Mad Maxxx

by T. Styles

  When Mad heard Everest’s muffled cries she reached through the debris and rubbed the only place on her body she could touch, her wrist. She wanted to speak to Everest and tell her that she loved her but she was afraid the killers would hear them. She had to be smart and she had to be cautious if they were going to make it out of the situation alive.

  They spent the next half an hour in agony with the weight of the body and cinder blocks pressing on their wounds. When the truck finally stopped Mad could smell water and fish. Suddenly the truck backed up and a beeping noise sounded off.

  “That’s good right there, man,” Man Number One yelled. “Now dump it!”

  “Mad, what’s going on,” Everest asked as the back of the truck raised up and the bottom lowered, moving their bodies in a sliding board type fashion.

  “I don’t know,” Mad yelled. “But whatever happens now I want you to know that I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Everest whimpered. “Always.”

  When the bed of the truck forced them along with the dead body toppling into the water, Mad knew things would get worse. Had it not been for Mr. Nice Guy showing her how to swim many years back she wouldn’t have had a chance.

  As Mad splashed into the water Man Number One caught a glimpse of them. “Stop it, Jeff! Stop the dump! Somebody’s in the water!”

  It was too late. They were gone.

  CHAPTER 33

  MAD AND EVEREST

  PRESENT DAY

  Everest’s legs were not moving as much as they were moments earlier. Although she was on her back floating, while Mad doggy paddled beside her, she was growing weaker. Mad knew what was happening even if Everest didn’t. God was taking yet another person she loved from her life.

  When Man Number One and Man Number Two tried to shoot at them in the water they swam as quickly as possible away from them. The men couldn’t catch them. But now they were in the middle of nowhere.

  “What secret did you have over Wicked’s head?” Mad asked. “That he was afraid you’d tell?”

  “You remember that?” she smiled.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s a convicted child molester,” she responded. “And I’m the only one who knew. I kept a newspaper clip in my things and he knew that if it ever got out that they wouldn’t want him there.”

  Mad grew angrier thinking about how Pickles almost fell victim to his evil ways. And then she realized that if she never got out Pickles would be a victim again.

  “Why did you pick the name Everest?” Mad asked in an attempt to think about something else. “Out of all of the names.”

  She giggled and in a weak voice said, “You mean after everything we’ve been through tonight that’s the question you want to ask me?”

  “I know it’s weird, but I never asked you before.”

  “Well, I always wanted to go to Mt. Everest. The funny thing is, although I lied about everything else in my life, I didn’t want to pretend I went to Mt. Everest. I wanted to actually go there you know?”

  “Why?”

  She exhaled. “My mother and father died on Mt. Everest when I was a kid and I believed that if I went there I could be closer to their spirits.”

  “Are you serious?”

  She laughed. “I made a promise to you that I will never lie to you again, so yes I’m very serious. Both my mother and father were adventurers. I guess that’s where I got the desire. Well one day after mountain climbing they decided to go for a bigger dream. But like they did most of the time they chose adventures, they forgot about me. I was their daughter but I was always living with their friends and family while they went on their excursions. When they died on the mountain, the woman they left me with made me her personal slave. She forced me to do stuff like cook and clean for her, and I wasn’t allowed to go to school. I couldn’t take it anymore so after awhile I took to the streets.” She focused on the glow of the moon. “The name Everest stuck after that.”

  “I got it,” Mad said honored that she would share her story.

  Although Mad was doing a good job of hiding her own physical pain, she struggled terribly to stay conscious.

  “You know I can’t move my legs for much longer right?” Everest asked her. “I want to let you know that it’s over for me. And without me to worry about you can swim further away and save yourself.”

  “So you giving up on me?”

  “I could never give up on you, Mad but my body can’t do it anymore.”

  Mad fought the anger she felt growing inside her chest. “Like I said, you giving up.”

  “Please don’t be angry. Not now. If I’m going to die I need your love. I can’t go in peace thinking that you hate me.”

  Mad thought about throwing so much hate on her it would feel like she was in a thunderstorm if it meant she would stay alive. But, she herself couldn’t move much longer either. On more than one occasion she fought to stay out of the light that was coming to take her out of the world.

  “Okay, Everest. Do what you gotta do.”

  “Thank you,” she exhaled, kicking her legs slower. “So I’m going to stop fighting now. But before I do I want you to know something.”

  “What is it?” Mad wiped the blood and tears out of her eyes.

  “That you are a good person and you deserve happiness.”

  “You don’t know what the fuck you saying. I’m a menace.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve done in the past but you’re a great person.” She paused. “And if you make it out of this you should go to your mother’s grave. And when you do tell her how you feel. Let everything off your chest, Mad. And accept your full name of Madjesty again because Mad is filled with so much rage.”

  Instead of telling her that she had no intentions on going anywhere near her mother’s bones if she survived she said, “Okay.”

  “Promise me.”

  “If you with me I’ll go.”

