delirium (sequel to apathy)

08

          08

"Where in the hell, did you take my only child, Ramiro?! Where is my son?!" 

"Monae, please calm down, damn!" 

Ramiro held the phone away from him, looking at me with a frown on his face. Mom continued to scream at him on the other line, cussing him out. I heard Grandpa chuckle, shaking his head as he returned his attention back to the window. "I told you to call her before you did this," he smirked, mumbling. I bit my lip, and adjusted in my seat, sighing as I relaxed back. Ramiro began to pace back and forth, trying his best to calm her down, but his attempts were terrible. 

Ramiro..forgot to mention to Mom that I was going with him and Grandpa to Japan. She had came home from work, and I wasn't there, panicking. She said that she nearly filed a missing persons report on me. 

"Calm down? The hell? You are nearly halfway across the world with my son, and you want me to calm down?! You're lucky you aren't here..I would've wrung your neck. I know Amir is listening, he probably looks like a fucking deer caught in headlights!" 

I looked down into my lap, and Ramiro handed me the phone, rubbing the back of his neck. He went back to his seat, sighing deeply as he put his feet. I took the phone off of speaker, leaving my seat to have some privacy. I heard Mom sigh, and I bit my lip. I was going to try to smooth this over, using my charm. She couldn't resist my charm, even when she's mad. 

"Hi mommy," I smiled, trying my best to hide my nerves.

"Don't you try that with me, Amir." 

I pouted, "It wasn't my fault! Ramiro packed my things and got me from school.."

"That doens't mean that you couldn't call me and tell me what was going on." 

I sighed, leaning against the wall. I could hear the tiredness in her voice, and I felt bad for making her go into a panic. I really should've called her, but Ramiro was rushing me through the airport so I didn't have anytime to. I didn't want her to worry about me so much, but I was her only child, and the only person she had at this moment. "I know, ma, I know.." I mumbled. 

"King, you know I love you, and I just want you to be safe. Don't do anything Grandpa and Ramiro wouldn't do, alright?" 

I nodded, "I love you too, Mommy."

She laughed, "Aw, baby. Promise you'll buy me something while you're in Japan?" 

I started to smile, "No doubt." I hung up the phone, leaving out of the back room and returning to my seat. I tossed Ramiro his phone back, and he raised his eyebrow at me. "How did it go?" I shook my head, "I smoothed it over. I still think Mom is going to kill you when we get back though." Ramiro sighed, "Of course." I sat back down in my seat, playing with my hands.

Since we finally had time to breathe. I decided to ask them about what we were going to do in Japan. Ramiro wouldn't tell me anything about it, even though I had begged him most of the ride. It spiked my interests, as for one, I had never been to Japan, and two, I didn't know what the hell was going on. I was just in school, now I'm probably halfway across the globe, and I don't know why. 

"So.." I began, "what are we going to do in Japan?" 

"First, we're going to meet up with X. Martin used to a Fiend, and X knows everything about them." 

Ramiro handed me a folder, and upon opening it up, a photo of Martin being the first thing on top of all the papers. I pushed it aside, and there was a picture of a tattoo, a cross with a knife going through it. "Read through some of it, it'll help you understand more about Martin and what he did." I nodded at him, beginning to skim through some of the information. Martin was in a gang, called the Fiends, which were big on drugs and pimping women out. 

Apparently, Martin was the second in command to the leader, and had several connections. He was a paranoid man, who moved from place to place, often. He was also in a mental institution before, but he had broken out. It was surprising..he also knew Dad. Maybe that was how he found Mom? It was a wild guess, but since Dad and him used to be friends, maybe he kept tabs on Dad, and when he found out that he had checked himself in to a mental institution, he found out about him and Mom.

Then he decided to move onto Mom, and had waited until she was vulnerable..and once she was..the rest was history. 

Reading through the rest of the papers, nothing really stood out at me. All the other sheets had listed what Martin did over the years, and his long ass rap sheet. He had been in and out of jail for so many years, I guess one day, they just gave up on him. I closed the folder, handing it back to Ramiro. Taking a deep breath, I wondered what I was getting myself into. 

All for Mom and Dad..damn. 

I really hope all of this is really worth it. 

When we had landed in Japan, it was night. The city was noisy, and lively. People roamed the streets, going in and out of various clubs, getting rides, almost anything that I could imagine. I believe I saw a few prostitutes, too. Everything was almost like a blur as we rode past the people in the limo. Ramiro and Grandpa were too busy with their own conversation, and I didn't bother to jump in. 

I watched as the night life began to disappear, replaced by a dense forest. For a while, it was just trees, then we came up on a gigantic mansion, almost out of the blue. The limo pulled up into the circular driveway, allowing me to get a better view of the mansion. From the outside, it looked like it had about fifty rooms inside. It was red brick, with white accents. Getting out of the limo, my legs felt a bit like jelly from sitting for so long. 

There was a butler at the front door, and I assumed that he was waiting for us. 

"Master August," he pushed the door aside to let us enter, and Grandpa smiled, smacking the man on the back. The poor man looked like he had been shot in the spine from the way Grandpa hit him, and he began coughing as we all walked past him. My eyes widened at the decor on the inside.

Everything seemed to be made of gold, or at least had some type of decoration that involved the color. Whoever X was must make a ton of money, to afford all this. I guess this was how you lived when you had drug money, and were single..because I know for a fact that Grandpa doesn't live like this, anymore. It makes me wonder if he still owns those homes that he used to use? 

"Romelo!"

Turning my attention to the man on the stairs, he smiled down at us, his huge, curly afro framing his face. He shifted his vision to me, raising his eyebrows. "And who is this new face?" I assumed that this man was X, and my assumptions were proved correct when Grandpa introduced me. 

"X, this is Monae's son."

He grinned, coming down the stairs to meet me. He pulled me into a hug, one that knocked the wind out of my lungs. He patted me on the back, placing his hands on my shoulders when I pulled away. "So you're Amir," he smirked, "you look like your mother." I grinned, "I get that often." He released my shoulders, turning on his heel. "Well, the meeting room is all set up. Sorry y'all had to come all the way here, since I couldn't get a flight." 

"You mean you were just too lazy to get one," Grandpa smirked. 

We followed behind X to his meeting room, a room with a long, huge table. There were leather, office chairs on every side of the table, and I sat down, X tossing a binder, and a few folders on the table. He sighed, and sat down, looking at each of us before kicking his feet up on the table. I felt like something was off, here. The tension in the room was thick, and it worried me. 

X focused on me, and frowned. 

"Now, this is going to be something hard to swallow.." he began, making me raise my eyebrow. 

He reached over and grabbed one of the folders, pulling out a photo. It looked like it was Martin, and that it was a recent photo. But it could also be old, or something we've never seen before. But still, what did X mean? I hope it wasn't something that could damage our plan.. 

"What is it?" Grandpa asked. 

X swallowed hard, and leaned forward. He seemed to be hesitating, and that made Grandpa only rush him more. 

"...Martin may..or may not...be dead."