A Fights Echo: Chapter 4

"Yo J.C. You game?" Lamar's voice bellowed from the crowded basketball court.
J.C. is Chris and mines label. I don't know how it started, but it had, and had for a while now.
I looked at Chris, "I'm in if you are"
He shrugged and we headed into the court to join the game.
Basketball is the main game in my life. All my good friends like it, and because of that, it's an incredible challenge. Of course I never win, a mere point I owe to Chris. He's never on my team, he's always either on Lamar's or Jeff's. He believes that I should count on myself on everything that comes in my way or that I might have to face. It's a way to strengthen a body's ability to feel responsible, which leads to having better responses to fast coming situation. I don't know how basketball could help with anything, but I never doubt Chris, because let's not forget, he's the genius.
I was teamed up with Jeff today. We were wiped by Chris and Lamar with a score of twenty three to forty eight. When the game was over, we all walked back home.
Lamar had short black hair, and a build up body he gained from going to the gym every once and a while. His skin had a nice color to it, not dark and not light. Hazelnut I'd say. He has nice eyes too. There never decidin' what color they wanna be. Sometimes green and sometimes brown.
"You see that church over there?" he said, while we walked down Frank street, where the abandoned Jesus Christ first church was.
The church hadn't been opened for almost a decade now. I'm guessing because this town doesn't deserve one. Rumor went around that the pastor that use to serve it had gotten shot. Some teenage gang members use to sneak in at night and steal the charity money they were raising. They never got caught, because the only witness who knew about it, the pastor, was found dead.
But I doubt that's the reason why. Another pastor had come to serve it for two long years after that incident. Then one day it closed up. I'm guessing it got boring. Who would want just benches and walls to be the only prayers in a church?
"What about it?" Casey asked.
Casey was Jeff's sister. She had long blonde hair that went straight down her back, the biggest brown eyes ever imagined, and the prettiest face, an exact feminine duplicate of Jeff. She was so damn in love with me, it made me uncomfortable ninety-nine percent of the time she's around.
Lamar licked his lips. A habit he lives with. "You know how they say it's holy and shit. I hear its doors'll open by 'em selves. But no fuckin' body in this town is good enough for it."
"Oh really?" Jeff accused, twisting his brows in mock. We all know it's most likely a rumor Lamar had started himself.
"Yeah." he smiled and nudged Casey. She was too close to me, I moved so I was standing by Chris, who ignored us all. "All it needs is a virgin to walk by it, and bam," he threw his arms wide open, "the doors open for you. By 'em selves man."
We all cracked up laughing.
He shook his head when we passed it. "Mmm-Mm. Just as I thought. You all dirtier than Satan's mother."

It was dark. No, it was pitching black. Even so, behind all the darkness beings were alive. Their heart was beating. The sound of it filled the blackness. Alived it with poison, abhorrence poison. Then in a haze, the darkness became less sullen. It's as if the evil in it left abruptly, and it became completely quite.
Somewhere far, far away, behind all that's around of evil, voices of a heart were calling, but slowly they muffled, muffled with the noise, until they vanished just like-
The heart-beating disappeared.
A sudden sun lighted the blackness. Weirdly, it showed figures, but the darkness still hovered around as if took permanent residency here. I was nowhere in the scene, but I saw everything as if I were there, in the middle of all of it. The long fence, gray and broken. The one single tree, looking dead and forgotten. It was merciless, is what it was, merciless and painful.
Behind the fence was nothing but blinding blackness. I wondered why the sun didn't light everything like it was supposed to. In front of it was nothing but shimmering gold. I looked hard enough to realize that its grass that's cold and old. Its ends were drying out and yellowing.
At once, the picture became simpler, effortless to read. First I see hair, I can't tell what color it is, but I notice that it's long and beautiful like Casey's. Than a face, I'm trying to make out who it belongs to, but all I see is extreme beauty. Again, it reminds me of Casey's. In a spark of light, the whole figure appears. A body of a girl. She is lying against the broken fence, her face is tipped upwards with a horrified expression. She is dead. She is naked. And around her neck is a tightened thong.

I woke up, sweating like shit. Sweat bored down my forehead. Fuck it, what kind of dream is this. I stood up and grasped a cup of water from the kitchen. All the while I couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen to Casey. I wanted to call her. Make sure that everything's alright. But its three forty AM and she'd most likely be sleeping right now.
It's alright, I told myself, it is just a dream, it'll go away by tomorrow morning. I went back to sleep. Thankfully, by morning I really had forgotten about it, and its effects were gone.

