by David Weaver
“Damnit… I’m not going to keep being too many more victims around this bitch! I’m sick of being the butt of everyone’s jokes. I’m going to end up going on a mass massacre for real if this shit continues.” Treasure whispered as she shook her head.
They resumed their focus on the house that was being robbed, and saw a light flash on and off in one of the rooms. They didn’t hear a sound, so they thought that the men had just turned the light on and off, checking to see if anyone was in there. But after a few more minutes, that same room turned into a disco. It looked like strobe lights had been set off in there, but there was still no noise on the outside of the house. And then it ceased.
The two men walked out of the house and calmly made their way back to the Lincoln. They unscrewed silencers off the ends of their weapons, and placed them into their pockets. Even stranger, was the fact that they didn’t return with the trash bag full of money. They were operating like a group of henchmen would, except it seemed that they were less cautious than professionals, but more skilled than amateurs. They got into the car without saying a word. The driver made eye contact with them, and they crept out of the neighborhood just as slowly as they came.
“What the fuck just happened?” Skye questioned as she stared straight ahead in a daze. Milan opened the door abruptly. Both Treasure and Skye opened their doors so that they could stop Milan from doing whatever it was that she had planned, but Milan had taken off running towards the house. Skye was the closest person to her, despite how fast she was running. “Milan, bring your ass back here bitch! Come on, let’s go!”
But Milan wouldn’t stop; she was in a world of her own. She made it all the way to the door and pushed it open. Immediately, she froze in her tracks. She stood there staring at what looked to be the dead bodies of a married couple. They had no signs of life, and the puddle of blood covered the entire entrance of the house. As bad as Milan wanted to go and retrieve the money from the trash can in the kitchen, she knew better than to step through the blood of a murder that they didn’t commit.
Skye arrived behind her and saw the same sight. “Damn… them niggas had it in for these people… damn… let’s go Milan. I’m going back to the car. We didn’t do this shit, no need for us to be around it.”
Skye and Milan both turned to go back to the car. But when they got halfway, Milan turned and ran back into the house at full speed. No way was she about to be that close to finishing a robbery, and just let everything go to waste. She was adamant about finishing her job. Even though it would be less fun because the victims were already dead, she still wanted to feel a rush; it was her addiction.
What the fuck? Skye thought as she watched her twin sister take off running back into the house. She looked around frantically at her surroundings, trying to make a sound decision. Across the street, she saw someone peeping out the window, then saw the curtain close as soon as she made eye contact. Fuck! She glanced at the car and saw that Treasure had started the vehicle up and was motioning for her to get in.
She ran to the car, jumped in, and took deep rigorous breaths. “Those niggaz killed those folks, and my sister ran in there anyway. I saw someone looking out the window of that house over there-”
But she was unable to finish her statement. “Treasure, Skye! Look!” Milan opened the back door and threw a trash bag onto the floor behind the driver’s seat. Then she surprised the hell out of them. There was a little girl standing beside her shaking in her shoes.
Treasure spoke first. “What the fuck is going on? You bring a bag of money and a child out of the house? You’re just doing too muthafucking much!”
Skye agreed with Treasure. “Sis… get a grip! What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You can’t just take human beings bitch! Leave the child!”
The child had tears rolling down her face, and despite the warm temperature, she was shaking like it was a 2 degree wind chill. The young girl spoke in a soft and timid voice. “What happened to my Momma and Daddy?” She wore micro-braids, and had on SpongeBob sleeping attire. Her skin was bronze-brown and her body looked like she could be 18, yet her aura seemed that of a young child.
Treasure couldn’t help but to feel some sympathy for the girl’s situation. “How old are you baby?”
The girl wiped her tears and stuttered her reply in Treasure’s direction. “I-I… I’m thir- thirteen.”
Instantly, Treasure had flashbacks of the last person she’d attempted to help out, and the things that had happened as a consequence. She started to say no, but Milan didn’t give her an option.
“Fuck what ya’ll talking about,” Milan exclaimed. “This is my responsibility, and I’m going to own up to it! I’m not going to leave her like this. She’s with me! Fuck what ya’ll gotta say!”
They jumped into the backseat of the stolen vehicle and slammed the door. Treasure and Skye glanced at each other for a moment, and both sighed heavily. Treasure shook her head as she put the car in gear. They sped off the block, eager to get back to the room and get things situated.
__________
When the girls got back to the hotel on Victory Drive, they parked and all of them jumped out except for the young girl. Immediately Treasure walked around to the side of the car where Milan was standing and stood in her face. Both women had scowls on their faces, but Treasure’s scowl was deadly; lethal.
“Milan, what the fuck is your issue bitch? I should dump you in a ditch somewhere for that stupid ass stunt you just pulled! You just put us all in jeopardy and put us in some serious ass responsibility. Why?!?!”
