FLASHBACK to Sunday 4th July, 03:58
Jasiah's POV
Stretching, I gazed out over Glassfell Park Estate from the top floor of a flat block. The jet black sky was cloudy, mirroring my emotional state. My common sense was currently clouded by feelings. Sighing, I looked down at my phone. Jordan sent a text two minutes ago.
Jordan
Bro, I still don't know how Anna broke me and my girl up
Jasiah
Am I a diary? Go back to bed g
Jordan
Don't you want to find out who really stained your buss down?
Jasiah
Well I don't know if Chardonnay stole my watch
Jordan
Exactly, you doing anything rn?
Jasiah
Yeah I'm watching pigeons fam
Jordan
You fried or suttin? It's night time g, there's no pigeons
Jasiah
I'm being sarcastic, I can't be asked to do up investigations
Jordan
Don't you wanna chat to Chardonnay
Jasiah
I know I said I wanted to find out what really happened but not at 3am
Jordan
Bro I'm outside
Jasiah
You were already on the way? Dfkm
Jordan and I both had unresolved mysteries that involved Angelina Valdez so it was only logical that we go to the source of all our problems. But at 3am, I wasn't really too sure. Shrugging my shoulders, I took the lift downstairs and walked out of the block to the other side of the pavement. A blue Ford I didn't recognise was parked. I froze. Jordan rolled down the car's tinted window.
"Ay what is this? I thought I was getting jumped," I spat, striding over to the passenger side.
Laughing, Jordan replied,"A new dinger init to roll to a motive."
"What motive?"
"I got sent a snap of Anna sleeping at a party in Stoke Newington."
"Sleeping?" I asked, shutting the car door.
"Yeah, she greened out in the underground bar."
I nodded. Typical behaviour of Anna in a party. No home training at all. Jordan started the car, reversing out into the road.
Twenty minutes later, Jordan parked beside a bar in Stoke Newington. The vibrations of loudspeakers could be felt underneath the car.
"Hang on, why did you come in a dinger to a motive?"
"Cause it's ZK's birthday party," shrugged Jordan, handing me a blade. "And we're gonna blow out his candles."
I narrowed my eyes. "You purposely left out that this is a ride out init?"
"Your level headed self wouldn't have come if I told you, but I'm desperate."
I shook my head. "How many man are there?"
"Two plus the birthday dickhead, ZK."
"Well it's only fair we make the odds a bit more even," I grinned, squeezing the handle of the blade tighter. "Get info and get down opps."
"I hear that."
"All this just to talk to Anna though? Why didn't you just chat to her at the motive?"
"I tried to but Yasmin did WWE on her."
I could imagine Yasmin knocking out anyone when she was high or drunk.
"And she attacked you too?" I asked, observing the chip in his gold teeth grills.
"I kind of asked for it, I tried to make her-"
Shaking my head, I pulled my balaclava back over my face and hopped out of the car.
"I only came to clear Chardonnay's name," I muttered. "Not chat to the local prostitute."
Jordan didn't reply as he locked the car. He pulled his bally over his face, following behind me. I kicked open the bar door and slowly inched down the stairs. The party was still in full swing. It was already 4:30am in the morning. Strobe lights twinkled across the dark room while the beats of drill music bounced against the walls. I could see girls twerking in a circle and a bunch of boys were circling around them like sharks, too scared to try and secure them. What a bunch of neeks. Tittering, I pulled Jordan behind a pillar.
"I didnt think the party would still be busy at this time," whispered Jordan. "It's four thirty am in the morning."
"Word fam. And I'm seeing bare young tings here as well, nasty."
"So what do we do? Shall we-"
"No!" I hissed. "There's no need to cheff anyone. We can sneak in and sneak out."
I waved to Jordan to follow behind me as I crouched behind the bar, shuffling towards a corridor. A dim, yellow light bulb flickered above, occasionally illuminating the dirty floor. My heart pounded in chest like a beating drum. Warm blood was rushing to my head as I felt my veins spark with new found energy. I was a moth drawn to a flame. I always found myself attracted to dangerous situations - and I loved it. The boys from our rival gang could be lurking along the corridor and I wouldn't know until it's too late, unless my reflexes were quick enough to attack first. Padding softly behind me, Jordan began to mutter under his breath about regretting coming in the first place.
"I swear I'm not gonna bun a zoot ever again," groaned a female voice.
The female voice was not too far away. I glanced back at Jordan. He nodded back. I clenched the blade in my hand harder. I lightly kicked the door open with the front of my black air forces. The door slowly creaked open. Chiantí was crouching over one of Anna's backup dancers, who was lying on the floor. She was so irrelevant I didn't even know her name.
"Oi where the fuck is Angelina?" I demanded, glaring at Chiantí menacingly.
"She left crying when I told her I saw a girl sleeping over at Jsplash's house," shrugged Chianti.
"What girl?"
"Chardonnay and the news made Anna cry so much that her lashes fell off."
"I don't give a flying fuck about her spider leg looking lashes!" I yelled. "Where is she? I want to know if she stole Jsplash's watch."
Sitting up, Anna's friend whined, "Who even are you? Why are you shouting so much?"
Swiftly, my eyes darted to her. She wanted to die. She was asking for it, she was dying for it. About who even are you. Who even are you? She asking to get splashed because...
"Don't worry about who we are," snapped Jordan behind me.
Chiantí stood up. "I'm sure they're probably Jsplash's friends, Danni."
So that was the useless pigeon's name? Danni.
"Yo Danni, do you know who finessed Jsplash's buss down watch?" asked Jordan behind me.
