Romaal "Jink" Jinkins
The diamond encrusted crystal necklace shimmered in the hands of the owner, Kellan. The sparkling piece had such a significant meaning dearest to her heart. It's the only thing that was keeping her sane right now while everything around her fell all to hell. The necklace gave her a small bit of hope, and every time she'd touch it, she'd get this sense of feeling that Tara was there— protecting and watching over her.
Looking up from the piece of jewelry, she met eyes with Jink, catching her off guard. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned his body against the doorways frame. He seemed to have mastered stealth because she didn't once hear the sound of his footsteps.
"It's time to relocate," he stated after a silent moment of staring at her intently.
Before he could walk away, Kellan decided to speak, "Hey, Jink?"
Without fully facing her, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder. Their eyes met, and Kellan couldn't shake this intense vibe he always carried that seemed to linger around him like a distinctive fog.
"Can we get past this?" She asked softly, leaning up from the position she was laying in a small twin-sized bed.
"What?"
For the past few days of keeping a low profile, he's been giving Kellan a whole lot of attitude and many evil glares. Only a few words left his mouth that was directed towards her, but other than that, Tyler has been doing most of the communication between the three.
"This negative energy between us," she pointed out. "I've established your dislike towards me, but...I just want to find out why I've been targeted, and it would help if you didn't act like my enemy all the time."
Jink finally turned, acknowledging what she said. "Your enemy? Li'l ma, you'd know if we were on opposing sides."
Her eyes shifted towards the floor in hopes that he was trying to say that what's been happening between them wasn't intended to be as it's been taken.
"It's not that deep," he spoke again, catching the look on her face. Jink pointed to her with a mug before crossing his arms again. "I think I've figured you out."
She blinked, her heart racing before he could muster up the next words to say to her. "W-What do you mean?"
"I don't give out advice for fun." His eyes examined her youthful, chocolate face all over. Seeing the young girl with stretched eyes told him that she was a curious one, and with situations like these, that wasn't always good. "You let your emotions and feelings dictate how you move and think, and that will get you killed faster than any target on ya' head. Start using your intellect, you ain't gotta' use ya' heart for everything."
Quietly staring at him, she watched as he walked off shaking his head. He was right— Kellan knew she allowed her feelings to completely take control, but she couldn't help it. The way she felt within, her human emotions, was the only thing she had left to cling to.
Gathering the black duffel bag that Tyler provided her with to put her things inside, she slid it on her shoulder and slid her small feet into the black Converse sneakers. Walking to the front room, Tyler flipped the blade between his fingers as he stood by the door seeming to be in deep thought. She noticed that about Tyler, he was always living in his head— contrast from Jink.
After a moment of watching him, she flinched feeling Jink's body brushing against hers to get past, so she moved towards the side to fully let him slip between the small space of her and the wall. Despite the lack of words between them, they've made quite the amount of physical contact— even if it was a very small minimum of it at a time. Kellan always thought about that stuff when she wasn't thinking about her life being in danger.
Jink carried a duffel bag of his own in his strong hold as he waved her forward towards the door. Following the men down the stairs, she wasn't aware that more people seemed to appear under the moon rather than come out during the sun in the sky. A few strangers made themselves comfortable on the stoop of the apartment causing Jink and Tyler to tighten the space where Kellan was walking in the middle.
The advice Jink offered her a few minutes ago went completely in one ear and out the other. Kellan was all about feelings. The fear she felt in her core being in public, the sadness she drowned in when no one was around to hear her cry, and the anger that clawed at her memories from the strange men who invaded inside of her hotel room— feelings were apart of being human and she couldn't help but to allow herself to accept that.
The moment one of the strangers stood from the stoop, Kellan quickly linked her hand with Jink's, and even though it caught him off guard, he pulled her closer to him as Tyler placed a hand on the small of her back, keeping close altogether.
She couldn't deny that she placed her trust in the two, but she also couldn't help but still feel a little conflicted. Everything was real and happening so fast, even the days that went by after meeting them was still kind of a blur in her mind.
