by April Nicole
“I didn’t kn—” Kairo stopped when someone finally answered the damn door.
“Who the fuck is you banging at my door at some damn 4 o’clock in the morning like you the damn police or sum tin,” the middle-aged woman said, puffing on a Newport cigarette. She was dressed in a pink silk house coat with pin rollers in her head. Kairo was about to snap, but she held her piece and spoke professionally.
“I’m here returning your daughter who was at my house—”
“I don’t give a damn about that bitch. She wants to run away from home for five days, she can stay there.” The woman slammed the door in their faces. This made Kairo angry, so she banged again. This time she pounded harder so the lady could be aggravated. Now she could have a reason to knock some sense into this bitch. “Get the fuck off my property before I call the police,” the woman said, swinging the door open.
“No, fuck you! Call the police so I can tell them you are neglecting and abusing these kids.” Kairo was heated. Wasn’t no way in hell she was going to let her return to that mean ass bitch. “Come on Liv.”
“Now, you hold on there just one goddamn minute!” the woman said, now stepping out onto the porch. “You one disrespectful ass woman, coming to knock at my door at some damn four o’clock in the morning. Threatening me, and then taking my child. Have you lost yo’ rabbit ass mind?”
“Disrespectful? You’re the disrespectful one calling your own child a bitch. Lady, I will beat yo’ ass. Please, say another word to me, so I can,” Kairo snapped and rolled her eyes.
“Olivia, get yo’ fast ass in this house!” the woman yelled, and Oliva ran inside the house. Kairo watched as the door slammed behind her.
“That’s what the fuck I thought!”
Oh no! Hell no!
Later, that morning, Delano awoke on the couch with a banging ass headache. He was knocked out for hours and didn’t know how long he’d been sleep for. He touched the back of his head and suddenly remembered Kairo knocked him upside his head with a skillet.
“Kairo!” he called out, but the house was empty, and no one was home. Malachi was in school and Kairo was at the boutique getting organized for the grand opening. Delano got up and searched the house for Kairo, but he noticed the Camaro was not in the driveway. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number.
Kairo was at the boutique dusting off some boxes when her phone kept buzzing in her back pocket. She removed it and saw Delano was calling and pressed decline call. She didn’t have time for the bullshit. The grand opening was tomorrow, and she needed the place to be spic and span. When her phone kept buzzing nonstop, she finally put it on DND, do not disturb, mode.
“Fuck he keep calling me for!” Kairo said angrily, picking up one of the boxes so swiftly that it slipped right out her hands. She saw the same white powdery substance Michael once called the Devil’s Candy, spilling onto the floor. “I know that’s not what the fuck I think it is!” she grunted through her teeth. She went on a busting spree and busted open every single box that came off that truck. One box ended up being thirty boxes of pure white cocaine. Kairo looked around the store and found herself standing in the middle of what looked like a drug operation. “Where the fuck are the clothes?” she asked herself. This was the breaking point, enough was enough. Delano had to explain himself and he needed to right now. Soon as she reached for her phone to call him, he was already outside banging on the glass door.
“Kairo, open this fucking door!” Delano shouted, pounding so violently on the glass, it could have shattered. She didn’t want to open the door, but she did anyway. She walked slowly towards the door to unlock it. Her first mind told her not to open the door, but she ignored the thought.
“What the fuck i—” She couldn’t even finish her sentence fast enough before she found Delano’s fist against her face. He put his hand around her throat, choking her while ripping off her clothes.
“Bitch, why the fuck you touching shit? This why you not answering my calls? I know yo’ happy ass seen me motherfucking calling you!” Delano yelled, pushing Kairo hard onto the floor. She literally had no energy to fight him back. She tried to crawl into the corner to escape his rage, but Delano grabbed her by her two feet and mounted her like a lion. He forced his rock-hard dick inside her, tearing her labia, making her bleed more than she was. She was still recovering from the abortion.
“Ooouuchh!!! Delano get off me!” she cried, but he was yelling over her like she was his damn child.
