Chapter 23 #3
If this was a stimulation of ancient Egypt, it made sense for it to be a pyramid. Before I could ask Ezio if he saw a pathway to climb the pyramid, Don’s voice blared over the music that had yet to stop playing. “Looks like you niggas made it.”
“On the outside of the pyramid will be a screen where you all can see the inside. The one with only four senses is the only one who will go inside. The door will open for him only. He will rely on you dumb niggas to guide him through. When he reaches the end, or if he reaches the end, he will get the resource he needs to gain his lost sense back. Bye, bitch-ass niggas.”
“Mane, what type of instructions is that?” Tunan grunted.
“Wait, you can’t see for real, Shio? Like for real, for real? Like Stevie Wonder’s vision?”
“Yeah, Metavello. Like Stevie… I can’t see shit.”
“You blind?” Tunan asked.
Realization set in that Don had really fucked with my vision. I was temporarily blind—some shit I thought I’d never be.
“Damn, Bible man. We thought you was talkin’ ’bout the masks.” Nel said, sounding somewhat serious for the first time since we woke up in the desert.
“Fuuuuck. I know what this is…” Tunan gasped.
“What?” Metavello asked.
“Making a blind man see. It’s in the bible.”
“John 9,” I responded.
“Okay. What happens in John 9, Bible freaks?”
“Jesus and his Disciples stumble across a blind man. They thought he was blind due to his or his parents’ sin. He wasn’t, though. He was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed to him and those around him. Then Jesus healed him.”
“But y’all stumbled across me, so I was supposed to be the blind one.”
Nel huffed before responding to Tunan. “Don just be doing shit. He didn’t know no better.”
I thought about the lesson in the scripture.
I knew the blind man was healed with mud and told to go wash in the Pool of Siloam, and I knew the Pharisees didn’t believe in the blind man’s healing because Jesus did it on the Sabbath.
Nel wasn’t lying about how Don just be doing shit, but he’d gotten some of the details right since it was Sunday and I was surrounded by niggas who didn’t believe in Jesus’ power.
But the blind man was healed in Jerusalem, and Don’s non-reading ass had us in a fake Egypt.
Ezio hadn’t mentioned a pool, which I was thankful about because I refused to be swimming with sharks and shit like Nel had.
“Ooo weeeee! Glad I ain’t gotta go in this bitch. You know, pyramids are zombie tombs, right?”
“Nel…” I warned.
The camels came to a stop and lowered to the ground. My whole body was stiff and drenched as I got off, catching myself from falling into the sand.
“So dey just gonna leave us?” my brother asked.
I could hear the grunts of the camel grow further away.
“How the fuck we gone get back?” Nel chimed in with his own question.
Ignoring both, I held my stick out until it connected with the pyramid.
“To the left a lil’ bit, Shio,” Ezio said.
Rock shifting could be heard as the sand underneath our feet vibrated. Holding my stick out, I could sense that a door was open.
“Look, a projector on the wall.”
Everyone shuffled toward the projector screen, but I stayed in place, not wanting the door to close or the screen to disappear.
“It says, ‘Shio, get yo’ ass inside. You’ll be able to hear us, and we will be able to see you.’”
Using the stick, I let it lead me inside. Mildew, dust, and stone particles filled my nostrils. The door slammed down hard behind me, giving me a little gust of wind. I couldn't see, but at least it was cool inside. If I was smelling mildew, that meant water was near.
Shit.
I didn’t have an ounce of energy to be swimming after that long-ass camel ride to this bitch. I wouldn't be drinking from any water sources in here either. I wasn’t putting anything in my mouth that I couldn’t see.
“We can see you, Shio!” Ezio’s voice blared a little too loudly.
I felt claustrophobic. Using the stick, I tried to stretch to the left of me; it hit a wall, then to the right, and it did the same.
“It’s a tunnel. But it inclines… If you walk a few paces ahead, you gonna have to climb up. It looks like it goes for a few miles, but I didn't see nun’ threatening,” Tunan stated clearly.
Tucking the stick back under my armpit, I reached until I grabbed the beginning of the inclined floor.
“It’s a rope if you stand straight up. You may have to crouch as you climb.”
Standing, I reached above my head with my right hand and grabbed the rope.
Using the rope, I pulled myself up the concrete hill.
I could hear droplets of water and wind blowing in the distance.
I was grateful I worked out faithfully because if I hadn’t, my legs and arms would be on fire.
I’d been walking for ten minutes and was still climbing.
A mile, my ass.
“You straight, Fav?”
“I’m good.” I was grunting, tired as fuck, but determined to just do it.
