Entry# 12: The Beginning of a New Dawn

Omar

I felt as if I had blacked out as I sped down the street.  Things happened so fast and I needed to get away from Cassandra as quick as possible.  She truly was one crazy chick. 

I looked over at AJ and she remained quiet while looking out of the window.  I never yelled at her before so I know she didn't know how to react to that.  I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Terry looking at me with the look of terror in her eyes.  I wanted to say something to her but I had no words.  This whole situation was becoming unreal.  If it wasn't for AJ, I would have never gotten involved in this crazy shit in the first place.

As I was driving, I began thinking about how AJ and I first met.  It was about 8 years ago at a house party out in Decatur.  I was playing bartender for the host when AJ came up and asked for cranberry juice with vodka.  I noted that she was cute but didn't really say anything to her as I handed her the drink.  I didn't see her for awhile after that until I started cleaning up towards the end of the party and she walked over to me.

"So I see that the host is pimping you out," AJ said.

I turned around to see her smiling at me.  I noted that she had some nice lips.  "Aw man, you hurt my feelings," I responded as I walked away.  I couldn't see what she was doing, but I was pretty sure that AJ was standing there looking confused.   A few minutes later she came up behind me again.

"Did I really hurt your feelings?"  She asked.

"No," I said as I turned around and smiled at her.  "My feelings don't get hurt easily."  I winked and then walked away.  About fifteen minutes later, I saw her playing with her cell phone and since I had four shots of Patron in my system, I figured why not give it a shot.  I then walked over to her and asked, "So, are you going to call me?"

AJ looked up at me looking puzzled.  "What?"  She asked.

"Are you going to call me?"  I asked again as I glanced down at her phone. 

AJ smiled and said, "Why? Do you want me to call you?"

I grinned back.  "Yeah."  I then gave her my number.

"And your name is?"  AJ asked.

"Omar."

"I'm Aaliyah Jasminda, AJ for short."

We chatted briefly and then went our separate ways.  I noticed that she never gave me her number and briefly wondered if she really was going to call me.  I then let the thought go and figured if she called, great, if she didn't, still great.  It didn't matter to me either way.  As far as I was concerned, women come and go but there was something about AJ that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

A few days later, AJ called me and she caught me in one of my playful moods so I started telling her some crazy stories.  Some were true, others were embellished just to see if I could generate a reaction out of her.  Most of them were based off of the type of work that I do for a living.  I can't remember exactly what she said to me during that conversation but I do remember telling her that she was going to love me and that I wasn't going anywhere.  Again, I don't know what prompted that comment but I just knew I was telling the truth. 

I must have freaked AJ out because a few days had gone by and I didn't hear from her again so I called her.  We had this pattern for a few weeks and somehow AJ eventually became more comfortable with talking to me.  I learned about her soft heart and hard mind.  She cracked me up because I learned that she was definitely a piece of work.  She challenged me when I needed it and I appreciated her for that.  I learned a lot from her as she did from me and we formed a really solid friendship.  I'll be honest though, there were times the thought of crossing the friendship line had popped into my mind but AJ always made it clear that as long as I was seeing anyone, that line could never be crossed.  It was for the best anyway, as there was a period and time when I kept ending up with women who changed during the course of the relationship and went nuts for no apparent reason.  I had too much respect and love for AJ to risk losing her as a friend. 

When I felt that I could trust her enough, I told AJ what I did for a living.  I explained that i was a stay off of the grid kind of dude.  The less anyone knew about me the better.  Maybe that is why finding a solid relationship was a challenge for me.  I couldn't really talk much about my whereabouts and looking back, it probably caused women to think that I was out with another chick or something.  But then again, not my problem.  It's either you trust me or you don't.  Perhaps that is why AJ and I get along so well.  She asked very few questions as if she understood the less she knew the better.

Over time, I had developed a really soft spot for AJ.  There were times I was involved in a case and I couldn't be there for her as much as I would have liked to and I felt guilty sometimes.  But in this case with ol' boy, he came after my girl and I promised myself that I wasn't going to let work get in the way of helping her out with this.  However, I wondered from time to time if I should have encouraged her to go another route.  I personally was built to be in the business of revenge and it has been lucrative for me but if someone is not ready for it, it can mess with one's head.  I looked over at AJ as she continued to remain quiet.  She seemed to be handling things okay.  Well at least up until thirty minutes ago.  Again, I wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.  I needed to remain focused.  I felt that if I tried to talk to her in that moment, my soft spot for AJ would get in the way of what we needed to accomplish.

As we headed to midtown Atlanta, the streets were quiet.  There was a bus leaving at 5 a.m. to Albany and it was close to 4 a.m. and only a matter of time before the sun came up.  AJ and I still had to head back out to the countryside to look for ol' boy as I know he couldn't have gotten far.  Plus the monkey wrench known as Cassandra still needed to be handled.  As much as I preferred silence, the one we were experiencing was an uncomfortable kind.  I started to wonder if I had frightened AJ into thinking differently about me....

