by Aray Brown
Price quietly cocked the pistol and executed a round without hesitation. She reloaded; treating the firearm like it was her religion, killing officers in her path; the cold steel against her fingertips, the power it emulated calling out to her. She was a natural. She dropped her weapon of death, scouting for Isabel. A deeply wounded cop rose up and managed to get a few shots in before his demise.
Medina saw the pellets as they came toward her, piercing her flawless mahogany skin. It was inevitable. She thought, as she went down like a soldier in the middle of war. Isabel screamed”Noooo!
Isabel rushed to her immobile body. She closed her eyes as the tears came pouring down her face.
“Medina? Medina? Medina?!” Isabel cried out.
Medina saw a vague reflection of her. It started to drift further and further away.
“Don’t die on me.” Isabel pleaded.
Extricating a cloth-like fabric from her bosom, Isabel wiped the fingerprints off the gun. She then placed it in the wounded officer’s hand, along with the casings and re-arranged the bodies to make the scenario look like self defense.
19.
Isabel dragged Medina’s lifeless body to an abandoned police car, leaving a string of blood behind. Isabel refused to believe she was a goner but Medina had a weak pulse. She then helped her to the passenger seat. When Isabel turned around, she was in for more than just a rude awakening. She was in the face of the enemy, a female officer, responding to a call for backup. She was a bunt-out cop with a nasty attitude. She was too far gone to be what she once was.
Like so many officers before her, she had lost sight on what was good and pure.
“Where do you think you’re going? Put your hands behind your head and spread ‘em. Do it!” She said.
“My sister is bleeding to death. Please.” Isabel begged.
The female cop merely glanced at the passenger seat, couldn’t care less if Medina’s life hung on by a thread.
“She’s already dead.” She said, cruelly.
“I don’t believe you.” Isabel said.
“You’re coming with me.” She said, extracting the cuffs from the utility belt.
“No I can’t leave her. You don’t understand.” Isabel said.
Just before the woman cuffed her, Darius attacked her from behind; chopping the carotid artery on her neck. A martial arts move he learned as a young boy. The officer dropped to the floor, barely breathing. Isabel faced him.
“Who are you?” Isabel asked.
“I’m your father.” He said.
“Alex Price is our father.” Isabel said with gumption.
“Alex Price is a joke” Darius replied.
“Where did you come from?” Isabel asked.
“She doesn’t have much time left. We should take her to the hospital now or do you want to plan another funeral?” A stern Darius said.
Putting her in the grave wasn’t an option for Isabel. She blamed herself for the madness that occurred and would do whatever she could to save her, a life for a life.
“Fight. Fight.” Isabel said, peering through the window, tear stained face; walking on pins and needles.
The doctor pressed the defibrillator adjacent to her chest, giving another jolt of electrodes. With every jolt, Isabel bit her nails.
“Clear!” He decreed.
They gazed at the heart rate monitor, hoping for a change but there was nothing, but a long beeping noise.
“Clear!” He continued. This time he put it on full impact. They clenched their teeth in anticipation of what would come; to the point of exertion.
“She’s lucky to be alive, thought we lost her for a minute there.” He said.
“How long will she be comatose?”Darius asked.
“It’s hard to say, a month or two, maybe more.” He said.
“When can we see her?” Isabel asked.
“Right now, but keep it short. She needs her rest.” He said.
“Thanks Doctor.” Isabel concluded.
The resident doctor walked away to tend to other patients.
Isabel went in first, reflected on the trials and tribulations they put up with. She questioned if it was officially over, and then caught a glimpse of what Medina had been reduced to.
“I know you can’t hear me, I’ll try anyway. I don’t want to lose you. You’re all I got left. You’re my family. You always thought I was the strong one but you were wrong. There’s a reason why you’re daddy’s favorite. We’re survivors remember? We got a lot of catching up to do” Isabel said, clasping her hand.
“Hey, you don’t know me but I’m an old friend of your mother’s. Actually we used to date. You remind me so much of her. I wanted to be a father but she took that choice from me. I wanted to kill her. I heard someone beat me to it. Wish I was there to see it. You gotta wake up.”Darius said, leering at her.
Darius retreated to the waiting room completely drained, like his world was somehow non-existent. The wind was knocked out of him.
Darius tinkered with the snack machine, not really wanting much, just a quick a distraction to defer his attention from the situation at hand.
Isabel scrutinized him closely. She didn’t trust him.
They were one big ball of nerves, sitting on the edge of their seats.
Isabel had spent an hour in the prayer room whereas he awaited the results of the DNA test.
“You want anything?” Darius asked,
“No.” Isabel replied.
“Suit yourself.” Darius said, walking to the cafeteria.
“Mr. Greigh.” The doctor called.
“Yes?” Darius froze.
“Can I speak to you privately?” He asked.
“I’ll check on Dina.” Isabel chimed in, headed to the room.
“I’ve got some good news and bad news. You’re the father of one child. Isabel’s DNA wasn’t a match.
