Mad Maxxx

by T. Styles

  No one would talk to you, which I wouldn’t care. You would have to stay in your cubby because every time you’d leave the power would be disconnected and they would trash your place. In the end it wasn’t worth it to defy the laws, but just go with the flow.

  “Mad, as you know we take things seriously down here,” Old Man Young said. “And as a member of The Catacombs you are essentially surrendering to our laws. Correct?”

  “I guess,” I responded tugging at my baseball cap.

  “Well then…we are here to discuss what happened to Wicked’s money. Did you or did you not steal it?”

  “I did not,” I said as I stood with my hands clasped behind me. I was trying my best not to use them to choke Wicked out. I didn’t need this shit right now. “And when my money was stolen I didn’t come to ya’ll about it. I took it as a loss.”

  “Well you shouldn’t have,” The Parable said. “We would’ve held a meeting and—”

  “What?” I asked cutting him off. “Just what would you have done? Nothing,” I yelled. “For all I know this dude stole my money and then went to ya’ll first so I would look bad if I said something. This whole situation is weak.”

  “I ain’t steal shit from you, cuz,” Wicked responded with a smirk on his face.

  Yeah, he got me for my money.

  “WB can vouch that I was in my cubby today.”

  “We decided not to allow WB’s testimony because he is your friend and may lie for you.”

  “That’s bullshit,” I said pacing the small place in front of me.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” Old Man Young said. “And although we have warned you all against leaving money in your spaces, we would’ve at least investigated the matter. But you didn’t come to us. Today we’re here on Wicked’s business.”

  I gritted my teeth. I hate these funky mothafuckas.

  “Wicked, what proof do you have that Mad stole your money?” the Parable asked him.

  “My man Daze right here said he saw her.”

  “Sir, if it is true that WB can’t vouch for Mad and say that he was with her at the time this money was supposedly stolen, then Daze shouldn’t be allowed to testify for Wicked either,” Everest interjected in my defense.

  For the first time ever I was feeling her. And it wasn’t because of how she looked defending me, but that she decided to say anything at all.

  Old Man Young whispered to The Parable. When he was done he looked back at Wicked. “She’s right. Unless you have another witness we don’t have any reason to believe she did it.”

  I tried to hide the smile on my face. It wasn’t because I was pressed to live here. Naw, that wasn’t it at all. It was the fact that no matter what this dude did to try to fuck with me nothing worked in his favor.

  “What the fuck is up with everybody in this bitch?” Wicked yelled. “Why do you show loyalty to her when she doesn’t deserve it? Huh? I’ve been here longer than her, but none of ya’ll act like it matters. What about the loyalty?”

  “We’ve said our piece,” The Parable said before leaving.

  “I’m going to hit you where it hurts,” Wicked said to me.

  Everyone else walked away including him. But his voice echoed in my mind long after he was gone. I knew I was going to have to find another place to stay or we were going to come to deadly blows.

  ****

  Every now and again somebody in the crew had to go shoplift for food if money wasn’t coming in. This time it was my turn. I had all intentions on going by myself, but Blazer and Motor Angel from the West wanted to come with me because I found some bus passes. Spirit told me not to take them, but they kept begging and promised to stay away from me in the store if I let them.

  Blazer was a scrawny kid who was real tall with skin darker than WB’s. He didn’t say much but when he did he was asking for food and money. Motor Angel was okay to look at, but I didn’t give her too much attention because she always read into things the wrong way. She’d brush up to me at The Pit and ask to lick my pussy, which I hated. No matter what she did or said I couldn’t get up with her.

  When we got off of the bus I put it down to them straight. “Listen, don’t follow me and I won’t follow you in the store. Get what you going to get and when you’re done I’ll meet you around the back. That way we can divide up everything we got. Cool?”

  Blazer rubbed his nose so hard it started bleeding. “I got you,” he said wiping the blood off with the back of his hand. “I won’t be no trouble I appreciate the pass.”

  Disgusted I walked through the aisles on a mission. I skillfully placed can good after can good in my backpack, and was moving toward the candy aisle to cop some stuff for Pickles. We couldn’t afford candy all of the time but since he liked it so much, I went a few times without getting a bottle of Hennessey for my man. The bottle was the only reason I was able to get up each day, so I knew I fucked with the kid more than I wanted to admit.

  I stuffed a pack of Twizzlers in my bag when through the corner of my eyes, I saw a beefy white man walking behind Motor Angel and Blazer. The man had his hands on their shoulders and I already knew what was going down. They were caught.

  FUCK!

  My shopping trip was officially over and I hustled toward the exit. But that’s when the illest shit happened. The nigga Blazer actually said, “That girl dressed like a boy over there is with us too.”

  When I turned around his ashy finger was pointing in my direction. I felt like unleashing on him but first I had to get out of the store without being arrested. This shit was do or die for me. If I got caught, I was going to be held up and the cops would find out that I was wanted for the murder of Rose Midland.

  When I reached the door another black man stood in front of me and pushed me to the floor. He snatched the backpack from my hand and opened it.

  He dug his hand inside, grabbed a can of green beans and said, “Well, well, well, what do we have here you, little thief?”

