Crooked

Eleven

Crooked

Eleven

         "Thank you, Jesus! Thank you!" Travante yelled out as he fell on to the sidewalk, kissing it. Crook and Saint gave each of the boys $100 so they can go home from Queens back to the Bronx, but they blew most of it by catching a cab to take them from one borough to another.

"That was so fuckin cool, yo! It was so fuckin cool!" Travante exclaimed with glee as he hopped on to Leroy. "Look at us we all fucked up this shit is crazy!" Leroy was thankful that he was still alive especially after he thought he was done for. However, he was still sad about the cut he had on his face because he knew it would leave a permanent mark.

"What's wrong?" Travante said, seeing the look on Leroy's face. It was 3 a.m and the boys made it back safely to the west side of the Bronx. Leroy didn't reply he just touched the side of his face where the cut laid.

"Man, fuck that nigga Banko! It's not even that bad," Travante said, taking a closer look at Leroy's incision. It had stopped bleeding, but you could see the pink meat behind the cut.

"Don't worry once that shit heals its gon look hot! Now niggas can call you Scarface or Jagged Edge in the hood!"

Leroy shook his head at his friend's attempt to try to make him feel better. He didn't even want to go back home. It was bad enough that he had a cut on his face where it was visible to everybody but now, he had to face Epiphany. He didn't know what lie he would tell her.

"C'mon Leroy! Cheer up man, at least we not dead! We bouta be making racks on top of racks! What's wrong?"

"Epiphany..." Leroy said, finally speaking, "What am I supposed to tell her?"

Leroy knew his cover would be blown if he couldn't come up with a believable story. Truthfully, he didn't want to stop selling drugs because it was bringing in money. He was able to afford the sneakers he always wanted even though he had to hide many of them from Epiphany so she wouldn't question him and grow suspicious.

Although he didn't want to kill anymore, he was willing to do it for the money. He didn't want Epiphany to get in the way of that and he knew that if she found out about what he was doing, she would put an end to it because she believed no money was worth her brother's life.

"Gimme your shoes," Travante said, a lightbulb clicking on in his head.

"What?" Leroy replied, shocked and confused.

"Just gimme them, I have an idea."

Leroy looked at Travante weirdly but started to do what he was told. One by one, Leroy took off the black and gold Kobe 8s he had on and handed them over to Travante.

"Just tell her you got robbed for ya sneakers with me and they ended up cuttin' your face cause you ain't give them no money."

Leroy's eyebrows slowly furrowed but then went back to its regular shape when he understood Travante's plan. "Tha--- that's a good idea!" Leroy exclaimed.

"I know nigga, thank me later!" Travante spoke.

The two boys did their handshake before parting ways. It was hard for Leroy to walk home with just his socks on because rocks kept poking his feet, but at least it was all for a good reason. Leroy ran in to his project building and quickly caught the pissy elevator. He rode it up to the 7th floor where he and Epiphany lived. Leroy got off and groaned once he saw that the lights were off in the hallway. Somebody had busted them.

He couldn't wait until he made it out of the projects so he wouldn't have to deal with elevators that had piss in them or broken hallway lights. He silently said a prayer to himself before he lowly knocked on the door. Nobody came to the door, resulting in Leroy knocking harder. He could hear the locks unlatching on the other side of the door, before it swung open.

"Get the fuck in the house!" Epiphany barked, with an attitude. She sounded sleepy and like she had been crying.

She couldn't see the cut he had on his face because the lights were off in the hallway and in their apartment. "Ahhhh, E stop!" Leroy shouted, when Epiphany started hitting him.

"You got me over here, crying, thinkin' something happened to you and here you are coming in the house at 3:30 in the fuckin' morning? You think you fuckin' grown huh?" Epiphany yelled at him, as she raised her hand and slapped him across his face.

She had slapped him so hard that his cut had started bleeding again. Epiphany felt the warm substance on her hand, and she furrowed her eyebrows, confused. She then rushed to turn on the light. After looking at Leroy for a while she was speechless.

"Wh-what happened to you?" Epiphany spoke, unable to make her voice higher than a whisper.

She observed her brother's face and saw the nasty gash he had on it. She looked down at his feet and saw that he had no shoes on. "I---I got robbed," Leroy replied, looking down at the floor. "Me and Travante did, they took our shoes, held us hostage and they cut me 'cause I ain't had no money to give them."

Epiphany's hand flew over her mouth in shock. She couldn't help it when her body started quivering and her eyes started to water. "Oh my God, is Travante okay?" Epiphany couldn't hold her tears back any longer. "We need to call the police!" She panicked. "You have to go to the hospital Leroy, look at your face! Look at your face!"

"N-no." Leroy stuttered on purpose, to make his story more believable. "Don't call the police."

"What do you mean don't call the police? They have to find who did this to you!"

"E-E I'm scared. What if they come back lookin' for me and Travante, knowing we told on them? Do not call the cops, please, it's over," Leroy practically begged.

Leroy should've won best male actor later that year at the Oscars. His sister's heart and face softened as she looked at him. "Put on some shoes, we're going to the hospital so they can sew that cut up. I-I apologize for buggin' out."

Leroy took a while before he responded. "It's aight."

Epiphany watched him as he made his way to the back room, profusely wiping at her eyes.
She hoped that she wouldn't lose the only reason she still put up with life, to the streets of the Bronx.

                                                                •••

Epiphany looked at the bouquet of magnolias that sat on the coffee table. Magnolias were her father's favorite flowers, and she was going to bring them to his grave today. It would be her first time visiting him since he died. Leroy didn't want to go, he insisted on going to Travante's house instead. Epiphany knew that Leroy was running away from facing his emotions that stemmed from their father's death, but she didn't know how to approach the situation. She couldn't force him to do anything that he didn't want to do.