"Khristina-Bella La'rine!"
Grabbing his little cousin by the arm, Laurenté groans as he walks her over to the elementary school's car line.
"Young lady, how many times need I remind you that you aren't allowed to stand with bus riders just because you want to talk to your friends?"
"I forgot, Laurenté!" the little girl says, unwrapping a lollipop. "We did multiplication tables today and I had to forget that so that I could make space in my brain for my multiplication tables!"
"You can remember both at the same time, Khristina. Look, there's Kazimir ready to pick yo-
"Mr. Kazimir!"
With excitement in her movements, Khristina opens the car door and quickly gets in.
"Mr. Kazimir, you gotta race Mr. Pierre and Ms. Nyelle!"
"I gotta what?"
"You have to race Ms. Nyelle and Mr. Pierre! Me and Miracle and Prince wants to see who wins! And I told them both that you were gonna win so now you gotta do it! See, there they are waiting for you!"
Turning his head, Kazimir looks out of the window as Pierre and Nyelle stood against their cars talking to each other.
"I mean, I would but who's going to watch you while we race? I don't want you in the car in case something goes wrong."
Parking his car, Kazimir steps out and walks over to Pierre and Nyelle.
"She don't wanna race, Kazimir!" Pierre yells. "Are you scared you're gonna run over a curb or something?"
"No, I just don't participate in that type of activity anymore. I have a stable career which is more important than silly street racing games." Nyelle replies, grabbing Miracle's hand.
"Alright, so it's just me and Kazimir then."
"Yeah, but I don't want Khristina in the car with me."
"Then we'll get the lady here to watch Prince and Khristina!" Pierre says. "And we can race on an abandoned road with no interruptions!"
Nyelle sighs and clasps her hands together.
"I have no problem with watching the little ones while you two race each other. I clearly cannot change your minds but I do hope that you two will stay safe."
"Alright, I know a spot." Pierre says, jumping in his car. "Come on, Prince. We'll lead them there."
———————-
"Papí's gonna beat you! He always beats everyone he races no matter what car he's in!"
"Prince, please come stand to the side with Miracle, Khristina, and I." Nyelle calls out.
"BEAT HIM, MR. KAZIMIR!" Khristina says, jumping up and down.
With three fingers in the air, Nyelle slowly puts each one down, signaling for the two men to start the race.
"Mommy, I don't like this." Miracle says, holding onto her mother's skirt. "Something bad's gonna happen. Can you stop them?"
"I know you don't, sweetie. I wish I could stop them but I've done all I can to get through to them. Unfortunately, they're at the age where they both think they have nine lives."
Turning to the two other classmates, Nyelle motions for them to come over.
"Prince, Khristina, I want you to know that you don't have to get inspired by every little thing Pierre and Kazimir influences. They're human and just because they might be adults doesn't mean they're going to make foolish choices such as this."
"Okay, but papí's still-
*BEEEEEP!*
*SCREEEECH!*
Hearing the faint sound of burning rubber against the road, the four quickly pile into Nyelle's car.
"Mommy, I'm scared!"
"It's okay, Miracle. It's okay."
Upon arriving, Khristina, Miracle, Prince, and Nyelle watch in horror as a lone sedan goes up in flames.
"PAPÍ!" Prince screams as he begins to run over to the accident scene.
"Miracle, call the police and explain to them what happened. Prince! Stay here with the girls!"
"BUT MY-
"Get back over there right now, Prince!"
Running over to the fire, Nyelle covers her nose and mouth with her sleeve as she gets closer.
"There's a kid in the backseat!" Pierre yells over to Kazimir. "You get the lady out and I'll climb into the passenger seat to get the kid out!"
Opening the driver's door, Kazimir quickly unbuckles the woman's seatbelt and pulls her away from the burning car.
"I got her from here." Nyelle says, helping Kazimir place the woman in the passenger seat. "Please help Pierre with whoever else is in the car!"
Running back over to burning car, Kazimir watches as Pierre shakes his head and jogs over to him.
"Ashes. The baby's dead, man."
Looking up at the cloudy sky, Kazimir takes a deep breath.
"I don't get it. I was in my own lane; I couldn't have ran her off the road."
"And I was about 30 feet in front of you, so I couldn't have either."
"Why're you using this as a time to brag about how you were still in front?" the young detective asks, putting his hands in his pockets. "You're fucking sick."
"I'm sick for telling the details? At least I'm not going around and offing people who didn't do shit to me."
"You're selling drugs, aren't you? You don't even know the innocent people that your drugs are being distributed to but yet you want to stand in front of me and try to tell me what I'm doing is wrong when you're doing the exact same thing."
