Asha Avery
“Quiet girl, just be quiet!” Jean hissed as he looked around.
The small brick home looked newly rebuilt with a maintained backyard and decorated front.
Jean Lafayette stood in cream slacks, a white tank top tucked in.
His dark sandy brown hair grew lighter from the sun and was combed back from his glossy forehead.
He had a cigarette propped in his mouth when he gripped the door knob to jiggle. I turned to look back at Isis.
“Where is that key you had?”
“It only works one time. One door, one time. Can’t we just go through a window on the side?” She asked as she pulled a hood over her head. Souxie, her daddy, and I stared back at the wide-eyed nymph. When she matched our stares, she shrugged. “What? What did I say?”
Jean pinched the cigarette between his fingers before jerking the knob with a hard snap.
“My daughter is out here running around with robbers and felons,” he muttered, annoyed.
“Does this man not have security? We’re just going to walk through the front door?” I asked.
“For what? The man is a werewolf chile,” Jean said just as the door jerked back like something was blocking it. “He can probably smell us in his house right now if he wanted. Shit!”
He jerked the knob up once more as we all gathered around, shielding his frame before the door snapped open.
There was no alarm. No chime. Nothing. Just cold AC and a sweet aroma like candles were lit and the house smelled fresh.
Jean pulled out a small white napkin to wipe his forehead before fluffing it out with a flick of his wrist as it turned into a small draw string bag.
“Let’s hurry up and make this quick,” he said as he walked in. “The neighbors are probably watching, and don’t turn on the damn lights!”
“Um…” looking at Souxie with concern, “is he about to steal?”
She ignored me and stepped in behind her dad with Isis falling behind.
I looked back before walking in and closing the door behind me.
I could hear Jean talking as he waved his flashlight from his phone around the living room.
I used my phone to wave over the walls as I looked at the art and photos.
“This is actually her house…” I murmured to myself.
Jean was the first to break his own rule as he cut the lamp light on in the living room and I just…
I don’t know. Something about the way everything looked so neat with clothes folded, and a blanket slathered across the back.
Souxie was going through the kitchen cabinets, climbing onto the counter and going through the spices, picking out things she might possibly need to slip into her small cross body bag.
Isis was already in the hallway bathroom going through medicine cabinets while Jean was lifting cushions.
“So this is what we’re doing? You’re stealing from them!”
“Girl hush!” Jean snapped as he glared at me. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth as he blew smoke through his nose. “Ain’t nobody stealing. I’m collecting loose change that’s been lost. That’s all. You need to watch that alien elf in the bathroom over there trying to get high off their shit.”
“I am not! I am looking for a lock of her hair! Souxie said she needs her hair!” Isis declared. Jean plopped down on the couch and propped his feet up, but his eyes never stopped scanning the place.
“She did good…Got herself a nice young man who is taking care of the home and from what I can tell, he’s clean…My daughter did good. This is some grown woman shit right here.”
My mouth twisted to the side as I walked towards the back where it looked to be an office and just turned the lights on because at this point, what’s the worst that can happen?
I looked over at the pictures pinned to the wall on the corkboard where it was random notes left for each other and cute trinkets.
It was the photos that caught me by surprise.
One is her wearing a red dress and heels.
Her hair was down in waves as she stood outside of a restaurant with the peace sign thrown up and a cute, crooked grin.
Another looked to be a fancy dinner where she and Namir took pictures with other couples, all dressed in black tie.
I saw pictures of her and the sorority girls outside in their matching shirts with helmets on their heads.
Clementine photo bombed a picture where she darted in between Maggie and another girl.
“Look at this one.”
Souxie’s voice caught me off guard as I turned to see her standing by the desk where photos were sprawled out like somebody was previously looking for something. “She looks so…different here.”
I leaned over and saw the moving snapshots of Maggie holding up a book as she read out loud to students in a classroom.
Her head would go back and forth from the picture book to the students hanging on to her every word.
There was another where she was standing in front of the board teaching a full class.
Photos of her going out with girls I didn’t recognize, Namir in the background grinning and throwing up his fraternity symbol and just snapshots of couples living it up at a bar for the night.
“Who are these people?” I asked.
“I think these are her friends,” Souxie said as Isis came in to take a peek over our shoulders.
“She looks older,” Isis stated.
“Why weren’t we ever invited?” I asked. “These aren’t friends she’s known forever because Namir is there. These are friends she just met.”
“Probably through him,” Souxie replied softly. “Look around…this is where she’s been when she’s not at Drew Collins. Of course she would have her own life that doesn’t revolve around us.”
Maggie had certificates, awards, a college degree all hung up by Namir’s winnings, candid photos, and trophies.
There was even an event where Maggie was to accept an award in the Underground that we knew nothing about.
Souxie sat down at the desk and went through the drawers before slowly pulling out a pregnancy test. The three of us stared at each other before Souxie read not pregnant.
“Do you think she’s trying to get pregnant?” I asked.
“I doubt it. Namir probably kept this for his own…personal use…for the smell I’m sure,” Souxie said as she placed it back in the drawer. “She might have had a scare though.”
“And told us nothing,” I stated with a flip of my hand. “We don’t know anything about this woman.”
