Chapter 4: Snow Black
"You have now reached your destination", the ever-emotionless G****e map voice chimed to an end.
"Yeah, no Shit" Robert said, sounding audibly frustrated. "After four wrong turns and five Cul-de-sac's, I've finally reached my destination ayy?" He said, eyeing the tall, murky building and it's inconspicuous wooden door a couple meters to the side of the road. He slipped his phone back into his dark jeans and walked closer to the building, eyeing and noticing as many details as he possibly could, and there weren't exactly many of them. The dark, tinted windows plastered across its cream-colored walls. The worn-out wooden door staring him peephole to eyeball, and the disturbing doormat that read, "You can come in now. I’ve been waiting.”
Robert cleared his throat, adjusted his afro, and gently knocked on the tattered door. "Hello? Is anyone…" before he could even get the words out of his mouth, the rectangular peephole slid open, and a set of indistinct eyes peeped through.
"Password" the light, emotionless voice said from the other end of the door.
"Password?" The peephole closed shut, giving him no time to think of a response other than the one he was probably supposed to come up with.
"Hello?" He knocked on the door again.
"Password" the peephole slide open.
"Look, I'm just here to find out what happened to my…" once again, the peephole slid firmly shut, leaving him even more confused than he was the first time. He slipped his right hand into his jean jacket and brought out the piece of paper he scribbled the inscriptions of the tombstone on. "Sixth, Seventh Driveway, Luther Street" he whispered to himself, trying to make sense of whatever the voice meant by 'password'. "Well I'm at Seventh Driveway, Luther Street right now. Meaning what the hell is the 'sixth' doing here. That has to be the password, right?" He thought to himself.
"Hello." He knocked once more again.
"Password."
"Sixth" he answered, surer than he'd ever been. But once again, the peephole slid back closed. "Fuck!" He said a little louder than normal, trying to control his emotions. “Come on Robert, think, think, think. What does 'sixth' mean, sixth, sixth", he stopped midway in his sentence like something had finally clicked. "Sixth… It doesn’t, it doesn’t really make sense. Sixth doesn’t… wait a minute. Sixth Sense” he whispered to himself. What's the Sixth sense?" He asked himself, looking around like there was somebody there to tell him the answer, nothing more than Havilah pedestrians looking already wearied by a temperate Monday midday. He brought out his phone in a bid to G****e whatever came to his mind first, but there were no bars. He had no signal. "What the fuck? How's that even possible?" He said to himself.
And then, his eyes accidentally glanced upon the doormat once again. Then he steadied himself. Taking a deep breath in, and letting a deeper one out, he closed his eyes, journeying as far as his mind would take him. And then, he reached for the handle of the door, gently opening it, and it clicked open. "Fuck" he whispered, smiling to himself, until his eyes met with the same indistinct ones he had earlier caught a glimpse of through the peephole.
"There you go" her light voice bellowed through the thick walls of the dimly lit building.
"The Sixth Sense huh?" Robert said, walking in, the door immediately slamming shut as soon as he got in.
"Intuition." The light voice once again spoke up, grabbing back Robert's attention from the shut door. "All you had to do, was open the door. Simple."
"Okay ma'am…"
"Please sweetheart, call me Erica." She smiled.
"Okay, Ma'am. I don't know whatever the hell this is, but I just came here to figure out what exactly happened to my aunt…mother" he reiterated, "and how the hell I didn't know about this for over a decade." After a couple moments of silence, she spoke up.
"What's your name?"
"I don't see how that answers any of the questions I asked so…"
"What…" the light bulb switched off. "Is…" it switched back on, the distance between her and Robert reducing. "Your…", it once again turned off. "Name…" this time, when it switched back on, she was standing directly in front of him, the fear and confusion in his eyes too visible to ignore.
"Umm… It’s… It’s Robert" he whispered, taking note of her dark purple eyes, pink lips, and Bob hairstyle. "My name is Robert" he finished.
"Robert?" She crossed her hands behind her, walking back. "But you're--"
"Black?" He added. "Yeah I get that a lot."
"I guess so", she smiled, turning back halfway. "Why don't you have a seat Robert" she said, pulling up a table and two chairs to the space between them, which would've looked normal if she'd done it with her hands.
"Ummm. Okay" Robert said, audibly confused but walking over and taking a seat nonetheless. Erica following suit a couple seconds later.
"So", she said with her set of purple peering eyes, "how can I help you Robert?"
"I… I just came to find out what happened to my aunt ma'am"
"Erica" she corrected.
"Erica. And I'd really appreciate if you'd tone down the magic tricks and answer my questions a little.”
