Murdergram, Part 1

by Nisa Santiago

  Mona went over to Sharon first. Her friend lay still with her eyes closed. Cristal and Tamar followed her over. It was a sad sight. First Lisa was gone and now Sharon was lying in a hospital being badly beaten. It seemed like it all was falling apart for them.

  “We should have helped her,” Mona said quietly for only her friends to hear.

  “And if we had, we would be in the same predicament as Mesha and Pike,” Cristal responded coolly.

  “This is wrong. She’s our friend,” Mona countered.

  “And we are about our business.”

  “What business, Cristal?” Mona shouted, startling people in the surrounding area.

  “Mona, chill,” Cristal warned.

  “Nah, fuck that! Who are we? What did we fuckin’ train for if we can’t even help out our friend when she’s getting jumped in the street? Look at her!” Mona pointed at Sharon on the bed.

  “I do feel sympathy for Sharon, Mona—”

  “Do you, Cristal?” Mona shot a dubious stare at her friend.

  “This is not the place and damn sure not the time to talk about this,” Cristal warned with a heated stare.

  “Fuck this! I need some air.” Mona pushed her way past Cristal and Tamar and hurried toward the exit.

  Cristal and Tamar followed her toward the exit. They’d already created enough attention with Mona’s outburst. Mona pulled out a cigarette and quickly lit it. Cristal and Tamar joined her outside on the steps of Harlem Hospital. It was late, and the fall air was becoming a bit chilly.

  Before Cristal could say a word, a livery cab pulled up and came to a stop in front of the hospital and Pike jumped out. The girls were shocked. They’d thought he was still locked up. The minute he saw Cristal, Tamar, and Mona standing outside the hospital, he went off.

  He marched up the stairs in a frenzy, shouting, “Y’all supposed to be her friends, and y’all let her get jumped like that! What the fuck is wrong wit’ y’all?”

  “Pike, you need to calm down,” Cristal replied through clenched teeth.

  “Nah, fuck that, my girl is lying fucked up in the emergency room because y’all bitches just stood there and watched. What is y’all, fuckin’ stupid? She’s your fuckin’ friend and you abandon her.”

  “Your girl now, huh?” Tamar snickered.

  “Pike, you need to walk on by and go check on your girl,” Cristal spat.

  Pike was so upset that he was about to burst into flames. He glared at all three girls. He couldn’t understand why they’d done what they did.

  “Wit’ friends like y’all, who the fuck needs enemies?” he barked, then charged by everyone and went into the hospital.

  Pike rushed into the emergency room to Sharon’s bedside. She was asleep, but she looked so beaten and battered, it almost brought tears to his eyes. The last time Pike had gotten emotional over any woman was when his little sister was killed. He couldn’t lose this one so soon.

  The first thing he did was take Sharon’s listless hand in his and caress it while gazing at her battered face. The longer he looked at her, the angrier he became with everyone. It was inevitable—the tears started to trickle down his face. He was truly in love with this woman. He wanted to protect her, and it tore him apart inside that he wasn’t there for her when she needed him. She did so much for him, more than any other woman in his life.

  How could Mesha do this to her? What kind of animals are they? he thought. His ex was a monster, and he hoped she rotted in jail for her crimes. And as for Cristal and her friends, they were cowards. They talked all this gangster shit, but when the time came, they shriveled up like old prunes.

  Pike wanted to carry out revenge, but he had to make sure his girl was taken care of first. He wasn’t going to leave Sharon’s side until she was 100 percent healed.

  Pike pulled up a chair and started talking to Sharon in such a loving tone that his voice was like a serenade. She couldn’t respond right away, being heavily sedated and medicated. He sighed heavily, knowing they were going to get through this rough patch in life.

  He kissed her bruised face, and while massaging the back of her hand, he uttered, “I love you, baby. I truly do.”

  He did. It hadn’t happened overnight, but it happened. Pike felt he had finally found the woman of his dreams, and he vowed to never let anything happen to her again.

