Storymania - Spencer by Jahri- Ann

Spencer
Jahri- Ann

It was a dark, murky, lonely and rainy night. The streets were paved with filthy, soggy garbage, in small rivers of rainwater; and poodles of water imbued the deep potholes of various sizes, dominating the road. The rain flung itself on the ground, getting heavier and excessively. I stood at the sidewalk of the road wet, and soaked in water. I did not have a raincoat or an umbrella. My raggedy wet clothes plastered against my skin. I felt raveled up inside and cold as I shivered inside, hoping a bus would come. It seemed unlikely that any would be coming at the moment. I only waited in hope. Rain slithered its way along the dirty, grubby building walls constituting somewhat excellent graffiti. The rainwater on the sidewalk raised a little, wavering repeatedly towards and away my bare feet and ankles as it beat on the ground. Some of the streetlights were cracked, some broken, resulting in a dim light.
�As I looked at the corner of the street in a dark but familiar alley, for a moment I thought I saw a human figure flashing in the darkness. I shifted my hand in my shabby jeans pocket and felted my weapon. I gave up the prospect of a bus advancing towards me. I strolled in the opposite direction of the dark but familiar alley, glancing back at it every second. My heart pumped rapidly in caution but fear in me was deficient. Then suddenly I heard a loud bang of what I knew was a gunshot, in the distance. I froze and listened contently, so I could decide what my next move would be; then I heard another gunshot, this time it was thunderous. In speedily motion I leapt to the ground, in a great splash, and then I gripped my weapon, blinking my eyes rapidly for the road�s dirty water had leapt into them. I listened closely, because from the sound of the last gunshot I knew the perpetrator was advancing closer to me, their supposed prey. I was on the verge of standing, with my g pointed out, when another one and it was deafening, the bullet propelled into the bus stop sign beside me and sent it smashed to the ground. These perpetrator or perpetrators, I continued thinking, were already enemy to me and they had attempted to propel me down by seizing my life. At least that is what I thought.
�Spence!� I heard a familiar voice calling my name in the darkness.
I glanced up in the voice�s direction and a familiar wet face emerged from the darkness looking at me with a broad bright grin on his face. It was my brother, funcy. My eyebrows shot up in meek surprise. I stood up and released my g in my waist. He was in dark dripping wet clothes and carrying a handgun. He then began to glance around shiftily, pointing his dripping g indirectly, and looking around for his target. He gave up and progressed towards to me.
�yu mad man!� I said, �you was shooting?� I glanced around once for any other soul and then stared at him.
�yea me shoot the second 2 you just hear.� He said standing akimbo, and smiling, very ecstatic to see me, his gun clutched at his waist.
�Who was it? I hear the 3 shots.�
�dunno. But that last one, him dam right did try to kill me too. Me react so fast I couldn�t make out the person properly,� he paused, �again,� he then emphasized, after which he shook his head with tsks, trying to reminisce on a situation, (I was sure of it, had nothing to do with the present one,) and scratched the back of his head as water sprinkled away from it.
�that last one? How many was there?� I said, as I ferociously extracted my gun from my pocket, glancing around penetratingly, while pointing it circuitously, one last time. I was waiting for some soul to emerge from any corner of the street. When the likelihood failed, I then withdrew it back to my waist.
�3 weeks, I don�t see you. where you was?... you were here the whole time?� funcy sputtered at me, ignoring the present situation.

��yeah.� I said unconsciously, I was then busy trying to pinpoint what might have happened, since it was difficult to even attempt to extract information from funcy. He was always filled with levity and would stray away from a taut situation. Perhaps the perpetrators knew I was going to be somewhere in this location. They came to look for me and were confronted with Funcy instead. At which point they sh0t at him, hoping it would be some sort of signal to me. However if this was to be some sort of sign to me. It was a puny one, an underdeveloped scrawny attempt. A signal to me would have been something bigger. It could not have had anything to do with signs labeled for me; because if it was surely that, they have opened their own doors to danger and that couldn�t simply be the case. Perhaps it was just coincidental happenings. What other group, except one, knew of the planning that I had? I haven�t even told Funcy about this undeveloped secret strategy that I had to mediate both major rival associations. If it was none of my business, it was now, for it included someone I knew, Funcy. Nevertheless every business in the gangland, I was usually apart of it. However still whatever it was; it was routine of me to know.
�a what you was doing. 3 weeks me nu see you. You were waiting for bus a while ago? why?� Funcy asked grinning, distracting me from my thoughts. He must himself, had been thinking too.
�where yu see them run?� I asked him emphatically �I did see someone flash past in alley 23.� I then continued to myself.
