yeah, but I’ve been more skittish lately.”
“Everything okay?” I ask Deb as I step closer to her.
Deb puts the bottle that she dropped on a cabinet shelf and answers, “Yeah, well no, but I’ll be okay.”
I grab a bottle of migraine headache medication and pour two pills out into my left hand.
Deb sees the two pills in my left hand and jokes, “I see you need some meds also.”
I walk over to the refrigerator and grab a bottle of water and swallow the two pills and some water.
“Yeah, it’s been one of those days,” I jokingly reply to Deb.
Deb smiles.
“Everything okay though? You have enough supplies? Food? Water? Do you need anything?” I ask Deb.
“We have more than enough stuff. But it’s just tough not having Kat around or my old friends and family,” answers Deb.
I think about Deb being alone and I feel bad for her.
“Have you met my mother in law Fran and Matt’s mom Ann?” I ask Deb.
“Yeah, only a couple times though,” answers Deb.
“I think you should hang out with them,” I say to Deb.
“Hang out with them?” jokes Deb with a smile.
“I don’t know, have a wine night or something,” I reply to Deb with a smile on my face.
“I do have a couple good bottles of wine,” replies Deb.
“Great, I’ll tell Fran about getting together and I’ll tell Matt to tell Ann about it as well,” I say to Deb.
Deb gets a smile on her face and I see that she is excited about the idea of having plans.
“Thank you Ryan, that would be great,” says Deb.
I say goodbye to Deb and exit the Medical house.
I see Phil exit his house and he shouts to me as I stand in the Medical house driveway, “TJ will be here in about an hour and Saba and Bakari will be here in two hours.”
“They call you and tell you that?” I ask Phil.
“No a raven came by with a note on his ass,” answers Phil with a sarcastic joking tone.
I laugh at Phil’s joke and reply, “Now that would be something.”
“Yeah, maybe Mr. Charlie’s birds will have notes on their asses now,” jokes Phil.
“What’s going on at the front gate?” asks Phil.
“Brad was trying to leave, and Brody stopped him,” I answer Phil as we stand on the sidewalk near Phil’s house.
“You going to let him leave?” asks Phil.
“Should I?” I ask.
Phil thinks about what to do with Brad and answers, “I don’t know what to do with him, but we can’t stop him from doing what he wants.”
“He was ordered to kill me,” I reply.
“Well, that’s not happening, but you know what I mean. We can’t keep him from leaving here and trying to get back home to Channelside,” replies Phil.
“Should we just let him go back to Channelside now?” I ask Phil.
“Let’s bring it up to TJ and Bakari and see what they say about it,” answers Phil.
“That’s a good idea, but I have some other news as well,” I say to Phil.
“What happened now?” asks Phil.
“DK wants to meet in three days at World of Trade,” I answer Phil.
“Are you fucking serious?” asks Phil.
“Yeah, I called him over the walkie, and he said that he wants to meet and that he wouldn’t recommend for me not to meet with him,” I answer Phil.
Phil shakes his head and says, “We are definitely bringing that up to Bakari and TJ.”
Two hours go by and I’m in Shaun’s living room with TJ, Bakari, Saba, Cyrus, Ayo, Phil, Jon, Matt, Brad, and Brody.
Saba hands me my Ghost mask and I see that it has some light stenciling of a design on the top of my mask and the grey markings are still on the front of my mask.
“I wasn’t able to complete the full paint job on the mask, but I blended the grey the best that I could, started the stenciling in the center, and added some black around the nose, eyes, mouth holes, and sides,” says Saba.
“Can you still do the design we talked about?” I ask Saba as I look at the new black, grey, and silver paint on the front of my mask.
“Yeah, you still want it to match your tsuba?” asks Saba.
“Yeah, if it’s possible,” I answer Saba.
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I just have to get the right paint, but I was able to update the software and upgrade the optics and batteries in the mask,” answers Saba.
“How long will it hold a charge now?” I ask Saba.
“About twelve hours with minimal sunlight on the panels,” answers Saba.
TJ walks over to Bakari and Cyrus steps towards TJ.
“I just wanted to apologize for how I acted the last time I saw you,” says TJ to Bakari.
“It’s okay C,” says Bakari to Cyrus.
Cyrus steps back behind Bakari and TJ continues talking, “I was out of line and I had the wrong impression of you and your group.”
“Who did you think we were?” asks Bakari to TJ.
TJ looks at Bakari and he doesn’t answer.
“It’s okay, I just want to know who you thought we were, I won’t get mad,” says Bakari.
“I thought you were with the movement and part of the group that started the riots, looting, and shootings around Tampa,” answers TJ.
Bakari looks TJ in his eyes and says, “I’m not going to lie to you TJ or anyone in this room… I have supported the equality movements, but I never supported the rioting, looting, shooting, and harming of people and