It was only until then that they had reached their car that Jink dropped her hand, and the two granted her some space. For a moment there, she couldn't feel her heart beat almost as if it had stopped, fearing that one of those people were going to attack her. Because of the life and death situation, Kellan felt as if everyone was in question and suspect.
"You good?" Tyler asked her lowly as he took her duffel bag and tossed it in the backseat along with theirs.
She nodded, suddenly feeling shortness of breath.
"Just breathe," he said softly. Every time they had to relocate, Tyler knew that Kellan would close herself off inside her mind. She had a habit of shutting everything out and starting a silent panic within herself that he was already aware of and caught on to. "You're fine, Kellan."
Kellan inhaled deeply, and right as she was about to release, Jink cursed from where he was standing next to them. They looked over seeing he was squatting and eyeing the front tire— the slashed, flat front tire.
Kellan frowned, wrapping her arms around herself as her eyes began to cautiously sweep the area around herself. This wasn't coincidental, at all, she knew.
"It's all good," Tyler reassured her as he popped the trunk. "The fuck? Where's the spare?"
Jink walked around to him and saw that their spare was missing. "Damn...that's my fault."
"What the fuck, nigga?" Tyler shook his head while tears cascaded down Kellan's cheeks in fear of what was about to happen next. "Why you take it out?"
"Something else had to fit in there at the time," Jink replied, thinking of the dead bodies he collected.
He was upset though because now they were left vulnerable out in the open with no transportation to relocate Kellan. Walking towards the small group on the stoop, Jink drew his gun and pointed it towards them catching their immediate attention.
"Nobody will get hurt if you just give me the information I need," he spoke loudly as the people eyed him with panic and fear. "The black, four door Nissan parked over there. Who flattened the fucking tire?"
The small group of people looked towards the car before back to him. They all shook their heads and spoke all at once. Jink was becoming agitated by the second, and the longer they prolonged it, the uglier things were going to be for them. He clicked his gun back causing one of the girls to begin crying as the guys stood with their hands up.
"Ay, man," one of the guys spoke. "We don't know nothing you talkin' about."
"You mean to tell me, all you motherfucka's out here and you ain't seen not one person walk to that vehicle?!"
"Nah, man! I ain't even been out here long!"
"There's plenty of people that walk through here, but we ain't seen no one go to that one pacificly!" A guy exclaimed, clearly afraid that he used the wrong word.
"Somebody seen something," Jink said aiming his gun towards a girl sitting at the back on a higher step that had been quiet the whole time. "Everybody duck off...except for you, carrot top."
The group scrambled quickly, leaving the girl sitting there alone and afraid. "P-Please, I—"
Jink walked over and jerked her up by her shirt and shoved her forward to walk towards the car.
Standing with Kellan, Tyler was weighing out their options as he spoke into his phone, and when he noticed Jink and the red headed girl walking over, he ended the call and met them half way. "Rome, what is you—"
"This broad know something." He nudged the girl causing her to stumble forward with tears falling onto her light cheeks. Kellan made eye contact with her seeing legit fear mirroring back. "Tell him."
"Please, don't hurt me!" She cried out. "I was only doing what I was told!"
Normally, Jink wasn't the one for hearing explanations, but they needed all the clues and hints they could get. Kellan had no knowledge of why she was being targeted so they had no leads.
"By who?" Tyler asked looking down at the girl shaking in her clothes on the ground.
"I don't know! S-Somebody just paid me to flat that tire." She wiped her eyes, but tears continued to pour.
"Describe 'em."
The girl cried even rougher feeling like this all was pointless anyways, thinking they were going to kill her regardless of what she told them. "I don't know, y'all! I fucking swear to you! There was a note stuck to my door with directions and a price."
"So you just following orders from a piece of fucking paper? You get paid for that shit?" Jink asked.
"Y-Yeah, b-but I swear to God I don't know who was behind it," the girl continued.
