Authors: Aray Brown
It had been them against the world, now it was just her.
She stared at her monstrous face as mascara ran down her cheeks. It left her breathless.
In hindsight, Isabel was consistently envious of Medina and of her life. She would give anything to trade places and lead the life she wanted.
Isabel’s suicide wasn’t her own. She had help to push her off the proverbial cliff. Price blamed the two men in the DOC truck, Phil Saxton and every other corrupt social worker in the city.
Most importantly she blamed the man was responsible for all their heartache; the gunman that started it all—the squirrely man that had watched their every move. Price had regained her memory and it was their miscue in which this happened. It would be their cross to bear.
Price looked at Isabel again. Her eyes gave the illusion that she was being watched.
I have no one left. She’s a fucking coward.
Isabel wanted to die.
But she still had unfinished business.....
Price would soon face the unexplainable.
An enormous flash of light came over her. Price looked in the mirror, got hold of a knife and made a wide slit in the middle of her stomach. She swathed the noose around her neck and mounted the chair as men’s voices vibrated over and over in her head.
You’re still a hoe. A hoe never stops being a hoe. You ain’t nothing. Is she dead? She will be.
Price felt dead inside.
The chair gave way and snapped in three different places. Price could feel the noose strangling her tighter and tighter. She gasped for air...
Isabel’s angelic eyes ran across her mind, thereby ending the horrid reenactment.
24.
Price lay on the floor coughing, getting her bearings.
She knew it was far from over as a single hot tear coursed from her cheek. Price felt everything that was buried deep inside Isabel. The pain was too unbearable to overcome.
Price passed out…
Isabel’s spirit left her body and stared down at her. The spirit came closer and closer…
Price recovered and had no recollection of what took place. She chalked it up to her lack of sleep. Price hadn’t slept since her sister was in the hospital. She got a whiff of her perfume and gazed at the casing to find Isabel’s stock-still corpse mocking her.
It’s all in my head. It has to be.
Price shut her eyes, then returned her gaze…
Isabel’s carcass was gone…
* * * * * * * * *
“One more drink man, c’mon.” Darius begged.
“You’re cut off.” The bartender was firm.
“Help a brother out.” Darius pushed.
“You’re not my brother. Do yourself a favor and sleep it off.” The bartender said.
Darius swallowed the last drop from the glass and heaved it at the man’s head. The bartender ducked. The glass shattered the mirror behind him.
Annoyed, he kicked him out of the tavern and chucked his keys in the gutter as a small form of payback.
Darius trudged in the humble abode, fumbled upstairs to the twin’s room. The room was silent and Price was sound asleep.
Darius grabbed her by the hair and kissed her. Price kissed him back.
“Issy.” Darius said.
“Issy’s dead.” She said, aimed the revolver at his testicles and opened fire.
Price wanted to bathe in his blood. A sadistic grin highlighted her face which made Darius mortified. Price shot him in the chest.
“What, you don’t recognize me?” She asked, watched him struggle until the end.
She reveled in it, called it saving another girl’s life. The power she had in her hands was hard to resist.
Darius wasn’t worthy of forgiveness. In her eyes he deserved to die.
The last minute leading up to his demise, Darius saw her grainy looking face and dark and ominous eyes. It was as if she was possessed.
Price got a damp rag and cleared the blood from her brown skin. She smiled.
25.
February, 2012
Price was enlisted in Rockland County Police Academy two weeks after her twin’s brutal death. She wanted to join the law enforcement like her mother and dreadfully wanted to forget her past. It was a matter of survival for her. She reflected on Isabel.
Isabel wanted freedom so bad yet she didn’t live long enough to enjoy it. As much as Price denied it, she carried the burden with her.
Mimicking the officers in training, Price aimed the rifle at the target and emptied the clip. Price was adamant about being the best in the class and making it for Isabel as well as herself.
“All guts, and none of the glory.” Jordyss said over her shoulder.
“Jordyss? What are you doing here?” Medina asked.
“My father got transferred. Figured I’d enlist. Where’s your other half?” Jordyss asked.
Medina lowered the weapon and looked at her barrenly.
“She’s extinct.” Medina said, revisiting the post.
“Don’t act like a stone wall; I know Issy was important to you.” Jordyss said.
“Now she’s six feet under. We’re all dying. It was just her time.” Medina reloaded the rifle.
Price’s disposition had changed overnight. Her cold and distant behavior had Jordyss mystified.
“Don’t you miss her?” Jordyss asked.
“Shoot first, talk later.” The instructor glared.
“She’s better off. She was born to die.” Price blasted away.
“What happened to the girl I used to know?” Jordyss asked.
“She got smart...and realized this world didn’t belong to her anymore.”
February 10, 2012
"Blevins, you got a visitor." The guard barked, opened the cell.
