Chip drives through the streets of Inglewood, which was a couple of miles from Downtown L.A. "Vanessa's aunt lives in this neighborhood" He says to himself as he turns into a street which was the same as the address Vanessa gave him. "Little blue house" he mumbles looking back at the piece of paper where he wrote the address details. He lets out an exhale in relief as he sees it, his body humming in excitement as he pulls into the driveway before getting out of the car. He rushes to the front door and rings the bell, wiping his clammy hands against his shirt since he was sweating. But no one answers. He rings again but nothing happens. She must not be home, he thinks to himself as he looks into the window. "What the fuck?" He says, seeing the house. completely empty and with no furniture. He backs away from the door, deciding to get back in his car, unsure of what else to do. "Hey, you" he hears a voice. He turns around, panicked seeing only a woman standing there with a look of suspicion in his face. "Hi," he says trying to play it cool. "You lost?" She asks coming up to him, though keeping a distance. "Uh maybe. What uh happened to the lady that lived in this house?" Then realization came over her face, "Oh you mean Miss Mari. Oh, she moved about a month ago, the house been empty since" He nods, knowing this was bad. "How do you know her?" She asks, probably thinking some stranger would be looking for her. "Oh uh," Chip was at a loss for words. "She is the aunt of my girlfriend," I say, "we were gonna come visit but I guess we're a little late," he says with a nervous chuckle. She furrows her eyebrow, "I didn't know Ms. Mari had family. She was always alone most of the time, didn't even have visitors" she crossed her arms as if she caught me in a lie. "Well, she hasn't seen her in a long time so we were gonna come down and surprise her" She was unsure and looked around for a second, "So, where's your girlfriend?" She asks and Chip's mouth dries up. "Uh, she's in town right now" The woman studies his face before relaxing, sticking out her hand to him, "Okay, well I'm Veronica. You can call me Ronni for short" Chip lets out a nervous smile while shaking her hand, "I'm Chip" Ronni smiles before standing there for a second unsure what else to say. "Well since you probably don't have anything else to do, wanna come over and wait at my house? It would be rude to leave you out here" she suggests and Chip hesitates, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. "Oh no, it's okay I don't want to be any trouble" She smiles, "It's no trouble at all, it only be until your girlfriend gets back" Chip sighs before nodding, agreeing that he didn't really have anything else to do right now. They both walk about a block away, making it to her apartment. She opens the door and they are greeted by music playing from her kitchen. "Hey baby" we hear and another woman walks into the room, her smile fading when she sees me. "Who are you?" She asks but Ronni reassures her. "It's okay, babe," she says giving the woman a kiss. "Chip this is my girlfriend, Maya. And Maya this is Chip" Maya studied his face as she shook his hand, unsure whether she should trust him. "So, drinks?" Ronni asks to kill the silence.
"Wait here" Mikey mumbles, getting out of the car, after he parks in front of a club. Vanessa waits for him to go inside before she frantically looks around the car. "Fuck" she says realizing he took the phone. She tugs at the chain hoping she could somehow break it. She groans knowing that was useless. She closes her eyes, trying to collect herself, knowing she couldn't freak out if she wanted to get out of here. She looks around the car, trying to find something to help her break the chain of the cuffs. She sees a toolbox under the seat next to the door. She looks around, making sure no one was around before moving her torso between the seats, extending her arm to try to reach the tin box. She was so focused on trying to reach it that she didn't notice Mikey walking up to the car. He opens the back seat, taking the box "Nice try" he says before placing it in the trunk. "Fuck" she mumbles as she sits back down in her seat, knowing there was nothing she could do now.
"So, Chip tell us about yourself," Ronni asks as they sat in the living room, a beer in their hands. Chip was always really bad at keeping conversations so this was really awkward for him. "Well, um I'm uh turning 26 in a few months. And uh I was born in Louisiana" he says unsure what else to say. "And you said you have a girlfriend?" She asks and Chip nods, though guilt rises in his chest knowing that she was in danger. "Uh yeah, we actually met," he pauses knowing he needed to lie "About a year ago" "Oh so things are pretty serious" "Uh yeah, she's actually pregnant" "Aw that's so sweet, so do you plan to settle in L.A?" She asks and Chip pauses, thinking about it. "I'm not sure, everything has been so crazy lately we haven't really talked about it. She actually doesn't know that I know" "Oh?" "I found the pregnancy test a few days ago so she hasn't really told me yet" Ronni nods, "So what's her name?" "Vanessa" Ronni nods before speaking, "You know I actually have known Ms. Maribel since I was a kid. I've lived in this neighborhood my whole life" "Really?" She nods, "Yeah you know I do remember when Ms. Mari had her brother staying with her for a while," She thought for a second before speaking again, "Oh yeah, I remember they had a daughter" "You remember her?" Chip asks, knowing he didn't know much about Vanessa's life. "Yeah, wow it was so long ago. I didn't know her well but she didn't go out much" then her gaze saddened, "Her parents weren't the nicest," she says and Chip sighs, remembering what Vanessa told him. "What happened?" "Well, I used to live across the street from the house so I pretty much saw them daily. Vanessa and I never really talked, she was really quiet so she stayed indoors most days. Her parents weren't around much so she was alone a lot, only being with her aunt, they were really close. After she left, her parents left soon after so we never saw them again. I figured she moved away with family elsewhere since she wasn't around before her parents moved away too" Chip nods, "Did you know about her parents being..?" Chip drifted off unsure how to put it into words. "You mean about how her mom drank a lot? Yeah, most of the kids knew about what went on in that house. Her father was worse" she said a look of faint disgust on her face as she looked down. The room was silent for a second until Ronni speaks up again, "But I'm guessing things turned out alright for her" she said to lighten the mood. Chip taps his foot anxiously, feeling stuck about what was going to happen now.