"How the fuck did you receive the money?"
"At first I was suspicious and thought it was a prank, but when I walked to my car, there was an envelope with half of the price given to me. So I finished the job, only because I have a kid, y'all! After I stuck a knife to it, the rest of the money was slid under my door a few minutes after I went into my apartment."
"You didn't think to check and see who it was?"
"I looked through the peep hole and saw somebody wearing all black in a hoodie with a mask over their face! And that's the truth, on my baby!"
Tyler and Jink looked at one another. The shit didn't make sense to them not one bit. Why would they have someone to do it when they could've just did it themselves?
"A-Are you going to k-kill me? I got a kid! I was looking out for my son!"
Jink sucked his teeth as he walked towards her, placing the gun against her head. She screamed out as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Nah, just let her go," Tyler said eyeing the girl. Jink mugged his cousin as he clicked his gun back, prepared to fire off. Kellan flinched at the intimidating sound and placed her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear the loud gunshot if it was to go off. "Think for a second, nigga. With her brains splattered on the ground, we ain't got no wheels to be ducking from this scene."
Thinking about it, Jink kissed his teeth and looked down at the terrified girl. "Stay right there. Don't you fucking move yet."
She obeyed his command while he roughly grabbed Kellan's arm then began walking in the opposite direction of the apartment while Tyler pulled on the two duffel bags over his shoulder before jogging to catch up with them.
That's when the girl hopped up with no hesitation and took off running back towards the building.
"What now?" Kellan whispered.
"We gotta' move— fast," Jink informed checking the time on his watch. Kellan was trying her best to keep up, but her short legs was causing her to stumble a bit. "You're too exposed. If we don't get some wheels soon, somethin' may pop off. You ready for that?"
He looked over to her. The crazed look on her face had let him know that she was definitely not prepared.
"Ready or not, stay alert and keep close." Jink looked over his shoulder for his cousin, and once he saw that he was not too far behind, he proceeded to walk quickly.
"Where are we going?" Kellan asked looking around at the late night street.
"Stop fucking talking, and just walk," he snapped using his hand to pull her forward so she could catch up.
Being without transportation complicated things a lot, but the two young men were never unprepared and always had a plan b, c, etc,.
Right around the corner, they had an extra car sitting for exact times like this. Jink jogged towards it and examined it over until Tyler came up beside them. He dropped the duffel bags and unzipped one, reaching inside to pull some kind of tool out.
Kellan watched intently how Tyler easily used the long silver item to open the doors to the car. The alarm sounded scaring her a little, but Tyler quickly turned it off with a few wires under the dashboard. It was an older model car, but they just needed it to get to point A and point B.
Jink opened the door and put Kellan into the backseat where he climbed in as well while Tyler chose to drive. They quickly exited the current street, leaving the area to relocate for Kellan's safety.
"That was too close for comfort," Tyler mumbled, more so to himself as he checked all the mirrors.
With Kellan's adrenaline rushing through her, she became too exhausted. So she quietly laid her head on the window, and after a moment of silence, her eyes soon drifted closed.
After a distance drive, Tyler and Jink had long switched positions, taking turns behind the wheel. When Jink pulled up to a particular house, he glanced into the rear view mirror at the backseat where Kellan was still sleeping.
Nothing but darkness filled with stars covered the sky above and the clock was ticking late as the city settled down. They traveled about two hours out from their previous place where they hadn't stopped to eat, piss, or rest.
Jink relaxed back in his seat, scoping out the house they were parked near while Tyler was watching Kellan intently as she grunted and hummed to herself. Her face was twisting into a frown as she shifted her head side to side being deep in sleep and seeming to be having a nightmare.
He took that time to take in her features seeing how her smooth chocolate skin glowed under the light that radiated from the street post at a short distance from her. She was sporting a short, black bob that stopped just above her shoulders that actually looked to be worn out. Aside from everything happening, Tyler low-key admired her natural beauty. Despite the fear permanently printed on her face lately, she had a soft, elegant look once you look pass her troubled vibe.