  ****

  I’m sitting in some office in the grocery store with one hand cuffed to the table. Motor Angel was crying, they had one wrist cuffed too. Blazer was trying not to look at us. I don’t know where the two men went who arrested us, but I’m sure at any moment they’ll be coming back with the police.

  “I’m sorry about this shit, Mad,” Blazer said. “I didn’t—”

  “Nigga, don’t say shit else to me,” I told him slamming my fist on the table. “You snitched and from where I’m from the penalty is death.”

  There was no other sound in the room with the exception of Motor Angel’s sniffling. When the door opened a woman I recognized came walking into the room. I didn’t know where I knew her from, but she definitely looked familiar.

  “Before I call the police,” she said sitting down and looking at Blazer, “I want to know what you three were doing stealing in my store? I take thieves very seriously around here.”

  She looked at Motor Angel and then at me. But the look on her face turned from anger to something different. “It’s you,” she said pointing at me. “You’re the one.”

  My heart pounded and I felt like every part of my skin itched. She recognized me from the Wanted ad that was going around DC. “You know me?”

  “Of course I do,” she smiled. “You helped my son on the train. You defended him when those guys came in and scared him. I thought we were going to die. Don’t you remember? I never got a chance to say thank you, because you ran away when you saw the cops.”

  Oh snap! That was her. I’m not going to lie; at the moment I was relieved although I knew it would be short lived. After all, I would still be going to jail because at the end of the day I did steal some shit.

  “It wasn’t nothing,” I shrugged.

  Suddenly she stood up and uncuffed my wrist. “Follow me.”

  I rubbed my arm where the bracelet use to be and looked at Blazer and Motor Angel before I followed her into the hallway. “What’s up?” I leaned against the wall and pulled down my baseball cap.


  “I’m going to let you go,” she said the moment the door closed.

  I leaned in. “F-f-for real?” I stuttered.

  “Yes,” she smiled. “I’m the general manager here and it would be my honor to return the favor to you. You don’t understand what you did for me that day. I can tell something was going on with you, and you didn’t have to help me but you did. I am eternally grateful for you. Always.”

  I stood up straight. “But how can you let me go? I mean, won’t you get in trouble?”

  “Don’t worry about all of that,” she looked around. “Just know that if I do this you can never come back here. Ever.”

  “Lady, if you let me go you don’t ever have to worry about me walking back up in this bitch again,” I said eager to run away. “That’s on my life.”

  To make things even better she dug into her pocket and handed me a one hundred dollar bill. My eyes lit up and I was thrown off. All of my life I was use to adults taking advantage of me or not giving a fuck but she was different.

  “That’s for you. I don’t know what had you feeling like you needed to steal, but I hope that eases some of the pressure. Now get out of here before somebody sees you. Go out the back door.” She pointed behind me at the exit.

  I was about to roll out but I thought about Blazer and Motor Angel. A part of me wanted to say fuck them, but I wasn’t built like that. I didn’t want to see them in jail.

  “What about them,” I pointed to the door.

  “What about them?” She frowned. “From what I heard they sold you up the creek, and told the officers that you do stuff like that all of the time. They thought by selling you out that they’d get a better deal or something.” She laughed to herself and shook her head. “They are going to get exactly what they deserve. Locked up.”

  Just thinking about Blazer’s lanky finger pointing in my direction made me want to agree but I didn’t want to do it like that. “I know, but do you think you could help them out? It would mean a lot to me. They don’t have no honor code, but I do.”

  She shook her head and smiled at me again. “I can tell by the way you beat that kid on the bus that you been through a lot, but I can also tell you have a good heart too. I don’t know why but I got a feeling that you’re going to be okay in life, just give it some time.”

  “I appreciate that, ma’am, but people like me don’t get breaks. It’s not in the cards for us.”

  “So what do you call what I just did for you?”

  CHAPTER 16

  MAD

  Today we had another barbeque and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Everest for some reason. She was wearing tight jeans and a cute red top that hugged her breasts. I haven’t fucked in a long time so I was overdue but her and I wouldn’t work.

  As we stood around The Pit, and I watched her laugh and talk to Mad MaXXX suddenly I could see why they liked her so much. Something told me to stay away from her, but it was getting harder to do.

  “What’s wrong with you, man?” I asked Spirit who seemed grumpy. “You acting like me today.”

  “It’s Fierce, man.”

  I looked over at Fierce who was kicking it with WB and Fortune. “What he do this time? Not take his medicine or something?”

  “You know how I am about leaving open food in the cubby and shit right? So I told him when he stayed the night over to make sure that he threw any trash outside of my cubby. Instead of listening this nigga goes to sleep and then look”— he lowered his head and pointed at the hair on his Mohawk— “Do you see that shit, man?”

  “What you talking about?” I asked examining the crown of his head.

  “What am I talking about? Look at my fucking hair” he moved his head closer like it would make me see something differently. “Because he left food and drink all over my cubby the rats came inside and started chewing at my hair. Fuck!” He raised his head and rubbed his Mohawk.

