Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

Chapter 3: Big Smoke/Sweet & Kendl

As CJ walked inside his house, he took a quick glimpse around it. With the exception of the crack in the window due to the drive-by shooting from last night, everything remained the same. Same set of stairs. Same blue sofa. Same small kitchen. There was even his old gaming system right below the television in the living room. The picture frames were also hanging on the walls: one of the scenery of a countryside, and the other with Sweet and Kendl. CJ picked up the picture of his mother off the floor by the gaming system. He could hear the voices in the past in his head.

"Stop it! What are you doing! Carl! Brian! Stop it!"

"Quit it! Moms will hear!"

"Mom! They're up to something!"

CJ quickly effaced the voices out of his head and took a seat at the table to look at the picture of his mother. He couldn't believe his mother was now gone. He wasn't sure how worse it could get.

"YOU PICKED THE WRONG HOUSE, FOOL!" he all of a sudden heard a familiar gravelly voice shout out.

CJ turned to see Big Smoke armed with a baseball bat coming out of the kitchen ready to attack.

"Big Smoke!" CJ shouted at his friend as he backed away against the wall, using the chair as a shield. "It's me! Carl! Chill! Chill!"

Big Smoke then came to a stop and set his bat aside. "CJ?" he asked, staring at him. He then turned around and set the bat down heavily onto the table, right on top of the picture of CJ's mother. "Oooooohhhhhhhhh!" he cried out in surprise. "My dog! What's up?!"

He gave CJ a tight bear hug and chortled loudly. "Hey, baby," he said silently. "You okay?"

"Naw, man," CJ moaned somberly. "It's my Moms, homie."

"Hey," Big Smoke started to say, "I don't know why this had to happen, but I promise you, I'm going to find out who killed your moms. The streets is cold, dog. Like it says in the book, we are blessed and cursed."

CJ just stared sideways at Big Smoke, as if he had no idea what he was talking about. "What fucking book?" he finally asked.

"Same things make us laugh, make us cry," Big Smoke continued, deliberately ignoring CJ's question. "But right now, we gotta take care our business. Go see your brother at the cemetery. C'mon, let's bounce."

The two headed out to the door, and CJ looked up ahead to find that Big Smoke had kept the bat lying onto the photo of his mother.

"You wanna drive?" Big Smoke asked as he and CJ approached the former's black Perennial.

"Yeah, that's cool," CJ replied as he hopped into the driver's seat. "Nice car, Smoke."

"You know me," Big Smoke laughed as CJ started driving away. "It's not cut. Keep the value in it. Keep it real."

After a while, CJ and Big Smoke finally made it to the cemetery in Market Road.

"I've missed you these five years, man," Big Smoke told CJ. "They gonna be real happy to see you."

They came to find Sweet, Kendl, and CJ's other childhood friend Lance Wilson, nicknamed Ryder, standing around Beverly's grave mourning her loss. "Hey, what's up, y'all?" Big Smoke called to them as he and CJ approached the three. "Look who I found hanging around?"

"Carl, hey," Kendl said, giving CJ a hug. "Good to see you."

CJ was glad to know that his little sister was happy to see him. The other two, on the other hand, were not as welcoming towards him. Sweet stared at CJ in disgust with his arms folded, and Ryder just turned away, not willing to even look at CJ.