"I need you to go to the alley near the Smile's old house." said Closwintha. "That bitch shouldn't have anyone in it but if it does. You cam eat them and yes, you'll go black but that's what I need."
Wyleisha growled. "It's better than being a dog. If you do it right. I'll even tell you about Okra." she said. Wyleisha put her head up in attention. "Okra's transgender."
That wasn't useful information. She mumbled bored. "She did molest Aril and he came to ma crying about it. She did do something because she's against child abuse."
And? "You heard me when I said she was trans, right?"
She nodded. "Transwomen can't get pregnant and your mother… is a former drug addict."
"HUSH!" she blurted out. "I'm sorry, alost of people knew Attaullah daughter was addicted. Including a nigga that used to be a nigga. Your tall because of your father's height. Yawa was a extra large african." Closwintha crossed her arms.
Wyleisha understood while the echo of hunger went off in her ear. She couldn't say much due to the lack of vocabulary. "Okra used to be a man. Your uncle was low key gay and… well, you get it."
"Meee….?"
"Oh… well, he aimmed to give her everything. Even if it meant killing you in a car crash."
"Wh--"
"They stole you from Hadi when she was high and got into an argument. A baby having broke legs hit the news. Okra, aka Roderick Aceves, wanted the family money."
She didn't want to hear it. Closwintha sighed, "You're my cousin."
She felt sick. "No…"
"Yes…" she put her hands on her hips. "Listen it was a big ass plan for the dumbest shit. Aleigha has a brother and the family is torn to shred. Put a nigga on drugs through fucking with the water. Your father is Aleigha's brother, which makes you like a cousin to me and mama."
"Cos…Cousin…?"
"Yeah…" they looked at each other. "It's some more bodies we need to get… come on."
"Bod…" her neck bent. "Keep as conscious as you can. We need to get to that doppelganger stage."
Wyleisha was in her head, if she was a cousin. How could she do this to her? She was lying. She lied to Aril and she lied to her. What was she planning?
Closwintha eyed Wyleisha, bending over and swaying her head. "You don't remember do you?"
.
.
.
"ant kadhib!" Yawa kicked Hadi in the livingroom. He grabbed a handful of her hair. "laqad 'ahdart hadha alqarf fi manzili!"
Yawa squeezed her cheeks. Tears came out but they were ignored. Through a muffle, she said, "Police…"
"POLICE!" he grabbed her throat and threw her to the wall. "Why don't we ever call the police on your stupid ass!"
"GET OUT YAWA!" Hadi screamed. "NO!" Hadi attempted to crawl to the backroom. In the backroom, Simisola had Mokiri in her arms and her brother sat on the edge of the bed. "LET ME GO!" Hadi shouted from the livingroom.
They heard a slap so strong, it broke the barrier of sound. It shut up Hadi's screaming for a while. Mokiri squirmed, trying to constantly swing her hand out.
Simisola looked at the window. She looked at her brother and looked at the window again.
"Where the fuck is my money!" Yawa threw her towards the table near the kitchen. He grabbed the broom stick that leaning against the wall by the tv. "You selling or using!" he wacked the broom across her nose.
He trembled at the sight of blood leaving a trail down her lip. "Yawa!"
"I fucking hate you!" he smacked the broom against her head. Hadi put her arms up to sheild herself. HE kept beating her, hitting her middle finger enough for her to let her guard down.
He threw the broom to the side and her feet were between his legs. He grabbed her hair from the front and pounded her face. "I'LL QUIT!"
Yawa's fist paused. "I'LL QUIT!" He swallowed. "You'll go to church again?"
"YES!" she nodded vigorously. "I'll go!"
"You done?" he stared at her. "I'm done! I'm done!" she sniveled. "Yawa, my ankle is broken…" Hadi gasped with the intense burn to yell.
It was a moment of silence and the doorbell rung. He went to the door but not before looking back. "You slipped…"
"I slipped…" she held her face in her hands. She crawled behind the island counter and grabbed the towel hanging off the oven handle. Instead of reaching for the sink, she wiped the towel in her own spit.
It smeared but it was good enough. "Hadi babay get out the kitchen. In fact, Ubayd! Come help your mother!" he opened the door and behind it was Shikki Biblio. "Hi Niecey!"
"I'm not stupid…" she glowered with her son's hand in hers. "Daddy wanted to know about the stash."
"Stash?" he thought about it. "OH!"
"I don't know."
"You don't?" he chuckled. "No…" she looked to the side of the wall. "Y'all got doorbells to apartments over here? Fancy."
"The landlord got a few in o the second and first floor. You wanna come in?"
"Nope." she said. "You came way out here to talk about your granddaddy's grave?"
"What about mine?" she blinked. Both were silent. "Ok then, don't give me attitude. I came with smiles."
"Shikki," he heaved, "What does Aleigha want?"
"Something about a stash with granddaddy, I guess."
"You came on foot for a reason but you don't want inside the apartment?"
"You just beat auntie. Now I can come in, but I'll be a witness."
"MIND YA BUSINESS!"
"That's why I died the first time." she grinned widely. Yawa's mouth hung open. He jerked the door to scare her, she stepped back tittering. "Evil little girl," Yawa sneered. "He probably wants the amulet."
"Amulet?"
"The medallion. Your granddaddy has it."
"Which one?"
"The one you made him, you forgot?"
"Ugh…"
"Eat your bones."
"I'm whole, I don't remember." she probably wasn't even supposed to be over there. She looked to the clouds. "Oh…"
"Shikki, don't do that…" he shook his head. She put her fingers on his lips. She reached out and pushed his chest lightly.
"Shikki!"
"It wasn't Hadi…" she gasped. "Okra?"
"Who?"
.
.
.
It was anything way back then, she surely couldn't remember due to being so young.
"Incest exist in this family but it's like whatever. But still, we're cousins. I don't know how Yawa got to be a werewolf. The family is vampire or witch, sometimes worst but we don't even talk to him."
She couldn't even wrap her head around it. Something about the color red and something liquid like and tasty. No wait, that wasn't it. People, people had like… what's that thing called?
BLOOD.
"Ok, you aren't listening."
"Family…" she scrapped Closwintha's hands. "No!"
"Fam…"
"BLOCK!" she shouted and Wyleisha couldn't move forward. She pulled out her phone, "Grantham Courtyard in Virginia."
Wyleisha swayed, she caught herself and her eyes fluttered. "There are people here. It's plant and I need a body from the grave site on the plantation." she put her phone away. "Only eat vampires!"
Blood.