crimson kills [h.s.]

1. | Hauntingly Familiar

Chapter 1

March 2023

I held my breath in the vain hope the smoke of my cigarette would kill me faster.

My eyes averted away from the orange clouds of pollution in the sky over to the car that pulled in front of me. I released my puff of smoke, tossed the stick onto the lawn, and I picked up my chained purse off the porch step. I then sighed, wiping the sweat off my forehead from the violent humidity of Miami. 

I slid into the passenger seat of Vivianne's teal blue old-fashioned Volkswagen. When I shut my door, she lowered the volume of whatever she was listening to. "Nena," she called me. "what's wrong?" She instantly read the pissed-off look on my face.

"I'm done. I'm so fucking done," I started, still heaving over an argument I just had five minutes ago. "Can you drive? I don't want to be here."

Vivianne nodded, pulling away from the curb to head down the street. "Do you want to talk about it?" I could hear the tapping of her index finger tap her steering wheel as she waited for me to answer.

"No... It's always the same shit," I told her, resting my elbow out of the opened window. "That woman is such a bitch."

At the end of my street, Vivianne came to a stop. Her hand slid over my thigh to comfort me and she said, "I already told you to ignore her. We can't afford to find a place together yet."

I looked over at Vivianne. Her strawberry blonde hair made me reach for a curl to twist it around my finger. My girlfriend smiled. Her chin then tilted and pointed to me, something she did whenever she wanted to be kissed.

"It's going to be okay, Benny," she added in a whisper as soft as her hair.

From her curl around my fingertip, I raced to grab the back of her head. I pulled her toward my mouth and I tasted the gloss off her lips. Our tongues met in a soft brush before we were interrupted by a car horn. Against my lips, Vi groaned. She didn't move, but her hand hovered over her horn. She honked back, making it clear that she would be taking her time.

"Where are we going?" I asked, slowly pulling back from her.

"Nowhere," she sweetly said, until she stuck her head out the window. She shouted, "I'm not going anywhere until this fucking idiot goes around me!"

As I kicked my feet up her dashboard, the car that honked at her went around and sped off so fast, it must've been a way to say "fuck you."

She was proud of herself for winning a road rage battle. I saw it in her smirk as she began to drive again. "But do you know where we should go?"

"Where?"

"New York City for the weekend. We'll head to the airport right now."

My eyebrows stitched together into a frown. "You're shitting me?"

"No! Just say yes, please."

"Nena," I called her this time, throwing the word of endearment right back. "With what money?"

That was when she dug a hand into the cup of her left tit. With a roll of money held between her fingertips, I impulsively snatched it in disbelief.

"Where the fuck did you get this money from?" I almost laughed.

"I think Tino started selling drugs," she partly explained. "Swiped it from the pocket of his pants that he left in the bathroom. No one told him to leave it there so it's ours now."

I looked at her, briefly shaking my head but I also grinned. "Vi, if you're going to start stealing from your brother, don't you think we should save this for our apartment and not on a weekend in New York?"