Chapter Fifty-Three
Fifty-Three
“What are you doing down here?” I said as I approached Geneva, who was shifting nervously from foot to foot as she lit a fresh cigarette with the butt of another.
She turned on me; her eyes were wild and darting all over the place.
“Let’s go, Crystal,” Geneva said and grabbed at my arm.
“Hey,” I cried and tried to snatch my arm away from her, but she held tight. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Geneva kept walking. “I can’t be standing on this corner out in the open,” she barked. “It’s not safe for me.” She began walking quickly away.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, finally freeing myself from her death grip.
Geneva turned on me. “If I tell you what I’ve been going through over the past few weeks, you’re not going to believe me.
You’re going to say it’s my guilt eating at me and playing tricks on my mind, but I know it’s not!
” Geneva said, and her index finger shot up in the air for emphasis.
“Now, if I say it’s not safe to stand here, it’s not safe to stand here. ” Geneva’s tone was stern and serious.
“Okay, okay,” I said and looked cautiously around me. Shoot, she had me feeling paranoid now. “Well, why don’t we just go upstairs to your place,” I suggested as I moved alongside her.
“Uh-uh, I can’t be there right now.”
“So where are we going to go?” I said, coming to a full stop and placing my hands on my hips.
Geneva stopped walking, tossed her cigarette butt to the ground, and then shook another one from the pack before turning around to face me. “I don’t know,” she said as she popped it between her lips and lit it.
“Geneva, what’s going on?” I asked again, but all I got for a response was a shake of her head before she turned around and started walking again. “Well, we can go to one of the restaurants, sit outside and have something to eat. It’s a beautiful day and—”
Geneva turned on me. Something primal had been released in her eyes. “Have you not been listening to me? I cannot be out in the open.” She spoke slowly and carefully, as if I were learning disabled.
“Well, we don’t have to eat outside. We can get a table inside.”
“It’s just not safe for me to be anywhere in the city right now,” she huffed, and then her head snapped around suddenly.
“What?” I asked, terrified.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I said, looking frantically around.
Geneva started walking again and mumbling something like “I thought I heard nunchucks.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing,” she said and broke into a run.
“Where are we going!”
“Brooklyn!” she yelled back over her shoulder before turning right and breaking hard for the subway station.
“Brooklyn?” I said, coming to a halt again.
The last thing I could hear her say before she disappeared down the steps was “Call Noah—tell him we’re coming.”