[IN PROGRESS]
Martha and James are soulmates trapped together in a never-ending reincarnation loop. Not a bad way to spend eternity, but they wanted more. They wanted a child. Serafina is born and Martha and James are elated to love and raise her a...
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August 20, 2024 |31|
A cockroach crawled over the toe of her black boot, down her black laces and up her black pant leg as she sat straight legged, high upon the rafter, itself painted black to hide above the stadium lights. How the vermin managed to slip past Mr Perfect and his elitist cronies' defenses and into their feculent beauty pageant was hard to imagine. Not that hard... They're only concerned with themselves and blinded by the luster of their smug self-righteousness.
She let the roach reach her thigh before picking it up. As it crawled across her knuckles, she admired its tenacity. Beneath the roar of the crowd below, she whispered to her companion. "They tried to exterminate you and sanitize their own bullshit. But here you are... Enviably unbothered by this nonsense... Biding your time and waiting for us to destroy ourselves so you can begin your reign over this doomed rock."
She set the roach down on an adjacent rafter and let it crawl to freedom, then changed her mind and flicked it off the side, making a wish for it to fall in someone's drink. No honor among thieves. Or among vermin. Or assassins.
Music blared, filling the United Center. The lights dropped and the crowd cheered as the Democratic National Committee began to play another video hailing the virtue of their presidential nominee. She took the opportunity to reposition, her movements as delicate as a whisper; as soft as smoke.
She'd arranged her gear at a T intersection of two rafters beneath the Chicago Bulls 1998-99 championship banner and with an unobstructed view of the stage. She crawled low on her belly along a rafter and up behind her rifle to check the scope. The target remained exactly where she'd left it; exactly where she wanted; exactly where his head will be...
The video ended and the lights returned. Then a voice came through the speakers: "Ladies and gentlemen please welcome to the stage... Chris Rock!"
The comedian made his way to the podium and the crowd roared its welcome. Standing at the microphone, he waved the applause down graciously. "I know. I know. I'm not the guy you're expecting – not the guy you want to see. Shoot, I'm just the guy introducing the guy introducing the guy. I guess I gotta start being nicer to my agent. But at least I got someone to announce my entrance. I could be him." Rock pointed to the speakers above. "Disembodied Voice Guy. Ain't nobody announced him!" Rock looked up as waves of laughter crashed upon the stage. "No offense, Disembodied Voice Guy. You do you!
"But I'm just playin'. For real, it's a true honor to be up here. The man I'm here to introduce... Well..." He paused as if searching for the words. "He's not a brother... But he's a brother – if ya know what I mean. And he changed my life."
Rock smiled from within her scope. He shifted his weight and his head passed through the crosshairs. She imagined pulling the trigger – his face exploding, his body crumpling, and the crowd erupting in pandemonium. That would be a twist. But considering how much time she'd spent setting the trap – the majority of this life, in fact – she denied the impulse.
Rock continued. "You see, when I was young – seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old – I used to be a card carrying idealist. Civil rights... Feeding the poor... You name the cause, I was down for it.
"But then I got older. Got a little success. Started making that UPN money. I got cynical. Got comfortable. Started thinking if I ain't broke, don't fix it.
"And then I met this man. Not a brother, but a brother," he said, taking time to enunciate the parallel structure. "And he found that seventeen year old in me, the one that believed he could change the world and... Shoot, you know what? He's gonna explain it a lot better than I will, so why don't we get him out here?"
The crowd, cheering modestly throughout his speech, began to rise in anticipation. "Without further ado," Rock continued. "The man who will introduce the next President of the United States... Not a brother, but a brother... Mr James Quinn!" Cheers and fanfare erupted. Rock, also applauding, stepped away from the podium.
High above it all, flat upon the rafter, she took a breath to steady herself and waited for the false messiah to step within her crosshairs.
Author's note:
New book, who dis?
I started the last book with Martha dumping James. Has it escalated to murder? Did he leave to toilet bowl up one too many times?
Or is it Serafina? Did Daddy's Little Girl grow up to be Daddy's Big Assassin?
Or is it someone else? Have all the haters finally made Steph Jenkins snap?
And as with the last book, this is not where we left off. What of James, Martha, and the suddenly immortal Serafina? Look for Chapter 2 to find out!