"Yeah, because whoever gets the drugs has a choice on whether they wanna use it or not." Pierre says, shrugging. "As for you, you didn't even give anyone you killed a chance to speak for themselves."
*PUNCH!*
Stumbling back towards the burning car, Pierre watches as Kazimir prepares to kick him and quickly gets up.
"The bastards I killed already had a chance when they were looking for an occupation."
"What in the world is going on?" Nyelle asks, running over.
"Explain to this conceited man that we were both in the same lane and neither one of us could've ran that lady off the road." Pierre says.
"How am I the conceited one when you deadass took the fucking time to use this as a way to still make it about yourself?!"
"Was there anyone else in the car?"
Looking over at the car, both Kazimir and Pierre turn back to Nyelle.
"There was a baby but she didn't make it."
With a look of disbelief on her face, Nyelle shakes her head.
"So a baby is dead and you two are over here arguing over who is the most conceited, right?"
"There wasn't much we could-
"No, shut up and give me an answer. Correct?"
The two young men nod.
"Then I'll tell you who's the most conceited; you both are. How're you two just standing here and making this situation about yourselves when a mother literally lost her pride and joy?!"
"But neither of us could've hit her if we were both in the same lane." Kazimir says, looking over at the unconscious woman.
"It doesn't matter! She most likely saw you two driving like fools and ran off the road assuming one of you were going to lose control!"
"Yeah, but coming from a legal standpoint, she's in the wrong 100%." Pierre says, groaning. "She could've pulled over to the shoulder and waited until we went by if she was scared of being hit."
Eyes widening, Nyelle blinks a couple of times at Pierre.
"I know you did not just blame that woman for your actions. I know that's not what I'm hearing."
"That's exactly what you're hearing. What the hell does it look like for me to just stand here as a detective and not correlate this situation to what I do for a living?"
"Oh, so basically you have no disregard for human life, huh?"
"Can't just blame me. Kazimir was racing, too."
"Exactly and I'll get to him next." Nyelle says, crossing her arms. "As for you, you're a low-life, selfish young man who needs to be checked!"
Groaning, the older detective runs a hand through his hair.
"It just doesn't make sense as to why you give a fuck so much. You don't even know the lady."
"I may not know her, but imagine if you or Kazimir was in her place. Imagine losing your little one that you cared for so much in a freak accident like this!"
Turning to Kazimir, Nyelle gives him a look of melancholy.
"I expected more of you, Kazimir. You've been so good to Miracle that I don't even want to believe that you were a participant in this."
Turning back to her car, Nyelle looks over at the three children who watched from afar.
"I'm going to go ahead and take the woman to the hospital since emergency services want to take their time in getting here. If it's fine with you two, I'd like to take Khristina and Prince along while you both explain to the responders what happened. I do think they're very young and don't need to hear all of the details."
Pierre's brows furrow and he gives Nyelle an angry look.
"Listen lady, trying to blame me for this shit is one thing, but trying to take my son too?!"
"It's fine, Miss Nyelle. We'll just pick the kids up from the hospital once we're done."
"No, it's not-
Smacking Pierre's arm, Kazimir gives him a dirty look.
"Just let her go. It's already too much going on, anyway."
"I still can't fathom why people get so upset over things that ain't their business."
"I don't know, man." Kazimir replies, facepalming. "You're a detective so why's it taking so long for your dumbass to put two and two together and realize why the woman's daughter is named Miracle?"
"Ah, I see. She and the kid must've been in the same situation."
Hearing the faint sounds of sirens, the two young men look ahead at the emergency vehicles coming their way.
"I'll help with putting out the fire while you do the talking." Pierre says as he begins to motion for the fire truck to follow him.
"Afternoon, son. Care to explain what happened?"
Looking over at the officer, Kazimir shrugs.
"That man over there helping with the fire and I were driving down the road when that white SUV suddenly just ran off the road. There was also a lady who was following behind us but she went ahead to the hospital and took the only surviving victim with her."
"Alright, do you happen to know who else was in the car?"
"A baby. Specifically female."
Kazimir watches as the officer turns to the car and hears him let out a quiet sigh.
"Did the woman seem to be under the influence or on any type of drugs?"
"I don't know. She was unconscious the whole time."
"Alright, thanks for your time. Before you leave, I'll need your contact information in case there's anything we need to question you on."
After giving the police officer his information, Kazimir walks over to his car and starts it.
Looking in the rearview mirror, he stares at Khristina's car seat and sighs.
"You don't know how relieved I am it wasn't you."