...
My eyes grew wide. Kevin and I stared at each other. Mark wrapped his arms around me and cried. "I'm so sorry Alyssa. I don't know what happened." My whole body stiffened. I was internally freaking out. Kevin walked over to Mark and tried to pull him off of me all the while tears were streaming down my face.
"Are you sure," Kevin said in disbelief, "that it was Ron and that you killed him?" Mark nodded his head. "I saw him walking from the train station. Without thinking I went over to confront him about what he did and things got heated real fast. He kept denying everything and the next thing I knew I blacked out. I think somebody had to pull me off of him. When I finally came to there was a gun in my hand. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. That's why I came here." I leaned forward and took a deep breath. I rubbed my hands back and forth on my legs. "Shwhew," I sighed.
"Don't be mad at me Alyssa. I didn't mean it." He looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm gonna turn myself in. I'm gonna make this right." He started to head for the door. "Mark. Wait," I said from behind him. He turned around to look at me. "I'm not mad at you. We're still tight." Mark nodded in my direction and opened up the front door. "See y'all later," he said looking between Kevin and I."
"Alright man," Kevin said to him.
I plopped back down onto the sofa and placed my head in my hands. My eyes peered out from the side of my hands. "What the fuck," I mumbled to Kevin. I sat up and tucked my legs under me. "Do you think he really did it," I asked Kevin. He sat down beside me. "I'ont know babe. It's hard to say." I closed my eyes and the images of the body came flooding back. I quickly opened my eyes. "It's not Ron. They have the wrong guy. Mark didn't do it."
"Alyssa I don't think---"
I cut Kevin off. "I'm right. I know I'm right." I perked up a bit. "Ron has a birthmark on his---" I paused and looked at Kevin. Kevin sat up and folded his arms. "---On an area that shall remain nameless. Anyway in the pictures they showed me the body didn't have one. That's not Ron. I can't believe I didn't notice that before." I grabbed onto Kevin's arm. "Earlier I had a gut feeling that that wasn't him, but this---this is actual proof."
"No. Actual proof would be a picture of the birthmark and you don't have any pictures of that, so.
I looked at Kevin and winced. "Weeell."
He raised his eyebrow at me. "Well what?" I scratched my head. "Alyssa you better not tell me that you have pictures of Ron in your phone somewhere."
"I don't have pictures of him in my phone, but---"
Kevin cut me off. "But?"
"---I do have the video."
Kevin scrunched his face up. "The video? What vid---oh hell no. I don't want nobody else looking at that damn video."
"Well quite frankly I don't see what other choice we have."
"We could let the public assume his crazy ass was dead and go on bout our business."
I side-eyed Kevin. "Negro. Now you know," I said pursing my lips together.
"What? What's wrong with that? I don't see the issue."
"I got some shit that I still want to say to that nigga. He don't get to be under the radar. And furthermore, if he's not dead Mark can walk away from this with a clear conscience."
Kevin sucked his teeth. "Alright man. Do what you gotta do."
I unlocked my phone and scrolled through my videos. "Here it is." I clicked play and scrolled through different clips to find a clear image of Ron and his birthmark. "Oh. Got it," I said pausing the video. I zoomed in and held it up to Kevin. "See."
"Come on yo! I don't want to see that," he said pushing me away with his arm. I laughed. "You play too much," he said shoving me again. "Why do you even have that video in your phone?"
"This is the original copy that Ron sent me the day he threatened me. I was gonna use it against him when I went to court. That day never came of course." I handed my phone to Kevin. "Here. You want to see what moves he taught me," I teased. Kevin shooed me away. "Man get that shit outta here." I took my phone back from him. "Sike baby I'm playing. I taught him everything he knows. The girls he fuck with now only cum because of me." Kevin looked at me. "Huh," he said as he held back laughter. I smiled at him. "I said what I said. The time I took to teach him is invaluable and you ain't got to ask about me cause you already know what it do." Kevin burst out laughing. "Baby chill out. You doing too much." I smiled and clicked out of the video. "I'll take this video down to the precinct tomorrow," I said yawning. I stood up and stretched. "Then we can finally get down to the bottom of this mess."
I headed back towards the bedroom. "I'm gonna go take a nap."
..
A few hours later, while in the bed, Kevin's phone started going off.
"Hello?" Kevin said sleepily into the phone. He cleared his throat. "What's up D," he responded and then he was quiet. "What? Alright. Be there shortly."
Kevin leaned over me. "Alyssa. "Alyssa. Baby." I groggily turned over to the other side. "Hm," I replied. "You gotta get up." I pulled the covers over me some more. "Is it three yet?" I mumbled. "Nah. It's uh... two forty-five," he said checking his phone. I peeked at Kevin with one eye. "Okay. So I have fifteen more minutes left." Kevin pulled the covers away from me. "No you don't."
I sucked my teeth. "Kevin what are you doing?"
"You gotta get up Lys.
"Kevin stop playing."
"Babe. You have to get up. Mark's been rushed to the hospital."
I rubbed my hand over my face and exhaled. "What," I said a little hoarsely.
"Mark has been rushed to the hospital. You need to get up so we can go see him."
I sat up. "What happened?"
"We don't know yet. Darius just called me a few minutes ago."
I got out of the bed. "Let me go brush my teeth and wash my face real quick. I'll be ready in a sec." I swiftly walked down the hall to the bathroom to get ready. After a few minutes, while I was washing my face, Kevin slid in the bathroom behind me. He tapped me on the ass. I jumped. "Hurry up. We gotta get going," he said. "I know. I know. I'm coming," I said as I wrung out my washcloth and hung it back up behind the door. I rushed back to the bedroom and threw on some clothes as quickly as I could.
"Alright. I'm ready," I called out as I made my way into the living room. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a familiar face in the living room alongside Kevin. "Oliver?"
...