"Magic tricks?" She smiled. "Like this?" She snapped her fingers and the entire room lit up, unapologetically displaying it's hidden details. The countless bookshelves filled with books that circled the room. The long, wooden table that ran across a particle section of the room, probably meant to bar movement past it, and the immaculately designed wooden box on the table before them.
"Yes" Robert answered, snapping out of what he thought was definitely a daydream. "Like all these. Look…" he leaned in a little closer, making undaunted eye contact with Erica. "... I just want to know what happened to my Aunt."
"Miss Mia Martel."
"Exactly."
"She died in her sleep, a number of years ago. That's what happened to your foster mother Robert." She said without a hit of emotion.
"Wait what?"
"You said you wanted to know what happened. I just told you what happened Robert."
"Yeah but…"
"But you still feel like a question hasn't been answered. Am I right?"
He looked at her for what was probably seven to ten seconds and whispered, "I mean… I guess so. Yes."
"Let me ask you something Robert. What did you know about your Foster Mom? Your aunt, since that's what you might feel a little more comfortable calling her."
"Ummm… I know she was a lovely woman with a kind heart. A school teacher, that was how she made her earns meet. She loved taking care of me, of us. All of us" he continued. "And she lost her husband about five years into her marriage. One of the main reasons she became a foster mom in the first place.”
"Nice to hear you still have some fond memories about her. But… husband?" Erica asked.
"Yeah. She was married to a…”
"Who told you that?"
"Well…She did." He answered, sounding a little puzzled.
"Oh, I see what's going on here" she smiled, leaning in herself. "I hate to break it to you Robert but Miss Mia wasn't a school teacher, neither was she married."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, there's a lot about her that you don't know."
"That we don't know, you mean" he interrupted. "Because there were seven of us. Eight, if you’re counting me. And how exactly do you know this? I don’t remember her talking about a niece or a long-lost sister, or even a cousin named Erica" Robert said, peering into her eyes.
After sitting back and letting out a heavy sigh, Erica said, "Robert, do you know you're the last person to find out Miss Mia died? You're the last person to find the inscriptions on her tombstone, and you're the last of the eight to come here, to me."
"Excuse me?"
Chapter 5: I WANT TO KNOW. CAN YOU SHOW ME“It’s really very surprising Robert. I’ve actually been waiting for you for a while now. You’re the last piece we’ve all been waiting to meet.”“Okay, first off, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Secondly, if you could stop the thing you’re doing with the lights… however you’re doing it” he pointed to the flashing light bulb over him, “…yeah I’d really, really appreciate it. And thirdly, what exactly do you mean by “’we’ve’ been waiting”? Who’s we?”"Here" she said, pointing to the book on the table that definitely didn't catch the eye till this moment. She picked it up and flipped it open. Elizabeth Garner and Taylor Carlyle, your sisters… foster sisters, attended her funeral. They were the first ones here, and the first of the eight of you guys to be cleared on what's actually going on here.""What do you mean by 'what's actually going…""Makayla Fackler was here two years ago, similar predicament. Only difference is she aske
Chapter 6: VIEWS"Yeah I got a question" Robert said, picking himself off the floor. "What the fuck was that?" He said, staring blankly at her."That was the answer to all of your questions. Most of them at least" she corrected, with the most expressionless look on her face."What in the… no no no it's a dream. It's all a dream, and I'm going to wake up sooner or later" he said massaging his head. "Wake up" he slapped himself. "Wake up. Please wake up" he said still hurting what he thought was his unconscious self. "You know Robert, dreams are a product of what has happened, what might happen, or what is yet to come to pass. So, either way, you're kind of stuck with me… and with this" she said running her tender fingers slowly on the wooden box. "Come on now Banter, it's your consignment" she smiled. "What?" He turned back to her. "I'm not taking that shit. I have no interest whatsoever in being a superhero.""Do you think this is a marvel or DC movie or something? You think you’re
Chapter 7: If You’re Reading This…“Come on Robert, you can do this. Two, Zero, Zero, zero”, he mumbled to himself, inputting the code into the space made for it on the box. “Yeah. That’s got to be the right one. Right?” He tried opening the box, but still, it was locked tighter than the wardrobe a black mother would hide candy. “Fuck!” he yelled, throwing the box from his bed to the thin walls of his apartment, echoing with a loud thud. “Robert!” His upstairs neighbor yelled. “Sorry Miss Crawford. It won’t happen again”, he shakily said, walking towards the box and picking it up as carefully as he could. “It better not. You know what happened the last time.”“Yes Ma’am, and I’m sorry” he repeated, sounding a little more frustrated now. Now, he began to pay more attention to the details of the mysterious ‘pandora-like’ box. Its indecisive patterns had to tell a message, right? Slowly caressing the box with his hands, he tried the more mental approach to opening this rather annoyin