“Snooping through shit and nobody didn’t tell you to do shit! This my pussy, you fucking hear me?”
“Owww! Delano please, I’m your wife! Please baby, stop!” Kairo cried, but he wasn’t hearing it. At this point she was being forced to have sex, by her own husband. She finally stopped trying to fight and let him finish getting off. Kairo imagined herself going on a vacation on a sunny beach in Miami. She felt Delano’s dick pulsate inside her as he always did when he was about to cum. I got to get the fuck out of here, she thought to herself, coming back to reality.
“I FUCKING SAID THIS MY PUSSY!!” Delano yelled in her ear, busting one fat ass nut inside her bloody pussy. He climbed off top of her, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Now get up and clean this shit up! Before Johnny gets here.”
“Johnny!!!” Kairo screamed. Could he be the reason why he was acting like this? she thought. She certainly wasn’t expecting him to turn out this way.
“That’s what the fuck I said bitch!” Delano said, walking to the restroom to clean himself up.
Kairo wasn’t about to deal with him abusing the hell out of her. She grabbed the keys to the Camaro and got the fuck on. She went as far as she could go, leaving Detroit without looking back. She left everything behind—wait a minute, she didn’t have shit to leave behind. Her entire immediate family was dead, because of her savage ass husband.
“He fucking lied to me! He said he would protect me, but he hurts and abuses me,” Kairo said with tears in her eyes, speeding on 75 to go to New Orleans. She didn’t have anywhere else to go. She thought to see the Voodoo queen, perhaps she could get her a suicide potion. She was too chicken shit to kill herself with a gun like Michael did.
Finally, after driving awake for 16 straight hours, which would have been 15 hours if she didn’t stop for gas or a potty break, she made it to New Orleans. She was tired and had been up for more than 24 hours. Looking at her phone, she realized it was still on DND and had over 200 missed calls and 100 text messages, all from Delano. He left numerous voicemails threatening her if she didn’t come home. He was gon’ reach down to hell and kill her with the Devil’s fire.
“Ugh, what the fuck ever that means!” She rolled her eyes pulling up to a Shell gas station. She needed to refill her tank and grab something to eat. Her stomach had been growling for a while now since she’d been traveling. “Hey, Siri pull up my bank account,” she spoke, and her account appeared on the screen. Soon as she tapped the screen to see her balance, her phone died.
“Oh, what the fuck!” she screamed. Now she had to purchase one of those cheap gas station chargers. She hurriedly rushed into the gas station. “Excuse me, how much is that iPhone charger?” she asked the gas station clerk.
“$10,” he said, taking her debit card.
“Where is your ATM?” she asked, and he nodded in the direction towards the back. She was able to check her account which had a balance of $50,000. “Good shit!” she said, turning around to pay for her snacks and gas before hitting the road. She drove until her eyelids grew heavy, and she decided to pull over before she fell asleep behind the wheel and had an accident. Her phone finally got juice and Delano was calling for the millionth time. She threw her phone out the window and it crashed onto the concrete road.
“Boy, fuck you!” she said, pulling off into the night. She drove for another six miles before coming to a run-down motel. “This will just have to do,” she said after booking a room for the night to rest her eyes. She felt nasty and disgusted from what took place earlier
. So, she took a hot, steamy shower to wash all the pain away before crashing for the night.
The next morning, she woke up to the sound of a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo! Kairo jumped out her sleep, because she knew damn well she didn’t just hear a damn rooster in the city. She ran over to the window and saw a rooster walking freely in the dirt road. “What the fuck kind of shit is that!” she said, and then went to run her a hot shower before getting back on the road.
After checking out, Kairo set for the road, driving for another four miles until she reached the jungle. She realized she had no way of contacting the Voodoo queen; only Delano knew because it was his aunt.
“Huh!” she sighed, leaning her head on the steering wheel, turning the ignition off. She came too far to look back. If she returned to Detroit, Delano probably would beat her to a damn pulp. “Damn, damn, damn!” she cried.