  I tried not to smile but it didn’t work. I was laughing so hard I held onto my stomach. Just picturing rats on top of his head was hilarious. “My bad, man,” I said trying to calm down. “I don’t mean to be laughing it’s just that—,”

  “Fuck you,” Spirit said shaking his head. “Anyway, what’s up with Blazer and Motor Angel? They been staying away ever since ya’ll got back from the grocery store. Something happen?”

  When we got back, after the snitch fest at the store. I didn’t tell about the way Blazer pointed the finger at me, and how Motor Angel was with it. The only thing I said was that the plan to cop from that grocery store didn’t work, and that I went to another spot on my own. I brought food back to my team from the one hundred dollar bill the lady gave me. So we were good.

  I guess Blazer and Motor Angel thought I said something and hid in shame. Fuck them niggas.

  “I’m not their keeper so you gotta ask them where they be,” I frowned.

  “I got fresh bread,” WB said walking into The Pit area. Behind him was Fortune who never left his side.

  We all walked over to him. “Where you get it from?” Gage asked excitedly. “I can eat some more even though I’m full.”

  “From the back of a bakery,” he responded. “Don’t worry, though it’s clean.”

  Clean to them meant that the bread was thrown in a bag by itself, without other trash. I hated food from cans and unlike my crew; I refused to eat anything like that.

  So instead of saying anything I said, “Well I’m going to the store to grab a bottle. I’ll be back in a second. Anybody want anything?”

  “Can I go with you?” Everest asked me.

  Damn this bitch pretty. “Did I ask you to come with me?”

  “No,” she said sadly.

  “Fortune, keep an eye on Pickles for me,” I said.

  “You know I got my baby,” she smiled.

  When I walked down the East Wing and outside of the tunnel to get my liquor, my heart stopped when I saw the person in front of me. She was still beautiful. Her long black hair hung down her back and not a piece of hair was out of place. The pink sweater she wore made her cleavage spill out of her shirt. She was sexy, real sexy, but what was she doing here?

  I hadn’t seen her since she was in my grandmother’s, on my father’s side, basement. It was because of me that she was tied up and put down there by my father as a hostage.

  It was long ago but I still remember. She was in the nail salon when my father sent me inside to lure her out. I tried to pretend that I was selling her some cookies so that I could go to college. She wouldn’t buy it though, and in the end I faked a seizure. When I fell out on the floor, I told her that my father was outside in the car and that I needed my medicine. She walked out there to get him and he used the opportunity to hit her over the head and throw her in the backseat. Afterwards he took her to his mother’s house and kept her in the basement. So what was she doing here?

  I looked around her to see if she was with the cops or anybody else…like my father. She represented the past. Both the good and bad times.

  “How did you find me?” I asked pulling my cap down over my eyes.

  “It wasn’t hard.”

  “Well if it wasn’t hard just tell me.”

  She stood at the entrance of The Catacombs unafraid, even though she looked out of place. “I’ve been searching the shelters and soup kitchens for you. And finally I saw you one day outside of one of the kitchens beating a kid with a mop handle. I followed you and your friends and that’s how I ended up here”— she looked at the entrance of the tunnel behind me as if she was seeing it for the first time— “how could you live in a place like this?”

  I frowned. Who the fuck is she to come at me like that? “What you mean?”

  “You are living in a tunnel, Madjesty. Where rats and dirty sewer water pours. How could you reduce yourself to such conditions?” She looked at my hair and then my face. “The cleanest thing on you is your shoes, which look new by the way.”

  “Where’s my father?” I said, trying to convince myself not to
hurt her.

  Outside of Wicked, I didn’t have anybody telling me I wasn’t good enough and it didn’t feel good hearing it from her.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. He’s looking for you. He’s been looking for you ever since he found out you were wanted for killing that girl.” She paused. “Did you do it?”

  “No.”

  A part of me deep inside felt better that my pops cared. The fact that anybody gave a fuck about me outside of my family in The Catacombs made me feel worthy. Made me feel blessed.

  Blessed?

  Wow.

  I never used that word before.

  Although I thought about my life on the outside I had to face the fact that I was wanted for murder, and because of it I couldn’t leave The Catacombs.

  “Did he say what he wanted?”

  “For you to go with him. He’s not safe in the DMV anymore either, Mad. A lot of shit has gone down and Kali isn’t sure if he still has beef with friends of your sister’s father. As you know before Jace died of HIV, Kali had been trying to kill him.”

  “Jace is dead?” I asked in a low voice.

  “Yes, you didn’t know?”

  I shook my head. “No…I mean…how is Jayden?”

  Just saying my sister’s name caused my stomach to rumble.

  “I don’t know, I’m not interested in her. I’m here about you. Now are you coming with me so that I can get Kali out of town or not? He’s not listening to me about how dangerous things are here. He’s waiting on you. So let’s go, Mad.”

  I looked behind me into the deep darkness of the tunnel. Where rats, vagrants, killers, and every other horrible thing you could imagine roamed. With all that said, as of right now The Catacombs was my home.

  I looked back at her. “I can’t go, I’m sorry.”

  She frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because until I can figure out what I’m going to do about this murder I didn’t do, I can’t leave. Not even with my father.”