“You sure it was the same guy?”
“Yep. I’m a hundred percent sure.” Jessi responds confidently. “Even though he insists that it was someone else. That’s the same motherfucker. I would recognize those goddamn blackheads all over his nose from mars. He either kept it or passed it off before he got to the station. And get this, the doll, the so-called publicity stunt, got cremated. Yep, I said cremated. A doll. Who the fuck cremates a doll?”
“Okay, find out what you can about the Sterling accident. I’m coming to talk with Mr. Vasquez.”
“No prob. I’ll be here.” Jessie assures.
As Dontae’ hangs up the phone, the roar of a truck’s engine vibrates through his ears just as his car is struck from behind, sending his body whiplashing forward against the steering wheel. Looking into his rearview mirror, he notices the same cement truck he’d seen earlier.
Before he could register what had just happened, the truck bumps him again, causing the car to swerve and Dontae’ to fight to keep control. Not taking another moment to be confused, he slammed his foot against the gas, his charger shot forward, giving a little space between it and the truck.
No matter how fast he tried to go, the truck stayed behind him. As Dontae’ speeds through traffic, the truck manages to clip his back bumper from the side, sending the car into a tailspin, causing Dontae’ to lose control, coming to a stop in the middle of the intersection. Onlookers immediately take out their phones and start to film the scene. Dontae’ raises his head, looking around for the truck, but it is nowhere to be found. He touches his head just below the hairline and pulls his hand back to notice a few drops of blood on his fingers. He opens the door and steps out of the car. Dizzy, he leans on the car. At the far end of the street, he could hear the loud roar of an engine. He turns his head to notice the truck barreling towards him at full speed. He takes his gun from the holster and fires at the driver’s side window, making five bullet holes in the windshield. The truck didn’t miss a beat and kept rushing towards him. In the last second, he dives out of the way, landing on the curve smashing his ribs on a traffic light pole, and landing on his head, knocking him out cold. The truck hits his car with an impact so hard that the car flips three times, landing inside a small café on the corner. The truck, not being phased by the impact at all, kept barreling up the street and out of view. People were now in shock at what had just happened. A pedestrian who was doing homework at the café was now pinned under Dontae’s car. A few bystanders got together and helped lift the car off the woman. A young man stood about two feet from Dontae’ filming him on Quest live, not even attempting to help.
“I just witnessed this crazy dope accident in downtown for real, bruh. This guy was in a car, and like this truck smashed ol dudes car, and he flipped out of it and landed on his back and shit. I think he’s dead. Get at me at pony-boy-the-don-787 on the quest yo,” The guy bragged with his whinny annoying voice.
Dontae’ awoke to four cell phones in his face, the smell of axe body spray, and the loud sound of people chattering.
“Damn, he ain’t dead,” one woman exclaimed.
“Fuck. There go my views,” Another man states.
The people all started to walk away, highly disappointed as if his being alive is a bad thing. As the crowd dispersed, he could see the red and blue lights of an ambulance approaching. At least someone called.
Ω
Jessi’s heart stopped when she got the call that Dontae had been in an accident. This was her partner and friend, who she had really gotten to know in the last few months. She didn’t know what she would do if something were to happen to him. Jessi was a very confident young woman who had been mostly protected in the early years of her life. Although she had a half-sibling, she was raised as an only child by her overbearing single mother. She went to the best of schools and had the best of everything her father could give, except for himself. He had another family, and Jessi was his mistake. Her mother had met her father on a meditation retreat to California’s Joshua Tree, where stoners go to hang out and, of course, smoke. Her father was there on a much-needed vacation from his wife, and her mother was there because she was a stoner who needed some of California’s finest. They met, and she fell in love. The fling lasted for about two years, and after many excuses for not leaving his wife, Jessie finally told Kervi’ that he was expecting a child with Maria and had to end their relationship. It was like one of those moments from that old 70’s song, “kiss and say goodbye,” except in this reality, both women were pregnant. Jessi was born first and soon after, Lia. Kervi’ tried to make it on her own and didn’t tell Jessie about the baby girl until she was close to a year old. He immediately went into action, supplying everything he could imagine. He showered her with gifts and spent as much time as possible with her, which wasn’t much. Between his family and his job, Jessi was stuck somewhere in the middle. Jessie’s wife didn’t leave him, although Kervi’ still had hopes and imagined a future with them being a happy family. Instead, it seems that Jessie and Maria’s relationship grew stronger. Maria eventually accepted the outside baby girl, and Jessi spent a few holidays with the second family. Overall, it kind