Chapter 8: LOVE AT…“Robert, do you have even the slightest clue on the kind of deep shit you put me through? Standing in front of such a prospective investor and not being able to say a thing? I have never been so infuriated in my entire life.”“Including the time when your bride…”“Yes, including the time when my bride left me at the altar. Thank you for bringing up that painful and unnecessary piece of information Trevor.”“Welcome” He answered, taking a sip of the hot cocoa he had wrapped around his fingers. “Sir I honestly…”“Have a legitimate excuse this time? Is that what you want to say? Do you know how long I had to stall for you, and still, you didn’t show up? I…” he held himself back, trying not to get excessively angry now. “I had to talk about politics Robert. Goddamned politics!” he slammed his hand on the long table in front of him, jolting both Rob and Trevor. “I have never been so disgusted with myself in my entire life.”“Including the time when you…”“Don’t even da
Chapter 9: Pandora’s Box“You’ve got to be fucking with me. I hate my life”, He said standing on the wrong end of a bungalow’s prison-like gate, the spaces between the bars giving him enough room to peep through. “You have now reached your…”“Shut up, would you?” he said, switching off his phone and slipping it into his jean pocket. He assessed the gate, trying to calculate how far and high he would need to job to get over it. Could’ve just knocked or rattled the padlock to get attention from whoever was in the house though. “I mean, it’s doable but I haven’t parkoured in a long long time.” He added, stretching out and watching the passerby’s around to see if anyone was paying too much attention the stunt he was about to pull. Turns out when your weekend’s cut short and you’re back in town attending meetings, filing reports and going for appointments, nobody really gives a shit. “Ok then, let’s give it a shot, shall we?” He took off his backpack and flung it over the gate, landing w
Chapter 10: Family is DeadThe Jeers and cheers engulfing the betting center were way too loud to unhear or avoid. If it wasn’t two grown ass men arguing at one side of the room, it was a hopeless, middle-aged one, praying to every single god he knew so they would help him out. "What the fuck is he doing man. He's gonna lose the race if he keeps riding like that." The impatient gambler said, banging his table. "Calm down Mike, he's gonna make it work okay?""Does his horse have athlete's foot or something? Get your head in the game Nine" He screamed, getting up from his table and barking at the television"Trust me. He's gonna make it work.""How the hell would you know Javani? You saw him win already?""Well I wouldn't say that? But I bet three hundred on his ass, so he'd better win" he said, adjusting his face cap."Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the most one-sided races I've ever seen. Dean Drury in number three is leading by a longshot" the commentator said in an ever-enthu
Chapter 11: I FEEL IT COMING"Come on Rizla, I need to get to the office, let me in.""I'm sorry Robert but I have been given strict instructions from the management themselves to bar your entry into the office. Into the entire building to be honest.”"Come on big guy, you're really going to fuck me over like this? After all the stuff we've been through?""I'm sorry Robbie.""Remember that one time when you got sick and you couldn't write your letter to explain to the management why exactly you got sick? Who wrote the letter for you?""It was you" the buff security guard said, his arms still folded across his chest."And that time you wanted to buy a laptop? Who not only got you the perfect one, but also set it up and gave you fifa20”?"It was you" Rizla said, even sadder"So please man, just let me in, and say I clocked in by twelve or something. We’ll be able to sort ourselves out from the—""It's three in afternoon Robe–""Yes I know it's three in the afternoon but just lie to them
Chapter 12: Naked TruthThirteen Years Ago"Hey Jacob? You in there?" The tiny, tender voice echoed from the wrong end of door."Go away Robert. I'm not in the mood to talk to anybody right now." He said sitting moody on his comfy-looking bed. "I know you don't want to talk to anyone right now Jake, so guess who I was able to call up – ""Robbie not this again –""Mwah ha ha ha, I'm the Boogeyman" the short, skirmish little kid burst into the room without a care. The cape of curtains dangling down his back, and the little paper plate mask he managed to cut two eye holes into, were too tacky to criticize. "You ever had a nightmare Jacob?" He said in voice he tried to make as deep as possible. "What are you doing Robert?" He said, unable to muster enough energy to confront the excuse for a cheer-up tactic."Who's Robert? I know nothing of such a person. But I bet he's a handsome, well built, smart young man" he said, his cape flying with the breeze the ceiling fan gently blew."Reall