“Do me a favor, let’s keep this between us. I can’t let her go back in the system.” He studied Medina, then the twin.
“You love her.” He assumed.
“No, I love my daughter. I care about her happiness.” He replied, meeting Isabel’s stare.
Truth be told, I could care less what happens to her or her trampy sister. I’m after something much bigger. Zoe setup a trust and I intend to collect on her 20th birthday. He thought.
The room was silent except for the incessant beeping of the ECG monitor. The beats were finally steady.
Isabel slept by her beside as she did most nights. She refused to go. She didn’t have a home to go back to.
Isabel discerned a draft, draping the blanket over her. She reminisced about the fond memories they had as kids and got lost in them while closing her eyes and drifting off…….
Medina’s fingers started to move.
20.
Checking on her, a male nurse discovered the condition had improved, after making the night rounds.
“Doctor!! Doctor!” the nurse exclaimed.
“How are you feeling?” The doctor asked, flashing a light in her eyes.
“Like I just had been shot.” Medina said.
“Well you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” The doctor smiled.
“When can she leave?” Darius blurted out.
The doctor looked at him like he was speaking gibberish.
“Leave? You just got her back. She needs to stay here for a week, at the most. Before I forget, there’s an officer here to speak with you.” The doctor said, checking her vitals.
A rookie officer stepped in. Medina eyed the firearm in the holster, then him.
He walked with a purpose.
“I’ll be right outside if you need me.” She said, closed the door behind her.
“What can I do for you officer?” Medina asked.
“Three of my men were gunned down in front of Donovan’s Titty Bar two days ago.” He said.
“What does this have to do with me?” Medina asked.
“The bartender identified you as the shooter.” The offi
cer said.
“That’s not possible. I was spending time with my father.” Medina said.
“Is that true?” The officer asked, looking at Darius.
She merely begged Darius to corroborate the story. He nodded his head.
“Those look like gunshot wounds, how did you get them?” He leaned in closer to view her chest.
“I have many enemies officer.” She lied.
“That’s all, for now.” The rookie said, puzzled.
He needed answers and she was the only one to give them. The cop wasn’t finished. Not by a long shot.
Either he would force her to take a polygraph or squeeze the truth out. One way or another, he would get to the bottom of it.
“He’s gone.”Isabel said.
They all breathed a sigh of relief. Then Medina realized how steadfast he seemed.
“He’ll be back. You heard him.” Medina said.
“Your fingerprints on the weapon.” Darius added.
‘The officer’s, not mine.” Medina said.
“What makes you so invincible?” Darius asked, playing coy.
“I was born with a rare disease. Aderma--” Medina said.
“Toglyphia.” Darius finished the sentence.
Holding up the palm of his hand, he showed her where it originated from. It was uncanny. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
* * * * * * * *
Henry awoke from his slumber and ventured outside the partially woven house. He looked at the palm trees, chalk-white beaches and crystal clear water, far from the mainland. He was in paradise and marveled at its beauty. Eternal bliss is what he called it.
He was a different person, scruffy-looking. Bulging biceps as well as a deep tan he had no qualms showing off.
When landed, Henry ditched his cell phone, burned his old clothes and kept the endowment. Taking a hiatus for more than a few months made him a new man. Henry married an Indian woman and they had a son. She knew nothing about his past, which is the way he wanted to keep it. He wouldn’t tell her even if she asked. It was a secret he didn’t want out.
Henry thought of Medina often. Even if she wasn’t flesh and blood, she had a flare about her that was hard to shake.
As far as Henry was concerned, he didn’t have any and considered them expendable like their mother. They were dead to him. Like insects crawling on the ground instead of people he cherished. He had lived a double life. Price was the family man who loved the twins with every part of him. Vada simply tolerated them. He played a part, a role more or less.
No one knew why he created a fake persona. He considered it to be in the grave along with the rest of his secrets.
Henry only told people he trusted where he would end up. People he could rely on. He carried a little insurance just in case things went sour.
Henry was deep in thought when he felt the vibration of her fingertips tracing down his forearm, and then his hand. She probed his palm, then the fingers.
They were flat, the same as Medina’s. Henry jerked his hand back.
* * * * * * * *
Three months had passed.
The twins were homeless. Their daily routine consisted of looking for food and shelter. Missing posters with Medina’s face were plastered everywhere. Weary that they would be put back in the system, they persuaded Jordyss to book them a flight to their hometown.
Jordyss wasn’t your run-of-the-mill rich girl. She was into punk rock, tattoos and piercings, all that was anti-girly.
She and Medina had gotten quite close over the school year. They went far and wide together. She was a second sister to her.
Jordyss confiscated her father’s credit card and purchased two one-way tickets to The City.
“Stay safe ok.” Jordyss said.
“Yeah.” Medina agreed.
Medina and Isabel boarded the plane, watched her out the window.
The door sealed up. The air traffic controller cleared the aircraft for takeoff.