Kellan's long lashes softly pressed against the skin of her face as she squeezed her eyes more just when her body jerked some. She fidgeting a little too much for Tyler, so he felt like he should wake her. Touching her thigh, he gave it light shake which made her eyes abruptly spring open. Kellan jumped forward gasping for air, making the two eye her with a cautious look.
"It was just a bad dream," Tyler reassured her, softly touching her back, but she moved his hand.
She wiped the corners of her mouth and then realized tears was running down her cheeks. Quickly arranging her hair and clothes, she sat back in the seat and looked around at where they were parked, eventually calming herself.
"You in on this or you sitting with the nightmare princess out here?" Jink asked, and Kellan frowned knowing he was referring to her.
"You doing this right now? I thought we planned to take her in first."
"This on the way. I ain't tryna' backtrack tonight."
Tyler sighed glancing around before setting his eyes on Kellan. They made eye contact and she could practically see his mind ticking to come up with a decision. She didn't want to be left alone for whatever they were about to do so she silently shook her head at him, pleading with her eyes.
"I'll wait out here just in case," he finally spoke.
Kellan shifted her head to Jink when he kissed his teeth rudely and reached over to the duffle bag that sat in the empty passenger seat. She wanted to ask questions, but knew better not to— at least not until Jink's presence was gone.
Jink took a black hoodie from the bag and pulled it over his head then pulled on some black gloves. Taking a peek at Kellan through the mirror, he cocked his gun before stepping out the car and slamming the door.
"He's doing a job?" She whispered, watching after him with worry.
"I wouldn't call it a job, no, but you're not the only client we have." Tyler studied Kellan as she brought her legs to her chest in the seat, staring off into the late night street. "We were never here, you got that?"
"What?"
Tyler sighed lowly, relaxing back into the seat. "In case you remember this exact location for some reason...we were never here. You understand?"
Her breathing slowed as she stared at him, taking in what he told her. She felt like he didn't trust her, that he was acting on his instincts because how would she possibly remember the place when she was having too much going on for herself at the moment.
"Whatever you hear us talk about, whatever you see us do, every location we land at. Never repeat any of this, even after you're target free." Tyler slightly titled his head to the side, giving her a serious expression. His eyes were locked onto hers, and she could of sworn that he transformed into a different person for a split second. "It's for your safety."
She blinked in disbelief wondering if he was threatening her. Just before she could reply, the car door being opened made her jump in fear as she darted her eyes forward to see Jink climbing back into the drivers seat and undressing from his attire in a hurry.
"We've been followed," Jink pointed out while he pulled off from the curb quickly resulting in Kellan and Tyler's back hitting the seat with a thud.
"How do you know?"
"Because whoever it was interrupted my little visit!" Jink said. His voice was deep with hostility which scared Kellan even more. "Sneaky ass bitch! I handled him though, but I couldn't get any intel on who sent 'em."
"Fuck!" Tyler cursed. He began to mentally backtrack to see where they had made a mistake. "Circle around and take a different route."
"Already on it, but there's one minor issue," Jink said. Kellan's heart seemed to stop, waiting for his next words.
Tyler became on guard. "What is it?"
Jink slammed his fist against the steering wheel a few times before he exhaled a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "I need for you to come check something out, 'cous! Right now!"
"What's up, nigga?! What is it?!" Tyler leaned forward over the arm rest with urgency only to see crimson red leaking through his shirt from his abdomen.
"Ah, fuck!" Tyler took the duffle bag and threw it in the backseat almost hitting Kellan in the face. He climbed over into the front and lifted Jink's shirt. "How the fuck you get sliced?"
"That son of a bitch snuck up on me," Jink said wincing in pain. "Dumbass brought a knife to a gun fight. I left his corpse slumped in the trash can."
Tyler scoffed a slight smile. Leave it to Jink to joke at a serious time. "You might need stitches, fam."
