G.A.B.O.S. (Original Version)

Chapter XXXIII

His face stoic and uncaring, Tremaine stared blankly at the wall. Surrounding his seat on the living room floor were several shoeboxes filled with pictures of him, his kids, and Lynise. Heaven's security blanket was spread over his lap and her favorite stuffed animal was seated on his left side. Directly in front of him, an empty bottle of red wine laid sideways on the floor, but he wasn't drunk. Over the course of the eighteen hours he'd been sitting there, he'd gotten intoxicated and sobered up completely. The thought of moving to shower, eat, or even empty his bladder never once crossed his mind. It was as though he didn't realize that he reeked of alcohol and couldn't hear the loud growls that came from his stomach. He was completely detached from the world.

Tremaine had thought that he'd been doing a pretty good job of dealing with all of the recent events in his life. He'd been crying significantly less over Heaven's death, and he'd been able to convince himself of the fact that he wasn't to blame for Nina's demise. In his own mind, he'd been getting better every day.

When he woke up the day before and realized that it was Lynise's wedding day, he instantly fell back into the deep depression he'd just started to climb out of. While another man was standing in front of a crowd of people and vowing to spend the rest of his life with the woman Tremaine still viewed as his own, he was stuck dealing with the loss of his child and the guilt of killing an innocent person. Lynise was supposed to be by his side. She knew better than anyone else that Tremaine wasn't strong enough to handle these things on his own. Yet, she wasn't there. She was somewhere living a fairytale with a man who was smart enough to appreciate her while he had the chance.

He couldn't even be mad at Julian. He'd had his opportunity to be with Lynise and he let it slip away. He remembered his godmother telling him months earlier that he wasn't going to find anyone better than Lynise. While he didn't give it much thought at the time, he knew then that her words were true.

Tremaine grabbed Heaven's blanket and squeezed it. He was upset over so many different things that he was finding it hard to concentrate on any one subject for more than a few minutes at a time. Regardless of whatever was running through his head at any given moment, a single thought lingered in the back of his mind continuously. As he dealt with his grief, he couldn't help but wonder what he'd done to make God hate him the way He so obviously did.

Before Tremaine could make it through his nineteenth hour of wasting away, ten loud knocks resonated throughout his living room. Tremaine jumped in response to the sudden pull back to reality. Looking over to the door, Tremaine didn't even bother to think about who could have possibly been on the other side of it. He didn't have the energy to care.

Tremaine attempted to go back to his world of despair, but the second, louder series of knocks prevented him from doing so. With a low groan, Tremaine unhurriedly stood up and walked over to the door. Slowly, he pulled it open, revealing two big, burly black men in dark suits.

"Tremaine Zarell?" the one on the left questioned.

Tremaine nodded. "Yeah, wassup?" he asked, his voice low and uncaring.

The man adjusted the Bluetooth on his ear. "We got him, Boss." He directed his attention back to Tremaine. "I'm Damian. To my right is Keith. We were told to come and get you."

"I ain't going nowhere, fam. Tell your boss that I'm busy."

Keith grabbed Tremaine's shoulder and pulled him back when he started to walk away. "I don't think you understand. Our boss doesn't work on your schedule. You adjust yours to work with his. He's available now, and he wants to see you now. That means that you're going to see him now." Keith pushed Tremaine back into the house, and then both he and Damian walked inside. "You have fifteen minutes to shower and get dressed. This is a business meeting, so wear a nice suit. Don't bring any weapons with you. Or do. I'm going to search you before we leave, so it doesn't matter either way. Turn your cell phone off before you leave this house. Do something with your hair, and refrain from using words such as 'ain't' and 'fam' during the meeting."