“Hey, Aoki,” Gena greeted dryly.

  “Hey, Gena. Ya think wen ya got de time, can you do my hair too?”

  From everyone’s point of view, Aoki’s hair was flawless, but she always wanted it messed over by Gena.

  “What you need done wit’ it?”

  “I just want ya to straighten my edges out.”

  “No problem. Just let me know when.”

  “I’m on ya time,” Aoki said.

  “Get at me tomorrow then.”

  “Okay.”

  The girls in the projects wished they had hair like Aoki; it was long, shiny and silky, and all hers, no weave, no extensions. If she wanted to, she could model for hair magazines and do hair shows. Aoki had so much potential, but she was wasting away her life by being a knucklehead—no guidance, no direction.

  While the girls lingered in Gena’s apartment, Tisa started to roll up a blunt. Smoking was their pastime. Weed made everything funny.

  All the girls had mastered rolling up a blunt. Tisa was the best at it, though. She had all the material she needed all laid out on the coffee table in front of her—a cigar, the weed, a knife, grinder, and a lighter.

  Aoki took a seat next to her friend. She needed to get high. She didn’t want to think about her dead parents. She still needed to dispose of the bodies somehow and clean the house, but that could all wait; her folks weren’t going anywhere.

  For a long time, Aoki had been burdened with pain and sadness. She felt she was hardwired for trouble—like it was programmed into her mind like computer software. She couldn’t escape her harsh memories or hide from them. She wished she could put them in the trashcan where they belonged and toss them away.

  Tisa started licking the blunt until it was moist. She then took the blade and cut a line lengthwise from the butt to the tip, nodding to Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” playing in the background. She used her thumb to slide the guts out then she cut off the rounded end of the blunt to decrease the chances of prematurely rolling the blunt shut. When she got a nice rectangular blunt wrap, she licked the edges to seal up any small tears. Then she took the wrap and folded it in the center.

  They all eagerly watched, their anticipation to start smoking some purple haze building.

  Tisa spread the weed evenly down the length of the blunt then, shaping the blunt by carefully folding and rolling upward, she spun the blunt, running the flame from the lighter up and down its length in order to bake it. Tisa knew that the perfect blunt would darken in color slightly and dry the wrap without catching afire. She held the flame to the tip of the blunt, spinning the blunt around to evenly distribute the heat and minimize the possibility of developing a run.

  Aoki sat there looking aloof for a moment. She was quiet.

  “You okay, girl?” Tisa asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  At the moment Aoki felt away from everything. Sometimes she would shift into her mood swings, ready to flip on anyone she felt was disrespecting her, or she got really quiet and lost into her own thoughts. Today, she was lost in her own thoughts.

  Tisa took a deep pull from the blunt and enjoyed the potent high. “You smokin’, Aoki?”

  ***

  Aoki ate with the sisters, laughed, and joked around all day. They talked about boys and teenage things. Aoki felt trust and love with her crew. It was her second home. Being there took her mind off everything.

  That evening, the girls decided to take in a movie at the movie theater on Linden Boulevard, just up the street from their project buildings. The movie theater was packed; everybody was waiting in line to see the new sci-fi movie with Will Smith. The inside of the theater looked like a nightclub, and the girls ran into a few familiar faces.

  “Damn! The movie don’t start until another hour,” Rihanna said.

  “What y’all tryin’ to do?” Tisa asked.

  “Go back home,” Rihanna said.

  Aoki said, “Fuck, no!”

  As if on cue, Aoki turned to her left and saw AZ and Heavy Pop walk into the theater. She smiled seeing AZ, the only guy in the hood she liked being around and could talk to.

  “Look who done walked into de building,” she said, pointing out AZ and Heavy Pop to her crew. They all went over to greet the guys.

  AZ smiled when he saw Aoki and her friends approaching. He stood proud and tall around the other patrons inside the theater with his right-hand man and best friend, Heavy Pop, standing by his side. AZ was a handsome nineteen-year old, and was always well-dressed. He had attractive brown skin with a low Caesar haircut and sported a Yankees fitted tilted on top of his head. He had muscles under his shirt, but not the bulky kind men can get from years of weightlifting. He had lost the traces of boyhood and become a feared drug dealer.

