That Old Thang

IX | the truest betrayal.

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"Everyone knows the truth don't set you free, it just makes it easier to be trapped."

"So you never told me what happened to your parents." Alyzai said, looking down at her nails.

From the look on his face when he found out about Linx, she knew the rumor that Lamar had told her wasn't fully true. This was a topic that Alyzai and Jaimir had never talked about before, because of this it made anything easy to believe. However, she knew Jaimir to be big on family- isn't that why he saved her life?

Jaimir hesitated for a while before leaning back against the headboard where Alyzai was also laying. He looked up to the ceiling and seemed to fall into a daze. "You never asked."

"Well I'm asking now." She said, sitting up and looking down at him. "You know about my parents and my... brother."

Jaimir flicked his tongue across his lips and nodded. "That's fair." He replied simply before standing up and pulling his keys out his pockets. "To really explain... you gotta actually see. You know what I'm sayin'? Like that's the only way you will understand."

1991

Jaimir ran down the street, his small timberland boots stomping on the ground as he flew pass all the people on his block. The trees shaded him from the summer sun as the other kids playing jumprope and riding their bikes waved at him.

Back then, he was only around seven years old and everyone knew him as Juno and Coyote's kid. Coyote was the hood's favorite drug dealer- cheap on prices, nice on the economy, and as long as you didn't fuck with him or his family then you had no real reason to fear him. This was his downfall in the end.

Once young Jaimir hit the corner, he turned around and ran the other way where he could see his big house visibly down the street. His mother was laughing and joking with some of her friends as he ran back to her.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look!" Jaimir called out as he started running faster.

Juno couldn't hear him over her own laughter and when he fell, so did everything else.

The sound of a car coming around the block caught everyone's attention as two men hung out of separate windows and took down every last female on Jaimir's front porch. Jaimir screamed so loud that he couldn't hear anything but his own screams as the old lady from next door came and picked him up from the ground. It was the worse day ever.

Miss Pearl had made him his favorite meal; hamburger helper with kool-aid, to distract him from the current events but Jai didn't want to eat. He wanted his mother and Pearl wasn't letting that happen.

Red and blue lights bounced off the walls all day until they finally cleared the scene and taped yellow tape around his porch.

"Does this mean I can't never go home?" Jaimir asked, his sad eyes looking up to the old lady.

She nodded slowly and leaned down to him. "Sometimes, bad things happen to good people." She whispered.

"My mom was a good people, wasn't she?" Jai asked, looking out the window, his tears no longer accepting tears.

Miss Pearl nodded again. "She was a great person."

Coyote never came to get him from Miss Pearl house. Ten years later, when Jai was seventeen, Miss Pearl passed away from lupus.

Jaimir started getting into the streets heavily then because after her death, Jai ran away from home- leaving her stiff body in the bed for someone else to find- to stay away from the system.

Out in the streets was where he met Kase, Linx, and Sajai, where all the bullshit began.

Little did he know, Kase was responsible for the death of both of his parents.

"You dad's name was Coyote?" Alyzai asked, trying to remember where she had even heard the name before. It seemed so familiar and it was right at the tip of her tongue.

"Well, it was his street name so everybody just called him that. I know it's a funny name." Jaimir said quietly as they sat in the car in front of Jai's childhood home where his house and Miss Pearl's was abandoned now. "I used to just come over and just chill for years. Trying to get over it."

"Did you ever get over it?" Alyzai asked.

Jaimir shook her head. "I never will. If I could take it all back and just go back to this day to stop everything, to warn my mom. I would."

Alyzai wanted to joke and say he wanted "that old thing back" but she knew it wasn't the time so she remained quiet and watched him fall into another daze.

"That's why... with Linx and Sajai. They're my family and what they had to go through- man, because of Kase? And he's still alive? Do you even know what I would do if I knew who killed my family?" Jaimir asked, looking over at her as he shook his head. "I was seven, didn't even get to know them for real. They didn't even get to know me, shit because the streets made me."

Alyzai nodded, pointing at her face. "If this is someone who betrayed you, I can only imagine what someone who killed your family looks like."

Jaimir shook his head before taking her cheeks into his palms. "I'm sorry, Zai." He whispered before kissing her face. "Once this is over. It's over. I promise."

Alyzai nodded.

***

It was Wednesday, the day that Kase would make his final judgement for Alyzai- the day they would end all of the bullshit that he had put them each through.

There were two different plans now in effect after Alyzai told Jaimir everything that was going down. Since Lamar wasn't answering Alyzai's calls, they had to work with what they had. Brie was on the inside, setting everything up so that they could make the move on Kase.

If the plan was still working, Lamar would go to Kase with some inside information. But since Alyzai didn't know what Lamar was doing anymore, Jaimir and Linx came up with their own solution.

Since they already work for Kase, and Kase is looking for Alyzai- they were going to bring her and in order to save her life, she was going to spill some information. If things clashed with Lamar and Alyzai, Alyzai would rat Lamar out and say that it was all a setup.

Of course that would only end two ways.

"Y'all ready?" Linx asked, looking back to Sajai and Alyzai.

Alyzai nodded but Sajai didn't say anything. The whole time she remained quiet and it was starting to get a bit odd for Alyzai.

They all piled out the car; Alyzai tied up and looking beating up with Sajai and Jaimir guiding her to the large house. Linx led the way and Alyzai couldn't help be her flashbacks of when she first arrived at this house in the same position where Jaimir made the deal of a lifetime to keep her alive.

Linx knocked twice then waited before the door was snatched opened and someone no one recognized answered the door.

Once they were inside, they noticed that no one was there. Something didn't feel right, but once Linx and Sajai pointed guns on Jaimir and Alyzai, everything started to make sense.

"Welcome." They heard come from above on the stairs. When Alyzai looked up and saw Lamar, she could've passed out, but she didn't.