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I sipped my tea in response.
THREE YEARS BEFORE
Zero moved into our town like a plague. It happened so fast no one saw it coming, and by the time we did it was too late to do anything. The trees were withered, the people were infected, and our streets were all marked by him.
“This is a bad idea, Eli,” I whispered as we approached the warehouse just outside of town. Our town was rarely busy past five. It was the kind of place where you could lie down in the middle of the road and not worry about getting run over. At times it seemed like a ghost town.
The farther you walked from the center, the more true that seemed. I looked around me at the yellow grass and dirt spots that seemed to stretch for miles. It was nearing seven in the evening now, but it felt like the middle of the night.
I tugged on Eli’s arm. “You’re better than this. You’re meant for more than this.”
“Really, Grace, am I?” Eli snapped. “Because right now I’m staring down the barrel of a nine to nine job that will let me rent a tiny house with a lot of problems and gimme a bunch of kids I don’t want. Zero is giving me a different option. A way out.”
I swallowed. His words had slapped me harder than the back of Daddy's hand. Was that how he saw our future together? When I pictured us together I didn’t see this town. I saw us getting out and away, but if we did get stuck…well, it wouldn’t feel like being stuck. With Eli I felt free. I always had.
I guess that wasn’t how he felt, though.
I dropped my clutch from his arm. “What about school?”
“What about it?” Eli barely regarded me next to him. His gaze was fixed on the lone warehouse in front of us. It was the only standing structure left. “Colleges don’t want black kids from small towns.”
“You’re a great student who has a lot to offer,” I said. “Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?” Eli scoffed. “Telling the truth?”
“No, you’re…” I searched for the right words, something to make Eli see just how amazing he really was, how I saw him. “You’re acting like you’re worth less somehow. You’re worth more than this whole state.”
“Maybe to you,” Eli muttered. He walked away, leaving me in the empty field to stare at his back as he walked into the looming warehouse.
As Zero explained what we’d be doing for him that day, my mind wandered to how he’d come to our town. I’d heard a lot of rumors about where he’d come from. Some said he came by way of Louisiana, others said he came up from Mexico, but I didn’t believe that. Zero was whiter than bone and couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish. The few Mexicans in town had tested the Mexico theory on Zero once by asking him a question in Spanish and he’d responded with a bunch of curse words, calling them names I don’t want to repeat.
I wished Zero stayed in the warehouse, but he infested the whole town. Everyone knew him and his name. He hung outside the corner store, making me not want to go inside any more. He loitered outside the movie theatre. He kicked cans up and down main street. No one did anything about him though, cause they were all getting something from him or owed something to him.
There were weeks when Zero would disappear. Theories about that surfaced, too. Some people said he was going back to Mexico. Even though he couldn’t speak any Spanish, the Mexico theory was still a popular one. Others thought he was going back to where he’d come from for good and might leave us alone. I knew better than that. Zero always returned.
No one could remember the exact day he showed up. Like summer storms, one day it was drizzling and the next it was pouring Zero. The town was flooded by him.
“This is my meth,” Zero said, his emphasis bringing me back to the present. “Understand, fuckers? This is my meth. Meaning if you take it, lose it, or use it, you become mine.” I stared blankly back at him. He was holding a small baggy of something crystal looking, acting like it was gold. I didn’t get what the big deal was, but everyone else was acting like it was something huge, so I played along.
“I know ya’ll thought I was gonna letcha sell tonight, but if you think I’m lettin’ you off this lot with my product the first day then you must think I’m some kinda fuckin’ idiot.” A noise escaped Zero’s mouth that I only realized was a laugh when the rest of the room started laughing awkwardly along. At first I’d thought he was having some kinda fit, but no, it was a laugh.
Eli and I lived in a small town so I expected to see some recognizable faces, but I didn’t know anyone else in the warehouse; it made me wonder if Zero had picked the people up from other towns. Probably cause there’s only so many people you can sell to and have selling for you.
“Some a ya are here cause you owe me. Do a good job, you won’t just owe me, but you’ll live a life you can’t even dream of.” Excited murmurs broke out among the others.
“What’s the big deal?” I whispered to Eli.
“Hush, Bug,” Eli hissed, his eyes still trained on Zero.
I frowned, folding my arms. I didn’t like this one bit.
Zero’s “orientation” lasted well into the night. What a waste of a beating. If I’d known that Eli was going to drag me to that, I would have stayed home and avoided the extra bruises. Earlier that week, at the sugar maple tree, Eli had told me he had a surprise for me that Friday.
“What?” I asked, excited.
“I’ve discovered an opportunity that can change our lives,” Eli replied, a mysterious grin on his face.
I looked at him skeptically. Change our lives? That sounded like fairytales. I’d read enough fairytales to know they either didn’t exist, or ended grimly. “What kind of opportunity?” I needled.