�alley 23? No, I run come this way, me see the shadow of the second man run that way. could be the first one I had the gun-war with. How yu clothes look like that?�
�like what?� I said vexedly. �what happened?�
�me and some other man was having some gun-war far over trenchant ave. yu couldn�t hear any shots, from all the way over there. some mad man shot after me, kept missing and missing, and I turn round and sent back some. I only see the shadow of the man, I running after him, look like he ran outta rounds, i lost him, but I still kept running, trying to look� he paused, �know how long I was running? Until a last shot fly passed me and then I sent 1, ran again, sent another- the 3 shots you did hear.�
�you didn�t get hit.�
�never do,� he replied.
Despite the relief I had for his safety. For some reason I disliked that reply. I started to regret this plan was ever going to work. The rival gang had their proceedings and we had ours. Maybe it was bad business to try and make peace with the other main rival gang. Maybe this attempt would allow the police to be able to deteriorate us if it failed. Nevertheless I pressured my thoughts to remain inflexible.
�Give me yu phone.�
��what phone man. I don�t have nothing,� he laughed. �what was you doing here? Answer me man.� His grin then dilapidated, and he had a serious face.
��stop the joking man,� I said, whereupon he acquiesced, smiling and then he dug into his pocket took out a cell and I snatched the wet phone. �Man I told you about the bad aim you have. You shot the bus stop sign.�
��oops.�
�no one in clear view was running in my direction.� I stated in a harsh tone, while typing in the ward�s number, �How your bullet reach there?� I pointed towards the smashed off bus stop sign. Then I continued to grumble mildly, as I dialed a number.
Though hidden, anger had already flared up inside of me; this confrontation towards funcy was disrespect on my accounts and would not go unconstrained.
The plan I now had in my mind was as the rain splattered against my braids was to call the bregrens. It was an organization with 1000�s of members who lived their life the way funcy and I did. 100 of these members were in and out members but nevertheless they were a component of us. We just came to together for self-proof that we were not alone in our ways. People whom we were to subside ourselves from was the citizens if we could, the country�s politicians if we could and lastly the police, and we had must.
As I listened to the ringing tone, taytay answered.
��yeah.�
��send the van. I�m at 411 hope ave, bus stop. And quick.� I said passively.
��Click
�I shouldn�t have bothered with that plan,� I turned to funcy and said, I was looking at him but my mind was preoccupied with the thought. I then coerced my mind to allow this to work, just so I could remain inflexible with the plan.
�wey yu dida du down yaso?� I questioned.(what were you doing?)
He replied that he was looking for me and that he had searched all over the place and no sign of me. I replied in a serious tone that he shouldn�t try to look for me again unless I tell him to.
The rain slowed down, and the street remained dark and vacant. It seemed like the only speck of life was funcy and I. this was one of those streets that were vacant and people did not live there anymore because of ongoing war with gangs that they could not even faute-de-mieux and so departed.
A few moments later a tinted windowed, 10 seat SUV drove up next to us and we jumped inside and it sped off with us, in the darkness. I had situated myself routinely in the passenger-seat at the front. I could feel the inquisitive stares of about 8 of my fellow cronies, but my mind was then after preoccupied with, my plan that I had not yet told them. THEY WERE unwilling to ask any questions.
��Those will always be rivals, I was thinking. Too often they had tried to dismantle us to allow them to shine. They excessively wanted to engulf us and take domination. However I had thought for once that we would come at peace since the police were getting stronger and stronger, almost well-trained and equipped. What was the use of affronts and combating when the unquestionable enemy was to come leaping into our hearts and souls at due time to massacred us? The vehicle drove past hope avenue, various dwellings sped behind us in the dark distance.
My thoughts then wandered off to the exact proceedings on the confrontations. Of how I had gone over to the gang�s headquarters, where I was scrupulously and savagely frisked which unnecessarily resulted in the raggedy of my clothes and of how specktum gave me an ambivalent response.
��Their headquarters was located in a small shanty zinc house. When I entered, the guards at the door recoiled in shock at the presence of me. They them receded and supposedly contacted the H.Q and confronted me with the suggestion that I had to be searched. I was then shoved up against the wall and I cooperated passively because if I reacted in my usual bad-temper I would disrupt my chances of mediating with specktum. The searchers had taken advantage of my passiveness and continued to batter me, rip my clothes, flung me haphazardly, to the ground, shredded my t-shirt and pants then receded with the dissatisfaction that I hadn�t a weapon on me at all. After which one of them had SNATCHED off my shoes and tucked it in his jacket. Nevertheless, they lead me inside through the zinc house door, to a stone-patched pathway up a threshold to an inner-door and I had come face to face with rival leader, Specktum for the second time ever. The first time I had confronted this buffoon, was on the ghetto battlefield when both our gangs were at war with each other. Most of the wars we had were unaccounted for, but some were connected to the loss of men on either side rumoured to be the cause of either side, and as a result of that, avenges, were spurred.
