Devil's Eyes

Chapter 25: Barricade

Song recommendation: How I Move by Flipp Dinero ft. Lil Baby "Can't play no game, I got too much to lose, want me to fall, I got somethin' to prove"

He went without sleep, he barely ate, and his hair was a wreck. A while ago, before this whole thing transpired he had let Sage take the task of braiding them, but now no one can touch his hair. He looked like how he felt. Shit. His therapy was cocaine and long showers because a piece of him died every time he reached out for Sage but there was no Sage to touch, feel, and kiss. This wasn't right but he thought maybe it was. Maybe it was his karma, that he would lose someone he loves because he took people away from those that loved them. At nights the bed felt too cold, so he would always find himself waking up on the balcony.

Each day that went by, signaled another chip at his heart and it would only be full again when she was in his arms. It didn't help that every time he spoke to Ella he was reminded of another person that was an emotional wreck because of Sage's absence.

"Ella, I told you to stay away from him!" Aubrey felt so defeated. He wished for once she listened to him about  but she was hardheaded.

"Oh please, I didn't know they were opposition at all! How was I supposed to know?" She snapped at him. David rolled his eyes at the fight that was brewing in front of him. Khalif immediately left the apartment to give them their space, he already felt awkward enough.

"It doesn't matter!" He groaned, holding his head. Ella rolled her eyes at him and placed her hands on her hips not understanding why she was being blamed for being in the dark.

"I'm not a fucking puppy! I'm not gonna just do something because you said so," She threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to David's windows, "Mystery leads to answers that don't come from you. How am I supposed to trust that?"

"Look, we see that Marcus' is a part of Jay's little wannabe mafia," Dave said, trying to mediate. He understood everyone's side but fighting only held things back, "but let's just find that nigga."

"How? What'd you guys do with that address Khalif found? I haven't even seen Jay at school for a while anyways."

"We ain't find not nan nigga but we sent hits to all his little estates. Bullet holes all in that bitch," Aubrey answered. Everyone trying to find Sage was frustrated at this point, it's almost been a full week and they kept running into a wall.

Khalif burst through the door abruptly with his phone raised in the air. "Y'all, I found them niggas actual trap joints!"

"Yo, make a list right now where all them at. Someone from that little crew gonna get snatched and tell us where my babies are." David said getting into full boss mode again. This was the spark he needed to give him hope that this will all end up okay.

David was trigger happy, he knew as soon as he found Jay in his sight he was going to kill him. You can mess with him, you can mess with his business but you cannot mess with the people he loves, especially a pregnant Sage. The first time he killed someone was almost the equivalent to losing his virginity, he wasn't experienced and he wasn't as confident but it was something he knew he was going to get better at with time. And that he did.

***

It was the second location from all of Jay's hotspots that Khalif found earlier. The first one was vacant of people but full of stashed items. David was very intuitive and observant, he knew where to look inside of a trap and took their stash of drugs, money and weapons. Finally, the gang drove to another location where David had some niggas in one car and then Aubrey, his boy Keenon and Quincy with him to sneak into the house. Keenon and Quincy broke off and went through the back of the house, gun in hand and then David and Aubrey went through the front. There laid an unconscious girl clad in promiscuous clothing in the sitting room chair, Aubrey turned to David with his eyebrow raised. David tried to contain his laugh when he saw the random girl knocked out cold, he needed that with everything being so serious lately. A loud commotion was heard upstairs and the pair quickly went into formation. Jackpot, they found someone.

"Ahhhh!" An unfamiliar scream and several different voices shrilled through the house, grabbing David and Aubrey's attention. They left the girl sitting in her chair and skipped upstairs to where all the noise came from. Before they could make it to the top stairs, a random man popped up in front of them but a split second later a bullet pierced his head. Brain matter and blood splattered everywhere, including David and Aubrey's face. The victim collapsed and Aubrey and David made room so that his dead weight can fall towards the bottom of the stairs in peace.

"Oops! That was me," Quincy admitted, appearing at the top of the stairs. He gestured towards the room, "Keenon knocked that Marcus nigga out. At least we think it's him."

"Did I do that? Headass." Aubrey snickered, mocking the voice of Steve Urkel. The three began to laugh really hard at the foolery of it all.

"Y'all niggas stupid, let's go." Dave finally said and began jogging up the rest of the stairs. Quincy threw his hands up jokingly and led the rest of the way to the room.

"Yeah, that's Marcus." Aubrey said once he examined his face and body to see if he was confirmed conscious.

"We getting answers soon, my dawg." Dave dabbed Keenon for victoriously beating him unconscious.

"Wait, we sure we're the only niggas in the house? Y'all checked?" He queried.

"Yeah," Quincy replied.

"Except for that hoe shmizzed downstairs," Dave said seriously but the group couldn't help but howl at the situation. "Y'all gun, get yo piece and tie this nigga up, he going for a ride."

***

The loud ringtone from her cellphone woke Ella up from her nap. She was curled up in her chair after an emotional therapy session. She wasn't up for skipping them lately because she needed that voice of reason. She didn't expect Sage's mother to be calling her but at this moment in life, nothing surprised her.

"Ella, darling. I'm glad you're answering the phone." Ezra Baglio hailed. She sounded just like Sage, soft spoken and sweet that it almost made her cry but she knew better than to do that.

"Hi. How are you?"

"Good, and yourself?"

"I'm fine..." Being on the phone with Sage's mother made her want to confess all that's been going on concerning her only daughter for the past week and a half, but Aubrey instructed her not to because he claimed they could fix everything. It took all her might to trust him and stay strong.

"Look, I'm calling because I tried calling my Gege. I'm sure you're aware of the big move she made..." a gulp could be heard on the over the line and it saddened Ella.

"Yes, I am aware... she still loves you, she talks about it all the time!" She said reassuringly.

"Well, she isn't answering any of my calls and the school said she stopped showing up. I guess we screwed up, huh?" Ezra shook her head and allowed the tears to roll down her face again. Ella was taken aback by the vulnerability of such a resilient and resolute woman and the fact that she was displaying those feelings to her of all people, but a child will bring that out of a parent if no one else does. She curled further into the chair, bringing her blanket up to cover more of her body.

"You're always her mom and eventually she'll be coming to you about everything again. I just think she needs her time and space."

"You're right. I just got worried...my mom and I had such a bad relationship and she died before we could mend it." There was a pause in between before she professed, "I could never forgive myself if something happened before we get the chance to fix whatever issues."

"You know, Sage, she's stubborn but she's so loving. I don't think you screwed up like you claim and I have faith everything will work itself out between you two. Just give her time..." Ella hoped she was saying the right thing, perhaps manifesting because while she was heartening her she was doing it for herself.

"I love you, my darling. Thank you for this, I needed to hear this."

"I love you too!" After saying their goodbyes Ella didn't cry like she thought she would but believed in the faith that she'll see her best friend soon.

    Endnote: So sorry for the lack of updating but a lot has been going on in the world, especially these past two weeks. #BlackLivesMatter just in case it wasn't clear. I've been donating, petitioning, spreading info. and just being really involved as best as I could. This story is still important to me and I wanna get back on track now, love y'all!