Milan stood there staring without speaking. She felt in her heart that she was doing the correct thing by bringing the young girl with her. If she had left the girl behind, the fact that the girl would be headed to state’s property would forever be on her conscious. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
Treasure’s breathing was rapid, and Milan not responding was making her even angrier. She had the mind to grab her and teach her a lesson, but when she caught a glimpse of the young girl staring at them wide-eyed, she thought better of it. Treasure looked at Skye and Milan and shook her head. She took her hands and ran them through her hair while she stood there fidgeting from one foot to the next. She was flustered.
“O.K. This is what’s going to happen. Milan, you have 7 days to figure out what to do with that child. If you don’t have it figured out in that time frame, you’re no longer a part of The Lipstick Clique.”
Milan’s mouth dropped open in shock. There had been an unspoken code that The Lipstick Clique lived by, and it was centered and framed by loyalty. Treasure had never talked about a member of the Clique being dismissed, and to hear her talk of it at that moment sent chills through both Milan and Skye’s bodies.
“Furthermore… we will not be able to stay in the same room. My opinion is that we should all have a room of our own, with the exception of the child. She is to stay in your presence Milan, until you figure out what you want to do.” Treasure spoke, then turned and walked off to her room.
Skye looked at her sister and saw that her face was pleading for help. Pleading for someone to be on her side; pleading to be understood. But Skye just didn’t understand. She smirked at her competitive twin sister and went around and grabbed the bag of money from behind Treasure’s seat. When she walked back by her sister, she looked her in the eyes in an intense manner. “Babygirl, I really want you to get it together. We’re living life on the edge every single day. It’s a continuous ride or die session for us, and if we don’t focus, our session could be cut short before it’s time.”
Milan rolled her eyes as she watched Skye walk off towards the hotel room. She sighed and looked at the child in the backseat of the car. Even though she was angry and felt like expressing it, she couldn’t bring herself to hurt the little girl’s feelings more than they already were. “What –” she caught herself and took another deep breath so that she wouldn’t come off the wrong way. “Baby girl… what’s your name?”
The little girl’s eyes were lit up like a chandelier as she stared wide-eyed at Milan. She had nothing but admiration and adoration for the older lady that had endured so much just to look out for her. Already, in that little time frame, Milan had shown her more attention than her mother and father had ever shown her. They had been too obsessed with money to ever care about her, and as bad as she felt about what had happened to her parents; she wasn’t too surprised because that was the 5th time their house had gotten shot up. It just so happened that this time, the shooters saw that everything was carried out correctly.
“My… my… name… is Lena. Are you going to abandon me in seven days like your friend told you to or are you –”
“Hold on little girl… Lena… relax! Let me fuckin’ relax. Stop fuckin’ bothering me. Bring your ass on!”
They walked side by side to the front entrance of the hotel so that they could get their own room, per Treasure’s instructions. Lena had a small smirk on her face. She knew that she was going to enjoy spending time with Milan, no matter how short their time together was. There had been many nights where she had prayed for God to send her an angel, and that night, it seemed as if he had finally answered her prayer. She would be forever grateful.
__________
Skye walked into her room and took a deep breath. She was grateful to finally be able to be alone. Even though she loved her clique, there was nothing more soothing to a grown woman than being in her own place. It was mandatory. There was no need for three grown women to be cooped up all day and night together, so she was extremely happy.
She grabbed the bag of money and dumped it onto the floor. She glanced at the pile of 100’s and 50’s and wondered to herself what had been done to accumulate all of that cash. She knew that the only thing she was interested in doing was retrieving it. She didn’t care about selling dope and certainly didn’t care about the people that did sell it. She guessed that what Treasure had told her was true… Money is the root of all evil, but evil is the root of all money. They had been knocking heads off ever since those words were spoken.
She glanced at the clock and saw that it was going on 6 o’clock in the morning. She wondered what the other girls were doing, and soon fell asleep, still wondering. But not for long.
Boop Boop Boop! A fist was slamming against her door in a rapid-fire succession. Groggily, she tried to focus on the clock, to no avail. Boop Boop Boop! That damned fist to the door had no compassion for her sleep whatsoever. Thinking that it was Treasure or Milan at the door, she hurriedly threw her shirt on and opened the door without checking the peephole.
There were two officers standing there. “Hey ma’am, we don’t mean to bother you… but is everything ok?”
What the fuck? She thought as she glanced around to see how far away she was from her pistol. It was all the way across the damn room! She had no choice but to just roll with the flow.
“What do you mean officer?” She said in her most polite voice.
The second officer was trying to look over Skye’s shoulders as he prepared to respond to her. “Well… we received a report not too long ago of something that sounded like a gunshot coming from this area… if –”
“Gunshot?” Skye said genuinely startled. “I don’t know a damn thing about a gunshot! You woke me up from my sleep for that?”
The first officer glanced down at her thick hips and juicy thighs and smiled. “We’re truly sorry ma’am, you have a very good day… ump.”
