“He solves your problem. But if you’re sending somebody to get this boy, there’s one thing you must remember.”
“What’s that?”
“When you deliver him, he’s going to have to be alive.”
Roman
52
“Aaaaaahhhh!” Aunt Coretta screamed when I poked my head through the living room window. She was standing over me with a skillet, about to bash my brains in.
“Aunt Coretta, no!” I lifted my hands to protect my head.
“Roman! Boy, you scared the hell outta me. What the hell is wrong with the you, busting up in this house like that?” She clutched her chest and leaned on the wall, still holding on tight to the skillet.
“Sorry, Auntie,” I said, pulling myself in the window the rest of the way. “I forgot my key at the hospital.”
“Why didn’t you just knock on the door or call me?” she scolded.
“I did. You ain’t been answering your phone.”
“Oh, I forgot to turn the ringer on after I got up from my nap. I was just fixing me something to eat before I went back over to sit with Sister. You want me to fix you a plate? The food’s almost ready. Pork chops, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese. Your favorites,” she said.
“Yeah, let’s sit down and eat. I gotta talk to you about something.”
“Okay, the pork chops will be ready in about ten minutes. You go on up and take you a shower. You been wearing them same damn clothes the past three days.” She smiled and pointed at the stairs.
I went up to my bedroom to grab my bathrobe and toiletries. When I opened my closet door, I had to pause for a minute. It seemed like something was off. Things were kind of shifted. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the gun tucked in my waistband, then snatched back the row of shirts, expecting to find someone hiding there. But the only thing there was a large stack of Nike boxes.
“Yo, you trippin’, Rome,” I whispered to myself as I sat on the side of my bed. For some reason, I thought about Kandace. It dawned on me that I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days. As fucked up as my head was, it would be nice to talk to her, so I called.
“Hey, baby,” I said when she answered.
“Don’t hey baby me, motherfucker,” she snapped, catching me totally off guard.
“What the hell is that all about?” I snapped right back.
“The same thing that was up with you the other night.”
“What other night? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play stupid, Roman. I ain’t got no time for the shit. You know what I’m talking about,” she answered, full of attitude. “And you know the fucked-up part about this is I really like you.”
“Kandace, I swear I don’t know—”
Crash! A loud sound came from downstairs.
“What the hell? Did you hear that?” I said to Kandace.
“Yes. What was that?” Kandace yelled.
“I’ll call you back. I think my aunt fell,” I said and hung up.
I came out of my room and yelled my aunt’s name. She didn’t answer. Step by step, I slowly descended the stairs, afraid of what I would find when I got to the bottom. I heard a noise coming from the kitchen.
I yelled her name louder. “Aunt Coretta!” Still no answer.
I stepped into the living room, and that’s when I was confronted by a horrific sight. There in the kitchen doorway was my aunt’s body, slumped into a crumpled, bloody mess. I ran over and cradled her head in my arms. Her throat had been sliced open. She was already dead.
“Fuck.” I gasped, swallowing the huge lump that had formed in my throat.
“Don’t worry. She didn’t suffer.” The voice came from behind me.
I turned and saw a tall white man standing there, smiling at me. My heart started pounding when I realized it was the same crazy dude who had killed Lex and those girls. The kitchen door was wide open. He must have forced his way through there and ambushed Aunt Coretta.
“You motherfucker!” I reached for my gun, but it wasn’t there. I’d left it upstairs on my bed. Here I was, holding my dead aunt, her killer standing in front of me, and I was unarmed.
“Now, are we gonna do this the easy or the hard way?” He lunged at me, and I scurried onto my feet.
I hopped the stairs two at a time and ran into my bedroom, but before I could reach my gun, he grabbed me and tossed me across the room. I landed so hard against the dresser I thought I could have broken my spine. I tried to brace myself to stand, but he gripped my shirt, and his fist connected with my stomach. Dude went crazy on me until I finally got in the right position to kick him. I scrambled away on all fours, reaching onto the bed to feel for my gun.
“Looking for this?” He held up my gun and smiled. I expected him to take aim and shoot, but instead, he pulled out a stun gun and zapped me.
“Damn, that looks like it hurts,” he said, mocking me.
You damn right it hurt. I’d never felt anything like it. I was numb and in pain at the same time as I fell flat on the floor.
That’s when I heard two ear-shattering shots ring out. He dropped on top of me like a damn tree falling, knocking the wind out of me. Between that and the stun gun, it took me a minute to recover and realize that—holy shit!—I was still alive.
I pushed the crazy man off me, patting all over my body to make sure I didn’t have any bullet wounds.
“You all right, Roman?” There was a man standing in the entrance of my room, holding a gun. He looked a lot like me but with purple hair. I was pretty sure he was the reason I was alive, but how and why?
Rio
53
“Go get your brother. Bring him back