  ...

  To get her mind off of Sharon, Cristal went for a three-mile run around SoHo in the early morning. Training from the Farm was still in her blood. Her workout included numerous push-ups, an intense cardio routine, sit-ups, and other rigorous exercises in her condo. She had to keep her body physically fit. And she had to keep up her appearance.

  Six weeks home, and the girls were still impatiently waiting for their first murdergram to arrive. It was not that they were eager to kill anyone; it was that they were becoming paranoid. The girls fell in love with their new lifestyles, the amenities, and their own places to live with expenses paid. Plus, they wanted to prove themselves.

  Cristal had armed herself with a small arsenal of handguns and a few knives. She kept them hidden in her apartment. She wanted to become like Angelina Jolie’s character in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Angelina was a bad bitch in that movie, and Cristal wanted to become a bad bitch in real life. While training on the Farm, she’d fallen in love with two weapons, the .9mm Beretta and knives.

  Seated at her kitchen table and getting ready to dine on crab legs and crab cakes, one of her favorite seafood meals, Cristal was ready to enjoy a quiet evening to herself. Before she could dive into some fine cuisine, her cell phone rang. When she answered, it was Mona on the other end.

  “Sharon is out of the hospital.”

  “That’s nice to hear,” Cristal replied with detachment.

  “You think we should go and visit her?” Mona asked.

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s our friend, Cristal, and we did just stand by and watch her get assaulted.”

  “I don’t think she and Pike are going to be in a joyous mood to see us. It’s not a good idea, Mona.”

  “Well, we need to do something.”

  “Mona, we don’t have to do a damn thing. She’s a grown woman, and we have our own problems,” Cristal stated coldly.

  “She’s our friend, Cristal, and who made you the boss over us?” Mona spat. “We sit here, living away from each other in different areas, waiting for some instructions from this so-called Commission like idiots, and I get placed in the fuckin’ Bronx, while you get to live it up in SoHo, cozying with the white people. And don’t think that Tamar and I didn’t notice how you’re living in a condo with a concierge and we are in co-ops!”

  “You talking crazy, Mona. This is for the best.”

  “Best for who?”

  Cristal sighed. Her crew was becoming impatient. Funds were running low and from paranoia it felt like they were being closely watched. It also felt like they were being taken for granted. Did the Commission truly believe in these young girls? Cristal’s mind was spinning in every direction.

  “We endured training and we took a job—made an oath. Something will come our way,” said Cristal.

  “Well, oath or not, Sharon is my friend. And with or without you, I’m gonna go visit her and see how she’s doing,” Mona said.

  She hung up.

  Cristal didn’t know what else to say to Mona. The natives were becoming restless, and truth be told, Mona wasn’t the only one becoming impatient and feeling neglected. Why would the Commission go through all of the trouble training and setting everyone up if they weren’t going to put them to use? Cristal asked herself.

  Eighteen

  Pike carefully helped Sharon into his apartment. She had spent three days in Harlem Hospital recovering before they okayed her release. Doctors told her she was going to be fine and needed to rest. She had a cast on her foot, and he
r body hurt like it had never hurt before, but Pike was ready to make her recovery comfortable. She wasn’t able to walk without a cane or his help, it was going to be challenging for her to bathe herself, and eating solid foods was going to prove to be a little bit difficult.

  Pike helped Sharon to the bed and gently laid her down to rest.

  “Baby, how you feeling? You okay? You need anything?” Pike asked.

  Sharon smiled at his hospitality.

  “No, baby, I’m good.”

  “You sure? I’ll cook you something, since you’re always cooking for me,” he said, eagerly. “What you wanna eat?”

  “Pike, I’m okay.”

  “No, ya not okay, look at what those animals did to you. I’m ready to retaliate, and ya fuckin’ friends, how they gonna just stand there and watch it happen? What kind of fuckin’ friends are they?”

  Sharon was more forgiving about it. “Baby, don’t stress yourself. Things happen. Maybe they had their reasons,” she said.