Jink groaned out in pain as he clutched his side causing the car to swerve a bit. So Kellan sat back into the seat and fastened her seat belt. They had to be going at least a hundred miles per hour.
"We gotta' switch places," Tyler said insisting, attempting to grab the wheel, but Jink refused.
"Nah, we can't stop!"
"Nobody said anything about stopping. Just slip out and I'll slip in!"
Jink mushed his cousin away from him. "No, you gay ass nigga! Just hand me something to stop the damn bleeding!"
Tyler kissed his teeth waving him off and reaching in the back for one of the duffle bags. "Kellan, find me some duct tape. Now!"
She frantically opened the bag and paused when she seen a massive amount of guns and weapons along with black clothing. Suddenly her mind began to envision them killing and hurting innocent people with those weapons until Tyler snapped his fingers making her come back to reality.
"Ay! Listen to me!" He yelled at her angrily as he multitasked to pressing his right hand on Jink's wound and using his other to search the bags. "Every second you waste, you're delaying from stopping his bleeding, and you know what happens when he loses too much blood?! Do you?!"
Kellan's hands shook and beads of sweat decorated her forehead from stress. Tyler's loud voice was sending her into a panic and she definitely didn't want anyone to die, but he was trying to give her an idea of how dire he needed the duct tape.
"He..he dies?" She whispered.
"Yes. Now find the tape, Kellan. Hurry up," Tyler replied as he helped.
As she fumbled inside the duffle bag, something told her to pick it up, and when she did, the duct tape along with scissors and a gun was sitting in the floor board. Quickly grabbing it, she gave it to Tyler. After wiping away as much blood as he could from Jink's slash, he then immediately tore off a strip of tape and began to cover the area with a few layers.
"That's should hold until we get there. How you feeling?" Tyler looked over to Jink and noticed his light skin was appearing a slight pale-ish color.
"I'm straight for now," Jink said taking a few shallow breaths and gripping the steering wheel tightly because his hands were beginning to feel clammy.
"'Cous, you don't look—"
"Yo', I'm good!" Jink snapped, taking a deep gulp. "Don't start talking like that. We almost there."
Catching a glimpse of Jink in the mirror, Kellan placed her hands over her mouth as she began to silently cry. Everything happened so fast, she was finding it hard to keep up with the events unfolding before her. She felt like his death would be on her hands, that she wasn't quick enough, that he bled out too much because she couldn't follow simple directions. Her silent panic began inside and she couldn't do nothing but cry and ball up in the backseat watching as trees and buildings passed.
She rocked herself, never glancing back up to either of the young men until the car stopped at a house. Tyler rushed out the car, grabbing up all their bags and going to the front door.
"The fuck you still sitting here for? Get out," Jink said as he opened his door, and she followed.
Kellan saw how weak Jink was as he closed his door with forced effort. She went to reach to assist him, but he mushed her away by pressing his hand against her chest as roughly as he could make it.
"Don't touch me."
"Jink, I-I think you should go to the hospital," she said softly after noticing how awful he was starting to look. He was sweating profusely and his light skin tone was starting to wash out.
"You know what, I'm starting to see why you're being targeted— for your basic, dumb ass hell opinions," he said sarcastically.
"Well, I don't know! I was just saying!"
He shook his head, taking his time with placing one foot in front of the other so he wouldn't trip, but she couldn't just stand there and watch him suffer.
"I can at least help you," she said going to him and wrapping her arm around his waist.
He didn't decline at first, that was until she accidentally pressed hard on his wound making him groan out. His adrenaline was pumping, and when he pushed her this time, she went falling to the ground.
"Just worry about yo'self! Go in the fucking house before you get spotted!" He fussed, his dark, fixed glare sent a chill of fear down her spine.
Kellan's chin trembled with hurt and sadness. She felt worthless. She couldn't follow simple directions or even help him without messing something up. Frowning deeply, she got up and made her way into the safe house.
