"Heart's day, mom, cousin, sister, brother, and auntie too."
"Copies…"
"Call that shit a bloodline." it snickers.
"Bloodline?" The damn thing comes up to my ankles. "What are you--" the apartment shakes violently. "What was that?"
The imp waves his hand in front of his nose. "Isn't that ironic? Now, they broke into your grandma's house."
"How?"
"Fell through the floor." the imps shrugs. "You the anti."
"Anti?" my eyes flutter. I kick the green snot bubble. "I'm not the antichrist!"
"Ow, bitch! You stand six two, when you were born. Dareion shot you and hiccuped a bullet."
"No the fuck I didn't!"
"You right but you still got shot." he sticks out his tongue. "What are you here for?" I grimace. "I'm a roach rat, invader. Coochie's still alive." he looks up in the air. "Yep. Still alive."
"What are you worried about him for?"
"We got to kill him to take the house. The Messiah is going to revive. We're having a party!"
"Party…"
"Once the Messiah comes back, we all get a house! With a house we can put stuff in it. Like people. And eat soul food so we can live a long time. Doesn't that sound peaceful?" he looks at me with black puppy eyes. "No." I say.
"Fuck you then." he sneers. "OH! And drugs, so many drugs! That's why we got the hospital." he gasps. "She could change the world!"
"On drugs?"
"Freedom!" he shouts. "And she would get everything she ever wanted. Like kids and power. But who gives a fuck about kids." he chuckles. "She beat the shit out of Shikki. But kids are good for holding bodies. They still growing. You can start from scratch!"
Sounds horrible. "It's like a respawn in a video game. You can never die! Just pick a body…" he smiles. "I gotta go home."
"Home?"
"Yep. Back to my tribe. We'll be fucking around, making plans to take virginia over. Can you imagine? The underground was for niggas. The overground would be all about us!"
"What if I take on you?"
"What if I cut your fucking legs off?"
Jesus…
"There…" it titters. "Be safe! Mums the word!" he twirls into a poof of smoke.
I gotta find Coochie…
.
.
.
"It's different down here." she gazes at me, her eyes a pale pink and soft. "I'm still alive bitch."
I stab her again in the chest. And again. And again. I thrash my fist in her face. "Fuck it!" her laugh is boastful. "The air is different down here!" Corrie will not shut the fuck up. I punch her in the face, "what's different?"
"It's a beautiful wind down here." she's delirious. "I'm so fucking high right now." her eyes go round. "Down here I can't feel a thing. The Messiah made a river, and we come back and forth."
"What…" I mutter. "Growden's bitch. But he said we can't live in his house. We had to take Aleigha's, it's bigger." she smiles. "His daughter? We're making a body right now… we discovered immortality and when we bathe, we live forever."
I get up and drag her up by her neck. "Make sense!"
"I don't have to be Chelsea anymore. I don't want that body!" she looks at me and flutters her eyes. "Aren't I pretty?"
"You finna tell me what the fuck going on." I drag her deeper underground by her hair. "You can't kill her! The lean is a blessing!"
"SHUT THE FUCK… UP!"
The ground cracks, a hand lifts up. "Fuck him…" a voice grunts. I gather up a gun but it leaves my hand. "Keep breathing!" Corrie blurts. What is under the house. The body breaks through the soil. The nigga faces me. He's wearing a black jersey with the number nine on it. "You heard me nigga!"
"Repeat!"
"Fuck yo daddy! Fuck that nigga, old crooked ass; wise talkin' and shit. All for the sake of his bitch ass new life."
"What are y'all niggas doing down here!"
"Yo bitch ass rapist of a father put us down here! HE would rather be a fucking wise crackin' father then the real nigga he claim to be. Make a change my ass!"
"That's yo fucking problem!" Corrie struggles in my grip. "Aleigha put us down here. He shot everybody that fucked with Shikki!"
"Over what! Money?"
"Nah bitch!" states the nigga. "That girl know too much! I had myself together, I fucked with Lay, then his smart mouth of a daughter told I was selling to the business. Who the fuck cares if a nigga have a little crack!"
"Wait a mintue--Shatuz?"
"What's wrong? Can't recongize a good nigga no more?" he laughs. "Like the smell of the earth. Killin' yo spirit. Mable--Besujia got a whole bath down here. I think I might partake in some pleasantries."
"I can't do anything… what's in the air!"
"Dead people, nigga." Shatuz tilts his head. "Y'all signed up for a baptism?" my lips contort. "What the fuck is wrong with you!"
"I want my life back and who gives it to me? A bitch that sucked dick for money."
"Remember daddy had a party and dowsed the punch bowl with cocaine. All the rappers went to the ball!"
"So? If crack was so bad why did Besujia live again." he scoffs. "I mean, a dumb bitch fought the drug so if anything I'm a muthafuckin' genius!"
"You gotta join the church!" Corrie snatches her head from me, leaving a huge bald spot. "You can't do shit down here!"
Statuz eyes me, "But we can grab yo ass…"
.
.
.
I'm a horrible daughter. "Please… say you can turn." I look towards my brother sitting on the floor. "Mokiri… what happened to Tala?"
"I'm not familiar with the name…" I have to get my family out. "Tala was your wolf…" Ubayd tosses his head back. He raises his hands up, "Don't flip out. Mama plays with jinn."
"So?"
"Mokiri you were sick. I didn't understand how sick were. When I heard about the bone morrow, I didn't think giving it to you because the jinn was already put in place." says Mama. "Mokiri you had clef plate. You had Osteoporosis, asthma, and you were born deaf. It was known in the projects that eating the placenta would help but you were already here. You died twice on me. You tripped over a box and one your ribs shot your lung. I broke my religion."
"So the jinn kept you alive. But the trade off was, it wanted a body. So daddy made a deal, but daddy dead."
"The jinn lied." her face creases, "I killed him."
"Mama don't wear your heart out--" says Simisola.
Mama blasts, "Tawaqaf ean iikhbari ala afqad aesabi ana faealt hadha ana ubtiluha kulha!"
"Aghfir linafsika!" Simisola yells. "Laqad artakabna akhta ealaa al'aqali ma zalat huna!"
I don't speak Arabic… I'm on the verge of tears. I run to the door and bang on it. What does she want with us. "Ma kan yajib an afeal ma faealathu laqad laeanani allah."
"Mama, stop it!" Ubayd hurries from the floor and slaps mama. "What the fuck!" I rush to shove him away from her. "She's our mother!"
"I'm so sick of her crying over shit! We were broke as fuck, granddaddy got kidnapped all for the sake of Muslims living in the projects!" he yells. HE racks his hand over his face, "Uncle sold you!"
I gawk at him, "Uncle Chia?"
"Wrong!" he's animate with his anger. "Capria!"
"Uncle's real name is Capria Martin. He married and took her last name."
"They was suppose to get out of the hood. But all that nigga did was move around in the same place. He started mass confusion! Talkin' about mama was making calls to the east about some fucking truck that was collecting kids!"
"It's not mama, daddy, or grandpa and we can't find granddaddy after he got Growden!" shouts Simisola. "The family is just all fucked up…" she whimpers. "I'm actually scared…"