“Excuse me madam?” A homeless woman, dressed in a black torn hoodie, approached her car with a Styrofoam cup. Kairo knew the woman was a beggar so she reached for her wallet to give this woman $100 and the rest of her snacks because she wasn’t going to eat it.
“Hey, this is not much but this is all I have to spare,” she said, giving the woman the money and food. The homeless woman smiled, with her crocked teeth revealing she hadn’t been shown much kindness.
“Thank you kindly Kairo, but I wasn’t coming for this. I was summoned here,” she said, giving Kairo back the money and snacks.
“Summoned, what, how did you know my name?” she asked. This was some Voodoo shit taking place.
“It’s me chile,” the Voodoo queen said, removing the black hood from her head. Her form changed in front of Kairo’s eyes and she became this younger woman. “You thought of me and I heard your call.”
“But—but,” Kairo stuttered.
“But your soul cried out and I heard it. It would be a shame to let those dos babies of yours suffer like this,” she said in her thick southern accent, coming to touch Kairo’s face. She saw the bruises Delano inflicted on her. “You are now the queen of the south. My nephew abandoned us when he joined forces with that snake Johnny.”
“Babies? Wait, I have so many questions,” she said. The Voodoo queen said a lot of things that caught her off guard.
“I will explain. Let’s go to my lair, wadhacho!” she said, snapping her fingers and just like that, they were inside her lair. “I assume you don’t know you’re pregnant.”
“What! I just had an abortion, how?” she asked, confused.
“Everything that has taken place in your life, had to happen. From your family getting killed, to Delano abusing you, all this was to strengthen you. The higher power chose you from the beginning to be a vessel. Right now, you are carrying our family legacy,” she spoke plainly.
“You knew this whole time?”
“I’m the Voodoo queen, honey. It’s nothing that I don’t know. Haa gon’ ask me if I knew this whole time. I know everything. Now what you don’t want to do is make an enemy out of me like my nephew.”
Kairo was standing there speechless. She didn’t know what to say. Maybe every answer she needed was in front of her. All that she wanted to know, all she had to do was ask.
Where’s Malachi?
Cough! Cough!
“Man, I can’t lie, I had fun yesterday,” Olivia said, coughing after taking a puff of the neatly rolled Backwoods Malachi laced with cookie. It was lunch time and they were sitting under South Eastern bleachers getting high. “You know she almost whooped my mom’s ass yesterday morning?”
“Say word? Well maybe your moms scared her out of town because she wasn’t home yesterday when I got out of school,” he said as he texted Johnny. He’d stolen his uncle’s number from his father’s phone.
Malachi: Hey Unk, this yo’ nephew Malachi. I wanted to know if you had any corner boy jobs. I’m ready to leave school and bring home some loot like my father.
Swoop!! The noise indicated that the message was delivered before he stuffed the phone into his pocket.
“Nah, my mama all pussy,” Liv said, re-lighting the blunt before passing it to Malachi.
Buzz! Buzz!
Malachi’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked at the unknown number flashing across the screen. After glaring for three seconds he decided to answer.
“Ahem, hello?” he answered, clearing his throat so it wouldn’t sound so raspy from smoking.
“Wassup neph, this yo’ uncle. I got your text. Where you at?”
“Yea, at school at the moment.” Malachi looked at his phone again and recognized this wasn’t the same number he just text Johnny to.
“Ok, you serious about eating? Because this is a dangerous game. Once you in, you in. There’s no coming out,” Johnny spoke, hoping this would convince Malachi to think.
“Man, I’m ready to fucking eat. We doing this or not?”
“Where you at, so I can scoop you right quick?” Johnny asked.
“South Eastern,” Malachi responded as he was inhaling the blunt.
“Give me 20 minutes.”
“Alright, but I got my girlfriend Olivia with me.”
“Leave the girl. She can’t go where we going.”
“Where we going?”
“Do you want to eat or not?” Johnny quickly became irritated.
Malachi smacked his lips. “Yea.”