Aaliyah Jasminda

My mind was racing.  Omar never yelled at me before.  The look on his face was one that I didn't recognize.  I was stunned and was at a loss for words.  The whole ride to midtown, I remained quiet.  I thought that I knew Omar like the back of my hand but this is a side that I didn't know.  I knew what kind of work he did but to know it and to see it were two different things.  The moment he put Cassandra to sleep, a feeling that I can't describe waved over me.  I guess because at first I thought that she was dead.  I don't know why I had that thought, I just did.

I met Omar about eight years ago and I knew early in our friendship that he had a dark side.  A side that I never really cared to get to know.  Ever, point blank period.   That went out of the window when I was pushed to the edge I suppose.  As I looked out of the window, I thought about how crazy I thought Omar was when I first met him.  We met at a party and he was slurring his words which I later found out that he had four shots of tequila that night.  After my first phone conversation with him, I had deleted his number swearing that I was never going to speak to him again.  This negro had the nerve to tell me that I was going to love him and that he wasn't going anywhere.  Yeah right.  I laughed when he said it.  He told me he was serious.  I still took it as a joke at the time.  I thought he was nuts.  However, he continued to call and I continued to delete his number until one day something just clicked and we were thick as thieves ever since.

I will admit, I liked him more than just a friend, but I valued our friendship more.  I once told him that if I was his girlfriend, I would end up killing him.  I guess it's because I know him very well and knowing him as a girl friend is different from being his girlfriend.  There was always some kind of drama that he had with the women he did date and I always said that if it was that good, I didn't want it.  It was a joke but there was some truth to it.

While deep in thought, I felt movement by my hand.  It was Omar reaching for it.  Like me, he seemed to be speechless.  He took my hand and he squeezed it.  I looked over at him.  No look in particular, I just looked at him.  I still didn't know where his head was at.  This whole night was completely out of control.  I really couldn't make this stuff up.  I don't have that kind of imagination.

A few minutes later, we pulled into a parking lot down the street from the bus depot.  I turned and looked at Terry who still looked frightened from the events that happened earlier.  "You know the deal Terry.  Go to the cops, you get into trouble. If you come back before I tell you to, you get into trouble.  Either way, you will create problems for yourself."

"What about Geoffrey?"  Terry asked.  I rolled my eyes in response.

"Let me make this really clear to you.  I don't give two shits about Geoffrey.  You need not worry about him if you want to stay out of trouble.  You will know when we are done with him.  Now get your son and get out of the car."

Omar got out of the car and removed Terry's bags from the trunk.  The little boy was still sleeping, which I found quite odd.  "Omar, this little boy has been sleeping a lot.  Is this normal?"

Terry cleared her throat.  "I slipped a little rum into his juice.  I'd rather have him sleep than to witness any of this."  I turned around and looked at Terry. I had to stop myself from saying anything.  I'm not a mother so I let it go.

While we walked to the bus depot, Terry started asking all kinds of questions.  When would she hear from us?  What was she going to do for money?  Blah blah blah.  I finally got annoyed.

"Look, cut the noise.  You will hear from us when we are good and ready.  Anything else, you need to figure that out.  Not our problem."    As we approached the bus depot, I saw the bus that had Albany posted on the digital sign.  I removed the computer printouts of the tickets from my pocket and handed them to Terry. 

"We will be monitoring your house.  Any movement and we turn you over to the cops and your son ends up in the system."  I knew that it was an empty threat but Terry didn't know that.  I just needed her to fear for the well-being of her son.  Besides, I would never want an innocent child to be taken away from his or her mother if it wasn't necessary.  Terry obviously had a great deal of love for her son. 

We walked up to the entrance of the bus and Omar handed the bags to the bus driver after he checked the tickets.  At this moment things felt awkward.  I looked at Omar and he finally broke the silence.  

"Get on the bus Terry.  We will be in touch."  With one final look at Omar and I, Terry and her son got on the bus.  We stood there as we watched her take a seat towards the back of the bus.

"Do you think she will stick to our deal?"  I asked Omar.

"She will.  I made sure of it," Omar replied.

"How?  Wait, do I even want to know?"

"Probably not.  Let's just say that her mother is expecting her. "

I remained silent.  I didn't know if I wanted Omar to go any further.  About twenty minutes later, we watched as the bus pulled away.  "So who do we deal with next?  Cassandra or Geoffrey?"  I asked.

"Let's go," Omar said.

"But what about my question?" 

"Don't worry about that.  Let's go."

I had no clue what was going on with Omar in that moment, all I knew in that moment was that we needed to move quickly before Cassandra or Geoffrey caused anymore problems.  About thirty minutes later, we were pulling up to Terry's house only to see that a new problem was on the horizon, Cassandra's car was gone.......

©All original content copyright Kim M. Washington, 2014