Kids played on the swings and merry go round. I watched them with a smile on my face. Chris just looked off the scene. He's thinking too much lately.
"Chris?"
"Hmm?" He said still lost in thought.
"Look at those kids. Aren't they cute little things?"
He didn't answer. But I could tell he was listening.
"Don't you wish you had one?"
He glanced at me. He stayed quite, eventually he said, "Sometimes, I just wonder..."
"Wonder what?"
"What it's like being a father."
"So why not be one?" I asked.
He gave me a half smile, a real one. It was good to see, he didn't smile much. "You got anyone in mind for me?"
I shrugged and looked over to the pine tree. A group of half naked girls that had been in the park pool sat drying off and chatting.
I tipped my head their way. "There real pretty. Choose one and you'll have her in a heartbeat."
He shook his head, "I'm not the guy for those kind of things."
"What? Why? Come on Chris, look at them, there pretty and shit. Any of them would kill to carry one of your kids."
He sighed, he didn't want to talk about this, I could tell. But him in a family is something I look forward to seeing, "there pretty and had most likely have slept with other men. There like books, you open them, you read them, and then you close 'em up. But once there opened, that's it, they showed everything they got. Ends up in the used section, where I don't go."
"We can find you a virgin-"
He put a hand up to close up the conversation, "Jay, I already told you I'm not into that kind of thing. Just forget about it."
We sat quiet for a moment. I had a feeling there was something else he wasn't telling me.
"What about you?" he said.
"What about me?" I knew what he was talking about.
"You know, about the whole girl thing."
"I don't know man, but I'm with you remember? So unless you move on, I won't."
"You're telling me I'm standing in your way?"
"Yeah. If that's how you want to see it."
"And if I move on, where will you hit the sack?"
"I'll find me a place."
A weird look crossed his face, "I'm older than you, and I can take better care of myself. You should be moving on first."
He didn't want anything separating us. Even if it was a move on. He put me in excuse so he doesn't show it.
"Yeah. Ok." I let it drop.
We stayed quiet like this for a while before Chris asked, "Why don't you date?"
I smiled goofy and patted my lashes at him, "Do you have anyone in mind for me?"
He looked away and shook his head. "shithead." he muttered.

Chris's actions are botherin' me. His phone rings, he looks at it and doesn't answer. He never did that before. This happened more than once in the last couple of days too. And the lying shit he answers me with wasn't much of a help to put sense in my mind either. Especially that glint that comes in his eyes every time he looks at the number. Anger... Longing... I just couldn't put a finger on it. But it was there, and there's never a glint or anything else in his eyes. Chris never lies to me, he never hides anything from me, so what the fuck is going on. It's like our whole conventional life we'd been living, just slipped out of my hand, making me sure about nothin' anymore. The only thing I am sure of is the internal agitation I'm going through. Its one piece of crap I'm hoping to leave me the hell alone soon. But of course that won't happen until Chris starts being straight forward with me.
He wants to change his phone number for shit sake! I mean come-on, his phone number is how he makes a living. He's been known by it for years now, and he wants to change it? How will he get peeped from now on? Selling will be down faster than his next punch. And he knows it. It's why he's hesitating. But the bigger frenzy is who or what could get Chris turned upside down like this?
I need to find out. I don't care how or what it will take me, but I ain't givin' up till I do.

The car came toward me in great speed. I blinked at it, I could see the damn car, a black Cadillac. It was right there, coming toward me about sixty miles an hour. First it was just me and Chris walking in the middle of this residential street, trying to get some little baggies to a person who peeped for coke, when suddenly a car just pulls over from the next curb in a way where you don't doubt that he, suddenly, pressed the gas peddle down all the way. I'm thinking, what the hell is going on? I wanted to yell out, to put the damn drunken driver under notice that living bodies are in front of him. But I couldn't. For the first time in all my life I became completely petrified. To a point where I couldn't tell where my legs were.
A hand snatched me away, I was close to the point that I had missed the car's right fender by inches. I looked at chris, breathing hard, not comprehending any of this. By the way he was eyeing the car, it was relevant that he knew who was in it. It's why he took out a pistol he had tucked in his jeans waist band and fired at the car. He didn't aim, or concentrate. He pointed and fired twice. Getting his target without a flaw. And the two passenger side wheels went flat.

He took after the slowing car. He was aiming again, but at a passenger this time. I was standing in the middle of the street. Frozen. Looking at him, at the wavering car. He wanted to shoot somebody... He wants to be a murderer.... NO!

I ran after him. I ran with the will of scared to shit suspect. Damn legs should be longer. Long as chris's. But that's alright. I'm gaining up on him. The Drivers were helping. They seem to notice Chris's gun aiming at them. They started tipping the car left and right. Wanting to unacurate the guns aim.

But I wasn't risking it. Its enough that he was a drug dealer. Give me one long fucking break if he thinks I'ma let him be a murderer too.

I was just in time for the next shot. He seemed to have a still aim by the time I got to him. I purposly pumped his back in a hug gusture and spun him, his body turned without foucus and his aim went to the sky. His expression was a nightmare carved out of stone, Cold, hard. Something you won't want your bestfriend to have. He stared after the car, more mad then he'd ever been. He tried to round me. He was going to go after them again. But I won't let him. His eyes stalked the car. Them alone said what he would have liked to do if it was close enough to him. I closed my eyes. They were terrifying me.

I listened to the car's engine, when it disappeared, I reopened them and looked at Chris. He was eyeing me, his face expression back to normal. Out of hell and now here.

"It is alright. You can let go of me now."

I hadn't even realized I was holding him.

We walked across the streets to westend park silently. Mostly because what just happened still had its effects on me. Speechless, i was. And chris.. well he's always like that.

We sat on the bench, and watched little kids play. Seconds passed before I found my tonge.

"Shit chris, what was that all about?"