  “I’ll always be with you, always. Even in death.” And with that she stopped kicking her legs. Instead of letting her go under, Mad gripped her into a kiss.

  “You were so good for me,” Mad said looking into her eyes. “We could’ve been great together.”

  “And you were good for me too. Goodbye.”

  At that moment Mad saw the bright light again. It was moving closer and it was so warm and welcoming. She decided that if Everest was going to let go of life that she was going to let go too.

  ****

  Madjesty shot up when she heard soft beeping sounds surrounding her. She wondered was she in hell. When she looked around the room she knew immediately that she was in the hospital and she wondered how she got there. Instead of remaining calm, she began to yell and scream at the top of her lungs. Why couldn’t God just leave her alone? Why did he have to constantly butt in her life?

  “Can somebody tell me what’s going on?” she yelled toward the door. “Please!”

  Finally a black doctor walked into the room with calming green eyes and a huge smile. “Ms. Phillips?” He held onto the clipboard in his hand with authority.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m Dr. Jamal Carter and you were found in the bay and rescued. You are very lucky, young lady.”

  “But I wanted to die,” she frowned. “Why didn’t ya’ll let me die?”

  A look of disappointment covered the doctor’s face. “Ms. Phillips, you were given the gift of life. You shouldn’t feel disappointed. You should feel blessed. The wound on your head was so severe that you almost lost consciousness and drowned.”

  In a whisper Madjesty said, “But life ain’t worth living without her. So I don’t care anymore.”

  “Without who?”

  “My girl.” In life she never got to keep the girl. She was certain that this time wouldn’t be any different.

  “Are you speaking of Raven Hope?”

  “I’m not talking about no Raven Hope,” Madjesty yelled. “I’m talking about Everest.”

  “That’s odd,” he said looking
through the chart. “Because Raven Hope was found in the water with you, with her arm broken.”

  Madjesty stopped breathing momentarily. She didn’t know Everest’s real name before that moment because Everest never volunteered the information. Could Everest be Raven Hope?

  Mad leaned closer. “Is this Raven chick still alive?”

  “Sure she is,” he smiled. “She is equally as lucky and she kept asking about you.”

  Mad was done. All of her life she had people taken from her and now things were different. “How was she found?”

  “Me and my people found her,” a short Latino man said as he walked into the room. “In my boat while we were searching for you.”

  “And who are you?” the doctor asked suspiciously. The man before him had three other white men with him and he didn’t look trustworthy. There was a dark air surrounding him and the doctor was uncomfortable.

  “My name is Rick and I’m Jace’s father. Madjesty and I have business.”

  ****

  Mad and Everest sat on Rick’s sofa in his home. Although she’d never been there before, she could tell that he had an ongoing relationship with her twin sister Jayden. Pictures of Rick and Jayden together were all over the living room and there was even a picture of her son Cassius on the mantle. Cassius looked healthy but more than anything he looked happy and her heart ached slightly. No matter what it would take, she knew she had to get her son back.

  “I don’t know why Jace would do that.” Mad said to Rick due to a conversation they were having. Mad’s arm was around Everest as she struggled to get comfortable on his couch.

  “I don’t know either, but he did leave you money in his life insurance policy,” he responded sitting in the recliner across from them. He was holding a cup of tea and his baby finger was hyper extended. “I’m told he opened the policy when he found out that Jayden was his daughter.”

  “But I’m not his biological child so why would he include me?”

  “I know,” he replied. Mad couldn’t be sure, but she detected a small sense of annoyance from him. “I’m quite aware of the situation. I know that Kali is your father, and Jace is Jayden’s, but that didn’t stop him from leaving you a half of million dollars.”

  Although Everest was happy about the policy, because the money meant that they could start a new life, Mad was rightfully skeptical. The man’s mannerisms showed that he didn’t want her to have the cash, even though it was left in her name. In Mad’s opinion he didn’t seem to respect Jace’s decision.

  “Well what if I don’t want it?” Mad asked.

  “What?” Everest yelled rotating her head in Mad’s direction. “Why wouldn’t you want the money? He gave it to you.”

  “I’m talking to the man, baby,” Mad said respectfully but firmly. She focused back on him. “What if I don’t want the paper?”

  “Then you can sign it over to me,” he smiled for the first time that evening. He placed the tea on the glass table in front of him. “But we can’t do anything with the cash until you release it to us.”

  “If I wanted it, when would the money be available?” Mad asked.

  “In six months after we let the insurance company know.”

  “Jayden get her half yet?”

  “We’re working with her to get her money,” he said with a slight attitude. He was trying to work with Mad in the calmest way possible but it wasn’t working. He was definitely annoyed. “Since I’m in charge of his estate I have to care for all of these matters.”

  “Is that why you kept sending people to The Catacombs dressed in suits and shit, looking for me? So that I could give you the money?”

  “You could look at it like that.”

  “Did you come to the Gates Motel too?”

