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CHAPTER 1
Skai
After tonight, everything is going to change, but this talk is so long overdue that it can’t be put off any longer. I park my car in my favorite place, a little cut by the lake I discovered a while back after Alayna and I broke up. It’s quiet and secluded, and I would come here and cry, scream, and just let out all of my emotions without the prying but caring eyes of my family.
It’s crazy how one decision could cause a cascade of changes. Had I decided to go to a different college, my mother would not have been in that particular airport or run into Josh, and moved to Mississippi to run back into Josh. She would have never met Peter, or GrandPeter as I call him. Our life would be so different, and I would probably still be with Alayna. Instead, I went to college in Mississippi, and she met Josh and Peter, I am not with Alayna, but I am with him. If someone would have told me this was what was waiting for me when I went to college, I would have for sure called them crazy.
I am not into journaling, so my therapist suggested I video journal instead, and that has been working. I pull out my phone to start recording but I have to turn so the sun isn’t drowning me out. It’s Friday, and tonight is the night we tell our family the truth. I begin but pause because once I say the words out loud it’ll be even more real than it already is. I tried to convince him to wait a little while longer, but he wasn’t having it. My mom and DJ went to oversee moving my brother’s and grandmother’s graves closer to us. He was tired of my mom having to travel to visit her son. They requested a family dinner tonight, well my mom didn't. DJ did. He wants to make sure his wife has all the support she might need. So this nut says, let’s just do it tonight since all the family will be there, and I had put it off for so long I couldn’t deter him any longer.
I take the pause off, but a sound stops me, and I begin looking around. There is a loud popping sound that I recognize right away. Gunshots. I jump up and notice a group of men on the other side of the lake holding guns, and another is on the ground. My mind instantly puts it together, and I also realize that I just witnessed and possibly recorded a murder. Fuck. I think it’s time to get my ass out of here, but I know as soon as I start the car, they will hear it. I can try to just stay here and just be quiet, yeah that’s what… Something wizzes by my head before I can even make the decision and I realize they are shooting at me.
I run to the car as the bullets continue to race past me. I push start, throw in drive and haul ass. I take the narrow road so fast that if anything were to run out of the woods, it wouldn’t stand a chance because I would not wrap myself around a tree trying to miss it.
I hit the paved road, cut right, and floor it. Hopefully with them being on the other side of the lake, I can get lost in traffic if I can make it to the highway. Fuck! The seclusion of the lake is what I liked about my spot, but now it may be an unknowing accessory to my murder. The highway is a long way away from here. That was one of the appeals of coming here, it is off the beaten path, and I can pretty much guarantee privacy, but today, there is nothing peaceful about being thirty minutes from civilization.
I look in the rearview but don’t see anyone and breathe a sigh of relief, but that was premature when my back window explodes, and I know they’ve caught up to me. I pull my gun out, reach over my right shoulder, and fire back. I press the gas pedal like I can press it past the floorboard. It’s early in the morning, I am miles away from civilization, and I am alone. It’s time to call in reinforcements. My mom is unavailable, so there is only one other option.
“Hey, Kaitoa,” I say, talking to the system Jabarri downloaded on my phone. “Call Him,” I say as I concentrate on dodging bullets, and trying not to drive off the road.
“Hey, baby. You miss me?”
“Someone is trying to kill me!”
“What? Where are you?”
“My lake! Trying to get to the highway, but there are three cars coming for me, and I still have a ways to go before I can get there,” I say calmly in the phone.
“Hold on,” I hear him moving and then the roar of a car. “I’ve got your location. I’m close. Hold on, I’m on my way!” he says, and I wonder why in the world he is close to my location. He should be more than thirty minutes away from me. I push the thought out of my mind as I concentrate on driving and not running off the road or getting shot from behind. The phone chirps again, and I push the button on the steering wheel. “I called for more reinforcements, They are far away but on the way. How are you doing?”
“I’m going to be out of ammo, so I need to make something happen soon,” I tell him. “Oh shit!” I scream and grip the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turn white, and that is saying something, considering my dark chocolate coloring.
“Skai! Skai,” he screams through the speakers.
“Hold on,” I say as the car rams me again. I pull my other gun out as the car hits my bumper causing me to spin out. I release the steering wheel, grab both guns, and shoot as the car continues to spin, hitting one of the drivers. His brain matter slides down the window, and I injure the passenger of one of the other cars. I drop the guns, grab the steering wheel, and gun it.
“I think I really pissed them off now,” I tell him. “If you're coming you’d better hurry. They know I am not going to be an easy kill, so all bets are probably off now.”
“I’m coming,” he says as I tear down this back road, hoping for a miracle. More shots ring out, and I know I am going to run out of time and luck if something doesn’t happen and fast.
“Shit! They shot my tire out, I’m literally riding on the rim. There is an abandoned industrial complex I have to take cover in here.”
“Make sure you take your phone so I can track you,” I hit the left, and the car almost flips but I barely keep it from happening. I stuff my phone in my bra, stop the car, and get out running. I haul ass, running as far away as I can to hide until help gets here. I make it to the last building, crawl through the opening on the side, and find a place to hide. It’s so quiet, and I swear my breathing is happening in stereo. I will myself to calm down and strain to hear what’s going on outside. There aren’t that many buildings, so I know it is only a matter of time before they make it to where I am and I have no guns.
Uncle Atlas would be so disappointed in me. He has told me repeatedly to carry at least two extra clips per gun, and after the shootout at the compound, we have been being more cautious, but I didn’t think I would need all that for an hour visit this morning.
They found me. I can hear them outside, and I grab a piece of wood to defend myself even though it won’t do much against a bullet, and I brace myself. The sound of tires and yelling greets my ears, and I know he’s found me. Gunshots ring out a few seconds before his car crashes through the garage door. Jumping up from my hiding spot, I run toward him but soon see the rest of the guys spilling inside to kill us both. He rolls the window down as I am running past the car and throws me a gun that I catch and begin shooting everyone who isn’t him. He is next to me in seconds, and we make short work of killing everyone we can before more cars join the gun fight. As soon as they see my uncles coming, they scatter like roaches in the light.
He pulls me to his chest quickly, “Are you okay?” he breathes into my hair.
“I’m fine now,” I reply, soaking up his love and strength before I push out of his arms just as my uncles enter the building.
“What the fuck happened?” Uncle Atlas asks, pulling me into a hug.
“Can we get out of here?” I ask.
“Sure,”
“Hold on, let's get pictures of these guys so I can run facial recognition,” Jabarri says while taking pictures.