“Alright nigga, stop asking questions. I’ll see you in 20,” Johnny said and ended the call.
* * *
Olivia had a look of awe on her face. She overheard the conversation. She didn’t want Malachi out here in the streets, especially not slinging dope. Malachi looked up and saw Olivia’s face.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, licking his pink lips.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“You know, sell drugs!” she yelled with anger in her voice.
“Man, I’m making money for the both of us, fuck is you talking about!”
“If you choose to sell drugs over me, then it’s over.” She gave him an ultimatum, which she should have never done.
“Bye,” he waved, and started to walk towards Johnny’s Charger that just pulled up. He said 20 minutes, but he got there within 10 since he was already east.
Olivia’s eyes began to tear up as she watched Malachi leave her speechless under the bleachers. She couldn’t believe her first love just chose to sell drugs over her. She didn’t expect for things to end like this. Now it was the time to tell him her secret she been holding on to for a while.
“Malachi! Don’t go, I’M PREGNANT.” She fell to her knees sobbing, not caring who saw her.
He stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Malachi wasn’t ready to be a father, not at 15.
“Please don’t go!” Liv screamed, holding her arm out for Malachi to come back.
“Olivia, I’m sorry!” he said and turned away. Today was only the beginning to Malachi’s demise.
* * *
“Yo, what the fuck was that?” Johnny asked when Malachi stepped inside the car.
“Girlfriend broke up with me, because I want to make money,” Malachi said nonchalantly, looking back at her out the window.
“Nah, I just heard the girl say she’s pregnant,” Johnny responded as he pulled off, heading to his warehouse on Vandyke.
“That might just be true. I been busting in her pussy since I took her virginity.”
“Well don’t worry, you gone have plenty of pussy, but first I got to legally get you started,” Johnny said, speeding up East Warren.
“Legally?”
“I hope you can fight,” Johnny said, not really giving Malachi many details to rely on.
“Fight?” Malachi repeated. He wasn’t sure what Johnny meant by hoping he could fight. He thought he was going to do a simple ass corner boy job but didn’t know the consequences behind it. He wasn’t aware that it took more to joining his uncle’s crew than just asking to be in. Shortly after 10 minutes
of riding, they pulled up to Johnny’s warehouse. Malachi looked around observing the place and noticed a crowd of men appeared in his view. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Why don’t you get out and see,” Johnny said as he turned the ignition off. Malachi felt like he had to prove himself, so he stepped out of the car.
“What’s up pussies?” Malachi spoke with no fear in his voice. He knew what time it was when he saw ole boy carrying a 2x4 steel pipe in his hands. Keno was one of the boys that wasted no time and struck Malachi first with an uppercut to his rib cage. This left Malachi winded for a few minutes, but he knew he had to stand on his two feet. So, he swung back, punching Keno dead in the eye, and the rest was fair game. The other men ran up and jumped Malachi in. At first, he was going toe to toe with them until Big Harry stepped up. One quick jab to Malachi’s nose, knocked him clean on his ass.
“Oh nigga, what the fuck!!!” Malachi yelled as blood sprang from his nostrils. He covered it to try to contain the blood from leaking, but the pain was overbearing. He knew his shit was broken for sure.
“Alright, he has proven to be a part of the gang. Return to y’all posts, it’s nothing to see here,” Johnny said, rushing over to his badly bruised nephew, extending his hand out to help him up off the damp ground. “Congrats Neph, you just made it!”
“Yea, I nearly died from getting my ass beat. I wanted to join to get money, not to get killed,” Malachi snapped, refusing Johnny’s hand.
“Fine, stay yo’ wack ass on the wet ground then. FYI, every guy that joins my crew gets jumped in. Regardless if you’re family or not, you just got lucky you could handle yours. Most niggas don’t make it out alive, and that’s facts.”
“Did my father get jumped in?”
“No, he was my connect in the south for the Colombians.” Johnny saw Malachi wincing in pain from having a broken nose. “Maybe you should see my nurse to get some Percocets.”
