Mercy of A Hustler

Chapter 1 "The News"

The Mercy of A Hustler

Chapter 1 "The News"

I stumbled out of bed and went to the kitchen, splashing my face with water, I woke myself up. I turned the stereo on and put in one of my burned CD's. A song that I loved came on, Waking The Demon by Bullet For My Valentine. I checked my phone and had three unread messages, all from Jack.

1. "Hus! You need to come over ASAP." - 6:36 am

2. "Hus! Get your ass out of bed and come over here!" - 7:30

3. "HUS! PLEASE GET OVER HERE NOW!!" - 7:45

I quickly replied to him.

"Alright Jacki. What's up? Scratch that, I'm on my way. And the reason I didn't text back was because I was getting ready for work. I'll call them and say that I'm helping y'all with a sick dog. So, I'll go in around two or three."

I looked at the clock, it was 8:16 am. I was in a pair of my "holy" jeans and a random t-shirt that was on the dresser. I grabbed my cell and left the house. Jogging over to their house, the boys were sitting outside on the porch steps. Jack was sitting with his head between his hand.

"Hey guys, what's u-"

My tone went from normal and happy to serious.

"What's wrong?"

Jack looked at me, his eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"Jackie, what's wrong?"

I walked over to him, crouched down and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Jack. . . .What's wrong babe?"

He burst into tears and collapsed in my arms. I looked up at Jerry and then Angel with a puzzled look on my face. I suggested that we all go inside. When we got inside, I sat next to Jack as he cried in my arms. Angel looked at me, his eyes were red too.

"Ma's been shot."

I froze, eyes swelling with tears, the color draining from my face.

"Wha-what? When? Why? DAMIT!"

Angel and Jerry looked at me confused.

"What's ammater Hus?"

I started crying even harder.

"I was with Evelyn last night. I had a gut feeling that she shouldn't go, and I told her that. She just told me to go home, that it was that time of the month for me. To go home, that I would feel better in the morning. It was about 10:30 when I left her house and went home, when I got on my porch I saw her leave the house. . . I went inside and went to bed. The last time I looked at the clock it was 10:58 or :59. . . . .I shouldn't have let her go!"

My crying got worse and I though of the funeral. . .

"When's the funeral?"

"It's today, at three."

I sniffed and got my phone out, calling my boss.

"Hello?"

I sniffed again.

"Dr. Banks, it's Nikki."

I tried to keep the tears from falling from my eyes, but they just kept coming.

"Hustler, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?"

I tried to suck it up.

"No, I'm not hurt. It's my best friends' mother. She's been shot. The funeral is today at three. I'm-"

"Take as much time off as you need. I'll see you when you get back ta feelin' better."

"Thank you Dr. Banks."

"No problem Hus, I have'ta go. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Dr. Banks.

I hung up after he did. I could just sit there crying.

"Has Bobby come home yet?"

The boys just shook their heads 'no'.

I hugged Jack and told him that it'd be okay. It was around 2:30 when Jack let me go.

I went home and put on an elegant, yet simple black dress and a black leather coat. Stepping outside, I took a deep breath of the cold, icy air. Letting it fill my lungs. When I looked down at the road, the boys were in Jerry and Camille's van with the girls. I got in and squeezed in between Angel and Jack. We pulled up to the cemetery, when I got out, it felt like the temperature had dropped 30 degrees from the time I had left. I got up there and stood next to Jerry and Jack. After the funeral, I said a short prayer for her to watch over all of us.

I stood up and started to walk away when I ran into something. . . No someone.

"Sorry. I wasn't paying a-"

I looked up.

"Bobby?"

He looked at me confused.

"Who are you?"

I looked at him, stunned.

"Do y-" Angel spoke up.

"Bobby Mercer! Do you not remember her?!"

Angel looked down at me.

"Take off your coat."

"Angel Mercer! Are you fucking nuts?! It's colder than a witches tit out here!!"

I looked back at Bobby as he started to chuckled.

"Nikki, my little fire hazard, what's up?"

I chuckled at the favorite nickname he'd given me when we were young.

"Nuttin' much. . . .although, I haven't been playing with fire here lately, and it sucks. . .but what have you been doing? I can tell by lookin' at'cha that you have that same attitude."

I chuckled, along with the other boys. Suddenly Bobby gave me a bear hug.

"Awe, you don't believe that I'm a collage professor?"

I chuckled again and he let me go. Bobby had a disappointed look on his face.

"Hmm, I wonder why I find that hard to believe."

He gave me a noogie and laughed.

"AH! Come on! I just did my hair man!"

I just stood there, giving him an evil glare.

"I hate you."

He just smiled innocently at me with the big goofy grin that I loved.

I love him, and yet I hate him. Why?

"NIKKI!!"

I snapped out of it.

"Shit! Huh? What?"

Bobby shook his head sadly.

"You still don't pat any attention to what I say, do you?"

"Maybe. . . Oh shit! I gotta get home!

Jerry looked at me.

"Why?"

"I need to feed Max and Ginger."

Bobby nudged me with his elbow.

"C'mon, I'll drive ya home."

"Thanks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Ch. 1

Hmm. . . . my dialogs are very . . . . .umm. . . . . . .I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for is. . . . . T_T Damn. . . .