“Okay, you’re almost at the top. When you get there, don’t move.”
I nodded, continuing to keep a level head.
I focused on my steps, listening to the water and wind as it sounded closer, while Vello and Nel tripped on how Ezio was always calling everyone his “fav” when we all knew his favorite cousin was Scarlett.
I knew just the mention of Scarlett would have Matteo shouting any minute.
Tuning them niggas out, I thought about if Solana had gotten up and came looking for me to only find I wasn’t there.
I hoped she didn’t think I’d left the house so early because of her.
The thought of not being able to see her again had my chest tightening, causing me to pant even harder.
I had only been blind for a little under two hours and was already praying that God healed the ones who suffered this shit daily.
It was no fucking joke trying to navigate around without sight, but to live life not ever seeing someone as beautiful as Solana was a sin in itself. Get it together, nigga.
Just as my legs were starting to shake, I reached the top.
“Okay, stop! You at the top of a cliff. Let us zoom out to find a way down.”
“Or he can jump,” Vello added.
I nodded. “Yeah, I smell the water.”
“Yeah, and you’re ’bout thirty feet in the air, nigga. It's dark as fuck down dur, and we don’t know what's in dem waters,” Tunan chimed in, making a valid point, accent heavy as fuck ringing off the pyramid walls.
“Wait, you said you can zoom in? The screen that high-tech?”
“Yeah, Don got that pape. This shit touch screen, G.” Metavello boasted.
A touch-screen projector on the side of a pyramid was some shit from a movie.
Given how much energy Don put into these missions, I never understood why he didn’t put that energy and his money into actually teaching us some shit.
I’d learned nothing from these trainings except that he was a rich asshole who liked to fuck with people.
“So, to the right of you, if you walk and stay close to the wall cuz dur is a bend, it’s a rope that you'll have to climb down.”
Sighing, I got close to the wall and leaned on it, using my stick to guide me so that I didn’t fall to my death.
“Good call, Tune. I didn’t even see that fuckin’ rope. Nigga would have had to jump fuckin’ with me.”
“On foe ’nem, Twin.”
The pathway was slippery and wet, and the fucking sandals on my feet didn’t have a good grip, so I had to be extra careful.
“Why the fuck we got these big-ass Jesus sandals on?” Nel asked what I’d been thinking.
“Shit, ask ya Don.”
“Aite. Stop! Use dat walkin’ stick and stretch it out in front of you.”
I did as my brother instructed, and I felt the rope hit the stick.
“Pull the rope toward you, and den tug on it to see how secure it is. It looks like it runs to the top of the pyramid, but it’s too dark for me to see up dur.”
Jerking the rope, it felt sturdy enough. Pulling it toward me, I swung and nearly let go.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Everyone screamed out, loud as hell, except for Matteo and me.
Since they were on a loudspeaker, and my senses were heightened, my ears rang from the vibration and echo of their combined pitches.
I hadn’t fallen and was holding on, but them niggas must’ve thought I did die based on what they saw on that screen.
I wasn’t dying in any of these useless-ass trainings.
If anyone knew what the fuck to do in these missions, it was me.
Tunan was also proving to have some common fucking sense.
I waited until the rope steadied since I was still swinging in the air. I had the stick tucked under my arm tightly as my heart thumped from adrenaline.
“Okay, climb down slowly, nigga. Got us out here thinkin’ you done died.”
“Right, Tune. Nigga tryna be fuckin’ Laura Croft.”
“Who?” Tunan asked Nel.
“Tomb Raider, nigga. Fuck did you do during your childhood? Ours was shitty, but we know shit.”
Tuning them out, I pulled the mask from my head and wrapped it around the rope. Tightening my legs, I then loosened them and let my body descend.
“This nigga here… shoulda went to the fucking Navy.”
I could feel my clothes flipping and flapping around me as I zipped down the rope. I had climbed up and refused to climb down if there was an easier way. I needed to save my strength because I didn’t know what was left for me to face ahead.
“Brace yaself... the rope doesn’t”
Fighting the air, I ran out of rope and felt myself falling.
Seconds later, my back smacked the concrete with a thud. I instinctively rolled over, palming the floor and trying not to focus on my back that was on fire.
“Nigga, we tried to tell you the rope didn’t reach the end. You’re the one thinkin’ you got wings and shit.”
Taking a deep breath, I stood, putting my weight on the walking stick.
“You good, bro?”
“Yeah, Tune. What’s next?”
My fucking head and back were pounding, but I had to push through this shit. I wasn’t even the type of nigga that took baths, but I was going to need one after this shit.