Chicago Tension

Chapter 12

We arrived at June's place and I had trouble getting out of the car. Jay had to help me. Sometimes we would get into fights but we love each other regardless. Mom didn't say anything. Didn't even say goodbye to us. When we all got out of the car and closed the door, she drove off. We walked up onto June's porch. And right when Jay was about to knock on the door. I yelled, "Wait!". "What?" Kianna said. "We should sit out here," I suggested. "What?" Jay said flabbergasted. "I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I'm hungry." He protested. "Calm down, I have the cookies the hospital gave me in my pocket." I said. "And when was the last time we as siblings actually sat down and have a conversation with one another? Hm?" I asked. "So...let's do that." "Sorry, Hev." Jay said. "We're all just worried about ma." Jay sighed. "You're right." I agreed. "I'm too worried too to talk to anybody. Knock on the door."  Jay knocked on the door lightly but loudly enough for June to hear. We hear footsteps walking up to the door. The footsteps stop for about 5 seconds then walk away from the door. We looked at each other. Puzzled. Jay knocks on the door again. Usually, June doesn't walk away from us at all. 

I remember one night. One night in particular. It was dark and really cold out. My mom and dad were having a fight because mom didn't cook what he wanted that night. Dad started SCREAMING. Screaming on top of his lungs to the point where his voice actually cracks. "YOU'RE LAZY." He screamed in my mom's face. "James." My mom said. "Just sit down and eat it." My dad looked at her with boiling anger in his eye. He put his hand up and gave her the biggest slap across her face. All of us. Jerry, Jay, Kianna, Joanne, and I was standing there, watching. Mom screamed and fell onto the floor. "JAMES. ARE YOU INSANE?" Dad picked up a glass that his Vodka was in and threw it at the wall behind us as we all ducked. "You spying on me now?" Dad asked us in an angry tone. We stood there in silence. "You know what? Get out." Mom looked up at him. Her eyes just begged him for mercy. "James. No." She said under her breath. He grabbed me first by my arm as hard as he could. It hurt. A lot. He opened the door and threw me out. He grabbed us one by one. As mom was screaming and grabbing him by his shirt and screaming his name.

 He threw us out that night. Into the cold. Knowing it's dark and dangerous and we could've all gotten killed. "Jerry, what are we going to do?" Kianna asked him. "We'll go to June." He said. That night, we walked and walked and walked all the way near Springfield to June's house. We knocked on her door and she let us in and let us spend the night.

 "June as never turned us down," Kianna says. "I know. What's going on?" I asked. At this point, Joanne starting to fuss around and cry because she's cold. Kianna bounces Joanne in her arms. "Shh.." Kianna tries to shush her. "Give her to me," I say. "You sure? Don't your shoulder hurt?" She asks. "Not really." I respond. I take Joanne and hold her close to me. "Jay, go around the back and knock on her back door." I command him. "All right." He responds. He goes around to the back. He there for about 3 minutes. 3 minutes too long. But then he finally comes back to the front where we were. "Guys," Jay starts off. "You have to come see this." Joanne gets a little fussy and wiggles a little as we go down the stairs.  We slowly walk towards the back and as we get there, my heart starts pumping harder and harder. I step into the backyard. Remembering everything. The pool, trampoline. All bought for us as if we're her children. "What are you bullshitting about now, Jay?" Kianna asks him. "Look at the door," He points out. "It's broken into." "Well, open it so I can stop holding Joanne because she's getting heavy." I say. Jay slowly opens the door and steps into the house. Kianna and I are behind him and walking in. I put Joanne down and just hold her hand. "Seems like no one is here." I say. 

"No. We heard the footsteps approaching the door and then back away." Kianna says. We heard the TV going in June's room. "Guys, look at the floor." Kianna says. I look down and see some blood and shards of glass. All of a sudden, a huge flash comes to my mind. Everything comes back to me as a shock. Me getting shot, Jerry's blood on my hands, Naomi's blood on my hands. The feeling of myself getting scared and scared every second because in the back of my mind, I think "She's gonna die" but my mouth tells me a different thing.  I quickly pick Joanne back up as she was about to step on a shard of glass. "This house isn't safe." I explain and walking out in an hurry. Jay goes into June's room. Nothing is heard. All I hear is the sound of my footsteps and Kianna's footsteps and then the TV in the room. "Are you ok?" Kianna asks me. "You look sweaty. Like, really sweaty." "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine." I respond. "HEY!" Jay shouted. I got startled and walked towards him. "Yeah?!" I said. "The bedroom," Jay mumbled. "Yeah?" Kianna asked. "The back door is broken into, the bedroom is messed up and it looks to have been a fight." "There's ripped up notes and stuff. I don't get it, J." I said. I kept having random flashbacks and shocks. Like, really bad. "We need to get out of here. I don't feel safe." I explain. "What's wrong with you?" Jay asks me. Gun shots go off in my head. It's like, taking over my brain. "Let's just get out of here. We'll call somebody." "And then what?" Kianna asks me with a sharp tone in her voice. "They'll come and take care of it. Duh." I respond. "G, I'm not going anywhere until I find June." Kianna says. When Kianna gets annoyed or irritated her "Slang" comes out. Brown pillows without the covers spread out on the floor, the bedsheet half off the bed, the TV is going and glass everywhere. 

Right when we were about to walk out, I thought of something. "Hey, wasn't there a rumor going around?" I ask. "There's about 5 rumors going around right now. Pick one." Kianna says. "June is dating Matthew." I say. "Oh, that's definitely a rumor." Jay buds in. "No. It's true." I correct him. "I've seen them holding hands and walking down the street to the store to get a bottle of beer or a pack of cigarettes." I say. "I heard he's abusive. Very abusive." Kianna adds in. "He hits her. Beats her. Etc. " "Jerry has been talking to June for a while now. Just hanging out. Nothing more." I point out. "Maybe, Jerry getting shot wasn't just about the drugs. " Jay mumbles. "What do you mean?" I ask him. "But maybe about envy." We looked at Jay. His head was pointed to the ground like he knew something but didn't want to give it up. "Do you need to tell us something?" I ask looking dead at him and slightly bending down. "I overheard the police officer talking to Ma." He starts off. "Yeah?" Kianna says slightly hand signing him to hurry up and say what he wants to say. "The police officers caught and search Matthew the very same day 2 minutes later after Jerry was shot. They didn't find anything. No drugs or anything. They even put his fingers down his throat to make him throw up. Nothing." "Okay...soo?" Kianna asks. "So," I bid in. "So, that means Matthew probably didn't shoot Jerry over drugs-" I stop. Dead in the middle of my sentence because of a headache and something similar to a vision. A shock that happens in my mind. An echoing "Take it!" in Matthew's voice then a gun shot. I fall to my knees and Kianna and Jay help me back up while asking if I'm ok. "I'm fine. I'm fine." I repeatedly say. "As I was saying, the police says that Matthew was pressuring Jerry to take the drugs but Jerry didn't want to do it. Judging by your story, Jay, the drugs. They're fake. It was probably flour instead of Coke." I explain. They look at me. With fear in their eyes. Deep, fear.