Jink wasn't too far behind. They went into the kitchen where Tyler had a lot of materials spread out on the table. As Jink took a seat in one of the wooden chairs, Kellan examined everything displayed seeing a needle and thread, a bottle of unopened alcohol, three packs of large-sized gauze, and a half box of surgical gloves.
"A'ight, I'ma need your help," Tyler said glancing to Kellan. "Go wash your hands right quick."
"Tyler...I-I, um, I can't—"
"Bitch don't even know how to scrub between her fingers, how the fuck she gon' stitch me up?" Jink mumbled while keeping his mug on her.
"Don't call me that!" She argued back, wrapping her arms around herself.
"What you gonna' do about it?"
"Both of y'all shut up!" Tyler snapped. "Jink, focus on not closing yo' eyes, nigga. Kellan, go wash your hands then put on some gloves!"
"NO!" She screamed out catching both of their attention.
"Fuck you mean no? If he die, who gon' save you from your target because I'ma be too busy avenging his death."
Jink smirked, forcing his heavy eyes to remain open just to see her terrified face. Kellan looked away from them both, feeling weak to her stomach. Her knees were starting to get a little too rocky for comfort.
"It's not that I don't want to help, it's just...blood m-makes me queasy."
"So, swallow that shit! If we don't stitch him up, he'll bleed out right here. I can't keep tape over it forever." Tyler was becoming agitated by the second. She stalled for too long. "All I need you to do is keep the cut clean while I—"
"Maybe you should take him to the hospital. I'm no nurse, Tyler! He really should go to a hospital if it's so serious!"
"Maybe your ass should've went to the police instead of asking for my help," Jink gritted out. She was willing to let him die all because of her fear of blood and that told him a lot. Especially how he was risking his life to make sure she could live freely.
"Besides, there ain't no hospital in the area, Kellan! Grab the gloves and just come on!" Tyler's hand was pressing into Jink's abdomen, and after seeing Kellan quickly pull out a pair of gloves from the box, he moved his hand to remove the tape. "Now, get some gauze and—"
Hearing a loud thump hit the floor, Tyler glanced back to see Kellan passed out with just one glove on.
"Broad ain't useful for shit," Jink said chuckling weakly. "You don't even need her, Ty. You got this, just don't let me die."
"Nigga, ain't nobody dying." Tyler said more calmly. For some reason, he was more focused now that Kellan wasn't an issue at the moment. Her conscious presence and insecure voice distracted him and he didn't realize it until now. "You gonna' be straight. This might sting though."
Jink groaned out, sending a glare to his cousin. "You heavy handed bitch. Watch how you handling shit."
Tyler smirked a bit.
Abruptly opening her eyes, Kellan sat up quickly from the bed she soon realized she was placed in. Everything was the same as far as she could see except the sun was now passing through the thin curtains. But what worried her was the house rung with deafening silence and that's what woke her up. Kellan had an extreme discomfort towards the feeling of being all alone, and that's what she thought was the case here.
As she exited the small room, she slowly continued through the hallway with caution. She couldn't understand why she would be left alone knowing anything could happened to her. Questions still were unanswered with only more piling up on those.
Checking all the bedrooms, neither Jink or Tyler were in sight and that's when she began to panic. She rushed to the living space to see no one, then to the kitchen to see that it was empty as well. Suddenly, her heart was beating rapidly, thinking maybe they just gave up on her. Maybe Jink bled out til death took him and Tyler really left her to defend for herself.
After running her mental state into a explosion of fear, Kellan knew she had to keep moving with or without anyone. She didn't have much to live for being that the only person she had was now dead and she was being targeted by strangers, but she wasn't just going to give up so easily. Tara taught her better. She taught her to fight back and keep going no matter what, so that's what she planned to do.
Kellan wiped the heavy tears from her face and searched the house for anything she could help defend herself on the dangerous journey ahead of her. She was born into this world alone and she was eventually going to have to leave this world alone. Kellan knew she had to gain some independence and fight for her life.
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This was more like a filler, but I hope you all still enjoyed it...