Page 25

ELI

Rounding the corner of the university, I turn into the parking lot where I always pick up Brooklyn from class. Pulling up, I don’t see her anywhere. Must be running late again, I think to myself. I pull into an empty parking space and shut off my bike, taking off my helmet. I waited another five minutes before I pulled out my cellphone to call her.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

The phone picks up after the third ring when I say, “Baby girl, hurry up. It is freezing out here.” My smile starts to fade when on the other line, I hear deep and heavy breathing.

“Eli. I have such a pretty little thing sitting on my lap.” I freeze, my eyes widening with fear. No, this can’t be. My heartbeat starts to quicken as he continues. “I’ve got something nice to add to my collection now. A pretty little slut. Guess I should thank you for that. I just knew she would be perfect when I saw her at the ball.” A low laugh follows.

“ Oooo, she is going to make me so much money! ”Jumping off my bike, I run to the sidewalk, where just out of my view, I see Brooklyn’s purse and clothes thrown on the ground. “Eli my boy, are you still there?” He questions as the realization has me coming to. Red, that’s all I see. That’s all I feel.

“You better not lay one fucking hand on her, Jasper. If you fucking touch her...”

He cuts me off quickly.

He risks, “if I were you Eli, I would be a little more respectful with how you fucking talking to me, boy.” I’m vibrating with anger. My world is starting to crumble right at my feet. I look around, not knowing what to do, where to start, who to call. I hear a muffled moan coming from the phone.

“Shhh, baby, just go back to sleep. We won’t do anything you wouldn’t like,” Jasper says in a low growl. I am fucking panicking.

“Okay, okay, Jasper. I know you want money. How much? I will pay whatever your price is.” I heard him let out a loud laugh on the other end of the phone.

“Money?” He laughs again. “Oh, Eli, this is way past whatever you could afford. Did you not wonder why I never contacted you? Yeah, I am aware you stole over a hundred grand from me, after you sold me to the DEA. I have thought about how much money you could give me for that inconvenience.”

I pull at my hair, moving the phone away from my ear. I crouch down and slam my fist into the ground. Swallowing my anger, I put the phone back up to my ear.

“Fine. If it’s not money, then what do you want?” His voice, now spewing venom, replies...

“I want to make you fucking suffer like you made me suffer all these years.” I hear Brooklyn again in the background, moaning with muffled noises. I start to pace back and forth, my chest heaving up and down, roughly. “I want you to give me everything that means anything to you. And this woman, she will do just fine. I will contact you if I want anything else.” With that, he hangs up the phone, leaving me speechless.

I let my scream roar as I dropped to my knees on the hard pavement. Tears of anger and pain flow from my stinging eyes. Everything is spinning. My heart feels as if it has just had a knife slice my chest right open and it's being ripped right out. I try to call her number time and time again, but it just goes straight to voicemail.

“Goddamnit!” I yell as I Jump to my feet, and throw on my helmet, racing towards my house. I am going ninety miles an hour, which still doesn’t seem fast enough. “FUCK!” I scream loudly while I switch gears, weaving in and out of traffic. Tears rolled down my face.

If they touch her, or hurt her in any way, you might as well sign my death warrant now. I turn into my driveway, not even coming to a complete stop and jump off my still-running bike, letting it fall to the ground. Rushing into the house, I see Dane and Jenny cuddled on the couch, watching T.V. Their faces go pale when they see me. “She’s fucking gone! He took her!”

I force the heavy words out of my mouth with each breath I take. Dane springs up from the couch and runs to catch me right before I fall to my knees. My vision starts to blur as I watch him running towards me.

“What is going on!” He yells, shaking me. I just lay there motionless. “Eli! Where is Brooklyn?” I can hear Jenny shaking and crying from the couch, fear plastered on her face. “Eli!” He yells, grabbing me and bringing me to his chest.

I’m in physical shock. I can’t move, I can’t speak. It’s as if I have died, but my eyes were left open. I feel it. The darkness slowly starts to crawl from my depths to finally drag me down with it. To finally take my soul.

To make sure I put that fucking bullet inside my brain. Dane’s yells seem so distant right now. Almost as if I am under water. Lifting my body up, I see his feet racing up the stairs, down the hallway and into his room. He places me in his shower and before I know it, ice is falling on me.

It stings me on my face and all over my body. Pain. Nothing but pure, raw, pain. I catch my breath as I shake and come out of my darkened state. Dane’s eyes are pouring with tears as he kneels next to me. I am covered in ice cold water from the shower head that is making my entire body convulse. Grabbing me up and out of the shower, he walks me over to his bed.

“There you are buddy. Had me really scared for a minute,” he says as he takes a towel and dries my hair. Everything comes racing back, like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore. Grabbing his arm to stop him, I look into his eyes.

“The Heathens have her.” Dane’s eyes widened. He falls backwards into his bedroom wall, hitting so hard it cracks. “They fucking have her, Dane, and he doesn’t want money. He wants to punish me. He wants to fucking destroy me!” My anger is now at a fucking thousand. Dane doesn’t move his eyes from the carpet below him. His mouth hangs open with fear and disbelief.

Jenny stands at the entry to the bedroom. Her eyes are swollen and red. Her cries are almost in panic. She darts her eyes from Dane to me, her next words coming out in screams of horror.

“You promised us we would be safe! Why the fuck do they have Brooklyn?” My ears start to ring from her cries. Running at me, she howls. “What did you fucking do, Eli?” Before she can reach me, Dane jumps up and catches her in his arms.

“Shhh, baby...shhh. Calm down, love,” he says into her ear. Her sobs turn into a panic attack. Dane then swoops her up in his arms and carries her downstairs. I rock my body back and forth on Dane’s bed.

Visions of the past start to play through my mind. I am eight years old, finding my mom passed out with a needle in her arm. The trailer we are in is filled with trash and empty cartons. My father is passed out on the couch with vomit on his ripped sports shirt. I sit there, cockroaches crawling over my little feet.

The smell of rotten food and death circles all around me. Then, I am in the freezing snow, close to death, Christmas lights all around. My vision blurs.

I am thirteen years old, in my fifth foster home. This one doesn’t seem as bad as the others. The lady is nice. She gives me cookies. All she asks for in return is for me to sleep in her bed with her every night, while I Let her touch me and make a man out of me. It felt good.

I grew to become addicted to that feeling. The touch of a woman. The pleasure that it would give. She was my first fuck. My first everything. This went on for two more years. That fucking predator. The day it stopped is the day I stabbed her in her hand with a kitchen knife when she tried to grab my hand on the table. Enough was enough.

Then I am seventeen, meeting Jasper for the first time. Dane stands behind him. We became brothers, running the streets, making good money. Fucking beautiful women on the daily. Arrests were made but dropped due to Jasper's lawyers. But it isn’t enough. I wanted more. I convinced Dane to leave with me.

We sold out Jasper to avoid prison time and then left with stacks of cash in our duffle bags and the rest of Jasper’s product on his desk, then ran. Getting on a Greyhound bus and moving four states over. I never thought I would see him again. Not until I heard he had fled the country and had produced a new identity.

By that time, I was 23, and already too powerful with where I stood in my city. His men left him. Some came to me for work, while others just left the state or were thrown into prison. And now he is here to finally get what he has always wanted.

Revenge.