“No we do not but that can be said about all of us towards each other,” Souxie said as she stood up.
“Look, they went camping together. A cute camping trip with the couples,” Isis said in awe as she found more photos on top of the metal cabinet. “He must have been looking at pictures of her the last time he came here.”
When she brought them over to the desk, we just stared at what felt like looking at Hallmark cards in the Mahogany section.
Maggie and Seth were the only ones I recognized in the photos.
Even Solomon somehow appeared in a few as someone took a picture of him in the water holding up a beer.
Namir was by the grill shirtless in one photo but then in others, he was balancing Maggie on his shoulders as he and another guy with a woman on his shoulders let the two women hold one another.
I couldn’t ignore the tinge of jealousy if I tried but not because I wanted what she had.
I just felt left out, and I can’t explain why.
Especially since nobody knows or will ever know my relationship. Damn sure not now anyway.
“See,” Souxie said as she pointed to a picture where someone caught Maggie off guard. “Look at her…Do you see how her eyes do not connect? She’s missing something. Something is missing. It’s in all the photos. Even here she’s pretending to be happy.”
“They went to a freaking ski resort! Okay, now I’m jealous,” Isis cut in, ignoring Souxie’s insightful moment. “I’ve only been to a ski resort a few times when I was younger and that was in the Underground. I barely remember!”
“Girls?! Come here! Now!”
We dropped everything and hurried out towards the living room as Jean stood in the center with his cigarette freshly lit. He pointed towards the ceiling where the light was and stared at it.
“You ain’t get no call from this werewolf boyfriend of hers?” He asked, keeping his eyes on the light.
“No,” Souxie said with a shake of her head. I looked up, trying to see what he was seeing before it happened. The blink. The red blinking light that was embedded in their light fixture. It was slow, taking a few seconds in between to blink again as my heart sank.
“We need to leave. This house is being watched,” he said, blowing smoke out of his mouth.
“The school will either call the cops or pull up themselves but–––” The sound of sirens in the distance went off.
Jean looked at us before making a run for it.
“Move out the way!” He clumsily tried to jump over the coffee table.
Jean and his little burglar sack full of loose change bolted for the door as we quickly followed.
“Hold up!” I shouted. “Wait a minute! Souxie?! Get your Daddy!”
Souxie took her time as she stepped over the tossed cushion while Isis and I scrambled through the front door just to catch the red brake lights of his car whipping around.
Jean backed the car up with his window down as the sirens drew closer.
Sweat covered face leaned out with bugged out eyes towards Souxie.
“If you get arrested and taken to the Underground, call ya Auntie Lee! If you get locked up out here, call ya Auntie Fae!”
The sound of the tires screeching and smoke chucking out of the back clogged our senses. He sped off down the road before whipping around the corner and disappearing. My shoulders dropped before turning to look at Souxie who was already texting on her phone.
“Unless someone has money for an Uber or Lyft?” She let out without looking up. I looked at Isis who was the rich one out of the group.
“Don’t look at me!”
“Well I’m looking at you!”
“I have a driver and seven unfortunate looking brothers who take me wherever! Why would I need money for a Lyft or Uber, Asha?”
“Well I’m just saying,” I said with my arms crossed over my chest.
“You’re always just saying,” she mocked. My eyes grew wide, shocked at the fact that she was talking back before smiling.
“Who you fucking that’s giving you this much of a backbone? Huh? Do I know him?” I asked. She rolled those big ol orbs for eyes and walked off while I quickly caught up to her. “Who–––”
The sound of March Madness by Future bumping caught us off guard as a black Genesis came swerving around the corner.
Souxie was the first to step down from the curb as she tied up the small grocery bag she pulled from the house containing things belonging to Maggie.
Without saying a word, she popped the passenger door open, releasing the song into the air like a full-blown concert.
It was of course Harvey himself sitting behind the wheel when he turned the song down.
“Can you all manage to do something without me for once?” He asked with a cocky tone.
I wanted to roll my eyes so bad at this fool but was absolutely the first to slide in the back seat to experience wealth for the first time in the form of a car.
The cream butter leather seats, the screen in the front, the freshness of it all…
This shit screamed money bags. The way he watched Souxie fumble with the screen trying to put the address in, you could tell he was amused, just smiling and grinning at her while she struggled.
“I got it baby, sit back,” he finally said, taking her phone. Souxie looked back at us with her light buttery eyes.
“Are you guys ready to get our girl?” She asked. Isis nodded with her fist smacking into her palm. I simply laid back in the seat with a cool shrug.
“Let’s do this shit,” I said. Souxie smiled as she turned back around with a nod. I hadn’t noticed the thick journal sitting in her lap until she began to open it up where notes and pictures spilled out of it to read. Harvey glanced down at her before doing a doubletake.
“Where did you get that notebook? It looks like it’s about to fall apart…Do you need me to buy you another one?”
“A professor gave it to me on the chance that I needed to communicate with the dead,” Souxie said as she tucked her loose strand behind her ear. Isis and I shared a knowing glance about that so-called professor of hers that she was obsessed with.
“One time for Hilltop,” I declared with my fist in the air. “We’re doing this for our girl.”
“One time for Hilltop…” Souxie added.