The Price ࿊f Peace

☮️:053

Somewhere in Oakland
Monday August 27th, 2024

Elijah prayed for something like the thirtieth time in the dark, concrete box. Solitary was his least favorite place to be.

Elijah had made it a habit to pray every time he went into solitary after his first 6 trips to juvie. Since he couldn't talk to anyone else, he'd pray for guidance from his Gods. His Lita taught him how to pray a long time ago.

She still practiced Santería until the day her spirit passed on, as did Elijah and Camarro. Camarro didn't practice as seriously, however.

Elijah couldn't even front like he wanted to be there. In jail was not where he planned to be today. He planned to be with Syara, in bed, watching some movie she wanted him to watch.

The ride up there was no different.

Elijah was on a bus with four other men. None that he cared to know, either. He just stared ahead, and waited calmly.

He had a routine for every time he went in.

Of course, there was solitary before gen-pop, which was his least favorite part of going back. It was the most boring part.

Plus, he had business in this jail.

The last time he was there, he'd gotten into it with these niggas over some commissary.

He'd done a tattoo for this nigga named Cracc and the nigga kept ducking him for the payment. Cracc had a few niggas under him, so he thought Mir wouldn't come to collect.

He was wrong.

Elijah wasn't a liar, and he wouldn't deny, that looking back, it was a pretty stupid reason to set the whole jail off, but he was serious about his money. Why else would they call him that?

Elijah was by himself, running fades back to back in a dorm that wasn't even his. They threw him in solitary, and as soon as he got out, he was trippin' again.

Everybody hated him. They dreaded his coming out of solitary 'cause that meant more lockdowns, more chaos, more death. Elijah didn't care though, he wanted his commissary.

To be honest, he was having a bad week, too.

His moms was on his back, he and Camarro weren't talking, he wasn't making much money in jail, his abuela's birthday was coming up, and his uncles had niggas in the jail trying to fuck with him.

The most prominent issue at that time was his Uncle's connections in the jail. Niggas would catch him off guard and try to squab. After a while, Elijah started stabbing them. He even carved his uncle, Roche's, name into one of the men he sent to strangle him.

The message was clear. Leave him the fuck alone.

But, now that he was going in for the murder of both of his uncles, it was probably going to be even worse.

Elijah wasn't scared, though. It was just jail.

He was more worried about Syara. He knew she could handle the pressure, he just didn't want her to have to.

They hadn't given him his phone call, yet. They just took him straight to solitary. He wasn't quite sure when he'd get his call, to be honest. He just knew he had a few calls to make before they put him back in the hole.

_______________

On the outside, Syara had yet to leave the guest room of Camarro's condo.

Lucky had come in four separate times to check on her that morning, but Syara didn't have anything to say. She just stared at the wall across from her, silently.