Serenity

Fourteen

"You wanna hit this?" Jamal asked, passing me the blunt.

I was hesitant at first, but then I decided why not?

"Aye, man! Didn't yo ass say you was on the basketball team?" Kelvin asked.

"Yea. So?" I asked, wondering what had got him so hype all of a sudden.

"Doesn't that mean they gon' be drug testing yo lil ass," he said, snatching the blunt from between my lips.

I smacked my lips.

"Dude, you tripping," I said. "Ain't nobody said nothing about no drug test," I said with an attitude.

"They ain't gon' say it. That's how they get you," Kelvin argued back.

"The season ain't even started yet," I said, taking the blunt back.

"Okay, you lil hard headed fucker. Don't say I didn't try to warn yo ass."

"Whatever," I said looking out the window.

It was late at night, and eerily quiet down here at one of these lil spots on Southside. I think the crickets were even too afraid to chirp.

We all sat inside of an old, black Chevy S-10 truck that Cole had hot wired from a used car lot.

"Y'all sure this the place?" He asked looking straight ahead out the windshield.

"This the address I was given," Kelvin replied.

I knew I probably shouldn't have been with them right now in this moment, but shit, I didn't have nothing else to do.

My moms had locked herself up in her room in one of her depressed moods that she'd get in every now and then when she was missing my dad.

I couldn't stand to stay at home and listen to her whimpers, so I had the boys come pick me up.

Jamal told me that they were on their way to hit a stain, but I wanted to come along for the ride.

"There go one of them niggas right there," Jamal said lowering his voice.

"Lil niggas think they doing something since they robbed one of Ace's spots, but they just don't know what they got coming."

I watched outside of the window as the young man in the white tee stood there on the sidewalk talking on his cell phone.

It was hard to see his face since it was so dark out. The yellow street light flickering on and off didn't cast enough glow. I didn't know how they could tell they had the right guy since his face was barely visible.

From the looks of the parts of his frame that I could make out, he looked to be my age or close to it. Another young nigga gone down the wrong path that was about to lead to his death. It's possible that I was on my way down that path too.

"There's another one," Cole pointed out as a second male figure made his way up the sidewalk and to the other dude that was standing there.

"Y'all know this could possibly lead to war right?" Jamal asked.

"They must want war. They started it. They took the first hit on Ace. You scared?" Kelvin asked.

"You know I ain't scared of shit. I was just letting it be known that this shit could start getting ugly real quick."

"They ain't gone know who did it," Cole said. "I mean it's southside. This could've been done by anyone."

"Enough talking," Kelvin said. "We just need to get this shit over with before somebody notices us. Malik, stay in the car and lay low. Cole, keep this bitch running," Kelvin said as he grabbed his gun and got ready to get the job done.

"Jamal, you ready?"

"Yessir," was his response before they jumped out the car and started running.

I heard some scuffling and then some gun shots were fired. After that it went dead silent. I wanted to look out of the window and see what was happening, but I knew Kelvin would be mad.

A few minutes later, I heard footsteps running back towards the truck.

"Yea, we got them niggas!" Jamal shouted as him and Kelvin jumped in.

Cole instantly sped off, not even giving them enough time to close their doors.

I took a peek out the window and caught a glimpse of the two bodies laying lifeless in a puddle of blood on the sidewalk. Two more lives taken.