ONE SHOTS | BOOK 2

Dave East.

Flashback after flashback after flashback. He sits painfully still while staring into space with his gaze showing no intentions of shifting. Having grown up in the hood, a murder or dead body was nothing new unfortunately, but he had a bad feeling about this time, this person, this whole situation.

~

"Yo Melo, where you at?!" His groggy and husky voice boomed through the empty driveway. It was pretty dark because of the winter days but he quickly noticed car rear lights in the misty distance. By force of habit, he squints his eyes and shakes his head as he puts what's left of his blunt out.

"I need to stop passing by your house when I'm in your ends because what is this?" Dave spoke lowly to himself as he finally made it up the hilltop house. Surprisingly, there was no one in the car but he quickly spotted Afro-head Melo in front of the car, scrubbing the floor viciously. He slowly looked around him to see the blood drops and his bloodied footprints that had marked their presence thus far. Dave frantically pulled his phone out to switch the torch on.

"You need to help me man," Melo panted as he scrubbed away. "I didn't mean to do it!" He pleaded to Dave.

Carmelo Sands, otherwise known as just Melo, was the younger brother of Dave's longtime friend who passed away. One of his requests was for Dave to look out for Melo and keep him out of the streets, but judging by what he was seeing, he was failing dismally at doing what was asked of him.

Dave paused for a minute to take his surroundings in, "Where's the body? Who was it Melo?!"

"Doesn't matter. I got rid of everything. Imma need you to take the car to my guy to get it cleaned."

"Melo!" Dave yelled, only for his words to land on deaf ears.

"He's just down the road, I'll scrub here and clean this shit up and-"

"Melo! Fuck is you telling me?! You just killed somebody?!"

"Yaz said I could only trust you, you need to help me!"

They argued back and forth until Dave found himself cleaning the scene to help Melo. He had too many questions but he knew he couldn't talk to Melo in the state he was in. After hours of cleaning up, Melo was about to hop into the car before sharing a compassionate hug with Dave. To say he was scared was an understatement and this was  conversation they would just need to have on another day.

"Thank you man," he said softly.

"You know how this goes right? Don't say shit to nobody." Dave instructed.

"I gotchu."

Dave noticed Melo holding on a bit longer but he took it as him being startled, not knowing there was a downside.

Hours went by with Dave being on the road, trying to make sense of what he'd witnessed. His friend's 18 year old brother had just done something that would change his life forever. He felt like he hadn't done what was asked of him. How could he have prevented Melo from the streets when he had been pushing his grind? Was Melo meant to be his responsibility?

All these thoughts ran through Dave's mind until he parked at a twenty-four hour diner downtown. He watched the sunrise before getting out of his Mustang.

~ End of flashback ~

Dave snaps out of his daze as he finally gets the thoughts to stop replaying in his head. He constantly stares down at his hands, almost seeing the blood on them.

"Those hands better be ready to grab a fork and a knife with the way you're looking at them, can I take your order?" A lady asks as she stands beside Dave's table, clearly unimpressed that he'd been sitting for so long without a word.

"I... uh," he gently massages the brim of his nose. "Let me get a..."

"Hold on, David Brewster? Milton High's number one jock?" The waitress's voice turns an octave higher after noticing him.

Dave, still distort, looks up to see who she is and a warm smile curves on his face. "No way, Y/N Hill, who would've thought?"

The two share a moment of catching up and reminiscing.

"It's like you didn't change, like no time passed by. You know I had a crush on you?" Dave states as he plays with his facial hair. By now the tension in his body has been released.

"You play too much," she laughs before confirming his order one more time. "Let me get you that number 5."

"With some Earl tea please baby," he says as she shakes her head.

"Okay old man, coming right up,"

"Breaking news, another young black man has succumbed to gang violence once again. The 18 year old male, who hasn't yet been identified was last seen alive in an alleged corner store earlier yesterday. More news on this developing story..."

"No..." Y/N dropped her notepad and pen to the ground.

The crack in her voice sent chills down Dave's spine. He immediately knew what she was implying.

"You good?" Dave asks, trying to calm her down as his own muscles tense up.

"That was my brother."

~

Happy Wednesday! Please let me know if I should make a part 2 to this... 👀