Lost Boy, page 32
Jabari felt bad but not as bad as Sunshine. She kept talking to herself, blaming everything on her. She prayed and asked God for forgiveness, then, she started doing some real weird shit. She started pulling off her nails, which were fake, and pulled her eyelashes off, which were also fake and her weave next. Jabari watched her, hoping like hell, her teeth weren’t next, even still he thought she had a pretty look about her. A more natural look now with everything off. She dug in her eyes and Jabari shuddered.
“Damn, not an eye,” he mumbled to himself.
Sunshine plucked out her contacts. Jabari could see why she was called Sunshine. It wasn’t because of her being so fine, but because she was so Albino. Her eyes were pitched black and her skin was so bleached.
She turned toward Jabari with snot running down her nose and sniffled. “We couldn’t afford anything to keep the sun from burning my skin. So, my people kept white toothpaste on my face all the time. God, I couldn’t stand that. I wore these dark, blind man shades...my teeth were bucked, and I wore baggy clothes that covered me up. I would look out of the window at the other kids and touch the glass...knocking. Hoping they would come and ask if I could go to the playground, but they would run from me. They called me a ghost, but all I ever wanted to do was play...in the sunshine!”
That fucked Jabari up. Hulie heard her and started laughing.
“Yeah...I remember that she was a ugly lil’ ole thing. You shoulda seen her.”
He laughed harder and the child in her head appeared just that quick. She tucked her head between her legs and cried, just like when she was little. Jabari pulled her closer to him and hugged her.
“How did you know my sister?” he asked.
Sunshine smiled. “Believe it or not, she’s...my friend.”
Jabari didn’t know what Sunshine meant, but he damn sure made a mental note to ask Tangie next time he saw her. If they ever got out of that mess, they were in.
The door creaked open and Nikki came through, dragging a duffel bag behind her. She tossed it in the front of Hulie. “Take dat dam mon’ny...g’won frum ya!” She looked over at Cleo and Sunshine motioned to her that she was still alive. Nikki screamed at Hulie, “Kna go!”
Hulie pulled the money closer toward him, looked in and grinned. “Yeah...that’s what’s up!” He sifted through and picked up some clear bags with white powder, cocaine. “Cool...dope, too!” He closed it back and tossed it over to the door opposite us. “Preciate that. Really do...you did good.” He turned, then spun back around and pointed the shotgun at us. “But I still have to kill y’all. Y’all know too much!”
Jabari stood up. “Man, look, you got the money! Damn, you been looking for that shit damn near forever! You won, fuck it...let it go. We ain’t gonna say shit, hell, if we do, we’d be just as fucked up.” Jabari pointed over at Cleo. “Let us get her to a hospital man, be fuckin’ human...for once.”
Hulie nodded his head a little and started lowering the shotgun. Jabari thought he’d gotten through to him.
But then Hulie said, “Naw...killin’ y’all sounds much better. This way I ain’t never gotta worry...look over my shoulder, kna’mean?” He took aim.
Jabari started copping mad deuces, all the bitch came out of him. “Please, man...please...I don’t wanna die!”
Nikki calmly took out a bottle she had in her back pocket and opened it. Then started sprinkling the liquid onto the duffel bag, she took out some matches and lit one.
“Fi’gah yu’nah say dat...” Nikki tossed the match on the bag and it exploded in flames. “Spend da mon’ny...in Hell!” She dived to the ground as Hulie shot in her direction and missed. She motioned to me and pointed toward the window.
Hulie couldn’t see because of the flames and smoke, so he shot wildly at the doorway. Sunshine got up and ran to the door.
She looked back at Jabari. “I wish I would have met you earlier...Jabari!” She giggled, then raised her hand. “Hulie...Hulie...Hulie, listen to me! It ain’t gotta go down like this...” Her other hand she put behind her back and pointed toward the window.
Nikki got up and looked. It was just low enough for them to climb out. It was their only chance. Jabari picked up Cleo as gently as he could and carried her to the window. Nikki hopped through first, then Jabari picked Cleo up and lowered her down on the other side. He ran to the door to see about Sunshine, she was still talking to Hulie, moving closer and closer toward him.
Hulie looked over his shoulder and spotted Jabari. “Oh shit...they’re getting away!” he said.
Sunshine grabbed him and wrestled with the shotgun. “We can still be together like we planned,” she told him.
Hulie finally wriggled the gun out of her grip and back away from her. “Hell no! Look, at you, I don’t want you! Just like no one else wanted you when we were kids...you’s a freak!”
All Jabari could see was pain as Sunshine looked back at him. she was gone and there was no coming back. Jabari reached out for her, but it was too late. She threw herself on Hulie and his shotgun. Jabari heard it go off twice and saw her body propel upward from the force of the blast, like a ragdoll being kicked up from the ground.
“Nooo!” Jabari screamed.