They were going back to where it all started. They missed it, the smell and the friends from the neighborhood. Although the feeling of not having any prospects overwhelmed them, they were glad to be back in their birthplace.
They hailed a taxi. The first stop was their old place. It hadn’t changed. It was how they left it. Isabel buzzed the doorbell. An older woman responded, cigarette in her mouth, twelve months pregnant and cussing like a sailor to her boyfriend.
“Beat it kid. What are ya deaf? I said scram!” She exclaimed.
“We used to live here. We just want to come in.” Medina said.
The woman slammed the door in their face.
Medina and Isabel had lived in an old warehouse for a year. It was their shelter. Stealing money from those more fortunate was their survival. They had gotten rather good at it. They knew which houses to hit. Some of them had jewels, which they pawned for easy cash. The twins took what they needed, although Isabel wanted to take more. She was envious of them, their lifestyle.
The twins crashed a high society party. The back entrance was unguarded for a reason that was unbeknownst to them. They walked further and found themselves surrounded by jewelry.
“Why should they get everything when I got nothing? She thought, loading up a bag with jewelry.
“What are you doing?” Darius asked, crept up behind them.
Medina jumped up, startled.
“How’d you get in here?” Another question they weren’t prepared to answer.
They were silent, adding to his annoyance.
A knock broke their dead stare.
“Darius are you in there?” A husky voice asked.
“I’ll be there in a minute.” He replied, holding him off.
“Be sure you do.” The husky voice said.
Darius waited for him to leave before he said another word.
“You could get arrested for this.” He darted eyes at them.
“We didn’t choose this life. It chose us.” Medina said,
“That’s what every criminal says.” Darius replied.
Surveying Medina’s rage, he removed his coat and draped it over her,
“We’re going home.” He said.
He left the shindig. The twins met him at the back door.
21.
You’re so beautiful. Darius thought, gazing at Issy’s sleeping face like an animal stalking its prey.
The door closed. The bedroom was coal-black.
“Dina?” Issy woke up, eyes bulging out of the sockets.
A dark figure approached.
“Who’s there?” She cried out.
No answer followed.
The figure came closer, forcing himself on top. She smelled the hard liquor on his breath.
“No, stop! Darius Get off of me! Get off me!” Her eyes welled up, struggling.
“You know you want it.” He said, ripping her panties, shoving his member inside her.
Isabel froze up like a statue, stared blankly at the wall, tears spilling down her cheek —a red-hot sensation betwixt her thighs—the plasma seeping out of her vagina. She fainted from the blinding pain.
“You loved it, every minute of it. Girls like you always do.” Darius said, zipped up his pants and walked out.
Isabel was in the fetal position, and then jumped in the shower, vigorously scrubbing her skin with a sponge. She felt dirtier than she’d ever been. The more she pictured it, she scrubbed even harder. She didn’t have the heart to tell Medina.
It was his word against hers. Who would believe me? She thought.
On her nineteenth birthday, Isabel quit school and got a job at The Black Tiger, a gentlemen’s club in Brooklyn.
She tried escaping the lifestyle that was forced upon her but was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. She needed fast money and a way out from the abuse buried deep inside her. Isabel was making a thousand a night and relished the attention she got from men.
She was displayed as a piece of meat. The light that shined in her eyes started to fade. The universe had d
ealt her a bad hand and now she was just another statistic.
Onstage, she was fearless.
Once the music played, there was no stopping her. Men cheering her on, stuffing folded bills in her underwear. It was a usual night.
“I’d like to tap that.” Man #1 licked his lips, eyes fixated on her.
“She’s sexy as hell. Aye sweetheart, go out with me.” Man#2 said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Isabel said.
“How much will it take for you to say yes to me?” Man#1 threw a 100 dollar bill at her. He paused.
“I’ll make it rain on ya.” He tossed another hundred, then another, then another, then another.
“I’m not for sale.” She said.
“My apologizes, classy lady.” He said.
She glided on the pole, legs spread and in the air. A thunderous round of applause infused the strip club. Isabel departed and shut the curtains.
Isabel extracted the keys from her purse and strolled to the car. She was alone until an admirer came up to her.
“Enjoyed your show.” The short man said, sucking on a toothpick.
“Thanks.” Isabel said.
“I got a job for you.” The short man replied.
“I don’t do that anymore.” Isabel lied, opening the car door.
Two men came out of the shadows and cornered her.
“You’re still a hoe. A hoe never stops being a hoe.” The tall man in a hat joined in.
“I spent a lot of money on you. What do I get for my service?” The short man said, grabbing her face.
“Let me go. Now! ” Isabel demanded.
“You heard her, let her go.” The leader ordered.
The three men backed away. As Isabel looked away, the short man hit her head against the rear of the car and then the three men wailed on her before she had a chance to attack. The leader placed a hand over her mouth. No one could hear her scream. She couldn’t believe this was happening again.
They tore her blouse and slid the panties down around her ankles. They raped her. First was the leader and then his friends. Isabel was in and out of consciousness and vaguely saw their faces as they ejaculated inside her.
