Too Far Gone (Urban)

46| Quick Thinking

Raul treaded quietly into the apartment room, Chenelle at his heels with their Chinese food just as quiet. He peered back at her, then progressed further into the room, making sure to ease his foot down gently with each step. Once he reached the center of the foyer, he stopped and called out, “Shaun, you here?” There was no response. He glanced at Chenelle again and nodded for her to close the door. Together they headed towards the kitchen, and ask he went, he began giving her the rundown.

“Alright, so I've been gathering some intel the past few days,” he stated, sliding into a seat at the island counter. Chenelle placed the bag of food on the counter. As she undressed it from the plastic bag, Raul went on. “There's a lot of shit going on. The boss isn't the only one having problems. We've been battling the Sons of Samedi for a while, and lately, Pierce has been bitchy towards it.”

“Bitchy?” Chenelle echoed.

“Yeah, he's been giving the boss a hard time about it, saying Shaundi isn't doing much to help,” he scoffed. “In all honesty, even if she's not going around doing work to get the information she receives, at least she has connections getting it for her, but that's besides the point. He's been that way since you got released. The boss has been more hardcore himself, and Gat,” he paused, scratching his head. “He's still Gat, but he's been awfully silent.”

“Gat was never much of a talker, though,” Chenelle butted in. She slid him his container of sesame chicken and handed him a fork with some napkins. She opened up her own container of chicken lo mein and mixed her food together. Whilst opening a few packets of duck sauce, she stated, “He's always been quiet, hasn't he?”

“Yeah, but that was with Aisha's death. He knows something.”

“But he'd probably kill me on sight if he sees me,” she mumbled, “He always listens to Niqo’s orders.”

Raul paused with his forkful of food inches away from his mouth. “Niqo?”

Chenelle eyes widened slightly. “Oh right… boss - your boss - told me to call him Niqo.” Raul stared at her for a brief moment.

“Gat won't kill you,” he spoke, breaking the silence. “I think you've finally grown on him. That being, you have a chance at finding out a piece of what's going on with the boss since Johnny is the closest one to him. They're like brothers.”

“So how am I supposed to get to him?”

“Easy. Go straight to his house. I passed by and he doesn't have anyone guarding his place, not that anyone really needs to.”

“So I just waltz up there and say… what?”

“Ay Dios mío,” he sighed. He slid his food to the side and folded his hands in front of him. “It's not that hard. Just go to him and ask. ‘What's up Gat? What's going on? Why am I out of the loop?’ Simple.”

“Alright, alright… so when are we doing this exactly?”

Raul tapped his fork on his bottom lip, sucking off the sauce that remained on it. “I believe the boss is raiding the Sons of Samedi tomorrow with Pierce. You can catch him then while they're distracted.”

“But what about you?”

“I'll be alright… by the time the boss finds out I let you go, I'll be long gone.”

“Wait,” Chenelle nearly choked on a noodle from his comment. “You're leaving?”

“Yeah, I think I'm done with Stilwater. It's time to move on to better waters.”

Even though she had recently became close with him, knowing he was leaving soon hurt more than her situation in general. There was so much she wanted to learn from him and about him that she was planning on asking in the near future, but now she'll never have that chance. Raul noticed the crestfallen look on Chenelle's face and gave her a small smile, reaching out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. “Don't worry about that now, mija. I'll still say goodbye to you before I go.” He leaned back in his chair, exhaling a deep breath from his lips. He seemed as if he had something else on his mind.

“Where are you planning on going?”

“Probably Steelport. It's been a while.”

Chenelle frowned. “Steelport? I've never heard of it before.”

“It's a decent place if you like the city. You can't really get that urban vibe from Stilwater,” his eyes locked onto hers. “Besides, you probably won't last a day in that jungle. Their crime rate makes the cops here look like they have it easy.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

“Nothing that I can't handle, I'll be muy bueno.”

Silence fell between the two as they finished off their meals. Chenelle didn't feel as hungry as she did before. She was no longer excited to get back into the gang, but scared. After Raul was gone, she'd be all on her own again, meaning she'd have nobody being her insider, meaning she won't know when and where everyone is. Why was it that as soon as things began to fall apart, everyone seemed to run away? Raul snapped his styrofoam container in two, startling her and pulling her off of her train of thought.

“I don't know how I'm gonna tell Shaundi, though…” Raul trailed off.

“You can't tell me something I already know,” a third voice butted in. An eerie chill travelled down both of their spines, and they both turned towards the source. Shaundi stood in the frame of the archway, her hands folded over her small chest. Her eyes looked red as if she'd been smoking, but the heavy liner she usually wore was smudged all over her eyes making her resemble that of a panda bear’s eyes. Her nose was a bright red, and so were the tops of her cheeks. All around she looked like the epitome of distress. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, tilting her head towards the other shoulder. “Y’know if you're gonna plot something in a room that echoes, it would be bright to check all the rooms first.”

“Shaundi, I--”

“I don't want to hear any shit you have to say, Raul,” her voice cracked, “J-Just don't.”

Before he could get out another word, Shaundi turned towards the stairs and ran. Raul immediately followed, getting up and chasing after her. Chenelle sat there frozen in time, her food growing as cold as the atmosphere. Chenelle slid her food away and leaned her head on the table, her messy curls falling into her face. A strand tickled the tip of her nose, and she blew it away. She could hear Raul and Shaundi arguing upstairs while she still sat down here. She felt fourteen all over again, the day before her mom…

Chenelle dug into her pocket and pulled out her iPhone 3G, a gift Raul decided to give her for Christmas. He said they could talk on the phone, and at first, she thought it was ludicrous given they were around each other 24/7 since he had to watch over her, but now that he was leaving, it made more sense to her.

She pressed the home button and made her way to her contacts lists, slowly scrolling through the names. Her finger stopped when she reached Pierce. It's been months since she's heard his voice or felt his touch… He never came back into the room the day the boss came, so for the rest of her two weeks being stuck in that room, she was alone. Granted, Mel and Jeremiah kept her company via text, but it wasn't the same as being there with someone close. Though the remainder of her family came by, especially her father, who frequented his visits, she still felt lonesome at heart.

For a brief second, she considered texting him. Hell, even calling, but she knew she couldn't. Still, she opened up their conversation list, which was filled with short lines of texts she chose to ignore for so long. She tapped the bottom of her screen and the keyboard slid into view. Her fingers glided over the keyboard absentmindedly, and eventually after what felt like a couple of minutes, she closed her eyes and pressed send.

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