  “Nah, fuck they reasons! Ain’t no fuckin’ forgiving this, Sharon. Look at ya face, look at ya cast on your foot, what kind of man am I if I don’t react?”

  “You would be a good man, Pike, if you just let it go. I’m alive and I still have you, baby. That’s all that matters,” she said.

  Pike couldn’t believe his woman was willing to be so forgiving. He was seething and couldn’t help but to clench his fists. His heart racing with adrenaline, he was ready to punch a hole in the wall.

  “Let it go, baby . . . let it go,” Sharon softly advised him.

  Pike stood over her, not responding, but thinking. He shook his head, trying to transform his heated scowl into a nice smile for his boo. He wanted to let it go. He wanted to smile, but the callous brutality done to her was embedded in his mind.

  “I’ll make you a sandwich and chill out, get my mind off of things.”

  “Please do that, let’s just spend the day together, watch a movie and make the best of things. Just you and me, baby,” said Sharon with her affable attitude.

  Pike exhaled. “You right, just you and me, baby. Things could have been worse. I’m tryin’ to be a changed man, and I got you to thank for that.”

  “Now that’s what I like to hear come from my big, strong man.” Sharon smiled.

  Pike leaned toward her and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead. It was like he’d planted his seal of a promise to her. She was an angel. So how did his angel get mixed in with a bunch of bipolar bitches?

  He walked into the kitchen in a lighter mood than before and started making her a turkey and cheese sandwich. He turned on the radio to free his mind from the bullshit. He felt a little better, but that seed of vengeance was still inside of him, like an unearthed bad root. While in the kitchen, he heard knocking at his door. He wasn’t expecting company, and he dared it to be Cristal, Tamar, or Mona having the audacity to come by to check on his girl when they damn near left her for dead. Pike didn’t know what he would do if he came face to face with any one of them bitches, including Mesha.

  He went to answer it, but was relieved to see it was Rich on the other side. He exhaled and allowed his friend inside.

  “Rich, what’s good?”

  “Came by to see how you were holding up,” Rich replied. “How she doing?”

  “She’s doin’ fine; could be better . . . but she’s alive and smiling, right? And that’s all that matters.”

  “Well, Mesha is still locked up, and everybody is talkin’ on the streets, saying Cristal and Sharon must have some beef between them, because how they gonna allow their friend to get jumped like that.”

  “I’ve been wracking my brain over the same thing.”

  “So what you wanna do about it?” Rich asked.

  “Nothing right now. My girl wants me to chill out. She ain’t stressin’ it, and she don’t want me to stress it.”

  Rich looked at his friend with composure. “So you falling back, huh?”

  Pike nodded.

  Rich saw the change in Pike. Rich walked behind his friend into the kitchen. As Pike continued to make Sharon her sandwich, Rich said, “You really feeling this one, huh?”

  Pike temporarily stopped his preparations in the kitchen and gazed at his best friend. He looked like a balloon ready to deflate. “I’m not even gonna lie to you, Rich. I am. I’m really feelin’ the fuck outta her.”

  “We’ve been friends for a long time, Pike, and I’ve seen you go through woman like a fat bitch going through a buffet, and this is the first time I ever heard you speak like this.”

  “Because it’s real, Rich, it’s fuckin’ real. Sharon is so different. She’s fuckin’ genuine, my dude. This is the first woman I’ve been wit’ who’s willing to put me first and cares about me. She ain’t selfish at all. And she made me wait damn near three months to fuck. And you know me, Rich, I never wait for pussy,” Pike whispered.

  “Yeah, I know.” Rich chuckled. “So when’s the wedding?”

  “Not anytime soon.”

  “Wow, did you just say no time soon? Damn, Sharon must definitely be the one, cuz one mention of marriage or a serious relationship and you usually tense up and ain’t tryin’ to hear that shit.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “I’m happy you finally found someone, Pike. Sharon’s good peoples. Shit, I think it’s time for this jolly old big swinging-dick playboy to settle down too and get it right too,” Rich said.

