Break Out

Chapter One

Kehlani "Queen" Jackson
It's scary how fast your can life go from perfect to a living hell. After trying to cope with the fact that you've lost the love of your life, how do you bounce back from wanting to die?

But now, everything's changing. He could be alive. But if he were, is it still my Twain? Is it the man who I'd given my everything to? Or just a stranger that I'll never get to know again?

I laid in bed in my small dusty apartment. X, Twain's brother, had visited here last week going on about Twain being alive. He had asked me to come to the trap to show me for himself. What if he was wrong? I would just end up having to start my coping process all over again.

I'd never been so confused in my life and at times like these I wish I had family to run to. A sister, brother, mom, even a dad. But I don't. All I have is me now.

And I hadn't picked up Duke from the kennel yet. I missed him terribly but he just reminds me of him too much.

A knock at my door caused me to sigh and pull myself from the bed. I walked to the door and opened it slightly. I peaked out and to my surprise, there stood my girls Tatiyana and Yandi. I opened the door all the way to let them in. I hadn't seen them since the funeral. "You guys. What're you doing here?" I asked. They smiled and each gave me a hug.

"X told us where you were living so we came to find you. I know technically we're not supposed to be speaking to each other since you're officially out of the game, but we wanted to talk to you," Tati smiled.

"Listen babes it was great to see you but I can't-"

"Please Kehlani. We know Twain is alive. We need your help. You know him better than anyone. You can help us track him-"

"Even if Twain was alive, I can't help you! He has memory loss he won't even know who I am," I choked.

"K, I know it's asking for a lot. But we know you miss and love him. We can get him back baby girl. But we can't do it alone. We need you Kehlani," Yandi begged.

"Yandi I can't-"

"Please. He needs you."

***

I sat silently in the car with the girls in front of the trap. I took deep breaths as I stared at the building. I was nervous. I didn't want to be reminded of the painful memories and be let down.

"Whenever you're ready D," Yandi smiled reassuringly. I nodded, took a deep breath, and got out of the car. Slowly, we walked around the back to the entrance that I'd known too well. Yandi led us as we entered the building down to the work floor.

Everything looked so much bigger. As if they expanded after the takeover. Bigger kitchens, more workers.

People would turn and looked at me. Whispers went around, jaws dropped, and eyes went wide. I guess it was known that I was out. Considering how only two other people have made it through the ritual. And they dropped off the face of the earth.

Yandi and Tati lead me down a hallway towards an office that I'm all too familiar with. My heart sank into my stomach and my breathing went shallow. Shit. I can't do this.

"Y-Yandi? Tatiyana?" I called out as much as I could. They stopped and turned towards me. "I don't think I can do this."

"D, we need you to pull it together. X has never steered us wrong before. He wouldn't be checking so closely into this if he didn't think it was true," Tati said reassuringly.

"The memories, they're too painful."

"We know D. We know. But you gotta do this. You need King. We all do. Now let's bring him home," Yandi smiled. I took deep breaths and nodded. They both held my hands as we entered the room. There sat X and Tyler Wilson. X was running ramped around the office. Flying from his computer to the desk full of files. He glanced up for a moment and our eyes met. He smiled at me graciously and stood.