Chapter 10 Commotion
Commotion
Watch who deh here now,” my mother says the moment I step into the house. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. And a yasso mi used to deh all the time enuh.
True… but things change.
“Wah gwan, Mommy?” I ask, brushing off her excitement. She meets me at the door, pulling me into a hug before gently turning us around, speaking low in my ear.
“The whole a dem in deh a mourn fi him, and the Mobay one dem deh pan video call,” she whispers quickly, then raises her voice like nothing happened. “So weh Zara?”
“She deh home,” I tell her casually, playing along. She nods like that was the answer she expected.
A really yuh mother.
“So why yuh never carry har?” she presses.
“She did a sort out some things, so mi just lef har,” I reply, keeping it short.
Yuh nah tell dem say yuh breed Zara? And yuh propose too?
“Man inna the place!” Jordane calls out from inside. I turn around, forcing my thoughts quiet. Mi o’ deal wid all a that later.
“Deh pan, bro?” I ask him. He flashes a banger phone in his hand, smirking.
“Mi a gwan chap the line enuh,” he says, flipping the phone like it’s a toy.
“So you nuh go school today?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Mi deh pan suspension,” he shrugs.
My mother passes through again, sighing hard. “Dem find weed pan him,” she says, not hiding her disappointment.
I look at Jordane. He just laughs. “No bother scold me now, bredda,” he says quickly. “’Cause a nuh like you better… look how much time mi watch yuh get sus.”
He’s right, he did see me mess up more than once. “And a that’s why mi a go scold you,” I tell him straight. “Cause mi nuh want yuh repeat the same foolishness weh mi do.”
He nods. “Real meds, bro… a tomorrow mi a go back though,” he says after a while, leaning against the wall.
“Just easy wid certain things, bad man. Get the subjects dem first, ‘cause dem cya tek dem back from yuh,” I tell him, and he nods again.
“Fi real,” he agrees.
“We have money enuh, so just get the education, man. You can flass wid wi later.” I hit him playfully, and he chuckles.
“Tomorrow mi a go in still… and a go different thing,” he says, sounding more motivated.
Seet… sometime a just a likkle push yuh want, even if a just words.
“That mi wah hear, man.” I chuckle before walking into the house.
Most of my mother’s family live in Flankers, so only a few cousins are physically here. The rest are on FaceTime, chatting up a storm with my mother. I’m usually distant, so if I just greet them, it won’t come off weird. And mi woulda rather nuh call to dem enuh. Mi nuh wah come off guilty though.
I walk over to the cousins in the living room, and they all start smiling when they see me. “Wah gwan, Nickoi?” they smile.
“Unuh gov?” I reply casually.
Mi coulda careless though. Mi nuh really fancy cousins… cause dem be the fakest. Neva lie. Keno a the only cousin mi rate.
“Mi cyaa believe smaddy woulda kill Uncle Adonis. And look how the man did nice to everybody.”
Hmmm… him deh weh him fi deh man.
Yuh savage enuh, Nick…
I sigh. “Eh cut up, man.”
Wah really cut up though… is the fact that mi affi deh yasso a pretend. Jah Jah.
“We just a lose people so,” the same cousin adds.
Mi mad fi move enuh… cause she a chat too much, man. I shift closer to the phone, just to avoid her, but that move backfires. My aunts on the video call immediately start talking to me all at once, making me regret the decision instantly.
You gone inna suh’m worse, bredda.
Jah Jah. Some of them a say Adonis always did want fi link wid me. Crap. While some a reminisce ‘bout di good days, some a ask why somebody woulda kill him—you know, the usual. Then you have the fass one dem weh a try investigate every little ting ‘bout mi life.
“Yuh nuh reach 23 yet?” one of them asks.
A wah dem a try calculate now? “24,” I say simply.
Adonis’ mother steps in front of the camera, her face soaked in tears. “Yuh nuh see dem kill mi big bwoy? Now a Dane lef back, and it a affect him bad… cause him and Adonis did close.”
As soon as she says it, my mind flash to when the person from Mobay called Zara. A probably Dane enuh. Sounds like him right hand to me.
“Mi miss mi bwoy,” she cries.
“It sad, man,” I say, dropping mi voice into something soft, something that sound like grief.
It neva sad when him try kill mi woman? Mi sure a same way dem woulda come bawl if him did rob and kill mi madda.
Same way. The only regret mi have is the fact that mi never get fi kill him Monday…
but that was just cause the bwoy did a hide.
Mi kill him anyways, though, so it nuh really matta.
A the right place him deh now. Right place.
Anybody mess ‘round me or mi people dem? A dirt.
As soon as they start talking to Jordane, mi slide away quietly and head to mi room. Tired a dem, man. One bag a fake family, only a few mi woulda even say can gwaan.
Shooting did gwaan inna dem place, and dem deh right deh so enuh. None a dem never even call fi say, “Yow, a Adonis drive da voxy deh.”
