Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“Then stand ten toes on that mothafucka! Be loyal to the promise! If ya mama toe tagged ’erself, it ain’t got shit to do wit’ you, man! LET.THAT.GO. As someone who suffered from depression at one point in my life, wanting to just go to sleep and die, I am tellin’ you, it didn’t mean I ain’t love my sister, or hell, even my mother. It meant I didn’t love myself anymore! I was tired of the nightmares!” He pointed at himself. “Sometimes, the person who takes themselves outta here thinks the world would be better off without them. I know I did.”
Caspian looked away, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
“She wasn’t depressed though, Legend. I know I was young. I didn’t understand depression back then but somethin’ is tellin’ me things just aren’t right. Some of this just doesn’t add up.” He could feel his lungs filling with air, and the strain of his nostrils flaring made him breathe all the harder.
“Then do what the fuck you do best, man. Caspian, I know this is the one cold case that haunts you… but if anyone can figure the truth out, once and for all, it’s you. Let’s say you’re right. If you are, then your mama’s death deserves to be avenged. Aunt Angel’s sister warrants the retribution. We’re the Brother Disciples. We hear no evil… see no evil… and now it’s your turn: speak no evil. Speak for the dead, man. They have no voice. Tell their truth.”
Caspian swallowed and nodded in agreement.
“I made a promise to Mrs. Florence. I also made a promise to myself. They were one and the same but fear crept in… then anger… then other emotions I can’t even classify or name. I held it in.”
“You need answers, just like I needed revenge, and Axel needed to get his life back. But man, you’ve got courtside advantage. Me and Axel didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were born this way, Caspian—this uncanny way of being able to turn off the world and make it quiet. Axel had to become like you in order to save his own life! You know them mothafuckas was after him. It was a matter of survival… but then, it got good to him. I saw a shift in him. I recognized it. That’s when he knew he had to accept that part of him. Embrace it.
“I became like you due to emotional damage. It’s also part of me now and honestly, it’s helped me survive some pretty tough situations. You though, man,” he waved his finger in his direction. “You have this woven into the fabric of your very soul. I have less control over it than you because you’ve had far more years of practice. Now, for you, it’s both an art and a science. Down pat. You are the king of this shit! You been murkin’ mothafuckas since you were young…”
Caspian massaged the side of his neck as the sweet memories of his first kill floated in his mind like a balloon filled with blood.
“Remember? I helped you get Old Man Justin a new television. May he rest in peace.”
Caspian nodded, then took a drag of his cigar. The culprit had been a fucker that lived down the road from them. Richard Williams. He was a derelict. Trash. A piece of shit who’d been breaking into people’s homes all over the neighborhood. They were all poor, had little to give, but Richard William’s ass didn’t care. He stole poor Old Man Justin’s mortgage payment right from under his nose. Justin had never bothered anybody and was a good and generous man who smoked cheap cigarettes, drank on Saturday night, and read his Bible come Sunday morning. Someone had to do something… He was a surrogate grandpa to so many of the kids around town, and would hand out homemade jam sandwiches to the kids around the neighborhood. Told funny stories. Gave Caspian spare change to buy candy and fixed his broken bike chain when Uncle Bobby couldn’t repair it.
When Caspian saw him on his porch looking down and out one morning, he explained that his TV was gone, along with his wedding band his late wife had given him. That seemed to hurt Old Man Justin the most.
Well, that broke Caspian in half. Angered him so. It didn’t seem quite fair. The man had buried his wife three years prior, and that ring had been the one thing he cherished most from her. He wore it every day. Polished it, kept it in pristine condition. Old Man Justin said he’d told the police straight away but they didn’t seem to care much, stating it was his word against Richard Williams’ since there wasn’t any proof. He’d been rendered silent. Someone had to SPEAK on Old Man Justin’s behalf—make it right.
So Caspian had waited until nightfall then snuck into Richard William’s house.