Out of everyone, Isaiah took this news the hardest. That was expected, however. Noah was his brother. As Isaiah stared blankly off into space, Carlos glanced at him and placed his right hand onto his shoulder.
"Aye, you aight 'Saiah?" Carlos asked.
Isaiah didn't say anything. Asha shook her head and snatched a blunt off of the table, lighting it, then rocking back and forth as she kept her fingers in her hair.
"Why didn't he tell me?" Asha whispered to herself.
"Nah fuck that! Why didn't ain't tell me?" Isaiah chanted. "I'm his brotha!"
Asha glanced up at Isaiah, taking another puff of her smoke and blowing it out.
"That still doesn't give him a right to put his hands on me, that still doesn't give him a right to alienate me from my daughter and that STILL doesn't give him a right to run all over me like he did." Asha growled. "He will not get sympathy for the shit he's done to me just because of some fucking cancer."
"Shit he ain't gettin' no sympathy from me no way." Q growled. "I ain't about to change up just cause he got cancer. That's fake as hell. And I ain't fake...."
Q lit up his blunt, blowing his smoke out.
"Shiet I'm just wondering if it's gone be a round two." Stacey laughed.
"Only if he start it." Q growled.
"Nah, y'all should plan another o-"
Suddenly, someone punched Stacey off of the back of the couch, knocking him over and knocking him unconscious. It was Isaiah. He flexed his fingers and stood over him as Carlos jumped up.
"What the hell, Isaiah?" Carlos yelled.
"I done had enough of y'all talkin' shit about my brother!" Isaiah barked. "The next person to say some shit about him gettin' they fronts knocked out. Real shit!"
"Alright cool out, Isaiah. Damn! Ain't nobody gone say no shit 'bout yo brother no mo!" Carlos growled. "You knocked Stacey out cold!"
"Nah nah nah, I will." Q said, giving Isaiah a blank stare.
Isaiah clenched his teeth together, giving Q a serious look.
"Q, you better not."
"You only stickin' up fo him because he got cancer, Isaiah." Q scoffed. "Where was you when I was talkin' shit about him on the phone?"
"Q..." Isaiah growled, looking to the side.
"Where was you when we got into that altercation?"
"Q."
"Where was you when I was whoopin' yo brothers ass in the parking lot?"
As Isaiah leaned over Carlos's shoulder to grab Q, Q snatched out his pistol and pointed it to Isaiah's head. It was at this moment that everyone froze. Never has anyone in their clique pulled a gun on one another. They vowed not to. But that vow was broken today. Carlos's eyes widened as he placed his hand on Q's chest.
"Q, put the gun down man." Carlos said in a proper tone, indicating that he was worried. "You actin' out of impulse right na-"
"No Isaiah gone listen to what the fuck I gotta say today. You gone do it, Isaiah!" Q yelled. "I dare you to reach fo' that pistol in yo' pocket because I'll blow yo' head off before you can lay a finger on that bitch!"
Isaiah didn't show that he had any emotion in the moment, but he never thought in a million years that Q would ever pull a gun on him. This indicated that the friendship between the 5 was getting at its wits end.
"You sat there by yo' brothers side as we all made fun of him for being a suicidal weak piece of shit, sat there as I embarrassed his ass in front of Carlos and everybody, and watched me beat the shit out of him without jumping in to help him until his ass was bleeding out of his nose! Now you tryna square up?" Q barked. "What kind of man is you?"
"'Scuse me?"
"As a matter of fact, I'll go against my word and say a word that I vowed not to say." Q grinned, keeping the gun pointed to him. "You's a punk. ass. nigga."
Isaiah scrunched his eyebrows and reached for his back pocket, listening to the sound of Q's gun click.
"Go 'head and grab it." Q growled. "I dare you."
As Asha and Carlos stood nervously beside the two, Q tucked in his bottom lip and nodded his head.
"If somebody fuckin' with my family, I don't give a fuck who it is! I'm fuckin' em up! Ain't no way in hell i'ma watch my friends pick on my blood in front of me!" Q barked. "The hell do you think this is?"
Q smiled, lowering his gun and laughing at Isaiah.
"You's a pussy, Isaiah. I said it." Q spat as he folded his arms. "Fuck you gonna do?"
"Don't test me like you don't know, Q."
"Nah I do know. You ain't gonna do SHIT." Q barked. "If you'll let me attack your own family member in front of your face, you's a punk!"
"I'm outta here." Isaiah growled, shaking his head grabbing his bag.
"And yo' brothers a punk for puttin' his hands on a female but when he fought me he got his ass beat. Tell him to step to more men!" Q barked as Isaiah stepped out the door. "The only difference is he's a pussy WITH cancer! Remember that, Isaiah!"
Isaiah stepped out on the porch of Carlos's home, right behind where I was sitting. He dropped his bag and punched the wooden railing by me, breaking it in half and sitting down in Carlos's chair. He covered up his face, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.
If that was old Isaiah in there, Q would've been dead. I looked up at him, blowing the smoke out of my mouth and looking away.
"I'm sorry, Isaiah." I mumbled, cradling my shoulder and looking away.
"Why you ain't tell me, Josh?"
"I promised Noah that I wouldn't te-"
"Fuck that, Josh! My brother could die!" Isaiah barked. "Do you know what it would feel like lookin' in the mirror noticing that my twin fuckin' brother is in the grave?"
