**4 months later**
Chris:
New Year’s Eve.
I grabbed the pool stick and slid it between my fingers. “I’m bouta kill you man,” I laughed at Kid. He sucked his teeth and waved his hand at me. “Man, you know I’m the master at this. Don’t even play dumb like that.” He shook his head while taking a sip of his drink
We were having a little party for New Years. I mean it was only me, Skye, Jordan, Kid, Aliya, and Ariel but still it was our own little party. None of us really leave the house much because of what’s going on. But I’m tired of this shit. I’m tired of staying in the house. I really need to take my ass outside somewhere and say fuck this shit with Anthony because it’s stopping me from living my life. It’s stopping everybody from living their life. Like first this nigga pops up but then nothing is heard from him in months. What kind of fucking mind games is he playing?
See, if Jordan and Skye weren’t in my lives, I would be going out. I woudn’t care if he caught me outside. We would just be fighting or one of us would just be dead by now. But I can’t just get up and do reckless shit since I have them in my life now. That’s why I’ve been staying in the house and that’s why I’ve been really careful about what I say or do. I can handle myself. But I just don’t want to put them in anymore danger than they’re probably already in dealing with me.
I mean in a couple of months it will mark three years that I’ve known Skye and Jordan. That’s the longest time I’ve kept somebody in my life and trust and believe me I’m not going to let them slip away so easily. I’m not.
Oh yeah and me and Jordan are completely back to normal now. Well as normal as it can get do to the things that have happened.
I stood straight up after taking my turn in the pool game. Aliya was standing there beside Kid watching us play and Jordan and Ariel were back in the arcade playing games. Skye was upstairs doing something. I think she said she was going to go get some more salsa and chips or something. She was up there for a while though. Then at that moment I heard her skipping down the steps with a tray of salsa and chips in her hands.
“Whew, sorry I took so long. I had to…” she trailed off, holding her stomach and making a frowny face. I shook my head and grabbed one of the chips off the platter as she walked past me. “Ew girl, you funky as shit.”
She rolled her eyes at me and scolded me for taking a chip. “Since I’m so damn funky why did you take the chip that I put on the plate? I took a shit and didn’t wash my hands,” she said. I coughed and pretended I was going to throw up. She let out a giggle. “I’m joking babe.” She set the platter down on the bar and walked over to me. She put her arm around my waist and leaned her head against my shoulder. As I waited for Kid to finish his turn, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her in close.
I smiled but then frowned. She felt really tense. Like something is running through her mind. She’s been like this for a couple months now. Sometimes she would be 100% Skye but then other times it was like she was seeing a ghost or something. She’s kind of been acting weird too. She’s been acting like… like… I don’t know. I feel like she’s stressed about something. When I try to talk to her it’s always the same old, same old. She would say, ‘Oh, I just had a long day at work that’s all.”
And I mean, she could be telling the truth because lately she’s been at work until like 7:30. Her boss has been making her do a lot of administrative work for the salon lately. I remember one day she came home with a stack of papers. I swear to god if you sat that shit down next to me it would’ve been as tall as my knees. But she has been really busy with work lately so I just let it go. But sometimes I think it’s something deeper than work.
