apathy (sequel to fervor)

૩Ձ | ᴛʜʀɪʟʟ.

૩Ձ | ᴛʜʀɪʟʟ.

"You do?" I asked Lorenzo. Lorenzo nodded, "Monae and i went to the park a few days before she disappeared. When we were leaving, Monae had bumped into this man, who just so happened to be M." I stepped towards Lorenzo, my lips spreading into a smile. "Can you remember what he looks like?" Lorenzo nodded in response, "Light skin, tattoos all over his neck, he had a tattoo of a music note by his eye, and his eyes were hazel."

"Dad!"

Dad came from the back, his eyes puffy from his tears. His tie was loosened up, and he had deep set wrinkles into his forehead. "What is it, Rami-" I cut him off, the words slurring together as I said them, "Lorenzo knows what M looks like!" I was too excited. Finally, we were one step ahead, at least to me. Dad looked at me, then Lorenzo. "You know what he looks like? You know what that sick motherfucker looks like?" He questioned. Lorenzo shrugged, "Yeah..He has a distinct tattoo. On his neck, there's a cross with a knife going through it."

"Fiend."

Lorenzo and I looked at Dad, who was biting down on his lip. "They're a gang. All about exporting drugs and..protituting women," He said, lowly. I could tell that the last part was hard for him. I couldn't imagine either one of my baby sisters as prostitutes. I've heard about some of the things that happen to them, first hand from Diana. Dad balled his fists up, clentching his jaw. "Ramiro, when Lorenzo and I were your age," he sighed, "we were in a gang. The Graveyard Mafia, which were rivals to the Fiends." 

Lorenzo lifted up his shirt a bit, and on his side was a tattoo of a cross that read, Family Affair. 

"That's how we met Blade," Lorenzo nodded, "he's a former Fiend." I raised my eyebrows, lifting myself up on the counter. "Do you think Blade knows who M is?" I asked. "He might, but there's no guarantee." Dad sighed, taking off his blazer and tie. "If M is sick enough to kidnap Monae, and Amir..he's probably sick enough to sell Monae. We need to get Monae back before that happens."

I nodded, "Do you need me to do anything?" Dad nodded. "Call Terrell, Blade, and tell them to bring X. X knows the ins and outs of the Fiends."

For the rest of the day, Lorenzo, Dad and I were in the basement, making up possible plans. This time, it was time sensitive. Since M was a new problem, we had to start from scratch. We needed possible locations, associates, anything that could get us as close to M as possible. We only had what he looked like; that wasn't much. There could be tons of people that fit that description, so we had to wade potential suspects out. 

We had a list of Dad's enemies on the table, and there had to be about 20 photos of men just spread out in front of me. "This list needs to be updated, bro," Lorenzo chcukled. "Well once I got married, and had kids, some of these men just..disappeared, like these two," Dad pointed to two guys, who were twins. They were white, with curly, brown hair. "The Christian twins," Lorenzo smiled, taking a seat. "All bark and no bite." Dad nodded, "They swore up and down that they were going to kill us.."

I listened to them tell stories about their days in the drug cartel. Some of the stories were interesting, hearing about how Dad used to go in buck wild and got them shot up a few times, and would try to sleep with "anything" that had a vagina between their legs. They stopped talking when there was a knock on the door, and it opened. Mom walked down the steps, with a man, who had wild, curly hair. He was holding Cayla in his arms, whose hands were tangled in his hair.

"Such a beautiful home, and a wife, and little girl," he smiled, revealing his pearly whites. Mom giggled, "Thank you." Dad stood up, coming over to them. "You're here for less than a minute, and you're already trying to get with my wife, huh, X?" X smiled, looking at Mom and Dad, "This one's a keeper," he told Mom, "always so jealous." 

Mom kissed Dad's cheek, and took Cayla back upstairs with her. "Lorenzo and Romelo," he snickered, "never thought I'd see you two together again in the same place." X looked toward me, "Holy shit, Romelo, what did you do? Clone yourself?" Dad smirked, returning to the table. "He does look like me, doesn't he? That's Ramiro." I smirked, "We get that all the time."  

X nodded, "I'm not surprised." 

We got a few snacks, and began talking about we were going to do about M and Monae. "Where's your oldest daughter? Thought she would be here?" X asked. "That's what you're here for," Lorenzo sighed, "Monae, Romelo's daughter has been kidnapped by a man who calls himself M. We thought that you would know him." X ran his hands through his thick afro, raising his eyebrows. "Pictures? Give me something I can work with here!" 

Lorenzo took a sip of his drink, leaning back in his chest. "He's a Fiend. Light skin, tattoos all over his neck, he has a tattoo of a musical note by his eye." "A Fiend, huh? Then you got a major problem on your hands." Dad nodded, "I know. Even worse, whoever M is has kidnapped my daughter's son, too." X rubbed his temples, closing his eyes.

"Martin Thompson."

"What?" Dad asked. X leaned forrward in his chair, his eyes opening up. "Martin Cortez Thompson. Boy is batshit insane. Martin escaped from a mental instution about three years ago. He has a brother, Jose. He sends Jose out to do his bidding, like sending his victims eyes and tongues..your daughter been getting that type of shit?" Dad nodded. X sighed, "Martin's in his mid-twenties...twenty-four to twenty-seven. He has a thing for young teenage girls. Real pretty ones. Sometimes he gets them preg-"

The can in Dad's hand popped, the soda in the can spilling out. He had his jaw clenched tightly, his head cocked to the side, "Did you say that he gets them..pregnant?" X bit his lip, "Ooh, lets skip over that. Anyway, like I was saying, Martin's a sick son of a bitch. Problem is, we just can't find him. This nigga is paranoid as hell, so he houses all over the US, some in Europe..I think he has one in Japan."

"Romelo, sweetie, there's someone to see you!" Mom chimed. The door opened, and Mom walked down the stairs, her visitor following behind her. She left him there, and he had his hands tucked into his pockets, and he stared at all of us, beginning to smile. 

"Well fuck me," Dad mumbled. 

"Dante? What are you doing here?"