"You don't know?" laughed Danni. "Chardonnay chills with his opps, they sent her to steal Jsplash's watch - she's an opp thot."
My jaw shifted. My breath quickened. It couldn't be true.
"I hear that still," I nodded, walking away.
I could hear Jordan asking Danni about his ex girlfriend and Anna but I couldn't understand it all. I couldn't even process myself what I had heard about Chardonnay. She was sent to set me up? I quietly laughed to myself as I began to walk towards the exit. It was crazy how everyone seems to wear masks in real life. Even now, Chiantí didn't recognise it was me in a bally. I let my sister talk me into allowing that opp thot to sleep under my roof. Opp thots should hold corn as well yet there's something in me that won't allow me to hurt her. Since when did I become emotional? Shaking my head, I strolled through the dancefloor.
"Ayo who's that?" called out a deep voice.
My head swivelled around to see three boys from our rival gang. The first boy, who went by ZK, was the birthday boy and the other two were his little backup dancers - Tay and Astackz.
"What ZK, I can't get an invite to your motive nah?" I smirked, pulling my blade out.
A girl behind me started screaming, causing everyone to dash out of the underground bar, faster than lighting.
"Who even are you and what ends you from?" asked ZK. "Cah it's only open invite for the gyaldem."
Tay and Astackz began to circle around me. Astackz was brandishing a crutch and Tay held up a metal pole. ZK put down the bottle of Hennessy in his hand and pulled out his infamous ZK blade that supposedly put me in hospital. Rolling my eyes, I began to look around for Jordan. Jordan was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm surprised you don't know me since you dropped my name in your drill track," I grinned. "Apparently I was air lifted to North Middlesex hospital."
I watched with pleasure as ZK's eyes widened with shock.
"Oh shit, it's Jsplash!"
Without warning, ZK lunged towards me with his blade. I dodged in one fluid movement. He lunged again. I blocked his knife. Determined, I held up my blade again, ready to attack again. Tay swung his pole from behind me, failing miserably to hit my head. When you buck opps, you can really tell who used to get picked last in PE in secondary school and who didn't. Impatient, I kicked him in the chest. Hard. I chuckled as I heard the thud of him falling to the ground. Outstretching my arm, I narrowly missed the lung of Astackz, leaving a ribbon of red across his chest. Blood trickled through his shaky palms as he slowly sunk down to the floor, grabbing his chest. I wiped his blood off my 16 inch blade on my black Nike tech tracksuit.
At the corner of my eye, I could see ZK sprinting further away into the back of the bar.
"Come here pussio!" I yelled, running after ZK. "Why you running cuz?"
Restless, I stopped by a door along the sombre corridor. I could no longer hear ZK's footsteps ahead and I had no idea where Jordan was. Cautiously, I pushed open the door and stepped into the unlit room. The hairs on my neck prickled. I could feel a presence. Frantically I looked around in the darkness, trying to find out who else was in the room.
"What the hell?" I winced, clutching my head as I began to stagger around.
I felt a throbbing pain in my head. I had been hit with a bat. Dropping to my knees, I watched as the room's lights flickered on. ZK walked in front of me with his zombie killer knife in his hand, gazing down at me pitifully.
"Now it's time for me to live what I really rap about," grinned ZK.
I put my hands on the floor, in attempt to get up. "You're still a fake rapper."
"When you're dead, who's gonna say I'm a fake rapper?" chuckled ZK, raising his knife above my head.
The room began to dance around as my head felt heavy. I could taste blood in my mouth. Forcing myself to take in breaths, I looked up at ZK, waiting for the knife to plunge into my back. So this was the way I was going to die? I didn't even say goodbye to Kehlani.
"I will," yelled a voice from behind, "and if anyone's dying around here, it's gonna be you."
I heard the sound of a blade pierce through the back of ZK. The cutting, the ripping and ZK's agony. Jordan stepped into view with a samurai sword in his hand. He grabbed my elbow, helping me up. Police sirens wailed faintly in the distance.
"We've got to go, feds are coming!"
"Where were you?" I asked.
"I saw you running after ZK so I went to the car to get my samurai sword."
I nodded as we raced through the back entrance, towards Jordan's car. Grateful, I whispered a prayer to God. In my line of work, you never really know when and where you'll take your last breath.
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FLASHBACK to Sunday 4th July, 05:00
The sun glistened in the horizon, making the clouds vibrant shades of red and pink. I inhaled the warm smoke of my zoot whilst Jordan was rolling another one on his lap.
"What if Danni was lying? She is Anna's friend after all, " shrugged Jordan.
"What?"
"Chardonnay chills with the opps, like what if Anna told her to say that to cover up?"
"Nah but how come you're backing Chardonnay all of a sudden?"
"I'm not but something feels off."
"I hear that still. So what did Danni say happened to Anna and your ex?"
Jordan looked out of the window, ignoring me. I could see a tear cascade down the side of his face.
"It's deep bro," he mumbled.
Comforting was never my forte but I know he needed it. When his girl broke up with him last month, the only reason she gave for breaking up with him was simply "Anna".
"What, was she bi? Did she cheat on you?"
He laughed bitterly. "I wish. I wish that happened instead of this."
"What happened then? You need to speak to your ex."
"I don't wanna talk about it and I definitely can't tell her."
He wiped his tears as both of his hands gripped the steering wheel. Guiltily, I pulled him into a hug. Whatever my cousin was going through, I'd be here for him every step of the way. Even if it meant dropping a body.
- Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; [10] There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. [11] For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways Psalm 91:9-11 KJV
Another filler chapter, I hope you guys like the next chapter when Jasiah snaps back into reality with Chardonnay. Don't forget to vote - Jaymunni