The Writers' Circle

Chapter 1

"Trav!  Hey Travis! Open the damn door, it's cold out here!" I yelled to my brother while banging on the front door.  "Good thing I got curves in the right places to draw some body heat, even though it's not helping", I thought to myself while awaiting a response.  It was one o'clock in the morning and twenty degrees outside, so I was freezing cold and shivering.  Travis is my 23-year old little brother, and he's two years younger than me. Neither one of us had ever worked a legal job, but we always hustled up enough money to maintain a superficial and fast-paced lifestyle.  

We lived by the phrase 'an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth', so you wouldn't believe some of the ways we deceived one another.  The only reason Travis and I lived together was because we felt obligated to watch over our father, who spent the majority of his days getting drunk.  Even though he was an alcoholic, everyone respected him in the area because of his wild, unpredictable personality and laid back swagger.  His name was Lou but everybody referred to him as Looney, since he was said to be 'slightly of his rocker'.   In fact, the only person I ever heard refer to my father by his birth name, was my mother Phyllis.  She was a washed up, diva that chose not to conduct herself in the manner that a 45-year old woman should.  

Neither Travis nor I, had an ounce of respect our mom, since she neglected us as small children.   At least Lou made sure we had food to eat and toilet paper to wipe our butts.  No matter how much we expressed our hatred for Phyllis, our father would always allowed her to run in and out of his life and apartment.  Whenever she hit rock bottom and was no longer able to fend for herself, Phyllis would come knocking on our door, for a place to lay her head or hide out from trouble.  

Lou fell victim for her games every time and because I loved my father so much it hurt for to see him being taken advantage of by Phyllis.  Especially since it never failed that after she did something crooked to us, she'd leave the house, staying gone for weeks.   We've been living in Traverse City, Michigan's Bayhill Apartments for the last six years, trying to avoid eviction by any means necessary.  The type of people that visited our apartment were the gold-diggers, crooks and corner store drunks that my family associated with.  Between Lou and Phyllis's reputation, my conniving ways and Travis's grimy actions, my family had created so many enemies that we were constantly watching our backs. 

 My cell phone started ringing and I saw that it was my best friend Imani's number on the caller id.  "Hey girl! Let me call you back, alright?" I said quickly not allowing her to respond before I hung up.  "Boy, if you don't open this door, I'm gonna' bust out these windows!" I shouted angrily while repeatedly kicking the bottom of the door with my new Timberland boots.  Right before the last kick Travis opened the door frowning and looking irritated.  I just looked at him, rolled my eyes and walked in the house.  "Dang' boy!  What took you so long? Didn't you hear me at the door?"  I checked out my surroundings and took my hands out of the red goose-feathered bubble coat I was wearing.  "Look Myeisha, don't start with me.  Just go upstairs and get the money from inside the speakers of the stereo.  I don't owe you anymore money now, so we're even.  And make sure you don't forget your key when you leave this time cause' I'm not opening the door again for you." Travis said in a very aggravated manner, while taking a sip of the 24 ounce beer he was holding. 

 Travis had a pretty boy look with cornrows, but didn't dress the part.  Instead he was the type of guy that wore white t-shirts and sweat pants everyday of the week.  Evidently he carried his style of dress well, because women flocked to him no matter what part of town we were in.  My brother was a very attractive just like me.  We both had smooth caramel skin, slanted hazelnut eyes and seductive tendencies that compelled the opposite sex. A perception of arrogance surrounded us when speaking and walking.  

However, due to our popularity around Bayhill, people knew that our pretty exterior had no power over our flamboyant behavior and mentality.  I took my hands out my coat since I was beginning to warm up and cursed him out for leaving me outside the door for so long.  Before I could finish fussing, the front door flew off the hinges and a crew of boys came rushing in, wearing black hoodies on their heads and stockings on their faces. "Get down, get down!  We came to collect, one guy yelled with a heavy and demanding voice.   

"Shit! I screamed as I put my hands in the air and got down on the floor right where I was standing.   A long shotgun was pointing directly at my head now and I could feel the cold tip pressing heavily into my skull.  Travis was laying down right beside me on the floor, while the boys went through his pockets and took his last two-hundred dollars.  Next, they maneuvered through my tight stretch Prada jeans, and one boy said, "Damn, girl what you do, paint these on?" I heard something come from upstairs that sounded like a grenade it was so loud and powerful.  I could smell the gun smoke as I covered my ears and tilted my head up to glance at who was shooting from upstairs, since I thought it was just Travis and I in the house.  I quickly mashed my face as far into the carpet as possible, so that nobody would see me looking.  I almost lost my breath when I saw Imani shooting from the stairway. 

 It felt like the whole room was under an earthquake for that brief moment, when she fired her warning shot.  The boys ran out the door frantically and didn't look back once.  Imani came all the way down the stairs and asked, "ya'll alright?", while trying to fix the lock on the front door.  Ignoring her Travis said, "I bet if I get in the car, I can catch them easily, since they seem to be on foot."  Then he grabbed his keys of the coffee table and hopped in his car.  I could hear his tires squealing as he reversed out of the parking lot and drove away.  I looked at Imani and said, "Girl, thank God you were up there!"  

Then my mom barged from outside the broken door as if she were crazy.  Phyllis snatched off Imani's jacket and punched her in the face.  Mom began screaming about how her plan to take Travis's money had now been ruined.  Imani couldn't do anything but fold up into a ball and wait for Phyllis to stop, because she knew there was no chance for her to get off the floor. After only a few seconds of hitting Imani, my mom got tired and calm down.   With a loss of breath, Phyllis rambled, "ya'll get on my damn nerves, always interfering in some shit!  I need some money Eisha, you aint got nothing?"  

I looked at her in disgust and said, "No! The money I had is the same money you were interested in stealing from Travis.  Yeah, that's right he was paying me back for some cash I loaned him.  So thank you for letting me in on your little secret to take the last of my money." After a long awkward stare between us both, she grabbed Imani's coat off the floor as if it were hers and walked out the door. I picked Imani up off the floor and gave her a wet towel for the bleeding on her head.