delirium (sequel to apathy)

12

        12

                                   ＰＴ １．

I was seeing red. 

My grip tightened on the steering wheel as I continued to think about the little "present" addressed to my mother. 

Who in the fuck sends someone a hand?

That's some psychotic bullshit. 

Taking a deep breath, I stopped at the red light, taking the time to look at Mom. I could feel her eyes on me since we got in the car, a worried expression spread across her face. She bit her lip, just staring at me, like she was trying to decode a secret message. When she came home and saw the hand on the floor, I simply grabbed my keys, ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mom hadn't said a word to me since we had got in the car, and it was beginning to irk me. I knew that she didn't have an explanation for what was going on, but I was really trying not to just explode in this car. 

I just needed some answers, and I needed them now. I didn't give a fuck if it was late. I wanted to get to the bottom of the shit, before someone really does take advantage of the situation we're in and kills Dad, or harms Mom. Somewhere, some sick motherfucker, had sent my mother a fucking hand. Not just any old tongue or an eye or some shit like that, this was a fucking hand!

The light turned green, and I continued to drive. It wasn't long before we had pulled up at our destination, and I didn't even bother to cut the engine to the car before getting out. I heard Mom do it for me, and I turned my attention to the door, ringing the doorbell several times. I heard Grandpa's loud voice from inside, and he swung the door open, standing there with a baseball bat. 

"...You almost got your head knocked clean off, boy. What the fuck are you doing here this late?" 

"You won't believe what Mom received in the mail," I told him, my voice laced with annoyance and attitude. 

It was obvious that he realized that I wasn't in the mood, as he let Mom and I in the house without another word. I watched him close the door and place the bat by the door, turning on the kitchen light. He kissed the top of Mom's head, and lifted himself onto the counter, his eyebrows raised at both of us. 

"So what was it, this time?" he asked. 

I pulled out my phone, showing the severed hand to him. His eye widened, looking at me like I had showed him the devil himself. He placed my phone on the counter beside him, giving his attention to Mom. He pulled her in by her hands, Mom dropping her head. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded. I simply stood there, my hands stuffed in my pockets. I could hear some of what they were saying, their whispers only making me curious. 

"You're going to have to make a decision here, baby.." 

"But..I can't..I want him to be safe.."

"Baby girl..I know. But you have something else to worry about here..have you even told him?" 

Mom sighed, shaking her head.

"I suggest you do it, sooner or later. I can see it clear as day, Monae." 

Mom nodded, looking over her shoulder at me. It was pretty clear they were talking about me, or something that might have to deal with me. I decided not to worry over it though, as I was mainly worried about the damn hand that someone left on our doorstep, earlier. 

"Well fuck..I guess we should call Lorenzo, huh?" 

He hopped off the counter, going over to the phone. I watched him as he dialed his number, Lorenzo picking up right away. "You won't believe what I've just saw, little brother." Grandpa smirked, looking at me. "King's brought in some crazy shit..I'm thinking we'll have to take a trip, or two." Lorenzo took a while to respond, but soon Grandpa grinned, and hung up the phone. 

"He's on his way," he said. 

For a while, we waited around for him, and I was the first one to spot the headlights on Lorenzo's car. Grandpa opened the door for him, Lorenzo walking in with a binder. All of the noise had woken Grandma up, and she came from the hallway, approaching me. "Look at this boy, Monae. What are you feeding him? He's only seventeen and looks like a grown man," she smiled at me, pinching my cheeks. 

Mom gave me a soft smile, "Dante was nineteen and looked like he was about twenty-five, so I guess he gets it from his father.." 

"Okay, okay, enough with the mushy shit. Can we get on with this?" Lorenzo asked, his green eyes full of impatience and excitement. I nodded, agreeing with him. He started to head to the basement, and I did too, Grandpa not following too far behind. 

"Well, I'll just take my daughter off you guys' hands-"

"No," Grandpa interrupted, "I need her." 

"But you always get to-"

"Aaliyah, this is my baby girl, she's my seed. I rarely get to see my Daddy's Girl," he smirked, Grandma rolling her eyes. "Were you always, this dramatic?" Mom cracked a smile as she walked up to Dad, following us down into the basement. He closed the door once all of us were inside, Mom's eyes as wide as saucers. She stood there, looking around. I assumed that she had never been down here before. 

"Wow, Daddy..How'd you get all of this?" she asked, sitting down next to me. 

"Take a guess," he laughed, "where else did you think I got all those weapons to scare off them little boys for you back then?" 

I heard Mom sigh, Grandpa and Lorenzo taking their seats. Lorenzo opened the binder, sliding it towards me. On the page the binder was opened up to had a chart on it, a list of names connected to each other. Grandpa and Lorenzo were on the far left of the page, a line connecting them and Blade and Terrell. Blade and Terrell weren't connected, instead, they were connected to a whole bunch of people, some of which were connected to each other. I spotted Martin's name, and he was connected to Marten, whom the chart ended on. 

"What's this?" I asked them. 

Grandpa answered, "That's a connection of all the Fiends, who we think are connected, or might be connected to Marten. We want to be sure that Marten is clear of all these claims, and isn't the mastermind of this plan."

"What does this have to do with Amir?" 

Grandpa sighed, giving his full attention to Mom. The expression on his face was indescribable, almost as if he knew he was going to say was going to break, or crush Mom. I took her hand, and she kissed my temple. 

"The only way we'll be able to find out if this is true or not..is if we send Amir out there, baby girl." 

Mom squeezed my hand, and my jaw dropped, me looking at him like he was crazy. Lorenzo was silent, the expression on his face sad. 

"What do you mean, Daddy?" 

He rubbed his face, mumbling to himself. 

"Monae, I know that this is going to be hard for you to accept..but the only way that we can find out if Marten is behind all of this is if we bring Amir into a certain trade.." 

"Dad.."

"Baby, Amir's going to have become a drug lord."