He was tired of all the killing. He was numb and his feet wouldn’t move. Hulie looked at the body as it laid folded up in front of him in a bloody heap. Then he looked at Jabari and pointed the gun his way. Jabari wasn’t really the religious type, but all he knew was that when Hulie did that, flame whooshed in front of his face, making him back off. When Jabari came back to his right mind, he heard Nikki calling him. So, he ran to the window and she was telling him to come on. He could also hear the police sirens in the background. He never thought he’d actually want to hear them.
He also heard Hulie in the background yelling out his name. “Jabari, I’ma get you muthafucka!”
A shot exploded and the side of the door shattered. Jabari wasted no more time. He dove through the window and fell on top of Nikki. They could hear Hulie coming through the door pumping the shotgun. Jabari picked Cleo up, put her over his shoulder and followed Nikki through the wood. Jabari didn’t dare look back, but he could hear Hulie still hollering. “I’ma get y’all!”
Hulie ran back into the room. It was filled with smoke and the flames were climbing up the walls. He stomped on the bag with the money trying to out the fire. Then tried taking out whatever bundles he could. He heard the sirens too as they got closer. He knew he didn’t have much time, he couldn’t get any more, most of it had burned. He stuffed what he had, which was quite a bit, down his shirt and ran to the window. He looked both ways for anyone spying, then jumped out and dipped toward the street.
The building exploded shortly afterward and started popping like fireworks from all the gun and ammo Hulie had hidden inside. Hulie came out of the bushes and spotted his truck. He reached through his pockets then realized he’d left the keys inside.
“Damn!” He grumbled. “Fuck it!” He tossed the bag over his shoulder and jogged through the woods toward Highway 26.
He had enough money to hitchhike back to West Ashley, pack his shit, get on his bike and haul ass. He’d finally got the fuckin’ money, well at least most of it. Now, he could retire from the game and just chill or so he thought.
****
They were just about to hit a clearing, Jabari could faintly see some buildings and hear the sounds of cars and trucks. He had no clue where the hell they were. They came to a trailer park that sat underneath Highway 26. He’d heard about the area, but never ventured out that way, he thought it was too dangerous. Nikki knew the area very well, though. She didn’t let up until they came to a brown trailer with an old tattered deck out front. Jabar looked around the front and it finally became familiar. It was a root doctor’s house.
Nikki knocked and the door opened, a short, grey-headed man opened the door.
He shook his head. “Knew you were coming.” He pointed toward Cleo. “Bring her in, quickly.”
The inside had damn near hundreds of jars filled with different substances. Mostly roots and plants, but toward the corner of the room, there were old, dusty books and in the far back, a skeleton. Jabari didn’t know if it was real or not, but the skull on the table in front made him not even want to ask. Jabari was freaking out, he respectfully stepped back out, with the blessing of the root doctor. A couple of minutes later, Nikki came busting through the door. The older grey, haired man was right behind her.
“I g’won git hem!” Nikki said.
She had a gun in her hand and was working up a full head of steam...she was crazed. He tried to pull her back in, but he couldn’t. He glanced back over his shoulder, to handle his business with Cleo
“Nikki...I need help with her!” The root doctor said.
“No.” Nikki shook her head. “Tired this yeh’ shit!”
Jabari really didn’t want to intervene cause he was tired of it too. Actually, he was just about ready to go. Hell, he stepped in front of her anyway. “Where you going?” He asked. “Why don’t you help him out with Cleo? Try to get a ride so we can get her to the hosp...”
“Whut, yu wen try to kill me again boy! Burn me up like tha lass time?” She spit at Jabari as she held the gun in her hands shakingly.
“Look...I tried to save you! I ain’t got nothing to do with, Hulie!” Jabari said.
“You’s jus as guilty boy, yu no stop hem!”
She was right, he didn’t try hard enough. Jabari was just as guilty. He sighed, the spotted a chair and sat down.
“Fuck it, I ain’t got no wins,” he said. “Do what you want to do. Hell, I think I did enough good for today, anyway. Ain’t got no friends...Rip dead...Dondi dead...Double D dead... man, fuck it!” Jabari grabbed her hand with the gun and pointed it o his head. “Do it!”
Nikki looked him into his eyes deeply and tears came down her’s. she mumbled something under her breath.
“I shoulda been home...a good wife...me husband. I tried to dem boys outta trouble...I failed...dem.” She broke down crying.
Jabari pulled her into his arms and let her cry and he broke down crying as well.
The root doctor opened the door again. “Nikki...please...go get the car. We need to get her to the hospital.”
“Will she live?” Jabari asked.
“God only knows best,” he answered back solemnly.
Nikki got up and ran behind the back pulling up shortly afterward in a car and beckoned Jabari to get Cleo. But not before she called Jabari over.
“Maybe...you ain’t so lost boy, yah!” she said.
Jabari smiled then turned and went to get Cleo. Jabari asked the root doctor if it was okay for him to use his cell phone as they rode to the hospital. The root doctor didn’t mind, Jabari needed to make the call he’d been avoiding.
“Hello, Tangie?”
“Jabari, where the hell you been? Don’t you know I’ve been looking for you? You had me worried!”