  “It’s a good feeling, having a woman having your back. I love her, Rich. I really do,” Pike said wholeheartedly.

  Pike smiled. Despite Sharon’s beaten condition, she still was the most beautiful woman in his eyes. With Rich having his back, his life was going in a positive direction. He was ready to give up his whores and become a one-woman man.

  Nineteen

  Cristal lay naked under the white sheets with a .9mm tucked under her fluffy white pillow. She slept like a newborn baby in a quiet place within a noisy city. In her new life, getting peace of mind was a stroke of luck. She still felt no remorse about abandoning Sharon. It was for the best. Mona needed to get that through her thick, naïve fucking head. The last thing they should do was upset the Commission. The Commission was some idolized, invisible entity that appeared to be everywhere yet nowhere.

  With dawn rising and the morning light coming through her bedroom window, she was becoming an early bird. The morning was just about fresh when she woke up from a soothing sleep feeling ready to take advantage of a new day.

  Cristal was about to get out of her bed, but there was something wrong and she became troubled by something strange in her bedroom. She’d had some unwanted company last night. The proof was the large manila folder on her bed. It creeped her out. With a strong feeling of apprehension rising, Cristal snatched the .9mm from under her pillow and, remaining butt-naked, went searching for intruders with the intent to shoot to kill. She thoroughly went searching room by room with the gun outstretched. Her bare feet pressed gently against the hardwood floor, not to create a sound. She looked everywhere, but no one was in her place.

  She looked outside her bedroom window; the city was steadily coming alive at six in the morning. Her front door was still locked—no forced entry—and everything was in place. Nothing taken, nothing broken, but one thing added. She turned and gazed at the unexplained manila folder placed next to her as she slept. Whoever had been inside her home moved with the stealth and silence of a ninja. If they wanted to, they could have taken her life while she slept. This was the Commission’s doing, Cristal knew it.

  She picked up the folder and breathed out. This had to be it. The murdergram they’d been waiting for. Finally! It was their first target. Her heart beat like drums in a rock concert.

  Cristal opened the folder and when she saw the face and name of their first kill, she stood aghast, not believing her eyes. This had to be a mistake. “
What the fuck?” she muttered.

  This mark, why him? It didn’t make any sense.

  The name of her target was Parnell Watkins, AKA Pike.

  ...

  “What the fuck, Cristal? This has gotta be a fuckin’ mistake. This is Pike we’re talkin’ about,” Mona griped.

  “It’s no mistake, Mona. They want him dead,” Cristal said.

  “This shit is crazy,” Tamar added.

  The girls were torn up about the hit. Even though Pike was angry with them and had cursed the girls out the other day, he was still a good dude and Sharon’s new boyfriend. They felt despondent about taking a friend’s life. They had their meeting on the project rooftop underneath a canopy of a clear fall night. They shared a cigarette and felt hopeless. They were supposed to feel apathy for their targets…but this one was different.

  “Look, either we do him, or they gonna do us, but either way Pike is still a dead man. They just gonna get someone else to kill him,” Cristal spat harshly.

  Mona heaved a depressed sigh. “What could have he done? This is Pike, a has-been star basketball player and low-level drug dealer,” Mona exclaimed.

  “He knows E.P., and that could be dangerous enough,” Tamar uttered. “They might have been in bed together, some secret shit. It probably went bad between them.”

  Tamar’s assumption made sense to them all. But was it true? There were so many speculations. Did he owe someone money? Did he fuck someone’s wife? It didn’t matter, though; the order was given and it had to be executed by any means necessary.

  “It’s a job; we don’t get paid to ask why. Pike just gotta go. He has to die, and by our hands. This is just business, it’s nothing personal,” Cristal stated coldly.

  Her crew stood around silently. Their silence displayed their agreement. This was the life they had chosen. It was going to get ugly, but this thing with Pike, it felt disastrous.