  AZ used to be a boxer. He was nice with his hands, skilled in knowing how to knock a man out. He’d attended several boxing camps as a child, and over the years he received a reputation for hitting muthafuckas with a mean left hook.

  AZ and Aoki were best friends. Their relationship was strictly platonic.

  “What ya doin’ here, AZ?” Aoki asked, standing close to him.

  “What? A nigga can’t go to the movies too?”

  “I thought ya didn’t have time for such tings.”

  He chuckled. “We gotta take a break from the streets too.”

  “What y’all here to see?” Tisa asked.

  Heavy Pop chimed, “That new Will Smith movie.”

  “We are too,” Tisa said.

  “You know that’s my boo,” Rihanna said.

  “Like Will Smith would give you a second look,” Tisa said.

  “What? You think a bitch like me can’t bag a Will Smith?”

  “He lookin’ at you, then he lookin’ at me too—I got the bigger bootie.”

  “And? Will Smith likes his women petite and pretty. He fucks wit’ Jada Pinkett, right?” Aoki added.

  “That’s Jada Pinkett,” Tisa said. “She got class.”

  Rihanna shot back, “Bitch, I got more class than you.”

  “The only class you ever saw was walking in the hallways at school.”

  “Fuck you, Tisa!” Rihanna retorted faintly.

  AZ and Heavy Pop shook their heads at the sisters’ minor quarrel. It was humorous to see them argue over frivolous shit. But it was common between them.

  AZ then looked at Aoki and said, “Hey, can I talk to you privately?”

  She nodded.

  The two walked away from their friends.

  AZ left Heavy Pop to entertain the two knuckleheads, as Heavy Pop liked to call them. Heavy Pop was wide and tall and had always been big for his age. He stood six feet tall and weighed over 260 pounds, and his legs were as big as an adult’s waist. Heavy Pop was a solid dude, but also a dangerous man to mess with. He and AZ were both street brawlers, good with their hands. He was well known for knocking niggas out with one punch, like Iron Mike Tyson in his heyday.

  While Heavy Pop kept the girls company, AZ looked at Aoki and said, “I know you heard.”

  “Heard what?” Aoki asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “You don’t know?”

  “Know what, AZ?”

  “I got Lisa pregnant,” he blurted out.

  “What? Ya ah serious? How did ya get her bumbaclaat pregnant?”

  “I fucked up,” he said with his head down.

  “Yeah, ya fucked up. Why ya ain’t bag up ya dick fo’ that nasty pum-pum?”

  “I can’t even argue wit’ you, Aoki. I slipped up. It just happened.” AZ shook his head, looking somewhat stressed.

  Lisa was a light-skinned chickenhead from Cypress Hills projects with no future, and was known to be a grimy chick with a ton of drama.

  “Listen, AZ, ya my friend, and I got ya back. And ya know if that bitch get outta line, I’ll cut her ass.”

  AZ smiled. “I know, Aoki. You don’t play, wit’ ya crazy ass.”

  “Yes, ya know me crazy. Ya my best friend, though.”

  AZ had to tell his friend before the streets twisted the story about him and Lisa. He wasn’t in a relationship with her; it was a one-night stand. He wanted to clear that up with Aoki. The two talked for a moment and then joined the group.

  “So, what’s the secret he had to tell you?” Tisa asked jokingly.

  “It’s none of ya business, Tisa. Why? Ya jealous?”

  “Y’all two just need to fuck once and get it out the way,” Rihanna joked.

  Aoki sucked her teeth and flipped her friend the bird. Everyone always thought she and AZ were more than just friends. In reality, AZ was the older brother that she never had, and she didn’t want to trade their friendship for anything.

