Ganja on Fourth Street

Chapter Fifteen

Emmanuel Jackson

It was eight and I was standing outside of Laken's building waiting for her to come out. I texted her two minutes ago and she said she was on her way down. I was ready to kill someone tonight. That bike was my father's and it was the only thing I had of his to remember him by.

My parents both died together when I was ten years old. They were both affiliated with drug and prositute trafficking. They spent most of their life trying to hide from cops and kingpins that they owed money to. In the midst of all this, they were trying to keep me safe from harm. I couldn't really have any friends and I had to come straight home from school. Most of the time I stayed over at Shade's house and went to them when they thought it was safe.

One night when I was staying over at Shade's, there was a big shootout in a nearby alley. Both my parents were found shot to death. I had to stay with Shade ever since.

"Hey." Laken said as she came out the building.

"Took your ass five minutes to come downstairs?"

"I was talking to Xae. He's still mad from earlier...he needs to get off my case, though. I'm not a child."

"No, in this neighborhood he has to be worried."

"Oh whatever. Why are we going to the Bronx?"

"Some niggas stole my bike earlier. About to go get it." I said as we walked towards the train station.

"What if you can't find them?"

"I spoke to Xae earlier and he told me the neighborhood he found them at."

"Your not planning on hurting anyone are you?" She asked.

I smacked my teeth, "why you so worried about somebody getting hurt? Nigga sock me in my jaw then took off with my bike—my fathers bike. That shit mean something to me, yo."

She grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking. We stood there for a few seconds before I took a deep breath.

"Your not about to go stabbing someone. Your gonna handle it as best you can without that level of violence, okay?"

It was obvious this girl still had a lot to learn about the ways of the hood. There was no soft talk around here. If you steal some shit and get caught, most likely you were in for a serious beat down.

"Okay." I said just to shut her up.

"Okay then come on."

We hopped on a train and the ride was about an hour and thirty minutes long. We got off on the third to last stop and went up the steps. Luckily the neighborhood was only a couple blocks away so we didn't have to do that much walking.

When we got near the area, we spotted a bunch of guys by a corner store, talking it up. I looked closer and spotted the same nigga that took my bike, on it drinking an Arizona.

"Stay right here." I told her as I left her across the street. I went over to the corner store and balled up my fist, giving him a good punch in the side of his face.

He fell off my bike as I continued to pound my fist in his face. I didn't stop until I saw blood.

"EJ! Enough!" I heard Laken yell.