I had been running with my gun after all of my associates had departed my pick-up was to be in minutes as scheduled. Then I came upon him, and he held up a gun to my face pulling the trigger only to be appalled that it was empty. I could have easily ended him but that was not my style and I never did that when face to face with enemy. I instead gave him a forceful and pungent blow to the face with the side of my gun and he fell unconscious to the ground in an undignified heap. I then ran to the outskirts of the STREET and jumped into taytay vehicle that smoothed off with me down the road.
��Now here he was, specktum, the idiot, was sitting around a old small desk with shuffles of papers on it and just hanging-up from a phone call, he looked at the start of being aged, his round face portrayed a head completely bald. when he saw me he was a bit startled and attempted to hid it by leaning back to relax, with his hands behind his head in his office-like chair. I was annoyed at this because, he seemed as if he wanted to saver some importance of himself because I was present. On his cheek was the unsightly scar I had caused when I had hit him with the side of my gun. I caught his eyes and he looked at me with a playful sheer disgust, and extracted a weapon from his drawers, looked at it in a ghastly, frisky way and pointed it at me. He seemed to be waiting for me to bestow some fear out of me, or some nameable expression. Instead I stood apathetically and he gave-up and shoved it back in his drawers.
��I don�t come to play game with yu buoy!� I had sneered; with my upper lip automatically rising to the side in contemptuousness. I had then, remembered that I came to make peace with this buffoon and I should not have talked that way. At that point his guards came scurrying into the room, with their pistols pointed out at me. I wanted to smirk, at the sight of how scrawny the pistols were.
��lower uno guns, an get out� Specktum ordered them. They obeyed and departed from the room in a resentful manner.
��need to talk business,� I said in a more docile tone.
��yu know wot yu just call me a whileagu?�
��Annoyed I waited until he answered his own question.
�Buoy?� he came, with a pugnacious voice.
He waited for me to answer but I was impervious to the situation. However I imagined my self, snapping his neck, or at least smacking him across the other side of his face WITH A WEAPon.
�look,� I began, passively �all this fighting, and waring need to stop. Not doing neither of us any good.�
�buoy?� he emphasized this time. �see me. Me a the baddest badman �round �ere. You is just a little idiat. Ole are you? 25� 26? Not even 30 yet. Me? Me 42 years ole.�
��Nevertheless I continued, �inna dem time ya, the police dey pon wi. if wi mek peace wi can join together an overcome. Seen?�
��He laughed, �the likkle youth funny man, so young so na�ve.�
��agree or don�t agree,� I wanted a straightforward answer or any expression that might show that he agreed.
��yo mean, your people alone the police dema mash-up? Nun of my business�
�eventually it will be, if it isn�t.� I stated.
He cheuped again, regardless I continued, �they will continuously attempt to catch us. They see us as the same.�
He cheuped yet again and shifted in his seat, as if to find a comfortable position to ready himself to say something lastly to me. �Whatever happens a go happens. We�re going to see. Get out.�
I stared at him for a few seconds, as he made for a phone call, he seemed to be contemplating and after I read enough of his mind, to conclude that he was ambivalent, I went out the door. Thereby I was closely followed by his guards and I shot them a warning look, at which point they recoiled and abandoned me. I had exited the place alone.
��
�wot you thinking �bout?� leapt a voice upon me, in the van, it was taytay�s, as if he had surrendered with trying to pinpoint my previous proceedings. His face camouflaged in the darkness of the vehicle as he was stirring it, and I always saw this as an utter advantage. He could swift in the night with the difficulty of being seen. Anyway I was somewhat relieved to be dismantled from my thoughts. I contemplated on how I could begin my story because this was what taytay pondered along everyone else in the vehicle. For 3 months they have not seen or heard from me and I especially felt bad for funcy who was more focused on what had been my whereabouts than his own life.
First I darted around to look at them and apologized for my absentee. They were especially annoyed at this and I was greeted with grumbles, discomfort and agitation. Whereby I began announcing that �in these times where the police is not on our case, they�re planning some kind of massive comeback at us, because of this wi mus plan a massive combac to. If they�re recruiting more advanced weapons, wi do the same ting. If they recuting more police, wi do the same thing. Soo wi might �ave to team up wid di fassy dem.� I paused and then there was a resentful silence in the atmosphere.