"I couldn't get involved, Isaiah." I said, shaking my head. "I gave Noah my word."
At this point, I felt that I should tell Isaiah exactly how I felt.
"Honestly, I agree with Q." I said, not holding back.
"What?" Isaiah scoffed, removing his face from his hands.
"He was right." I growled. "Why didn't you help Noah as Q was kicking his ass?"
"Noah told me to let him deal with his own fight. Plus, Noah is a grown ass man." Isaiah snarled. "He can handle himself and make his own decisions."
"But that doesn't excuse you from sticking up for him. Noah went to jail AND studied law for four months straight just to get you out of serving 50 years." I snarled back. "He stood up to twelve jurors for something he KNEW you did. Blood is thicker than water, Isaiah. You know that."
"I didn't know that he had cancer, Josh."
"But did you ever bother to ask him what was wrong?" I scoffed. "The only person who seems concerned is Aunt Shay and she's the only one who's been trying to get in touch with him."
Isaiah eyes started to tear up with guilt. He covered his mouth, shaking his head in embarrassment.
"Damn...." Isaiah sighed. "I fucked up as a brother."
"It's never too late to apologize."
Isaiah nodded, cracking a small smile down at me.
"You right, Josh." Isaiah smiled. "Thanks."
"But Isaiah, you gotta swear you ain't gone tell him that I told you he got cancer. Don't tell NOBODY." I said in a serious tone. "Especially Aunt Shay. You don't want yo' moms spazzing out and having heart complications again."
"You right." Isaiah nodded. "I gotta ease in and think about how i'ma come clean."
But I made a crucial mistake. I forgot to tell Asha and the others not to tell Noah as well.
The next day, Noah dropped Lily off to daycare and headed to the hospital. Suicide was still in his head, but doing it in front of his daughter wasn't. As he did an ultrasound and waited in the room, Tracy came back inside with a frown on her face. Noah's smile flushed off of his face as well as he gave her a stunned look.
"Lord..." Noah whispered. "What happened?"
"Noah, the cancer has spread through your lower groin area." Tracy sighed.
Noah's eyes widened a little, registering what Tracy just said. It seemed like news just kept on getting worse and worse for him. Tracy wrote a few things down, then placed her hand around his member.
"Do you feel a slight discomfort there?"
"Yeah." Noah jumped, closing his eyes.
"Well, we started chemo a little too late. However, it isn't deadly yet." Tracy said. "What we're going to have to do is schedule a date to where you can get surgery on th-"
"Surgery?!" Noah interrupted. "I've.....I've never had surgery but once.........are there any other options?"
"At this point, no Noah." Tracy said, shaking her head. "We're gonna need to cut you open and get that big cancer cell out so that the medicine can work on the smaller cells. Otherwise, they're gonna spread into your major organs for sure."
Noah covered his face up, shaking his head. Tracy rubbed his shoulder, sighing and giving him a pity look.
"We can try to schedule it for next week." Tracy said. "We just need to get this surgery done quick or it'll get worse."
So with this news, Noah decided to go home and do what he does best.
Drink.
But beforehand, Noah needed to take Lily elsewhere. He didn't want to harm her while he was under the influence, so he drove over to Isaiah's house to take her there. When he knocked on the door, Aunt Shay opened it and gave him a shocked look.
"Noah!" Aunt Shay gasped. "I haven't heard from you in almost 2 weeks! How are you?"
"Just take her, mama." Noah sighed, handing Lily to her. "I need to go. Quick."
"Noah, is everything alright?"
Noah turned around, giving Aunt Shay a weird look.
"Yes." Noah said. "Why'd you ask?"
"Nothing it's just that.......you've never not kept in touch with me for that long."
Noah stared blankly at his mother, then turned around and stepped off of the porch. Before he could reach the driveway, Isaiah pulled in and seen him walking off. He jumped out and jogged up to Noah, giving him a shocked look.
"Hey Noah?" Isaiah panted. "What's been up with you?"
Noah grilled Isaiah, got into his car, then sped off without saying a word. Isaiah knew exactly what was wrong with him, but Aunt Shay didn't.
"I thought that when I got out of the hospital he would be better." Aunt Shay sighed. "What's wrong with my boy?"
Now that Lily was out of the way, Noah could buy him some beer to drown his system in. 15 minutes later, Noah arrived at the local liquor store in Schaefer. Shockingly, it was quite empty compared to the other days. There were no people crowded around the store, there wasn't even anyone INSIDE of the store. After Noah purchased his 40oz of beer, he stepped out of the store and bumped into someone on the walk towards his car.
It was Q. As Q glanced at him, he chuckled and shook his head at Noah, turning around to head inside of the store.
"Punk muhfucka." Q growled, shaking his head.
Suddenly, one gunshot rang out. Q jolted forward and grabbed his side, realizing that he was shot. Q turned around and gave Noah an angry look.
Noah was holding his pistol right at him.
"What the hell, man!?" Q shouted. "You just shot m-"
Noah fired another shot into Q's chest, causing him to jump back fall down onto the ground. Noah glared angrily down at him, got into his car, and drove off. Noah could've possibly murdered Q and left him for dead.
But what was worse, is that Noah could've possibly killed someone who was loved and connected to 90% of the gangs in Schaefer.