Dem down there a shield him, fully knowing him did try kill innocent people.
Mi nah encourage nobody fi be no informa, enuh.
But come on—a family. If unuh nuh want him dead, at least think ‘bout the police.
But no. Nothing. Now dem deh yah a gwaan like dem miss the man so much.
Like him did mean man no good. I hiss and throw myself down on my bed.
My room is just the way I left it. Everybody know better than fi come inna mi room.
Cause if dem move even one thing, no matter how subtle, mi a go know.
I close my eyes, finally relaxing into the silence.
And of course, that’s when someone decides it’s the perfect time to knock on my door.
I blink open slowly and see Lorie standing at the entrance with my sister beside her.
Just like that, irritation coils in my chest. I sit up, my gaze hardening as it lands on Lorie.
“A wah, Nick?” she asks, confused.
“Yow, mi a tell yuh plain and straight seh mi nuh wah yuh a walk wid mi sister,” I say sharply.
Her expression falters, softening like I just hurt her feelings. I don’t care about her feelings. That’s that.
Janel sighs beside her. “Nick, what is wrong with you?” she asks, clearly annoyed.
But I ignore her. I’m not speaking to Janel. I’m speaking to Lorie. She’s the one I’m dealing with. Lorie keeps looking at me. “Wah mi a go mek happen to your sister?” she asks, defensive.
I glance over at my sister. “Janel, leave the room.”
She hesitates for a second, then turns and exits. I wait a moment, listening. I don’t speak until I hear her footsteps fading down the hallway. Then I lock the door and turn back to Lorie.
I lean back on the bed, leveling my tone. “We both know seh you nuh have nothing ‘bout yuh. So fi you a walk up and down wid mi little sister… pan road? While she young? Mi nuh wah you an influence har.”
She shakes her head. “Wi just go a shop cause Nicki send wi out.”
Why is she even still here? Didn’t Mommy say she was gonna stab her if she didn’t leave? “How yuh still deh ya?” I ask coldly.
She shrugs. “Nicki sorry fi me, I guess.”
She leans against the wall now, eyes trailing over me slowly, examining everything. “You look richer… like Zara a take care a you,” she says, envy lining her voice.
Come to think of it, I really had been grinding for a while, but the moment I started taking Zara seriously, the girls who used to come around faded quick.
I sigh. “You a wonder how mi know har?” she asks, then pulls out her phone. “Mi always a watch har story ‘cause mi follow har pan IG.”
I ignore her completely. “Mi a try wul a meds, so you can leave,” I say, tone clipped, signaling that I’m done with this conversation.
“Still a treat me bad?” she fires back. “You just a go leave and forget all about wah wi did have?”
“Me and you did ever deh?” I ask, raising a brow. She shakes her head, clearly not expecting that response.
“But we sleep together how much time? Yuh nuh think mi woulda develop feelings?” she asks, her voice quieter now, but still holding weight.
“Mi nuh response. Mi never tell none a unuh fi ketch feelings. Mi tell unuh plain seh mi nuh do the relationship thing,” I remind her. “Mi nuh wah no strings attached. Wi just maths up wah wi a do, and wi go wi separate ways. So how yuh reach feelings, G?”
She looks away, at her phone, then back at me, narrowing her eyes. Something shifts in her expression, something I don’t quite recognize, before she steps closer. Her eyes glisten.
“A engagement ring that she have on?” she whispers, clearly hurt.
Jah know. “Yah,” I say firmly. “Mi have suh’m serious going on now, and mi done play ‘round. So whatever yuh think was happening between us, figet that. Mi done chat.”
“Nick… weh yuh a tell me seh?!” she bursts out, raising her voice.
I meet her tone. “Yuh forget who yuh a deal wid!?” She’s really pushing me now.
“Mi know seh you did deh wid the gyal, but mi lef yuh fi get over har like how yuh do the other gyal dem. And now yuh a tell mi seh yuh engage to har?!” Her voice cracks with disbelief. “A muss obeah she obeah yuh, ‘cause yuh woulda never!”
My patience is gone. Lorie knows better, so why’s she testing me? Something shifts in me. The way she’s carrying on, it’s pushing buttons that I don’t like touched. I can feel it building, that dark edge crawling up inside me. If she raises her voice in my room one more time, she get knock.
Nick, calm down…
“A affi obeah she obeah yuh,” she mutters again, followed by a bitter chuckle.
I glare at her, fists slowly clenching. My jaw tightens.
“Nick… mi and yuh never deh,” she starts again, voice breaking.
“But mi have feelings fi yuh. So how yuh fi sleep wid mi, then act like mi nuh exist, just ‘cause another gyal step in? Mi nuh know wah yuh tell the other gyal dem fi mek dem stay calm bout this… but yuh cyaa do mi this.”