At 17, Candyce's small worldview is maginifed when her big brother, Ace, invites her into his world as punishment. Ace may have been an overbearing big brother at home, but in the streets he was feared and respected as a young drug dealer, proving h...
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Chapter 12
"Is he here yet?"
I look over at Simon. He looks sharp in his black suit. His braids are untwisted and pulled into a ponytail in his head. It was such a subtle change to his everyday attire, but it was a change I noticed. A change everyone should have noticed if we weren't all dealing with changes of our own.
Paryis stood at the end of the pew, barely standing. There are black rings underneath her eyes from lack of sleep. The nightmares of her Mama had taken a hiatus. All she saw when she closed her eyes was Jonah bleeding out on the floor. I wouldn't want to sleep either.
Mama stands next to her, holding her hand. She has black shades on so people wouldn't see her crying. It don't help though. Tears cascade down her cheeks anyway. She had spent the last week in Jonah's playroom crying herself to sleep. She said her room didn't feel the same without Jonah in the bed breathing softly next to her. She hadn't stepped foot in her room since it happened. I was the one who stepped over the blood-stained hardwood floors to get inside of her room to get her black dress from Daddy's funeral. She hadn't eaten anything in the last week so I knew she could still slide into it.
As far as me? I had spent all my waking hours texting Ace, which is something I never saw myself doing. Look how quick the tables had turned. None of my messages had delivered to him and his phone kept going straight to voicemail. At first I thought he was in jail already, but I knew Ace. He was too careful. There was no way the Feds had got the drop on him just yet. Of course, there was always the possibility that Angel had gotten to him first. But I wouldn't allow myself to think down that path. I already had one brother in a coffin. I couldn't fathom having two.
"No. He hasn't answered any of my texts either," I whisper to Simon.
"He better be dead," Simon says.
"You don't mean that."
"I don't? My baby brother--"
"Our baby brother," I stare him straight in his eye.
"Our brother is laid in a coffin right now. Look at him. Look at him Candyce," Simon says.
I don't move my head. I can feel Simon getting fired up next to me. The resentment is just oozing off of him.
"Those bullets that Jonah had to take, were meant for Ace. Jonah didn't deserve to die."
"And Ace does?! That's your brother too, nigga. I know you're upset right now but--"
"Don't tell me how I feel, Candyce," Simon says.
His eyes are burning with fire and pain. It's a scary sight to see. I want nothing more to hug all this rage out of him. I know we were all dealing with losing Jonah differently but being mad at the world wouldn't help anybody. And being mad at Ace wasn't gonna change the fact that Jonah was laying in a tiny box in front of the church. But I don't tell him none of this. His eyes move to a figure behind me.