  “Yes, but it’s important that you know that this isn’t all about the money,” he chuckled. “It’s about the fact that Jace wasn’t thinking straight when he put you on this policy. He felt obligated for whatever reason and we knew that if we spoke to you that we could convince you to see things our way.”

  “Convince huh?” Mad responded.

  “Yes and you should know that I can be very persuasive.”

  Silence.

  “What about Wicked? You said that he told your people that I was in The Dump, and that’s how your people followed the truck to the bay. But where is he now?”

  “We have him pinned up at the moment. With your word we will release him. It’s just that from what he told my men, who he believed were officers, he was going to cause problems for you.”

  “And you needed me out of jail to sign these papers?”

  “Yes. But I must admit, we were also concerned that he was going to snitch on you. And even though there is the matter of money, we have no respect for men like that.”

  “What a snake,” Everest said.

  “Your lady is correct,” Rick responded. “What do you want done with him?”

  Mad thought about it long and hard. When she realized all he had done to her she wanted revenge. “Kill him.”

  “We can take care of that problem for you. And in turn you can help us handle this matter with the money. You are going to sign it back over to his family right? Where it rightfully belongs?”

  Mad looked at his slicked back hair and his lowered eyes. She didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust him one bit and she certainly didn’t want him around her son.

  “I’ll make a decision on what I’m going to do with my money later,” Mad responded. “But first I want Wicked murdered.”

  CHAPTER 34

  MAD

  Me, Everest and Pickles were standing outside of a police station. The sun shined brightly. Although I knew what I had to do, for a chance at a better life, neither me or Everest was happy about it.

  “Mad, why are you doing this?” Everest asked as she placed her hands on the sides of my face. “Let’s just run away from it all!”

  “I can’t, baby,” I said stroking her arms. “If I thought that was the answer I would have no problem doing it. But I’m tired of living like this. I want something better.”

  “But why not just run?”

  “Because if we are going to have that money and a chance at a real life, I have to turn myself in and deal with this shit. And since I made you power of attorney, when the money comes in six months just get me a good lawyer if they don’t let me out of jail. That’s what we got to do but running away is not the option anymore.”

  “I hate you so fucking much right now,” she yelled dropping her hands by her sides. “You know Pickles is going to be sad when you leave. He’ll probably be up all hours of the night crying and shit. Just stay with me, Mad. Stay with us.”

  “I’m not gonna be crying,” Pickles interjected. “Smooth Pop told me I gotta be strong. So I’ma be strong since I’m in charge now.”

  I told him to call me Smooth Pop instead of mommy because mommy made me uncomfortable.

  I ruffled his curly hair. “That’s my little man. Being all responsible and shit.”

  “I’m glad he’s strong,” she said under her breath. “Because I’m an emotional wreck. I don’t know why but something tells me this situation ain’t going to end good.”

  “Listen, baby, I’m innocent,” Mad said seriously. “I did not kill that chick. And if justice is on my side, I should be able to convince a jury of my peers that I’m telling the truth.”

  She looked away. “Mad, when are you going to realize that the laws of this land don’t work for black people? If you go into that jail you never coming out.”

  “Well for the chance to keep you, Pickles and get my son, I’m going to take a shot.”

  “Whatever, Mad.” She folded her hands over her chest.

  I raised her chin and looked into her eyes. “Just be good for me. And don’t worry, my folks is real cool. Sugar and Krazy are family and they got you. They know what you and Pickles mean to me.”

  “That’s what you say but if you ask me the Sugar girl acts like she wants
to fuck you or something. I could see it in her eyes the moment they ran into us when we were eating at IHOP.”

  Sometimes women notice too much and that scares me. Although Sugar did want to fuck with me back in the day, we didn’t push off because she was my friend and I wasn’t about that. And by the time I considered dealing with her on the low, I discovered that she was with Krazy.

  I was just grateful that when I ran into Krazy and Sugar, they agreed to let us live with them. Because we couldn’t go back to The Catacombs and even if we could I didn’t feel comfortable. I never found out who the men were in the dump truck and it messed me up. Without Krazy and Sugar giving us a room in their two-bedroom apartment until I got on my feet, I didn’t have anywhere safe for Everest and Pickles to go until I got my cash. Krazy and Sugar’s place was it.

  “Sugar cool. You just make sure you don’t let Krazy or any of my other friends try to push up on you. They sick like that,” I joked.

  “Ain’t nobody touching this pussy but you,” she said wiping the tears from her eyes. “You just hurry back to me, Mad. I’m not the kind of girl who can stay in wait for too long.”

  ****

  When I walked into the police station I started to run back out. I realized the moment I saw the shine of their gold police badges that I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to leave Everest and Pickles and I wanted to get Cassius back. But I couldn’t run the risk of the cops chasing me around anymore. For once I wanted a chance at a real life and I had to fight and be responsible. For some reason I think everything I went through in The Catacombs got me ready to take care of myself and my family.

  I slowly walked up to the white police officer at the counter who was holding a pen and said, “Hello,” I cleared my throat. “My name is Madjesty Phillips.”