Shut Up & Listen

9. that motherfucker is not real!

[Maverik, 46]

[]

August 22

1:57AM

Maurice sat in a chair in the middle of the room with a cup of water in his hand. Lit by the late afternoon sun peeking through the large suburban windows of the Birmingham home. Family surrounded him, concerned; Damon, Sadé coupled with the baby, Holle, George and the twins who were equally enthralled in the drama. "What did he look like?" His father, Maverik, asked him. Sadé had just finished telling them about what sparked his episode. Holle gave him his prescribed meds while they circled him, waiting for answers.

"His face was messed up. But it was him! I swear! I won't ever forget his face, no matter how different it is!!"

"Messed up??" Sadé asked.

"Different how?" Maverik asked.

"Like it was put back together or something! I don't know. I don't know."

"No." Dame mumbled to himself, but was heard.

"I don't know." He kept mumbling.

"What?" Maverik asked, not following.

Dame kept calm. He touched Maverik's shoulder. "Nothing. Mav, can they stay here with Holle until we get back?"

"Who is we?" Maverik asked, oblivious.

Holle responded, "Yes they can stay with me. But where are y'all going?"

"Maurice, everything is cool aight my baby? You probably was just having a flashback or hallucinating? Did Cole give you something maybe?" Dame asked him, trying to convince him that what he thought he saw he didn't. "Maybe you been watching too many crime shows. You know you be watching them late at night."

"No, I saw him." He was adamant which was angering Dame because he didn't want it to be true himself.

"No you didn't! It wasn't real." He yelled, a failed attempt at keeping his cool.

"Yo, don't be yelling at my brother like that." Kwame tried intimidating Dame while defending Maurice against his mind control attempt.

Kalil was equally offended saying, "Yeah, he ain't crazy. He knows what he saw."

"I said where are you going?" Holle asked again.

Dame scratched his dome, "We'll be back in a couple hours maybe." Dame answered short-handedly as he walked towards the door. In the car, he texted Jah and waited for a response. The message was vague but he was hoping he wouldn't need to spell it out for his big cousin. "I gotta talk to Cheyenne but it's going to trigger her bad. Either her or Q." He thought of quickly realizing he probably wasn't going to hear from Jah in good time.