“You were worried...bout me?”
“Boy...you just wait until I see you. I’ma go upside your head!”
She sounded just like their mom. She actually cared about Jabari and loved him after all his bullshit. She really did...now that was family. Maybe he needed to give her a half-ass chance, then he thought hell maybe he should give himself a chance too.
He looked over Nikki and nodded. “It’s over, Tangie...it’s finally over,” he said.
****
Hulie laughed as he made his way to the highway. After all the dirty, rotten shit he’d done, he knew without a doubt that people wanted him dead. But fuck them was his thoughts, then he smirked. “Sometimes the bad guy just gets away!”
Epilogue
A couple of years had gone by now, Jabari ended up getting five years. But actually, did about a year and some change in a rehab. He’d also caught some of the backlash behind the Walterboro incident. They couldn’t find Stacy or Jason, so someone had to pay. Jabari wasn’t mad at them, his sister eventually made him plea out to a misdemeanor drug charge. He'd gotten off light. Jabari didn’t mind he needed a place to get himself together anyway, and he did just that. Eventually, Tangie shined so well she was asked to run for the State Solicitors office. However, she said to hell with that and ended up doing private practice, Civil Rights cases.
Cleo was paralyzed from the waist down, she’s alright with it though, because at least she was living. She started school and stayed at home with her mom. Her mom had ended up divorcing her pops, so it was just the two of them now. Diplite wasn’t so lucky, he eventually died. Cleo and them said they didn’t want a funeral cause he looked so bad. Also, because he really didn’t have any friends for a memorial service except for thugs and they were tired of them already. Liberty Hill had changed drastically, it was no longer the dope infested area it once was.
Nikki was doing well, she’d rebuilt her house, then gave some money to add on to it. Jabari had driven by one day and stopped the car and they talked for a little while. She told him she was still seeing Dirty-Red on the low. He hadn’t changed, either. He still ran the liquor house. The biggest thing going on over there was the lottery he had out for the day when Wood came back.
Don’t know whatever happened to Hulie. Nikki said the root man had put a curse on him. Couldn’t tell you what kind of curse, Nikki just said he wouldn’t get too far. Anyway, Jabari didn’t know whether to believe that shit or not. All he knew was that he wasn’t lost anymore.
****
Tijuana, Mexico was known for gang cartels, prostitution and some of the best weed on the planet. The women there were exotic, sexy and plenty to choose from. Hulie had got connected with a cartel that served dope to the whole Coastal Region from Mississippi to Virginia. A lot of money was being made and Hulie’s cut came out to at least forty percent. A good half a mil every four or five months. He was living large, had everything he wanted at his disposal. He’d told one of his Mexican cartel buddies one day, fuck them niggas in South Carolina. The best thing they could do was buy that good ass dope. He’d fucked up, leave it to Hulie to run his mouth.
You know, one thing about the Mexicans or anyone Latino was that they were painfully loyal, especially when it came to their la Familia. So, when you fucked your family over, they always, regardless of how much money was involved, looked at you some sort of way and with distrust. This definitely played to your off brands too, Gringo...Negro. They’d heard about some of the things Hulie had done.
So, as Hulie laid in front of the large Olympic sized pool in the back of his mansion. Overlooking the pretty blue water of the beach coolin’. It came as no surprise when the smooth, catlike figure eased up next to him and pointed the .22 Caliber with the gassed, carbon silencer to his head.
All Hulie could do was light up the chocolate Cuban rolled blunt, take a good pull, and say, “Finally, found me...huh.”
“Yeah...well, you knew it was coming.” She pulled the trigger, then wiped the blood splattered tip on his shirt. Then she reached into his pants pocket, pulled out his phone, dialed some numbers and waited for the person on the other side to pick up. “It’s done,” she said. “I'll be home soon.”
Taking a towel that sat by the lounge chair, she tossed it over Hulie’s head and leaned back watching the waves slam into the rocks off the sandy white coastline. “Damn, this is nice.”
The groundskeeper came over to her with a black body bag in hand and asked, “Senorita, is there anything else?”
“Naw...” She pointed at the body. “Just get him outta here.”
“And...your things?”
“Might as well move them in...for now.” She glanced over. “Mansions unoccupied.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He moved toward Hulie’s body, then peeked his head up. “Senorita, sorry to bother you. What name do I put on the door, after I, of course, remove his?”
She grinned, then reached over and picked up the blunt Hulie was smoking on. “Cocky...”
“Cocky, what?”
“Just...Cocky.” She crossed her legs, puffed on the good Mexican weed and uttered under her breath. “Q’s people...he’ll be down soon.”
Nikki had finally gotten the revenge she deserved for her son T-Black and the burning of her house and brutal attack that night. It came in the form of a nickel plated, Kevlar bulletproof vest, worn by Cocky the day Hulie tried to waste him and the .22 Caliber, gold bullet to his brain she’d just delivered.
So, Sunshine probably did get the last laugh...or, giggle!
~The End~
Coming Soon:
Wahida Clark, Lost Boy