�Even though wi see ourselves as a different species from dem. Police and citizen see us as one a di same. Seen? See us as a menace to society an� a disgrace. Uno knowa dat already. We must team up with specktum, to kinda overcome dem. Seen? An� let destiny decide wot happens to us.�
There was uproariousness and I could feel the pained stares upon me, as if I was not spence�, not warria kin, as if they were actually wondering if I was an imposter. As I expected the majority showed objection. �how yu mus do this?� pondered funcy �you know it not going to work out.�
I knew a lot of us had lost loved ones to the rival association. For I thought our youths had add simply because of animosity, which was not worth dg for.
�that was wot you was doing for the weeks?�
�basically.� I responded.
�naw man, you need to tell more. Wot the hell yu wos doing for so much weeks man? You hav any idea wot had been going round ere?�
I hadn�t had a clue and did not need to know. For whatever had been happening was habitual and would have happened if I was present. I also needed some time alone to meditate, in those few weeks and supposedly recede myself from my dangerous lifestyle and its recognizable elements. I had only visited specktum on the last day of my absenteeism.
��we don�t know who is enemy and who not. It� jus� hard to tell. �Member that the fassy dem, like us, operate together by word-spreading. Don�t have a specific gang number? Don�t come together most of the time?�
�den yu knowa sey it naggo work out, look how much man fi wi them kill. Yu mad man,� funcy bellowed, frustrated from the backseat behind me.
Yu see dem fassy dey. Wi nu like them an them don�t like us. Simple. A pure bad mind and disrespect. Them cill this man from over yasa we fi sit back an no du noting? Police and dem are both wi enemy. Wi fine man wi fine.� He then ended.
�Come on Spence tink tink agin yo have to tink it ova man.� he began again urgently. I raised my hand to signal him to refrain.
�the main operator affect the doings of everyone else.� marked t-jay. �Yeah we know that, but it will just be difficult to group up wit dem ��
�like for example suppose we buck up on a fassyman,� interrupted funcy, �an say this idiat don�t know that we an im gang group up now and frien� an everything, and im waa start things wid us? Wot we to do?�
He stared at me forcefully, waiting for some approval or some expression to show that I had just realized something.
�ill him and then him people start war wit us again?� he continued.
All the same, I had spent the weeks thinking about all of this, the dooming possibilities, the disadvantages everything and trying to demolish them with supposed advantages, just so I could remain adamant. At that moment I told myself It was either this or dea, despite objection I would go about with the plan. Even if it was insecure at the moment and not fully developed, I would ensure soon.
When I looked through the front mirror. Funcy threw his hand up in frustration, they landed in his lap with a smack. Then I realized that shazz and coolieron who we seated next to funcy, said nothing but listened contently. The other 3 in the van kept quiet. I looked at them through the front window, and asked them what they thought of the situation.
��yeah they might back stab us, trick us into thinking we an� them cool an try done us.� Said shazz softly, as if talking to himself, and partly elsewhere.
�done us? That�s never going to happen. Du?� I questioned, testing his faith in me. I was focusing on the �try an done us� , the last 4 words he had spoken, because from the mention of those words I could feel a lack of hope in them, and in him. It was something bigger than the present conversation we were having.
�no never, but we hav� no time for mixed-up feelings.� His low voice responded, now with little bit of self-assertiveness, but not convincing to me.
�just straightness wi a deal wit. Right shazz?� Said taytay.
He spun the vehicle into a lot; we descended slowly from it, still preoccupied with our thoughts. And I stole a glance at shazz, whose genetically sleepy-eyes, seemed frustrated from thoughts. I made a mental note to look-out for shazz; disarrayed emotions might lead him astray and inability to pull himself together in this lifestyle. He had to roughen up.

Five of us slept in the same dwelling. It was the only way to ensure brotherhood, and togetherness. The other 5 departed to their respective shelters. I felt a need for a cozy place to sleep. I could not sleep in my mother�s home. For she thought if she acquainted herself with me her life might be in danger. Mama meant the world and it was sad to see her last 2 sons, funcy and I turn this way. We were her last hope. The sufferings she has endured for her sons to go the decent way, working as a cleaner-lady, a higgler, and earning basically nothing for her pay. I would expect and hear the habitual, ��Spencer, wake up time fi school! After she had finished previously calling my other 6 brothers� name. Some of us adopted nicknames. Despite that, mama always called them by their birth names.