Immediately seeing an opening, Skye rolled her eyes and slammed the door in the officer’s faces. She laid on the floor breathing heavily. She half expected them to kick the door down and whisk her off to jail for the rest of her life. Quickly coming to her senses, she jumped up, locked the door and ran over to get her pistol. She looked down and saw all of the cash laying around on the floor and a very dreadful feeling ran over her.
She was sure that the officers had seen all of the cash, and were probably about to return with some serious backup. And what the hell were they talking about a fucking gunshot for? Shit! She tossed some of the money into a bag and hurried out of the room to see what the hell was going on with her family. She ran straight to Treasure’s room, and a sense of dread overcame her when she saw that the door to the room was already wide open.
She pulled her pistol out and ran inside without knocking.
__________
“Skye!” Treasure said when she saw her run through the door with her pistol drawn. “Talk some damn sense into your crazy ass sister and her crazy ass stepdaughter! These bitches were in the hotel room shooting pistols! Now we gotta get the fuck out of this city, because we’ve been spotted! I just don’t understand this shit!!!” Treasure screamed as she grabbed her suitcase and headed towards the door.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Skye screamed, stopping Treasure at the door. “Did the police come over here and bother you Treasure?”
Treasure stared back at her in defiance. “No, but they came to your room! And that’s enough for me to get the hell on!” Milan took a deep breath and exhaled while Lena followed her lead and did the same thing. Treasure saw it and frowned at the two girls. “See… ya’ll about to piss me the fuck off around this bitch. No lie!”
Skye tried to soothe the situation over. “Fine, we can roll, but let me go get us another vehicle… please. This shit is hot as hell.” She had never seen The Lipstick Clique have so many issues, and she felt bad because it seemed that her sister was a major reason for the chaos. She felt even worse because she knew that whenever things got in Treasure’s way, she always removed them.
Skye turned to walk to the door. When she neared the door, her sister spoke up. “Skye I wanna help!” Skye turned around and looked at the sincerity on her sister’s face and felt a deep sense of compassion.
“I wanna help too!” The young girl said, copying Milan’s vocal tone and her physical mannerisms. Everyone stared at her without saying anything. “My name is Lena!” She said with a smile on her face.
Skye frowned and had to do a double take. The girl had only been under Milan’s presence for a couple of hours and already she had turned into a got damn mini-me! But if Milan was going to carry on as if that shit was cute, then Skye was surely going to teach those bitches a lesson. “O.K. then… fine. Ya’ll bring ya’ll asses on then.”
Treasure shook her head as she watched the three ladies walk out of the hotel room on a mission. She knew better than to just sit around and wait on them, because more than likely, they were going to need her help. She waited until she saw them jump into the car and start it up, then she went outside and got into the new car that she had stolen early that morning when everyone split up.
As soon as she got back to the hotel, she’d taken a cab down the street and stolen a Jeep Cherokee without any of the other girls knowing anything about it. She started it up and sped up until she got behind the car that Skye was driving. Instead of being patient, Skye had chosen to assume that they needed to steal another car, when actually one was already waiting for them, courtesy of Treasure. Oh well, Treasure thought as she bit her bottom lip. She grabbed her 357 magnum and followed their vehicle to the Publix supermarket.
__________
Skye pulled beside their target car and turned the ignition off. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. As a child growing up, she would never have guessed that she would one day be living a life so frantic and that the only activities that mattered to her involved firing a weapon. She was sad that her and her sister’s lives had come down to this, but there was nothing she could do about their circumstances. She gripped her palm around the steering wheel tightly, trying to release some of the tension bubbling in her body.
She said a small prayer and opened her car door to see Treasure standing there. “Oh shit you scared me girl! How the hell did you get here?”
Treasure pointed at the Jeep she had stolen earlier and smirked. “You knew I was already on top of my game. I was going to just let you crazy ass
girls steal the car anyway, just for my entertainment, but I changed my mind. That young bitch is barely in puberty, and I’m afraid that she may fuck something up. Shit… she might fuck one of ya’ll up!”
Skye laughed for a second and inhaled the rich Georgia oxygen. “Damn Treasure… everywhere I go it smells like pine! This is nice. I –” She stopped talking midway when she saw that Treasure wasn’t listening, and was instead staring behind her. She turned around to see what was going on, and her lips dropped to the ground as well.
Milan and Lena had jumped out of the vehicle with their guns drawn and were jogging towards the Publix supermarket. “What the fuck are ya’ll doing!” Skye screamed as she started to break into a sweat. She opened the door to grab her pistol, but Treasure grabbed her arm. Startled, she turned around with her brows raised. “What is it Treasure!?” She asked, although she knew exactly what it was.
“Skye… we’re going to have to leave your sister behind. I’m sorry, but she needs a wake-up call. It just seems that these days, she just doesn’t give a fuck about anything except for a moment’s pleasure. She gets a rush, and we get the drama that her rush brings us. We just can’t keep running like this. Are you with me or not?”