  TWO

  Whenever AZ was around Aoki, he became a generous person. He went into his pocket and pulled out a wad of hundred-dollar bills. Aoki wasn’t too impressed; AZ always had money and bought her things. They stood on line together at the concession stand. It was quite a wait. They talked and laughed. The night was young, and things were going good. She wasn’t thinking about her dead parents.

  From the other side of the movie theater Aoki heard the commotion and loud arguing. She craned her neck and noticed Tisa arguing with some girls from Queens. If her friend was beefing, then it became her beef. Aoki marched toward the commotion, with AZ right behind her. She was ready to attack. She slowly pulled her blade from her jeans pocket, her eyes fixated on the bitch in Tisa’s face.

  “Fuck you, bitch!” Tisa shouted.

  “Stupid bitch!” the girl shouted. “What?”

  Aoki hurried her friend’s way, but before she could intervene, security stepped in and quickly defused the situation.

  “Tisa, who dem bitches?” Aoki asked.

  “Stupid bitch talkin’ shit,” Tisa replied. “That’s all.”

  Aoki frowned. She eyed every last one of those Queens bitches, ready to spark some serious drama with them. Aoki was a volcano ready to erupt. She was ready to make her own action movie in the lobby. Once she got started, it was hard to calm her down.

  Fortunately, AZ was able to talk to her and calm her. “Chill, Aoki. Everything cool, right?”

  “I’m cool,” she replied, aloof.

  The theater was packed, and everybody was into the new Will Smith movie. Aoki and her crew sat in the back of the theater, two rows behind the Queens girls. While there was action and adventure happening on the big screen, Aoki glared down at the bitches that tried to fight with her friend. She took a handful of popcorn and decided to throw it at them. Childish act, but whatever.

  The girls turned around, but they didn’t say a word at first.

  Tisa laughed, saying to Aoki, “You crazy, girl.”

  “Fuck dem hoes.”

  The Queens girls didn’t want any trouble. The argument between one of them and Tisa was a simple misunderstanding that escalated out of control. But when Aoki started throwing popcorn at them, taunting them, they felt that they were being disrespected. Aoki hardly looked intimidating with her petite size and baby doll features. She continued throwing more and more popcorn at them, giggling while doing so.

  Finally, one of the girls stood up and spun around. “Y’all bitches got a problem?” she yelled, and tossed a large Coke at Aoki. She got drenched in the brown, syrupy liquid.

  Aoki leaped up and went charging, climbing over the seats like a bull seeing red. Even the folks in the row between the two clashing groups intervened. There were no holds barred when Aoki went in for the attack. She pushed the girl and punched her so hard, the girl stumbled, almost falling flat on her face.

  Several pairs of hands attacked Aoki, and Tisa and Rihanna joined the fray.

  Aoki was pulling out hair by the handful, scratching, biting, kicking, and even head-butting. She was a beast. The action in the theater was now in 3D—up close and personal for the moviegoers to touch and feel.

  Punches were being thrown everywhere, and people were screaming. The lights in the theater came on, and people started to scatter.

  Aoki reached into her pocket and pulled out her dad’s pocketknife. She was attacked from behind. She spun around and started stabbing one of the girls with the knife. The poor girl screamed. Her shirt was stained with blood in several places.

  Security came storming into the theater, and several security guards tried to break up the melee. Cops were on the way.

  AZ grabbed Aoki from behind. “Aoki, we gotta go!”

  Aoki was stubborn. She wanted to finish what she had started. She wanted to smash the girl’s face permanently into the floor. The other friend was stabbed repeatedly and bleeding, but she was still alive.

  By the time the cops hurried into the theater, Tisa and everyone else were already fleeing. AZ was trying to get Aoki to leave, but she looked like she was possessed, eyes wild and crazed.

  Cops were coming her way. The looky-loos who remained behind to take in the action all pointed to Aoki as the instigator.

  “Ms., come here!” one of the officers yelled.

  Aoki backpedaled and then took off running the opposite way, and the officer gave chase. Aoki bolted through the exit doors in her high heels like she had on a pair of sneakers. Her heart was beating fast, and her adrenaline was pumping.