��First there was Bottlecap (BC) the oldest who was 12, whom real name Ben-Claver; he acquired the nickname Bottle-cap because he was always seen with caps off of bottles because he collected them. The name was narrowed down to BC after he got more mature and stopped collecting them, and due to the fact and coincident, that was his first name initials. Then Sean 11, Williwalla 10 whose real name was Washington, Signa 9 Freddy 8, Lance 7, lastly I being the youngest who could walk, aged 6. Funcy was the little baby, bawling miserably in his baby crib every school morning. Mama would be too busy to cater to him and then slapping on my schoolboy uniform. She always seemed to be struggling to get some breakfast for the 6 of us, to break the norm, of us going without, or feeding on butter and rice, bulla, stale bread and any other undignified food. Then she would seem to struggle with us to catch the bus to take us all to primary school. Then another struggle to pick us all up from school to take us home.
��Henceforth, Bottle-cap in two years later had to accompany me and lance to our school at all times then left for his, hereafter it was routine to return for us when school dismissed.
Until it was a relief to them both that, I became a teenager, went to school alone, accompanied by funcy, whom I had to take to and pick up from his school, I felt annoyed how Bottlecap must have felted when he did the latter. Mama scrapped up some change to give me for our bus fare and lunch-money. At all times Funcy, unaware of the lifestyle seemed to have a plastered smile on his face and desired the famous icicle-fudge called �funcie� when he saw other children licking it, and never actually got one for himself. Then I started to call him Funcy and his actual name Jason Steelgate, took oblivion.
��Sometimes, when I had already furnished myself in my uniform, socks and shoes, put on my schoolbag, ready and steady to go, only to discover that she just didn�t have any money and told me those undignified words, of �don� go school today�. Nevertheless she tried and tried and instilled in Funcy and I that education was the key and with it yu can bi woteva yo wont to be, buy wotever yo wont. Things didn�t occur as she prospected. Education didn�t give me a key and so I attempted to open doors in different ways, influencing funcy.
��We settled ourselves in the living room, which was the only decent and orderly room in the house, for if anyone was coming to visit, they would accept the view as an everyday dwelling and not one of ex-convicts, who still continued to live antisocially, in society�s thoughts. Funcy started again to inform everyone the previous bull confrontations while trying to locate me. At the hearing of that everyone shot me a questioning look. I replied that it must have being likkle people and that we would talk about it the following day.
��There were caregivers clip-clopping about the room scantily clothes. Shazz had already fallen asleep on a solitude settee. Funcy was cooing a caregiver, whom he cuddled up in his lap. Others were so tangled up in apparent thoughts and low conversations to each other and caregivers. Then I began my usual contemplating, as I sat on a couch�s arm, my clothes were damp, but I was unconscious of it, until one caregiver known as Nash came up , then snatched my damp torn-up t-shirt, leaving my undershirt. I ushered them to recede and Gabrella looked at me in an awed expression then I heard myself telling her to wait in another room.
After awhile persons began ambling out to their respective rooms. One caregiver jerked shazz awake and he also strolled off.
Until I was left alone in the room and relieved to be. I lay horizontally in the largest couch, and stared up at the ceiling which paint was stripping away. I imagined myself a refugee in some remote temperate island, inhabiting a house with a decent companion.
I couldn�t sleep at night; night was when I was alert, and observant. As if I could feel enemies shadowing all of my close associates, as If I would keep expecting the familiar worst. In the day I could close my eyes in sleep, when I could see well everything that was going on. I could see in the night but couldn�t really camouflage in the night, like taytay could, whereas taytay could not really see in the night.
�Spence?� an annoyingly girlish voice distracted me from my thoughts. I looked up and caught Gabriella�s eyes.
I ambled past her, as she stood staring and scanning me scrupulously, refraining from asking me any questions. When I arrived at my room numerous women where lying on my bed in diverse positions. Their eyes darted towards me as if they were waiting for me or quickly ended some whispered conversations about me. I acknowledged to them that I needed some solitude time and that they should leave my room, then they exchanged curious looks, and at that point I remembered that they wouldn�t have anywhere else in the house to go and sleep; since they habitually slept in my room and the other rooms would be packed.
I rounded out the room with some pillows and a sheet, settled them in the couch were I decided I would sleep; took a bath, disposing of my raggedy clothes, while gabriella appeared handing me some fresh ones. After, I lay in the settee, closing my eyes, at which point gabriella appeared again asking me if I wasn�t going to bed. I concluded that she insisted upon this question to extract information to suit her curiosity. Whether she genuinely cared about me or not, I couldm't tell. Her playful and sly eyes were difficult to make any connections whatsoever with mines.
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