The Price ࿊f Peace

☮️: 043

Somewhere in Oakland

Elijah placed his phone in his back pocket to concentrate where he was stood, eating a Chilli Cheese Dog from Rudy's Famous Chili Dog Family's food truck.

There weren't any people in line since he was the last customer before they closed shop. He was leaning on the side of the truck chopping it up with Rudy's cousin who'd just gotten out of the pen.

"... when you was in there, you hadda' deal with Marbley?" Rudy's cousin, Tay asked, leaning on the metal window ledge of the truck.

Elijah nodded, finishing his bite. "Mhm. She kept tryna fuck you?"

He spoke from experience. It happened more often than one would think. Some of the female guards were extremely handsy. Elijah was tried as an adult and bounced around counties before he ended up in LA county jail with Marbley for 3 months out of the 4 he did on his 6 month sentence from 17 to 18 1/2.

He'd already graduated at 17, and had been living on his own by the time he went in, so he wasn't tripping about school or having a place to stay. Plus, he was still making payments on his mortgage every month from inside the jail by having Ron-Ron renting it out, so he was straight.

Rudy's cousin, Tay, shook his head to say yes. "Bruh." He sighed. "All the damn time."

Elijah nodded. "Told her ass no, she was on my head everyday since, G. Shit crazy."

"Her pasty ass was not appealing, bro." Tay expressed. "Did the absolute most, on crip."

"Used to throw me in solitary, trip on me whenever my baby-moms would come visit." He vented. "That bitch was evil, dead homies."

"What she do to you?" He asked Elijah who was listening, but paying more attention to his chilli dog and his surroundings.

Elijah laughed, but it wasn't really funny. "Shit, she'd come get me from my dorm every other week or so during lights out, and try to crack."

He laughed even harder as he recalled. "She pulled her gun on me one time, talkin' bout 'I'll say you attacked me.'"

"I told her do it, she gon' get mad." Elijah shook his head, taking another bite.

"Oh shit..." Tay said, scrunching his face. "She ain' never pull hers on me." Elijah only nodded.

Shorty was feenin' bad.

"Hell yeah." He affirmed. "She'a organize fights between me and some other niggas, tried to get me jumped once, I got shanked in my calf in one of them shits she set up." He listed, smiling before taking another bite.

Elijah didn't take nearly anything traumatic in his life as seriously as he should have. It happened. And honestly, when he thought about it, it was kind of funny. It wasn't, but for some reason, to him it was.

"She used to set up fades for you?" Tay asked surprised. She'd never gone that far with him. "What you do?"

"Shit, nothing." He shrugged. He really didn't do anything. At all. Not a single thing for her to be on his back the way she was.

She was just weird.

She used to watch him when he was on the yard, lifting weights, she'd randomly ransack his cell doing her own 'personal' contraband checks & steal his tattoo needles, she'd spread rumors about him to try to get other inmates to pick with him, she'd find random reasons to put him in solitary, she'd plant her own evidence in his cell.

She'd do anything she could to bother Elijah, and he'd just mind his business.

He wasn't fucking her, and that was final.