Nightfall

Trust no one

Two days later

True's POV

"Shit... this hurts... Ah... This hurts so fucking bad, Tookie."

"I know True, just hold my hand."

"Okay...okay..."

Toby grabbed my hand and squeezed it as I laid down on the table.

I was getting a tattoo.

We had to box up Stevie's room the other day and I found one of his journals.

He had his name drawn over and over on one page and I liked it so much that I used it.

The needle buzzing against my skin, stung like hell, but what really was hurting me is that Stevie was gone.

He was gone and I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe if I was at the house with him...

Maybe if I hadn't gone to see Abel...

Maybe things would have been different.

Marcus wouldn't be in critical condition and Stevie would still be here.

Life is so unfair sometimes, for me, most of the time.

I mean, money, clothes, and cars and shit like that is all cool, but family has always meant the most to me.

In my line of work you can't trust many. You can't be yourself around too many...but Stevie, when I met him...I knew I'd always have a special place in my heart for him.

"Shit!"

"He's outlining it True. It's okay. It looks great."

"I'm almost done sweetie."
The man said to me. "Just have to go over it one more time....and...done."

"Done? Really?"

"Yes, ma'am little lady."

"Shit, thank God." I got up off the table.

"What's it look like?"

"It looks great TC." Toby said to me.

I smiled at Toby and squeezed his hand.

I looked in the mirror at my back.

"Yeah...yeah it looks...it looks like he wrote it on there himself."

Tookie paid the man and walked me out of the building.

We sat in the car I'm silence for a moment.

"Toby...I can't believe we planed a funeral in two days." I said staring straight ahead.

"Me neither." He said.
"I still can't believe this shit."

"I can't believe I wasn't there."

"True...I was...and you should be happy that you weren't there. I wish I never saw him like that. I see it over and over."

"I keep replaying the conversation I had with him, before I left. He was so excites to get back to school...he was gonna graduate. And he was gonna have a future beyond all this shit, toby. I mean, Toby...H-he was our wiz kid and he could have been somebody. And.. They took that away from him, Tookie why?"

"They almost clipped Marc too. Bastards."

"Bastards is right. They have to pay for this, Tookie. The can't get away with this. Who ever shot up our home. My pa's house."

"What do you want to do, True?"

"I wanna find the men who did this and I will do whatever needs to be done. I will have these streets running red with blood of my enemies until I figure out who did this. Exactly who did this."

"Duke said it was revenge for Tony."

"Duke? What the f- Duke?"

"Yeah?"

"Toby...W-where was Duke when they shot up the house?"

"Uh...I don't know um... I think he was...out... side."
Toby looked at me

I looked back over to him.

"You fucking think that-"

"True...no. No ..."

"He was outside when it happened and every one else was in the fucking house."

"True, Duke is family! And there would be no way to really know what really happened."

" I guess you're..."
I stopped mid sentence.
"Tookie the cameras...the cameras!"

"What?" He said in a confused tone.

"There are security cameras outside, we can check-"

"We can see who did this....True...True we can see who did this!"

"I don't think we'll be able to see the faces, Tookie, but...we'll be able to see something like a car and if Duke had anything to do with this."

"Let's go then."

Toby pulled out of the parking lot and we sped home.

We had to get to the bottom of this.