  The cold, winter air attacked her as she punched away into the darkness, heading for the project buildings ahead. She ran without looking behind her, not knowing whether or not the cop was still chasing her.

  She dipped into the lobby of one of the project buildings and slid into the dim stairwell. She took a seat on the concrete stairs and tried to catch her breath. She realized she didn’t have her cell phone or her coat. She decided to linger in the stairwell for a moment, hide out, and be cautious until the danger was gone.

  ***

  The smell of death permeated the living room. It was the most disturbing scent. Aoki’s parents were rotting away, their bodies in the stages of rigor mortis, their limbs stiffening in the almost-dried pool of blood. She walked around the house still contemplating what to do with them and the scene.

  Hours had passed since the fight at the movie theater. She’d changed clothes and made herself comfortable. She was snacking on chips, staring at her parents. Her behavior wasn’t normal; it was insane.

  Just as she was pacing around, thinking and thinking, she heard someone at her front door. She looked to see who it was. It was Tisa.

  Aoki opened the door slightly, refusing to allow her inside. “Wah ya want, Tisa?”

  “I was worried about you. I tried to call your phone, but it’s not on.”

  “I lost it during de fight.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. My parents, dey trippin’ right now, especially me fada.”

  “So, you cool, right?”

  “I’m okay, Tisa. Just need to ’andle some tings and I’ll call ya in the mornin’.”

  “Okay.”

  Aoki shut the door. She still wasn’t going to call the police about her parents. Perhaps it would have been easier to lie to them and say her father had gone into a violent rage, killed her mother and tried to kill her, but that would have been too much explaining.

  Her second problem was that she was only sixteen. If she did beat the charges, the state was definitely going to place her in a foster or group home. She had no relatives on her father’s side, and her mother’s relatives all lived in Japan. They had disowned her mother and her years ago.

  It took her all day and almost all night, and frequent trips to Home Depot via cab service for cleaning supplies, but she cleaned up the crime scene. She’d pushed the bodies onto two separate tarps and scrubbed the bloodstained floors, bleached out the blood, and tossed any bloody fabric into a black trash bag to be thrown away. She had cleaned the kitchen and gotten rid of the knife that she killed her father with. She opened all the windows in the house to free the smell of death and allow some fresh air in.

  It was freezing in the house, but Aoki didn’t feel a thing because she was too busy cleaning up, trying not to go to jail for a very long time. The house hadn’t been that clean in years.

  Aoki’s next move was their bedroom. She went into closets and dresser drawers and started tossing all their belongings into trash bags—clothes, shoes, it was all junk. When she was done attacking the entire house, it was just furniture and lots of trash bags occupying the living room, along with her parents’ bodies. It took her two whole days to do everything, all while ignoring her friends. The last thing she needed to do was dig two holes in the backyard and bury her parents.

  Aoki tried to dig, but there was a problem; the ground was too frozen. The cold made the soil feel like thick ice. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break open the soil. It was almost impossible. Panic started to set in. The bodies were starting to stink even stronger.

  Reluctantly, she made a phone call. Tisa, Rihanna, and AZ rushed over when Aoki cried out for their help. They were her only friends; she felt she could trust them.

  Aoki was a little bit hesitant in answering the door. The house was immaculate, but her parents were fouling up the place. She opened the door.

  AZ was the first to step inside. “Aoki, you okay?” he asked.

  Tisa and Rihanna walked in behind him.

  Aoki looked at them and said, “Can ya keep a secret?”

  “Yeah, you know we can,” AZ said.

  “What’s wrong, girl?” Tisa asked. “You in trouble?”

  Rihanna made a sour face. “What’s that smell?”

  Aoki took a deep breath. “Follow me.” She walked away. Her friends followed behind her. She led them into the living room, where her parents’ bodies were on the two separate tarps.

  Rihanna became wide-eyed. “Ohmygod! Aoki, what happened?”

  “Are they dead!” Tisa cried out, trying not to panic. “What the fuck happened? What did you do?”

 

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