Maize shuffled down the dreary halls, looked at what his life had come to. He had a lot of time to think, about Zoe and the gruesome murder. About the man who took away his bride. Maize mourned her death every day of every passing hour, of every minute he was locked up. He wondered if the real killer was still out there and if he took another life. Who he was and why he did it. Maize obsessed over him night after night. Imagined what he looked like and what kind of man he was. What kind of life he lived and if he had a family.
Maize sat in front of her, eyes wandering for a bit.
One word entered his mind. Zoe. He tried to forget about her. Price bore a strong likeness that didn’t help the cause.
Price studied his face.
Maize had a certain look in his eyes: A look of a man who had everything and had it taken away, a man who was still strong and not easily broken.
I miss him. She thought.
Maize didn’t get a lot of visitors, except for his best friend. He hoped that Simeon would visit him but his ex kept him on a short leash.
Price picked up the receiver and managed to get out her first words.
“Hi, how are you?”
“As good as an innocent man can be.”
“I’m sorry for testifying against you.”
“I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault I’m in here.”
“Yes it is.”
“You were just a kid then. You were scared. An experience like that is liable to do that to do.”
“I know who killed her. I remember everything now. He threatened me not to say anything but I can’t keep this inside any longer.”
“Good. Tell the police everything you know.”
He still believes in the system. It’s adorable. There’s some sort of blind ignorance in it.
Price smirked, almost chuckled at his proposal.
“The police? What have they done for us? Do you think they care about us?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“Keep telling yourself that, maybe you’ll start to believe it.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“It would be stupid if I didn’t retaliate. I want him to know what it’s like to lose everything. I want him to suffer.”
“Is it worth going to jail for? It won’t bring her back. What does Isabel have to say about all this?”
“Isabel’s dead.” Price said, retrieved her phone, and shoved it against the glass.
Inside was a recent picture of Isabel. Price captured her suicide beautifully.
Maize was speechless as he eyed every gory detail. He then turned away in disgust.
“Guard.” He called.
The corrections officer came in and escorted him back to the jail cell. Price walked out of the building, she walked with authority and without a care in the world. The change in her was apparent. She couldn’t wait to strike fear in the hearts of her soon to be sufferers; she had waited long enough already. Price got in her car, gave it a little gas, and headed straight for the airport.
Medina set foot in JFK, scoped out the airport, carrying two suitcases marked with clothes and half of her trust fund. Its intended use was for college tuition. Zoe had high hopes for her. Quiet as it’s kept; she didn’t fit the criteria, if Medina was a different person and had a normal childhood things would’ve been different. She used to pretend the universe was playing a cruel joke but the time came when she had to wake up and embrace the chaos around her.
She pre-booked a first class flight to Hawaii, figuring might as well enjoy herself on the way down. Instead of stuck in coach bombarded with people she couldn’t care less about.
26.
Medina glanced out of the window. A small brown envelope occupied her lap, courtesy of Jordyss.
She opened the envelope and extracted four pictures from it.
These weren’t easy to get, but she knew what she was getting into.
“Is this your first time to Hawaii?” A passenger asked.
“Yes.” Medina said, smiling.
“Red suits you.” The passenger said.
“What?” She asked, distracted.
“It’s your hair, not many can pull it off.”
“Uh Thanks.” Medina said, focusing her eyes on the brown packet.
“Are you here on business or pleasure?” The nosy passenger asked.
“A little of both.” Medina said, staring at the pictures.
“Seeing your family?” He asked.
“Something like that. I’m tying up some loose ends.” Medina ended the conversation, looked very closely at the pictures.
They were photographs of the hired gunman, who’s known in Hawaii as Chow, and of his family. His twenty-five year old son named Khi, Chow’s exotic wife, Isis and their bountiful home.
The flight attendant was detected over the loud speaker.
“Ladies and gentleman, the Captain has turned off the Fasten Seatbelt Sign and you may move about the cabin. We recommend keeping your seatbelts fastened. You may now turn on your devices.”
“What would you like to drink?” The stewardess asked.
“Bloody Mary.” Medina said.
“Welcome to Honolulu airport. The local time is 5:30 and the temperature is seventy degrees. For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seatbelt sign. This will indicate that we have parked in the gate and it is safe for you to move around.
Please check your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought onboard with you and use caution when opening the overhead bins, as heavy articles may have shifted during the flight. Thank you for flying United. Have a nice day. “
Price locked herself in the lavatory and changed clothes. She looked in the mirror, loosened the ponytail, and removed the scrunchie, freeing her long flowing locks.
The male flight attendant rapped on the door.
“Is somebody in there?” He asked.
Price ignored him, trashed her old clothes in the bin. She then flushed the toilet.
“Miss, is everything alright in there?” He asked, again knocking on the door.
Price reached in her purse and reapplied her lipstick, tracing the curves of her supple lips. She then flushed the lipstick down the toilet. Price walked out of the bathroom