Day One: Chapter Two

Jada's legs went limp, as they always did when she knew she was being watched, at least, she thought she knew. She was too afraid to look behind her to know for sure, it might make her look awkward.

She was already awkward, wobbling up each step, crippled by her weakened knees and the tingling sensation of a thousand eyes peering, waiting for her to fall, or stumble or stub her toe, anything they could laugh at and talk about later. She probably looked it too, so she might as well take a small peak around her shoulder so she that she could know for sure whether or not she was being watched. She wouldn't though. She never did. 

But what if that guy caught up to her somehow? He'd probably be very angry at her for beating him up.

Her legs suddenly remembered how to behave and began to carry her up the steps much more quickly, two steps at a time, which was unfortunate since Jada had literally just gotten her heart to stop pounding so much. The stress of the day had her nerves all jacked up; she was jittery, her chest hurt, her sides hurt from running, her hand hurt... from punching that guy.

A tiny triumphant smile curved the corners of her mouth. She couldn't wait to call Persephone and tell her that she'd punched the guy that had been harassing her for so long. Jada didn't just punch him, she beat his ass a little.

Actually, she'd just maced him and ran but it still felt pretty good. 

She grabbed the grimy rails and hurtled herself over the final three steps, startling a gray cat as she landed. 

"Sorry, Urkel!" she apologized, as she passed.

The stray meowed grumpily, and sashayed into the shadows.

She walked briskly across the slippery concrete path to and stuck her key in the door of the final apartment to find that the door was already unlocked. Jada distinctly remembered locking it, however.

Her heart stopped, her body went cold as if her veins were being filled with ice.What if that guy had beat her home somehow? But how would he know where she lived? What if that girl who helped her get home was working together with him so he could attack her at her uncle's house? But that made no sense at all. What if there was a break in? No, the door looked unlocked. It didn't seem tampered with. 

Her stomach churned. What if someone had robbed Uncle Tim after work, took his keys, drove here and robbed his apartment? What if they were still in there? What if they had knocked on the door, and came in when Uncle Tim opened it to see who it was? What if they had killed him?

Jada began to feel extremely nauseous and doubled over in pain. What if he was dead and the people who killed him were still inside?

"Are you OK!?" yelled a female voice.

Jada whipped around to see the girl from before, Etta Mae if she remembered correctly, leaning out of the backseat window, her brightly painted lips bent into a concerned frown.

Jada straightened up instantly, ignoring the pain in her stomach and yelled back,"I'm fine, thanks!" before bursting into the apartment and slamming the door behind her in a rush to escape her own self. How had she forgotten her?

Thankfully, there was no sign of a break in.

She wasted no time kicking her wet slides into the small laundry room and dropping her keys on the island where she'd accidentally left her phone before she left.

She swiped the cracked screen to she if Persephone had tried to contact her or answer her last text, and was disappointed to find that she hadn't. But she did have four missed calls from Uncle Tim and a text message saying:

"I have to go somewhere for a couple days. I left my debit card on the table so you don't starve code 9889, sorry for the late notice and don't bring no boys in this house. Also keep your phone on you I love you be good"

Jada took this as an opportunity to drop her damp shorts on the floor and fling her hoodie across the room, but she almost immediately picked them back up and carried them to the master bedroom, where her uncle was allowing her to sleep for the summer. The room was decorated with browns, earthy greens, and soft yellows. The wooden furniture was black-brown and the fabrics featured geometric patterns, none of which were the same, but followed the same color scheme.

She flung herself herself face down into the queen sized bed, and sighed. 

This had not been a good day.

She'd caught the bus all the way to Persephone's school to meet her after she'd been released from her summer school program for the day. They were supposed to meet there, because it was closer, and  Persephone had said she'd pay the rest of the way. However, when Jada actually made it to the place they were supposed to meet, Persephone wasn't there, and she couldn't contact her or be contacted. Jada ended up having to walk all the way back home, in the rain, where she eventually had to run for her life.

She usually didn't mind walking in the rain, she actually found it quite therapeutic. It was the time where she could enjoy nature and fresh air and rarely be bothered by other people outside.

Initially, Jada wasn't upset about having to walk home. She'd just assumed that their must've been an emergency, and expected to find some missed calls on her phone when she got back, but there was nothing.

Jada squeezed her pillow, trying to smother the slight ache in her chest.

This wasn't normal. She'd known 'Seph for years and this was completely unlike her.

Or, at least she thought so. Jada only came down for the summer, so all the rest of the year, they communicated over the internet or by the phone. Maybe, she didn't really know her at all. Maybe she really had just stood Jada up, and went without her.

But, what if something bad happened to her?

She decided to call her just to see, but the phone rang to voicemail. 

Persephone always answered her phone.

Jada skimmed through her contacts list until she saw the group "Pham," and picked the person who she thought was least likely to freak out, but hesitated. She was probably being over dramatic and annoying. She set the phone down on the bed  and looked at it for a moment. If she was being dramatic, at worst, she'd embarrass herself by calling him, but if 'Seph was actually in trouble ...

The phone rang, and displayed the name'Adisa' in bright white letters, the very person she was about to call. Jada snatched the phone up before it finished it's first ring.

"Hello," she said, sounding more exasperated than she intended to.

"Hi Jada," said a familiar, deep voice sounding unusually irritated "My sister is ignoring me for whatever reason, so can you please tell her that she owes me for covering for her earlier when her school called the house, you know, cause she was skipping, and to please bring me home some a pickle, and a strawberry Fanta, and if they don't have Fanta, get the Mountain Dew, thank you."

"I-"

"Know what, just let me talk to her please"

"I'm not with her," said Jada, puzzled. "She didn't go to school today? I texted her this morning and she told me to meet her there after."

"I think she went, the school called, said she never came back after lunch. I assumed she was with you, downtown."

"Naw, she didn't even tell me she was leaving. I went up there to meet her and she was gone.This isn't really like Persephone, I'm worried-"

"This is exactly like Ayodele," he interjected grumpily, correcting Jada with Persephone's given name, "She always runs off somewhere and comes back in the middle of the night and makes me have to sneak her in and cover for her. Doesn't tell anybody where she is.She's just probably doing some satanic, cult, paganism sh-" he paused abruptly, and sighed deeply.

"So, we don't need to call the police?"

"No, she's ok."

"Oh, well I'm glad she's safe," said Jada, relieved, but hurt.

"Yea, I'm sorry she made you go out there for no reason."

Jada winced. This is why she didn't want to call him. She hated feeling pitied. She hated that.

"It's ok-" she started

"No, it's not. But hey, I'll talk to you later." 

"Ok, bye."

Jada dropped her face back into the bed and squeezed her pillow.

This was a terrible day. But at least Persephone was OK. And if she hadn't been ditched, she never would've been able to help Etta, and she was glad Etta was OK.

Everything happened for a reason.

Her phone buzzed again. She grabbed it, excitedly. 

It was a message from Uncle Tim: *9879.